ma trơi

See also: ma troi

Vietnamese

Etymology

ma (“ghost”) +‎ trơi (fossilized element).

The latter element is attested as Northern Middle Vietnamese blơi in Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum (1651).

Ferlus (2007) reconstructed Proto-Vietic *p-ləːlʔ (“ghost”) (whence Toum plʌːl³), but this is unlikely to be the source due tonal mismatch.

Pronunciation

  • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [maː˧˧ t͡ɕəːj˧˧]
  • (Huế) IPA(key): [maː˧˧ ʈəːj˧˧]
  • (Saigon) IPA(key): [maː˧˧ ʈəːj˧˧]

Noun

(classifier con) ma trơi

  1. will o' the wisp

Descendants

  • → French: ma troi
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