Old Chinese *sm- and the Old Tibetan Word for ‘Fire’

Hill, Nathan W.

Abstract

Several sinologists have compared Chinese xjwɨjX 'burn' or xwaX 'fire' to an Old Tibetan word smye 'fire'. No such Old Tibetan word exists. Instead, mye is the Old Tibetan word for fire and smye, also spelled dmeḥ, means 'stain, impurity, sin'. Tibetan evidence in this case does not support a reconstruction *sm- in Old Chinese.

Citation

Hill, N. W. (2013). Old Chinese *sm- and the Old Tibetan Word for ‘Fire’. Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale, 42(1), 60-71. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685322-0421P0004

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: Dec 29, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 17, 2022
• Journal: Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale
• Print ISSN: 0153-3320
• Electronic ISSN: 1960-6028
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 42
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 60-71
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15685322-0421P0004
• Keywords: Old Chinese; fire; Old Tibetan; Or. 15000/265, s-prefix
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