#5902 PTB *tshyar RAIN (n.) (provisional)

This provisional etymon, attested in Bodic and rGyalrongic, is clearly allofamic with #652 PTB *tsyar URINE, attested e.g. in Tangkhulic and Kiranti languages. Not surprisingly, in those Bodic and rGyalrongic languages where reflexes of PTB *tshyar happen to mean ‘rain’, words meaning ‘urine’ turn out to derive from PTB etyma unrelated to *tshyar; vice versa in those Tangkhulic and Kiranti languages where reflexes of PTB *tsyar mean ‘urine’, not ‘rain’.

As concerns sense development, however, the notions ‘rain’ vs. ‘urine’ exemplified are likely related to one another. The situation in Indo-European languages may be instructive here: English ‘urine’ < Latin ūrina, ultimately < Proto-Indo-European *uh₁r‑, zero grade of *weh₁r‑ ‘water, liquid, milk’. Furthermore, PIE *uh₁r‑ yields e.g. not only Sanskrit वार् (vār) “water”, but also Proto-Germanic *ūrą, whence Old Norse úr ‘rain’, as well as Old Icelandic ūr, also ‘rain’. Comparative historical semantics thus suggests that if #5902 PTB *tshyar RAIN (n.) and #652 PTB *tsyar URINE are to be merged as a single PTB etymon, a protogloss such as ‘RAIN / URINE’, or perhaps ‘WATER (FALLING)’, would be quite appropriate.

Finally, we believe #5902 PTB *tshyar RAIN (n.) may also be related to #3465 PTB *tsyir ⪤ *tsyuːr WRING / SQUEEZE; see note there.