Nam language
Nam is an unclassified extinct language preserved in Tibetan transcriptions in a number of Dunhuang manuscript fragments. The manuscript fragments are currently held at the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
| Nam | |
|---|---|
| Region | Central Asia |
| Era | ? |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | namm1235 |
Classification
According to Ikeda Takumi, the research of F. W. Thomas, published in 1948, concluded that Nam "was one of the old Qiang [languages] spoken around the Nam mountain range near Koko nor in Qinghai province", associated with a country called Nam tig which is mentioned in some historical records. However, Ikeda further states that Thomas' conclusions were widely criticized.[1]
Glottolog accepts that it was at least Sino-Tibetan.[2]
Lexicon
Wen (1981: 18-19) lists the following basic vocabulary items, which have been taken from Thomas (1948: 399-451).
| No. | Chinese gloss | English gloss | Nam |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 天 | sky | mo, nam |
| 2 | 云 | cloud | gmog, mog, mog |
| 3 | 日 | sun | gnyi |
| 4 | 月 | moon | ’la, la |
| 5 | 火 | fire | sme/’me, ’me’i, me, ’mye, ye |
| 6 | 水 | water | ’ldya, ’ldya |
| 7 | 山 | mountain | ’ri, gri, gri’i, ’ri’i |
| 8 | 石 | stone | ’rto, rto |
| 9 | 虎 | tiger | cho |
| 10 | 熊 | bear (animal) | gre |
| 11 | 牦牛 | yak | ’brong |
| 12 | 马 | horse | rta, rta’, ’rta, ’rta’ |
| 13 | 驴 | donkey | gzu, ’ju , ’zu, ’dzu, ’ju’u’gduz |
| 14 | 狗 | dog | ’kyi |
| 15 | 猪 | pig | ’phag |
| 16 | 头 | head | ’bu, ’ko |
| 17 | 眼 | eye | ’me’i, méi, mye |
| 18 | 齿 | tooth | swa |
| 19 | 手 | hand | ’phyag |
| 20 | 心 | heart | syning, snyang |
| 21 | 盲 | blind | klu |
| 22 | 死 | dead | ’shi, shi (gshi, bshi) |
| 23 | 箭 | arrow | ’da’, ’lda’? |
| 24 | 门 | door | rgo, ’go, ’ko(rgor) |
| 25 | 大 | big | rbo, bo-bon, rbom, ’bom, ’rbom |
| 26 | 小 | small | byi, hbyi |
| 27 | 高 | high | shid, ’shid, tho, ’tho, stang, ’stang |
References
- Ikeda Takumi. "Spotlights to the decipherment of the Nam language". The 41st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics. p. abstract. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
- Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Nam". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- Chén Zōngxiáng 陳宗祥 (1994). 〈敦煌古藏文拼冩的“南語”手卷的名稱問題〉Dūnhuáng Gǔzàngwén pīnxiěde 'Nányǔ' shǒujuànde míngchēng wèntí [The identity of the Dūnhuáng 'Nam language' scroll transcribed in Old Tibetan].《四川藏學研究》Sìchuān Zàngxué yánjiū 2. 中國藏學出版社 Zhōngguó Zàngxué chūbǎnshè, 164-180頁．（筆名爲寶羊與王建民合冩）
- Chén Zōngxiáng 陳宗祥 (1997). 〈敦煌古藏文拼冩的“南語”手卷的有關地名考釋〉Dūnhuáng Gǔzàngwén pīnxiěde 'Nányǔ' shǒujuànde yǒuguān dìmíng kǎoshì [Explanation of the places names in the Dūnhuáng 'Nam language' scroll transcribed in Old Tibetan].《四川藏學研究》Sìchuān Zàngxué yánjiū 4．四川民族出版社 Sìchuān mínzú chūbǎnshè. 684-698．
- Ikeda Takumi (2012). Highlights in the Decipherment of the Nam Language. Medieval Tibeto-Burman Languages IV. Ed. Nathan W. Hill. Leiden: Brill, pp 111-119.
- Lalou, Marcelle (1939). “Sur la langue « nam ».” Journal Asiatique 231: 453.
- Thomas, Frederick William (1928). “The Nam Language.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 3: 630-634.
- Thomas, Frederick William (1939). “The Nam Language.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2: 193-216.
- Thomas, Frederick William (1948). Nam, an ancient language of the Sino-Tibetan borderland. London: Oxford University Press.
- Wén Yòu 聞宥 (1981). 〈論所謂南語〉Lùn suǒwèi Nányǔ (On the 'Nam' language)《民族語文》. Mínzú yǔwén 1: 16-25.