3.0 Natural Objects, Plants, Foods > 3.1 Plants > 3.1.2 Plant parts and types

#5919 PTB *s-duŋ TREE / TRUNK / LOG / BEAM (provisional)

We suggest that #5919 PTB *s‑duŋ TREE / TRUNK / LOG / BEAM, #5779 PTB *tum ⪤ *dum LOG / HUNK OF WOOD / SECTION OF SOMETHING LONG, #6073 PTB *duːŋ POST / COLUMN, #7425 PKar *thuNᴮ POLE be merged as a single etymon at the Proto-Tibeto-Burman level.

Note that the above etyma may belong to an areal word family, cf. ndɑɑŋ ‘wood, tree’ (Kantu) (ref: The2001:C:Sid2005~953-16), ndɔɔŋ ‘wood, tree’(Ngeq) (ref: Smi1976:C:Sid2005~953-12), where Kantu and Ngeq are Katuic languages; references given in http://sealang.net/monkhmer/dictionary. Numerous other lexemes phonosemantically similar to the Ngeq and Kantu forms in other Mon-Khmer languages can be found within the SEAlang online dictionary.

Chinese comparandum

棟 OC *dung, GSR #1175f ‘ridge pole, ridge of a roof, a kind of tree’, also, CLF for buildings; Schuessler 2009:12-6f *tôŋh; B & S 2011: (*tˤoŋ‑s); Mand. dòng.

桐 OC *d’ung, GSR 1176e ‘Eloeococca and kindred trees’; Schuessler 2009:12-9e *dôŋ, B & S 2011: (*dˤoŋ); Mand. tóng.

Note that 桐 tóng is the final element in Chinese compound nouns referring to various species of trees native to East Asia (not necessarily related to each other). An example is 油桐 yóutóng ‘tung tree’, whose seeds are historically important as the source of tung oil, widely used as an ingredient in paints and varnishes (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernicia_fordii ).