Proto-Munda language explained

Proto-Munda
Familycolor:	Austro-Asiatic
Ancestor:	Proto-Austroasiatic
Target:	Munda languages

Proto-Munda is the reconstructed proto-language of the Munda languages of South Asia. It has been reconstructed by Sidwell & Rau (2015). According to Sidwell, the Proto-Munda language split from Proto- Austroasiatic in Indochina and arrived on the coast of Odisha around 4000 – 3500 years ago.^[1]

Reconstruction

The following Proto-Munda lexical proto-forms have been reconstructed by Sidwell & Rau (2015: 319, 340-363).^[2] Two asterisks are given to denote the tentative, preliminary state of the proto-language reconstruction.

Gloss	Proto-Munda
belly	(sə)laɟ
big	məraŋ
to bite	kaˀp
black	kE(n)dE
blood	məjam
bone	ɟaːˀŋ
to burn (vt.)	gEˀp
claw/nail	rəmAj
cloud	tərIˀp
cold	raŋ
die (of a person)	gOˀj
dog	sOˀt
to drink (water)	uˀt, **uˀk
dry (adj./stat.)	(ə)sAr
ear	lutur, **luˀt
earth/soil	ʔOte
to eat	ɟOm
egg	(ə)tAˀp
eye	maˀt
fat/grease/oil	sunum
feather	bəlEˀt
fire	səŋal
fish (n.)	ka, **kadO(ŋ)
fly (v.)	pEr
foot	ɟəːˀŋ
give	ʔam
hair (of head)	suˀk
hand	tiːˀ
to hear/listen	ajɔm
heart, liver	(gə)rE, **ʔim
horn	dəraŋ
I	(n)iɲ
to kill	(bə)ɡOˀɟ
leaf	Olaːˀ
to lie (down)	gətiˀc
long	ɟəlƏŋ
louse (head)	siːˀ
man/husband, person/human	kOrOˀ
meat/flesh	ɟəlU(Uˀ)
moon	harkE, **aŋaj
mountain/hill	bəru(uˀ)
mouth	təmOˀt
name	ɲUm
neck	kO, **gOˀk
new	təmI
night	(m)ədiˀp
nose	muːˀ
not	əˀt
one	mOOˀj
rain	gəma
red	ɟəŋAˀt
road, path	kOrA
root (of a tree)	rEˀt
sand	kEˀt
see	(n)El
sit	kO
skin
sleep	gətiˀc
smoke (n.)	mOˀk
to speak, say	sun, **gam, **kaj
to stand	tənaŋ, **tƏŋgə
stone	bərƏl, **sərEŋ
sun	siŋi(iˀ)
tail	pata
thigh	buluuˀ
that (dist.)	han
this (prox.)	En
thou/you	(n)Am
tongue	laːˀŋ
tooth	gənE
tree	ɟiːˀ
two	baːˀr
to walk, go	sEn
to weave	ta(aˀ)ɲ
water	daːˀk
woman/wife	selA, **kəni
yellow	saŋsaŋ

Proto-Munda reconstruction has since been revised and improved by Rau (2019).

See also

• Proto-Austroasiatic language

Notes and References

1. Sidwell, Paul. 2018. Austroasiatic Studies: state of the art in 2018 . Presentation at the Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, 22 May 2018.
2. Sidwell, Paul and Felix Rau (2015). "Austroasiatic Comparative-Historical Reconstruction: An Overview." In Jenny, Mathias and Paul Sidwell, eds (2015). The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.