Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/r-paj

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: *r-paj (Matisoff, STEDT); *paj ⪤ *plaj (Matisoff, 1978)

In Jingpho the word for spleen is represented by compounds like kanpai, hkumpai ~ kumpai ~ gumpai, hkinpai and sinpai, in which the first element appears to be a body-part classifier and the second is the reflex of PTB *r-paj itself. In these compounds, the morpheme kan means “stomach” when it occurs in isolation, while hkum ~ kum ~ gum is a generic body-part classifier, probably from PTB *(k/g)um (“back, body”). The last compound seems to be formed by the word sin, meaning “liver”.

Particular attention must be paid to distinguish between direct cognates of this root in Sino-Tibetan languages and the borrowing from Sanskrit प्लिहन् (plihan, “spleen”) or Bengali প্লীহা (pliha, “spleen”), coming from Proto-Indo-Iranian *(s)pl̥ȷ́ʰā́ ~ (s)plīȷ́ʰā́, which is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *(s)plenǵʰ- (“spleen”), that in turn gave rise to Ancient Greek σπλήν (splḗn) and English spleen, but which doesn't seem related to PTB *r-paj.

Finally, this root is similar to PTB *r-(p/b)al (“spleen”), which, apart from a phonetic resemblance, shares the same meaning with the root *r-paj.

*r-paj

1. spleen

• Old Chinese: 脾 (pí) /*m-[p]e/ (B-S), /*be/ (ZS) ("spleen")
  • Middle Chinese: 脾 (pí) bjie, /biᴇ/

5=bi

**:

→ Japanese: 脾 (ひ, ​hi)
Korean: 비 (脾, bi)
Vietnamese: tì (脾)

• • • Modern Mandarin
      • Beijing: 脾 (pí, /pʰi³⁵/, “spleen”)
      • Cantonese: /pʰei̯²¹/
      • Wu: /b̻i²³/
      • Hakka: /pi¹¹/, /pʰi¹¹/
  • Min Nan: /pʰi¹³/
• Tani
  • Western Tani
    • Galo: pi ko (Das Gupta, 1963)
• Angami-Pochuri
  • Angami
    • Angami Naga: upri, /u˧.pɻi˩/
• Sal
  • Bodo-Garo
    • Bodo
      • Kokborok: poli, /pɔli/
    • Garo: /pilai/
  • Kachin-Luic
    • Jingpho: kanpai, hkumpai ~ kumpai ~ gumpai, sinpai
• Newar: अम्पि (ampi)
• Tangut-Qiang
  • Northern Tangut
    • Tangut: 𗮶 (*pjwɨ̱r², “spleen”)
• Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
  • Lolo-Burmese:

    *ʔ-p(r)ay¹ (Matisoff, 2003)

    • Loloish
      • Lolopho: /pe⁴⁴/
    • Burmish
      • Burmese: အဖျဉ်း (a.hpyany:)

• *r-(p/b)al (“spleen”)