#3585 PTB *s-nəw(-) BREAST / MILK / SUCK

This root is reconstructed as *nəw in STC #419, on the basis of forms from WT, Tsangla, WB, and Lushai (Mizo). (The rhyme *‑əw in STC is equivalent to Benedict’s earlier reconstruction *‑uw.) The *s‑ in our reconstruction is reflected in the voiceless nasals in Kuki-Chin and Barish languages (including the Lushai (Mizo) form hnu‑te cited in STC #419), the tă‑ prefix in Awa Khumi, and directly in Thanphum ʃə̆nũ⁵ and WT snun‑pa ‘suckle’.

This root has been frequently combined with dental and velar suffixal elements, both nasals and stops. The reflexes are presented in the following sections according to the particular allofam they represent: the unsuffixed root *s‑nəw in #253 PTB *s‑nəw; forms with dental suffixes (*s‑nəwt, *s‑nəwn) in #3586 PTB *s‑nəw(t/n); and forms with velar suffixes (*s‑nəwk, *s‑nəwŋ) in #259 PTB *s‑nəw(k/ŋ).

This etymon is very widely distributed in ST, appearing in Chinese, the NE Indian Areal Group, Himalayish, Lolo-Burmese, Karenic, and Qiangic (including Tangut). Many languages have reduplicated forms (e.g. Ergong nu‑nu), as is to be expected in such a hypocoristic concept as BREAST.

Somewhat similar phonologically is the root *s‑nye‑n, which is here treated as a separate etymon, below #254 PTB *s‑nya‑n.