STEDT Etymon #1614

There is no single widespread root for SEMEN to be reconstructed for PTB, though several promising local candidates are attested here and there. Many forms for this concept are euphemistic (e.g. words that otherwise simply mean ‘water’); many others are compounds of the structure PENIS + WATER (e.g. Tangkhul shaŋ‑ra). Other “sementic” associations include SEMEN ⟷ SAP (Akha aˇ dzi˯ means both [Lewis p.35]); SEMEN ⟷ SHIT (Lahu nī‑qhɛ̂); SEMEN ⟷ FAT (Lahu nī‑chu); SEMEN ⟷ CONTEMPLATION (WT t'ig‑le [Jäschke p. 231]). The present root appears in the NE Indian Areal Group, Himalayish, and Qiangic.

rn	analysis	lgid	reflex	gloss	language	grpid	grpno	grp	genetic	citation	srcabbr	srcid	rn
118484	664,1614	1472	hai◦ra	semen	Tangkhul	66	1.3.4	Tangkhulic	1	Matisoff 87 BP	JAM-Ety		1
118482	m,1614	1472	pha̱◦ra	semen	Tangkhul	66	1.3.4	Tangkhulic	1	Matisoff 87 BP	JAM-Ety		0
118483	m,1614	1472	shaŋ◦ra	semen	Tangkhul	66	1.3.4	Tangkhulic	1	Matisoff 87 BP	JAM-Ety		0
118479	m,1614	352	pe◦da	semen	Bodo	80	1.7.1.1	Bodo	1	Matisoff 87 BP	JAM-Ety		2
307030	1614,1286	1771	la◦lik	semen, sperm	Belhare	31	2.3.1	Eastern Kiranti	1	Bickel 95	BB-Belhare		0
118475	1284,1614	913	le◦wā	semen	Limbu	31	2.3.1	Eastern Kiranti	1	Matisoff 87 BP	JAM-Ety		0
79503	1284,188,1614	328	lü-khü-wa	semen	Bantawa	76	2.3.2	Southern Kiranti	1	Rai 84 BnDc	WW-Bant	47	0
51165	1284,188,1614	327	lU◦khU◦wa	semen	Bantawa	76	2.3.2	Southern Kiranti	1	Rai 85 BnDs	NKR-Bant		0
73444	m,1614	547	roː rɨ	semen, sperm, seed	Dumi	77	2.3.3	Central Kiranti	1	Driem 93 Dumi	SVD-Dum		3
50048	1614,m	1545	la◦sa	semen	Thulung	30	2.3.4	Western Kiranti	1	Allen 75	NJA-Thulung		0
17761	m,1614	1491	rǐɑr rǐe	semen	Tangut [Xixia]	33	3.1	Tangut	1	Dai 89 Xixi	DQ-Xixia	10.3.7	0
37497	1614	1316	ʁliəʴ	semen	Qiang (Mawo)	34	3.2	Qiangic	1	Sun J 86 Mawo	JS-Mawo		0

analysis

lgid

reflex

gloss

gfn

language

grpid

grpno

grp

genetic

citation

srcabbr

srcid

118484

664,1614

1472

hai◦ra

semen

Tangkhul

1.3.4

Tangkhulic

Matisoff 87 BP

JAM-Ety

118482

m,1614

1472

pha̱◦ra

semen

Tangkhul

1.3.4

Tangkhulic

Matisoff 87 BP

JAM-Ety

118483

m,1614

1472

shaŋ◦ra

semen

Tangkhul

1.3.4

Tangkhulic

Matisoff 87 BP

JAM-Ety

118479

m,1614

352

pe◦da

semen

Bodo

1.7.1.1

Bodo

Matisoff 87 BP

JAM-Ety

307030

1614,1286

1771

la◦lik

semen, sperm

Belhare

2.3.1

Eastern Kiranti

Bickel 95

BB-Belhare

118475

1284,1614

913

le◦wā

semen

Limbu

2.3.1

Eastern Kiranti

Matisoff 87 BP

JAM-Ety

79503

1284,188,1614

328

lü-khü-wa

semen

Bantawa

2.3.2

Southern Kiranti

Rai 84 BnDc

WW-Bant

51165

1284,188,1614

327

lU◦khU◦wa

semen

Bantawa

2.3.2

Southern Kiranti

Rai 85 BnDs

NKR-Bant

73444

m,1614

547

roː rɨ

semen, sperm, seed

Dumi

2.3.3

Central Kiranti

Driem 93 Dumi

SVD-Dum

50048

1614,m

1545

la◦sa

semen

Thulung

2.3.4

Western Kiranti

Allen 75

NJA-Thulung

17761

m,1614

1491

rǐɑr rǐe

semen

Tangut [Xixia]

3.1

Tangut

Dai 89 Xixi

DQ-Xixia

10.3.7

37497

1614

1316

ʁliəʴ

semen

Qiang (Mawo)

3.2

Qiangic

Sun J 86 Mawo

JS-Mawo

^ 1.

Lit. “vagina-semen”. This certainly looks like a case of “genital flipflop”, i.e. semen is viewed as “vagina-semen”, since that is its destination.

^ 2.

The ‑d‑ in Bodo da is a plausible intervocalic reflex of *‑r‑. The name of this language itself is often transcribed as “Boro”. See Bhat 1968.

#1614 PTB *(r/w)a SEMEN