1.0 The Body > 1.9 Reproductive System > 1.9.5 Vagina

#668 PTB *pu VAGINA

This root appears mostly in Himalayish, with a possible cognate from Qiangic. The second syllable of Karbi mak‑phu ‘mons Veneris’ seems unrelated. In view of the gloss it probably means something like ‘swelling; protuberance’. It bears a resemblance to other reflexes of the well-attested root *bwam ⪤ *pwam PLUMP / SWOLLEN (STC #172; HPTB pp. 249, 252, 341, 518).

rn	analysis	lgid	reflex	gloss	language	grpid	grpno	grp	genetic	citation	srcabbr	srcid	rn
127801	m,668	436	ku◦pu	vagina	Chantyal	23	2.1.4	Tamangish	1	Noonan 92	NPB-ChanQ	10.4.1	0
127802	m,668,m,m	436	ku◦pu-ye gala	vulva / labia	Chantyal	23	2.1.4	Tamangish	1	Noonan 92	NPB-ChanQ	10.4.2	1
51132	668,1349	327	phu◦ci	vagina (baby talk)	Bantawa	76	2.3.2	Southern Kiranti	1	Rai 85 BnDs	NKR-Bant		0
79552	668,1349	328	phu◦ci	vagina / vulva	Bantawa	76	2.3.2	Southern Kiranti	1	Rai 84 BnDc	WW-Bant	60	0
79553	668,1349,661	328	phu◦ci dhü	vagina	Bantawa	76	2.3.2	Southern Kiranti	1	Rai 84 BnDc	WW-Bant	60	0
51133	668,1616	327	phu◦ri	vagina	Bantawa	76	2.3.2	Southern Kiranti	1	Rai 85 BnDs	NKR-Bant		0
119911	668,1349	644	pu-tsing	vagina	Hayu	30	2.3.4	Western Kiranti	1	Matisoff 87 BP	JAM-Ety		0
12847	668,1616	766	pə◦reː	vagina	Kham	28	2.4	Kham-Magar-Chepang	1	Watters 89 KhQ	DNW-KhamQ		0
17880	668,1349	1325	pʰo◦ʂ	vagina	Qiang (Yadu)	34	3.2	Qiangic	1	Dai 89 Qian	DQ-QiangN	146	2

^ 1.

Chantyal gala ‘cheek’; ‑ye GENITIVE. Lit. “vagina’s cheeks”.

^ 2.

Qiang ʂ looks like the fused initial consonant of the second syllable of an original compound, descended from #1349 PTB *si(ŋ/k) VAGINA. Fusion of compounds into monosyllables is a striking characteristic of the Qiangic languages (e.g. Benedict 1983, “Qiang monosyllabization: a third phase in the cycle”, LTBA 7.2:113-4).