1.0 The Body > 1.9 Reproductive System > 1.9.7 Penis

#1638 PTB *b/m-laŋ PENIS / MALE / HUSBAND

This etymon has been identified in Himalayish, Jingpho, and Qiangic, though more support from the latter group would be welcome. The PTB root initial is taken to have been a *lateral, with both a labial nasal and a labial stop prefix attested.

According to K. P. Malla, the second syllable of Newar mi jɔ̃ ‘male’ is from Skt. jana- ‘man’, not from the present root. The first syllable is from the widespread TB morpheme #1002 PTB *r‑mi(y)‑n PERSON / MAN.

J. Sun 1993:131 reconstructs Proto-Tani *mrak, but the forms he cites are better assigned to #548 PTB *s‑nyak*s‑nik PENIS / COPULATE, above.

This root seems distinct from #1624 PTB *la MALE.

Also to be brought into this etymon is WB lâŋ, which (as suggested in Matisoff 1995:52-3 [“Sino-Tibetan palatal suffixes revisited”]) is to be compared with Chinese 郎 (Mand. láng) [WHB *C‑rāŋ], now meaning ‘young man; bridegroom; clf. for sons’. This word is glossed only as ‘place name (Tso); double roof, one roof above the other’ in GSR #735r. However, it would be rash to infer that the synchronic meaning did not exist at all in spoken OC.

See the remarks by Handel, below.

rnanalysislgidreflexglossgfnlanguagegrpidgrpnogrpgeneticcitationsrcabbrsrcidrn
4414511002,16381934mi-longhusband; masculine suffixPadam [Abor]741.1.1.2Eastern Tani1Benedict 2008PKB-KSEA1290
4414501002,16381933mil-bonghusbandMishing [Miri]741.1.1.2Eastern Tani1Benedict 2008PKB-KSEA129 1
1182791638503mlõpenisDarang [Taraon]61.1.2Deng1Matisoff 87 BPJAM-Ety0
2920m,1638905ka-lɛ̃penisLiangmei641.3.3Zeme Group1Weidert 87 TBToAW-TBT1420
144763545,1638668ne³¹laŋ³³penisn.Jingpho371.7.3.1Jingpho1Dai 83 JingDQ-Jingpho0
44146116381096longpenisTsangla222.1.2Bodic1Das Gupta 68 MonKDG-ICM670
6203416381098longpenismTsangla (Central)222.1.2Bodic1Egli-RodunerSER-HSLT34 30
4414552731,s,16381937tyang-mo longmale elephantLepcha212.1.3Lepcha1Benedict 2008PKB-KSEA1370
799781638999byɯŋ²maleManang (Gyaru)232.1.4Tamangish1Nagano 84 ManYN-Man1470
12985916381135ʁo³⁵maleMuya [Minyak]343.2Qiangic1Sun H 91 MuyQSHK-MuyaQ10.30
130926p,1638618tə◦ʁʑamalerGyalrong (NW)783.3.1rGyalrong1Sun H 91 rNWSHK-rGNWQ10.30
2545951638392laṅhusbandBurmese (Written)446.1.1Burmish1Marrison 67 NagaGEM-CNL0
4414541638406lâŋhusbandBurmese (Written)446.1.1Burmish1Benedict 76 WBurPKB-WBRD0
4383041638406lâŋhusbandBurmese (Written)446.1.1Burmish1Benedict 76 WBurPKB-WBRD0
35785316381822lɑŋ²husbandnBurmese (Written)446.1.1Burmish1Huang and Dai 92 TBLTBL0247.260
1971651638411lɑŋ²husbandBurmese (Written)446.1.1Burmish1Sun H 91 ZMYYZMYYC337.390

Chinese comparanda

郎 OC *lɑ̂ng, GSR #735r ‘husband, young man’ ; Li 1971: *lang; Baxter 1992: *C‑rang; Mand. láng.

The meaning ‘husband, young man’ is not attested until quite late. It appears to be derived from the basic sense ‘veranda or corridor (of a palace or mansion)’ via ‘official (doing duty there)’, making it an improbable cognate to PTB roots meaning ‘male’, cf. Schuessler 2007:344.2 Furthermore, nearly all scholars are now in agreement that Middle Chinese l‑ derives from earlier *r‑, and does not normally correspond to PTB *l‑.
[ZJH]

S251 犅 Mand. gāng ‘bull, stud’ *kâng *kˁaŋ


^ 1.
Benedict 1941/2008:129 observes that this form “appears to be metathesized”, implying an earlier form mi‑b‑long.
^ 2.
Schuessler suggests that WB laŋ ‘husband’ is actually a loan from Chinese, though this seems unlikely in view of the paucity of Chinese loanwords in Burmese. [JAM]