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On the origin of the Mainstream Hakka word [oi1] “mother”

論主流客家話「母親」一詞的來源

In: Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics
Author:
W. South Coblin [aka. 南 柯蔚] University of Iowa USA Iowa City, IA

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Abstract

One of the most common morphemes meaning “mother” in the Hakka dialects is a syllable pronounced [oi1], [ɔi1], or the like. This word, so far as is known, has no phonologically systematic cognates in other Chinese dialect families and is not attested in early Sinographic records. Nor has any plausible non-Sinitic donor language been identified for it. The object of the present paper is to suggest a possible earlier origin for this word. Our hypothesis is that it is in fact a fusion of a Common Neo-Hakka compound *a1 moi1, in which the first element is a kinship prefix and the second is a word whose basic meaning is “mother, aunt, etc.” The paper then suggests that the morpheme *moi1 descends from an even older, pre-Hakka word *moi4, which may in turn have been related in some way to the pre-Hàn word mǔ 母 “mother”.

摘要

客家方言有許多語詞可以表達“母親”的意思。 其中之一就是讀作[oi1]或[ɔi1]等的單音節。這個“Oi1”字在其他方言裡似乎沒有語音整齊對應的同源詞。古代漢語書籍裡也找尋不到此音節的本字。如果說它是從外族語言引進來的話,那麼到現在為止國內外少數民族語言裡也未曾有人找到過令人信服的借詞。本篇擬提出一個新的假設來破解這個謎:現代客家話的 “Oi1”單音節原來是共同新客家話雙音節詞*a1 moi1的合併體。*a1 是客語經常使用的親屬稱呼前綴,而*moi1就是“母親”的意思。文章另外也提出此共同客語的*moi1字是從更早的江南古代漢語方言的*moi4字演變而來的。最後也假設這個古代*moi4字可能跟上古漢語“母”字有同源關係。

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