Reconstruction:Proto-Tungusic/bi

See also: Reconstruction:Proto-Tungusic/bi- and Reconstruction:Proto-Tungusic/-bi

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

Compared to Proto-Mongolic *bi (“I”) and Proto-Turkic *bẹ (“I”). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronoun

*bi

I (personal pronoun)

Derived terms

*min-e (“partitive”)
*min(-e)-be (“accusative”)
*min-i (“genitive”)
*mini-ŋī (“possessive”)
*mün- (“oblique”)
- *münti (“we (incl.)”)

Descendants

Jurchenic:
- Jurchen: bi, 必 (bi)
  - Manchu: ᠪᡳ (bi)
  - Xibe: ᠪᡳ (bi)
Tungusic:
- Northern Tungusic:
  - Evenki: би (bi)
  - Even: би (ʙi)
  - Negidal: би (bi)
- Southern Tungusic:
  - Central:
    - Oroch: би (bi)
    - Udihe: би (bi)
  - South-Eastern:
    - Nanai: ми (mi)
    - Orok: би (bi)
    - Ulch: би (bi)

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, page 108
Vovin, Alexander, Janhunen, Juha, de la Fuente, José Andrés Alonso (2023) The Tungusic Languages (Routledge Language Family Series), Abingdon: Routledge, page 58
Cincius, V. I. (1975) Сравнительный словарь тунгусо-маньчжурских языков [Comparative Dictionary of Tungus-Manchu Languages] (in Russian), volume 1, Leningrad: Nauka, page 79

	singular	plural
1st person	*bi	münti (inclusive) büe (exclusive)
2nd person	*si	*süe
3rd person	*ni	*ti