Re: Anser (was: swallow vs. nighingale)

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Ryan" <proto-language@...>
wrote:

Richard:

> ... but the 'thigh' word (U+9AC0) Mandarin bi4
> Cantonese bei2 makes no sense - unless of course there is a typo in
> what I am using for a Cantonese dictionary.

Patrick:

> You will have to explain further about bi4. I do not grasp your point.

The tones don't match. Cantonese tone 2 corresponds to yin shang
(a.k.a. upper shang/ascending), which appears as tone 3 in Mandarin.
I may also be missing a subtlety in the tone splits - yang shang with
non-resonant initial does yield tone 4 in Mandarin. Etymology is not
a science in which the tones count for nothing.

Richard.