Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/k-lip

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: ?
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *k-lip (Matisoff, STEDT)

This root is well attested only in Burmish and in Karenic.

The proposed Chinese comparandum is 獵 (OC *rab). In Modern Chinese it only means “to hunt, to prey”, however in the Erya and the Zhou Li this character is also glossed as “turtle”, suggesting that it could possibly be related to this root.

*k-lip

1. turtle
2. tortoise

• Old Chinese: 獵 / 猎 (liè) /*rap/ (B-S), /*rab/ (ZS) "turtle"
  • Middle Chinese: 獵 / 猎 (liè) ljep (/liɛp̚/)
    • Modern Mandarin
      • Beijing: 猎 (liè, /li̯ɛ⁵¹/, “to hunt, prey”)
    • Yue
      • Cantonese: 猎 (/liːp̚²/, “to hunt, prey”)
  • Min Nan
    • Xiamen: 猎 (/liap̚⁴/, “to hunt, prey”) (literary pronunciation)
• Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
  • Lolo-Burmese
    • Burmish
      • Written Burmese: လိပ် (lip, “turtle, tortoise”)
• Karen: *kliʔᴰ (Luangthongkum, 2013)
  • S'gaw Karen: ချံး (khleë, “turtle; tortoise”)
  • Western Pwo: ချံၭ (“turtle”)
  • Western Kayah: ꤒꤢ꤬ꤊꤜꤤ (tàkli, “turtle”) (> ꤒꤢ꤬ꤊꤜꤤꤏꤥ꤬ (tàklihsò, “tortoise”))
  • Pa'o Karen: ကြေ့ꩻ (“turtle”)
• Proto-Kuki-Chin:
  • Khomic
    • Khumi Chin: täli