暗黒で蝋燭の火のように聖なる光が見えます。
自分が光を見つけたというよりも、その光が自分を見つけました。
ある「驚異の物語」は書かれなくてはならん。
「描く」と「境」を意味するシナ・チベット語族の語根「*b-rej」が中国語の「理 (玉を磨く)」とミャンマー語の「ရေး (書く)｣の起源だそうです。
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凍てついた炎の黄昏 -
残り火の空 １９７８年のハロウィンという映画には、心に注意表示が貼られているようにある台詞があります。主人公が（ジェイミー・リー・カーティス）授業で運命の概念について話し合っていました。その話し合いで、運命は元素のようにも概念化されました。
「運命は、山のように動かせぬ、人が死ぬ所に立ち、変わらぬ」
僕は、運命の信念に固執していませんが、時々、自然界の力のように、そう感じると思います。
人の野望は、大いなる意志の反映かな。
ビルマ語と中国語の同根語表
အမည် (Written Burmese: a-mañ “name”) 名 (Old Chinese: meŋ “name”) ကောက် (Written Burmese: kauk “bent, curved” 曲 (Old Chinese: kʰog “bent, curved”) ခွင်း (Written Burmese: hkwang “pierce”) 貫 (Middle Chinese: kwan “pierce”) ခန်း (Written Burmese: hkan “dry up”) 乾 (Old Chinese: kan “dry”) တောင် (Written Burmese: taung “mountain”) 塚 (Old Chinese: toŋʔ “burial mound”) -
忘られた黄昏 極東では、有史の前の年代には謎が多いです。現代のアジア言語の起源は記録がない年代にさかのぼるそうです。歴史言語学者は建て直された祖語から古代の文化についての推論を得ることができます。例えば、インド・ヨーロッパ祖語を話した民族の信仰は、イタリック系の文化などからインドのヴェーダ教の文化までに比較方法で立て直されました。
極東では、最初の記録された言語は上古中国語です。その言語は古代中国の殷代で話されました。シナ・チベット祖語に由来したそうです。シナ・チベット祖語を話した民族の信仰の残影は現代の中国やミャンマーに残っているんでしょう。最近、ビルマ語の「လိပ်ပြာ (文語のビルマ語：lippra)」（蝶または魂や意識）という単語を知りました。その単語の部分は、中国語の単語と関係を持っているそうです。「လိပ် (lip)」の部分は、中国語の「蝶（上古中国語：*lˁep）」に相当します。両方の単語はシナ・チベット語源の「*s-lyap」に由来したそうです。「ပြာ (pra)」の部分は、中国語の「魄（上古中国語：*pʰˁrak）」と同じ語源に由来したそうです。蝶が意識と魂という概念に連想するのは、荘子の「胡蝶の夢」を思い浮かばせました。
次は、ビルマ語と中国語からの多分同じ語源のもっと単語の表です。
Burmese Word Chinese Word လက် ( Written Burmese: lak “arm, hand”) 腋 ( Middle Chinese: yek “armpit, underarm” ) မင် (Written Burmese: mang “ink”) 墨 (Middle Chinese: mok “ink”) မှုန် (Written Burmese: hmun “dim, gloomy”) 昏 (Old Chinese: *m̥ˁu[n] “dusk, nightfall, dark”) လည် (Written Burmese: lañ “neck”) 領 (Middle Chinese: ljengX “neck”) ထွန်း (Written Burmese: htwan “be bright, shine) 東 (Middle Chinese: tuwng “east”) အသည်း (Written Burmese: a-sañ “liver”) 辛 (Old Chinese: *siŋ “spicy”) အသံ (Written Burmese: a-sam “voice, sound”) 心 (Old Chinese: *səm “heart, mind, thought”) -
Blue Ridge Parkway, Autumn 2023 - World, derived from the Old English components wer “man” and ieldu “age” thus having the literal meaning of “the Age of Man”. Compared to words like mundus, लोक (loka), and 世界 (shìjiè), the Germanic word “world” places an emphasis on man, thus possibly influencing a human-centric conceptualization of the universe. Although often conflated, there is a distinction between the Earth and the World. The former being the planet, the home, and totality of all things on and in it. And the latter being the human realm. Worldliness is often contrasted against the spiritual, and thus associated with the material.
- Eschatology, twilight, and autumn go well together. It is a perfect time for contemplation and the mid-Atlantic fall foliage invites a type of mysticism mixed with hot apple cider.
- Novel progress: 213 pages with a projected 200 more.
Random Burmese-Chinese cognate of the day: က (ka, to dance) and 歌 (gē [ka in Middle Chinese], to sing, praise). From the Sino-Tibetan root *gar (to dance, sing, leap).
