Reconstruction:Proto-Tungusic/ʒep-

This Proto-Tungusic 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-Tungusic

Etymology

Unknown. Either a simplex or a derivative.

If it is indeed a derivation, then it could be analyzable as *ʒe- +‎ *-p. Even though the suffix *-p is used as reflexive suffix in Tungusic languages, such in *ʒalu-p- (“to feel”) and *sulā-p- (“to stay behind”), the function on this verb is unknown since if it had been used then it whould have made this verb intransitive. Or less likely a semantic shift "to get eaten" > "to eat" could also happen. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Verb

*ʒep- (transitive)

to eat

Derived terms

*ʒepke-
*ʒepkin
*ʒepkiʒe-
*ʒepmüsi- (“to want to eat”) (desiderative)
*ʒepte (aorist)
- *ʒeptere

Descendants

Jurchenic:
- Jurchen: 者 (je- /⁠je⁠/)
  - Manchu: ᠵᡝᠮᠪᡳ (jembi)
Tungusic:
- Northern Tungusic:
  - Even: дебдэ̄й (ʒeʙdə̄j)
  - Evenki: девмӣ (ʒewmī)
  - Negidal: ӡеп (ʒep-)
  - Oroqen: dʒəb-
  - Solon: ʒeg-, ʒeb-
- Southern Tungusic:
  - Central:
    - Oroch: деп- (ʒep-)
    - Udihe: ӡэу- (ʒeu-)
  - South-Eastern:
    - Nanai: депувури (ʒepuwuri)
    - Orok: дэппувури (dəppuvuri), дэптувури (dəptuvuri)
    - Ulch: депуву (ʒepuwu)

References

Benzing, Johannes (1955) Die tungusischen Sprachen. Versuch einer vergleichenden Grammatik (Abhandlungen der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse; 11) (in German), Wiesbaden: Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz in Kommission bei Franz Steiner Verlag, pages 34, 124
Vovin, Alexander, Janhunen, Juha, de la Fuente, José Andrés Alonso (2023) The Tungusic Languages (Routledge Language Family Series), Abingdon: Routledge
Cincius, V. I. (1975) Сравнительный словарь тунгусо-маньчжурских языков [Comparative Dictionary of Tungus-Manchu Languages] (in Russian), volume 1, Leningrad: Nauka, pages 279-280
Kane, Daniel (1989) The Sino-Jurchen Vocabulary of the Bureau of Interpreters (Uralic and Altaic Series; vol. 153), Bloomington, Indiana: Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, Indiana University, →ISBN, page 341.