Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/tsəʔ

See also: Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/tsa

This Proto-Sino-Tibetan entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Sino-Tibetan

Reconstruction

Proto-Sino-Tibetan: *tsa (Chou, 1972); *tsjəɣ ~ dzjəɣ (Coblin, 1986), *tsə (Schuessler, 2007)
- Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *tsa-n ~ za-n ("child"), *m-dza-k ("to love") (Matisoff, STEDT); *za (Benedict, 1972; Weidert, 1987); *tsa ⪤ *za (LaPolla, 1987)

Noun

*tsəʔ

child, son, offspring; grandson; relatives; nephew/niece

Verb

*tsəʔ

to come forth (as child at birth) - perhaps the original meaning
(prenasalised) to love, to be loving

Reconstruction notes

A *p- pre-initial also appears in rGyalrongic.

Descendants

Old Chinese:
子 (*tsəʔ (B-S), *ʔslɯʔ (B-S), “child”)
~ 崽 (zǎi), 仔 (*tsˁəʔ (B-S, unlisted), *ʔslɯːʔ, *srɯː (B-S), “(Southern dialect) child”)

字 (*mə-dzə(ʔ)-s (B-S), *zlɯ (B-S), “to bear; to give birth; to breed; to love; character”)
→ Burmese: စာ (ca, “writing, letter, paper, document”)
Vietnamese: chữ (“writing, letter”)

慈 (*dzə, *zɯ, “loving, kind”)

滋 (*tsə, *ʔsɯ, “to grow, to breed, to propagate, to bring about, to increase”)

孳 (*tsə, *dzə unlisted, *ʔsɯ, *zɯ, “to breed, to propagate”)

(子 in bronzeware inscriptions: - "child}}

(字 in bronzeware inscriptions: - "child under roof > to bear, to give birth}}
- Middle Chinese: 子 (t͡sɨX), 崽 (zǎi), 仔 (t͡sʌiX), 字 (d͡zɨH), 慈 (d͡zɨ), 滋 (zī), 孳 (t͡sɨ)
  → Japanese: 子 (し, shi)
  Korean: 자 (子, ja)
  Vietnamese: tử (子)
  
  → Japanese: 字 (じ, ji)
  Korean: 자 (字, ja)
  Vietnamese: tự (字)
  - Modern Mandarin
    - Beijing: 子 (zǐ, /t͡sz̩²¹⁴/, "child; diminutive"), 崽 (zǎi), 仔 (zǎi, /t͡saɪ̯²¹⁴/, "young animal"), 字 (zì) (zì, /t͡sz̩⁵¹/, "character"), 慈 (cí) (cí, /t͡sʰz̩³⁵/, "kind"), 滋 (zī), 孳 (zī) (zī, /t͡sz̩⁵⁵/, "to breed")
Kamarupan
- Kuki-Chin
  - Central Chin
    - Mizo: fa
  - Khomic
    - Khumi Chin: cäpaw
Himalayish
- Tibeto-Kanauri
  - Bodic
    - Tibetan
      - Tibetan: ཚ་བོ (tsha bo, “grandson, grandchild; nephew”), བཙའ་བ (btsa' ba, “to bear, to bring forth, to give birth; to be born”), མཛའ་བ (mdza' ba, “amicable, intimate, close, loving”)
- Newar
  - Newar: चिल् चा (cil cā, “baby goat”)
- Mahakiranti
  - Kiranti
    - Eastern Kiranti = Rai
      - Limbu: ᤛᤠ (sa, “child, offspring”) (ᤛᤠ᤹ (sa’) in compounds, e.g. ᤏᤢᤛᤠ᤹ (nusa’, “younger sibling”), ᤑᤠᤰᤛᤠ᤹ (phaksa’, “piglet”))
Naic
- Proto-Naish: *Cdza
  - ⇒ Naxi: zzei'ee
  - ⇒ Narua: sseivu
  - Laze: [Term?] (/⁠ze˧⁠/, “nephew, son”)
Lolo-Burmese
- Burmish
  - Burmese: သား (sa:, “son, child, offspring”), စာ (ca, “to have tender regard for, to feel for”)
- Loloish: /*ʒa²/ (Hansson, 1989)
  - Northern Loloish
    - Yi (Liangshan): ꍶꌺ (chyt sse, “baby goat”)
  - Central Loloish
    - Lisu (Northern): ꓤꓽ (zɑ̀, “son, offspring”)