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 Reading | Old 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 