Nam language

Summary

Nam is an unclassified extinct language preserved in Tibetan transcriptions in a number of Dunhuang manuscript fragments. The manuscript fragments are held at the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Nam
RegionCentral Asia
Sino-Tibetan
  • (unclassified)
    • Nam
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
Glottolognamm1235

Classification edit

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 edit

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 sky mo, nam
2 cloud gmog, mog, mog
3 sun gnyi
4 moon ’la, la
5 fire sme/’me, ’me’i, me, ’mye, ye
6 water ’ldya, ’ldya
7 mountain ’ri, gri, gri’i, ’ri’i
8 stone ’rto, rto
9 tiger cho
10 bear (animal) gre
11 牦牛 yak ’brong
12 horse rta, rta’, ’rta, ’rta’
13 donkey gzu, ’ju , ’zu, ’dzu, ’ju’u’gduz
14 dog ’kyi
15 pig ’phag
16 head ’bu, ’ko
17 eye ’me’i, méi, mye
18 齿 tooth swa
19 hand ’phyag
20 heart syning, snyang
21 blind klu
22 dead ’shi, shi (gshi, bshi)
23 arrow ’da’, ’lda’?
24 door rgo, ’go, ’ko(rgor)
25 big rbo, bo-bon, rbom, ’bom, ’rbom
26 small byi, hbyi
27 high shid, ’shid, tho, ’tho, stang, ’stang

References edit

  1. ^ 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.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Nam". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Further reading edit

  • 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.
  • Takumi, Ikeda (2012). "Highlights in the Decipherment of the Nam Language". Medieval Tibeto-Burman Languages IV. pp. 111–119. doi:10.1163/9789004233454_006. ISBN 978-90-04-23202-0.
  • Lalou, Marcelle (1939). “Sur la langue « nam ».” Journal Asiatique 231: 453.
  • Thomas, F. W. (July 1928). "The Nam Language". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 60 (3): 630–634. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00060974. JSTOR 5221378. S2CID 250344975.
  • Thomas, F. W. (April 1939). "The Nam Language". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 71 (2): 193–216. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00088456. JSTOR 25201881. S2CID 162874593.
  • Thomas, Frederick William (1948). Nam, an ancient language of the Sino-Tibetan borderland. London: Oxford University Press.
  • Shafer, Robert (1 January 1963). "Clews to the Decipherment of the 'Nam' Language". Monumenta Serica. 22 (1): 169–184. doi:10.1080/02549948.1963.11731032. JSTOR 40726470.
  • 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.