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1.9.9 Body Fluids

In Sino-Tibetan languages, the words for the various liquids produced by or contained in the body tend to be transparent compounds where the last element is a morpheme meaning ‘water; liquid’.1 Of the many body fluids,2 only a few relate directly to the reproductive system (AMNIOTIC FLUID, MILK, SEMEN, VAGINAL SECRETIONS). In this chapter, however, in order to illustrate the scope of the various ST roots for WATER, I include a generous sampling of compounds referring to non-reproductive body fluids.3

Etyma in this chapter

tag num_recs chaptertitle chapter sequence protoform protogloss grpid plg grpno notes num_notes num_comparanda status public username
161412Body Fluids1.9.91.0(r/w)aSEMEN2PTB0.110KEEP1stedt
16275Body Fluids1.9.92.0ŋyaSEMEN2PTB0.1("Him") 10KEEP1stedt
348615Body Fluids1.9.93.0(ɓ/p)ooSPERM / SEMEN8PKC1.2("KMR") Lushai, Kom, Moyon10KEEP1stedt
34937Body Fluids1.9.94.0ʔ-bikSQUIRT / EJACULATE45PL6.1.210KEEP1stedt
1631357Body Fluids1.9.95.0tsyuWATER / LIQUID / BODY FLUID2PTB0.121KEEP1stedt
298430Body Fluids1.9.96.0m-t(w)əy-n ⪤ m-ti-sWATER / FLUID / LIQUID / RIVER / SOAK / SPIT2PTB0.1STC#055 + STC#168 cf. egg=bird+water; DL p.705; possible Chinese comp. 1768 TEAR; STC#168; cf. HPTB pp.193-5, 451, 47173KEEP1stedt
18812Body Fluids1.9.97.0kuSEMEN / BODY FLUID2PTB0.100KEEP1stedt
1013298Body Fluids1.9.98.0rəyWATER / LIQUID / BODILY FLUID2PTB0.1cf. HPTB p. 25000KEEP1stedt
191138Body Fluids1.9.99.0laŋWATER / FLUID / RIVER / VALLEY2PTB0.121KEEP1stedt

^ 1.
Exceptions are BLOOD, URINE, SWEAT, and sometimes BILE, which are usually monosyllabic words.
^ 2.
That is, AMNIOTIC FLUID, BILE, BLOOD, MILK, PHLEGM, PUS, SALIVA, SEMEN, SNOT, SWEAT, TEARS, VAGINAL SECRETIONS.
^ 3.
The numerous roots for water (over ten at last count) in the STEDT database merit a separate study. Words for WATER seldom seem to be used by themselves in ST languages to mean URINE, unlike e.g. English, where make water is a common euphemism for ‘urinate’; for an exception see the WT form c̀ʻu below.