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Historical linguistics remains a fascinating topic. Basically, it’s pretty much 23andMe but for words and languages. It’s been demonstrated that many contemporary languages are descended from a common ancestor that existed in prehistory. That is the case for English and its relationship to languages like Romanian, Russian, Persian, and Bengali, all being members of the Indo-European language family. Compare the word “brother” across all the aforementioned languages.
Gloss English Romanian Russian Persian Bengali “brother” brother from Proto-West-Germanic *brōþer frate from Latin “frāter” брат (brat) from Old East Slavic братъ (bratŭ) برادر (barâdar) from Old Persian 𐎲𐎼𐎠𐎫𐎠
(brātā)ভাই (bhai) from Sanskrit भ्रातृ (bhrātṛ) Despite being in different languages, cultures, and regions, each word for “brother” has similar sounds. According to historical linguists, all those versions of “brother” descend from a common Proto-Indo-European root reconstructed as*bʰréh₂tēr meaning “brother”.
It’s a similar case with languages from the eastern parts of Asia. While learning Burmese, I couldn’t help but notice that some words seem similar to some Chinese words. The similarities aren’t readily apparent when comparing modern Burmese words and words in today’s Mandarin Chinese. But they’re more noticeable when looking at the readings of Chinese characters in languages like Japanese and Vietnamese which, along with Korean, have preserved an approximation of the older sounds of Chinese characters when they entered the lexicon of their respective languages many centuries ago. As linguists have classified Burmese and Chinese as members of the broader Sino-Tibetan language family, it makes sense to see cognates (words that share a common origin) between the two languages and loanwords from Chinese found in Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese.
It’s theorized that the ancestral Proto-Sino-Tibetan language which gave rise to both the Tibeto-Burman languages (which includes Burmese) and the Sinitic languages (all varieties of Chinese) was spoken around 7200 to 8000 years ago in northern China, an area and period associated with the late Cishan and Yangshao cultures. Like with the Indo-European languages, it’s amazing how certain words retain a degree of phonetic similarity and meaning over millennia after the diverging of the languages.
The table below displays comparisons between a few possible cognates between Burmese and Chinese. William Baxter‘s reconstructions of Middle Chinese (spoken between approx. 300-1100 A.D) are provided along with Zhengzhang Shangfang‘s Old Chinese (spoken prior to 300 A.D) reconstructions for comparing older Chinese sounds. Sino-Xenic readings of Chinese characters from Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese are also listed for comparison. The rightmost column contains a reference to the deepest constructed root-form available on the Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT). Roots noted with “Proto-Tibeto-Burman” only provide the Tibeto-Burman root from which the Burmese word likely derives, and suggests that a definitive root at the deepest Proto-Sino-Tibetan level (inclusive of both Chinese and Burmese) hasn’t been reconstructed or published. Nevertheless the STEDT provides the Sinitic (Chinese) comparisons on the etymon’s page.
Gloss Burmese Chinese Character with Mandarin Reading Middle
Chinese
ReadingOld Chinese Reading Sino-Korean Reading Japanese On’yomi Reading Han-Viet Reading Sino-Tibetan Root “I, me” ငါ (nga) 我 (wǒ) ngaX* *ŋaːlʔ 아 (a) が (ga) ngã *ngaɣ,
