Old dog

> 11.2.4 Traces of suffixal *-n in Chinese
> The most interesting cases of the *-n suffix in Chinese involve

noun

> roots where the suffix can be said to contribute a collective or
> vaguely plural meaning. These include several animal names and
> kinship terms:
>
> 'dog'
> *kw&y-n STC #159; JAM 1985a GSTC #17
> *kw&y WT khyi; Chepang kwi; Jg. gùi; WB khwê; Lahu phï^
> Lushai ui; Karen thw\î;
> Chinese .. (OC ku; GSR #108d) 'dog'
> *kw&yn Chinese .. (OC k`iw&n; GSR #479a-d) 'dog' a
>
> 'female'
> *pwi(y-)n stc#171
> *pwi(y) Lushai -pui 'feminine affix';
> Jg. wi ~ yi 'id.', s&wi ~ s&yi 'female'
> *pwi(y)n Chinese .. (OC b'y&n ~ b'y&r; GSR #566i-j)
> 'female of animals' b

Note in the latter the alternation in Old Chinese finals *-n ~ *-r.
In principle, the former, the "dog" word, might therefore have had
now undocumented forms in final *-r, which could be the ancestors of
Proto-Basque *kora, English cur, Finnish koira.


Torsten