Reconstruction:Proto-Tungusic/müikī

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

Alternative reconstructions

  • *muiki, *mǖkǖ

Etymology

From *müi- +‎ *-kī. Relationship to Proto-Mongolic *mogaï (snake) (whence Mongolian могой (mogoj)) is unclear.

Accoring to Doerfer, this word has no connections with *mirkü- (to creep), as preserved in Negidal мӣхи- (mīxi-, to creep) and Udihe мики- (miki-, to creep).

Noun

*müikī

  1. snake

Declension

Descendants

  • Jurchenic:
    • Jurchen: 妹黑 (meihe /⁠mei-he⁠/)
  • Tungusic:
    • Northern Tungusic:
      • Negidal: мӣхи (mīxi)
    • Southern Tungusic:
      • Central:
      • South-Eastern:
        • Nanai: муйки (muyki)
        • Orok: муи (mui)
        • Ulch: муи (mui)

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 67
  • Cincius, V. I. (1975) Сравнительный словарь тунгусо-маньчжурских языков [Comparative Dictionary of Tungus-Manchu Languages] (in Russian), volume 1, Leningrad: Nauka, pages 537-538
  • 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 219.
  • Doerfer, Gerhard, Knüppel, Michael (2004) Etymologisch-ethnologisches Wörterbuch tungusischer Dialekte, Hildesheim: Olms, pages 543-544