*ngay“can, be able” နိုင် (naing) 能 (néng) nong *nɯːŋ 능 (neung) のう (nō) năng *m-nyaŋ (Proto-Tibeto-Burman) “sun” နေ (ne) 日 (rì) nyit *njig 일 (il) にち (nichi), じつ (jitsu) nhật *nyiʔ “night” ည (nya) 夜 (yè) yaeH *laːgs 야 (ya) や (ya) dạ *ya-n (Proto-Tibeto-Burman) “year” နှစ် (hnit) 年 (nián) nen *niːŋ 년(nyeon) ねん(nen) niên *s-niːŋ “to come” လာ (la) 來 (lái) loj *m·rɯːɡ 래 (rae) らい (rai) lai *la-y (Proto-Tibeto-Burman) “to die” သေ (the, se1) 死 (sǐ) sijX *hljiʔ 사 (sa) し (shi) tử *syid “to leave, go out” ထွက် (htwet) 出 (chū) tsyhwit *kʰljuds 출 (chul) しゅつ (shutsu) xuất *s-twak
(Proto-Tibeto-Burman)“to kill” သတ် (that, sat1) 殺 (shā) sraet *sreːd 살 (sal) さつ (satsu) sát *sr+iat “to clean” ရှင်း (shin) 清 (qīng) tshjeng *sʰleŋ 청(cheong) しょう (shō)、
せい (sei)thanh, thinh *seng “eye” မျက် (myak) 目(mù) mjuwk *mug 목 (mok) もく (moku) mục *myəːk “mist, fog” မြူ (myu) 霧 (wù) mjuH *mogs 무 (mu) む (mu) vụ,
mù*mruk,
*mrjuɣ“fish” ငါး (nga) 魚 (yú) ngjo *ŋa 어 (eo) ぎょ (gyo) ngư *ŋya “sword, knife” ဓား (dha) 刀 (dāo) taw *taːw 도 (do) と (to) dao *s-ta (Proto-Tibeto-Burman) “live, alive” ရှင် (shin) 生 (shēng) sraeng *sreŋs 생(saeng) しょう (shō)、
せい (sei)sinh, sanh *sring “near” နီး (ni:) 暱 (nì) nrit *niɡ 닐 (nil)
→일 (il)にち (nichi)、
ね (ne)nặc *nyɨy “bright” ဝင်း (win, MLCTS: wang) 光 (guāng) kwang *kʷaːŋ 광 (gwang) くわう (kuwau)
→こう (kō)quang *hwaŋ (Proto-Tibeto-Burman) “far” ဝေး (we) 遠 (yuǎn) hjwonX *ɢʷanʔ 원 (won) ゑん (wen) →えん (en)
をん (won)→おん (on)vẻn,
viễn,
vỏn*g-wəy-n (Proto-Tibeto-Burman) * Middle Chinese tones: (X) designates a rising tone, (H) designates a departing tone
1သ was apparently pronounced with an ‘s’ sound up to the 1800s A.D when it underwent a sound change. See the Burmese word for ‘zero’ သုည (thunynya) which comes from the Sanskrit शून्य (śūnyá) via Pali. The MLCTS also romanizes သ as ‘sa’
The following are other possible Burmese and Chinese cognates, or word pairs that seem pretty similar (I’ll likely add to this list as I come across more Burmese words):
ကူ (ku “help” as in ကူညီ (ku-nyi)) and 救 (jiù “aid, save”, Middle Chinese: kjuwH, Old Chinese: *kus, Sino-Korean: 구 (gu), Japanese On’yomi: きゅう (kyū), Han-Viet: cứu)
ပြ (pya “show”) and 表 (biǎo “show, express”, Middle Chinese: pjiewX, Old Chinese: *prawʔ, Sino-Korean: 표 (pyo), Japanese On’yomi: ひょう (hyō), Han-Viet: biểu)
စော (saw “early”, Old Burmese: စဝ် saw) and 早 (zǎo “early”, Middle Chinese: tsawX, Old Chinese: *ʔsuːʔ, Sino-Korean: 조 (jo), Japanese On’yomi: そう (sō), Han-Viet: tảo)
ပုံ (pone “form, shape”) and 凡 (fán “all, outline”, Middle Chinese: bjom, Old Chinese: *bom, Sino-Korean: 범 (beom), Japanese On’yomi: ぼん (bon), Han-Viet: phàm). These two words are noted be cognates along with 法, but I can’t find any published Proto-Sino-Tibetan root from which they all derive.
ကြော် (kyaw “fry”) and 燒 (shāo “burn, roast”, Middle Chinese: syiew, Old Chinese: *hŋjaws, Sino-Korean: 소 (so), Japanese On’yomi: しょう (shō), Han-Viet: thiêu, sao)
ခေါ် (hkaw “call”) and 叫 (jiào “call”, Middle Chinese: kewH, Old Chinese: *kiːws, Sino-Korean: 규 (gyu), Japanese On’yomi: きょう (kyō), Han-Viet: khiếu). STEDT has a Proto-Tibeto-Burman root *(g/k)aw, but I’m not sure if that or 叫 are derived from the Proto-Sino-Tibetan reconstruction *gaɣw/*kəɣw .
ချဉ်း (chin: “approach, come near”) and 近 (jìn, “near, close”, Middle Chinese: gj+nX, Old Chinese: *ɡɯnʔ, Sino-Korean: 근 (geun), Japanese On’yomi: きん (kin), Han-Viet: cận)
တိုက် (taik “attack, fight”) and 鬥 (dòu, “fight, struggle”, Middle Chinese: tuwH, Old Chinese: *toːɡs, Sino-Korean: 투 (tu), Japanese On’yomi: つ、とう (tsu, tō), Han-Viet: đấu). Further comparisons: Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tak-tak (crash, clatter) which might be related to the Tagalog word suntok (meaning “punch”, or “striking with a fist”). Also see the Japanese たたかう (tatakau, “to fight”). But these all might have stemmed from an onomatopoetic word.
That’s a not-so-apparent beauty of learning languages: they may contain hidden links between different cultures which may seem hard to connect in modern times. And words have stories of their own.
What's A Mado 