Reconstruction:Proto-Japonic/paimpi
Proto-Japonic[edit]
Alternative reconstructions[edit]
Reconstruction[edit]
The reconstruction is controversial, due to the irregular correspondences between Japanese and Ryukyuan. JLTT 404 reconstructs *papimi and hypothesizes lenition and loss of medial *p (*papimi > *paymi > pemi) in Japanese, but this does not account for the Ryukyuan form, which can only be from a medial *u that became word-final from the metathesis of the nasal and either loss or metathesis of the original final vowel (*papumi > *pa(i)pum > *panpu, *penpu > *pabu, *pebu). On the surface, this might possibly underlie the same process leading to putative Korean cognate 뱀 (baem), but that term's Middle Korean ancestor forms of ᄇᆞ〮얌 (pò.yám) and ᄇᆡ얌 (poyyam) may make cognacy less likely on phonological grounds.
Etymology[edit]
Possibly cognate with Korean 뱀 (baem, “snake”).
Noun[edit]
*paimpi
Descendants[edit]
- Old Japanese: 蛇 (pe2mi1)
- Japanese: 蛇 (hebi, hemi)
- Proto-Ryukyuan: *pabu
- Northern Ryukyuan:
- Southern Ryukyuan: