Nam language
{{Short description|Extinct Sino-Tibetan language}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Nam
| region = Central Asia
| familycolor = Sino-Tibetan
| fam2 = (unclassified)
| iso3 = none
| glotto = namm1235
| glottorefname = Nam
| extinct = ?
}}
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 {{Lang|fr|Bibliothèque nationale de France|italic=no}}.
Classification
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.{{cite web
|url = http://mercury.soas.ac.uk/wadict/icstll41/abstracts/Ikeda_conf_abtract.doc
|title = Spotlights to the decipherment of the Nam language
|author = Ikeda Takumi
|authorlink = Ikeda Takumi
|work = The 41st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics
|page = abstract
|accessdate = November 27, 2010
}}{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
Glottolog accepts that it was at least Sino-Tibetan.{{Glottolog|namm1235|Nam}}
Lexicon
Wen (1981: 18–19) lists the following basic vocabulary items, which have been taken from Thomas (1948: 399–451).
| class="wikitable sortable"
! No. !! Chinese gloss !! English gloss !! Nam | |||
| 1 | 天 | sky | mo, nam |
| 2 | 云 | cloud | gmog, mog, mog |
| 3 | 日 | sun | gnyi |
| 4 | 月 | moon | ’la, la |
| 5 | 火 | fire | sme/’me, ’me’i, me, ’mye, ye |
| 6 | 水 | water | ’ldya, ’ldya |
| 7 | 山 | mountain | ’ri, gri, gri’i, ’ri’i |
| 8 | 石 | stone | ’rto, rto |
| 9 | 虎 | tiger | cho |
| 10 | 熊 | bear (animal) | gre |
| 11 | 牦牛 | yak | ’brong |
| 12 | 马 | horse | rta, rta’, ’rta, ’rta’ |
| 13 | 驴 | donkey | gzu, ’ju, ’zu, ’dzu, ’ju’u’gduz |
| 14 | 狗 | dog | ’kyi |
| 15 | 猪 | pig | ’phag |
| 16 | 头 | head | ’bu, ’ko |
| 17 | 眼 | eye | ’me’i, méi, mye |
| 18 | 齿 | tooth | swa |
| 19 | 手 | hand | ’phyag |
| 20 | 心 | heart | syning, snyang |
| 21 | 盲 | blind | klu |
| 22 | 死 | dead | ’shi, shi (gshi, bshi) |
| 23 | 箭 | arrow | ’da’, ’lda’? |
| 24 | 门 | door | rgo, ’go, ’ko(rgor) |
| 25 | 大 | big | rbo, bo-bon, rbom, ’bom, ’rbom |
| 26 | 小 | small | byi, hbyi |
| 27 | 高 | high | shid, ’shid, tho, ’tho, stang, ’stang |
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
{{refbegin}}
- 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．
- {{cite book |doi=10.1163/9789004233454_006 |chapter=Highlights in the Decipherment of the Nam Language |title=Medieval Tibeto-Burman Languages IV |year=2012 |pages=111–119 |isbn=978-90-04-23202-0 |first1=Ikeda |last1=Takumi }}
- Lalou, Marcelle (1939). “Sur la langue « nam ».” Journal Asiatique 231: 453.
- {{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=F. W. |authorlink1=Frederick William Thomas (philologist) |title=The Nam Language |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |date=July 1928 |volume=60 |issue=3 |pages=630–634 |jstor=5221378 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00060974 |s2cid=250344975 }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=F. W. |title=The Nam Language |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |date=April 1939 |volume=71 |issue=2 |pages=193–216 |jstor=25201881 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00088456 |s2cid=162874593 }}
- Thomas, Frederick William (1948). [https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.1377 Nam, an ancient language of the Sino-Tibetan borderland]. London: Oxford University Press.
- {{cite journal |last1=Shafer |first1=Robert |title=Clews to the Decipherment of the 'Nam' Language |journal=Monumenta Serica |date=1 January 1963 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=169–184 |doi=10.1080/02549948.1963.11731032 |jstor=40726470 }}
- Wén Yòu 聞宥 (1981). [http://www.nssd.org/articles/article_detail.aspx?id=1002415377 〈論所謂南語〉Lùn suǒwèi Nányǔ (On the 'Nam' language)《民族語文》]. Mínzú yǔwén 1: 16–25.
{{refend}}
{{Sino-Tibetan branches}}
Category:Languages attested from the 1st millennium
Category:Unclassified Sino-Tibetan languages
Category:Extinct languages of Asia
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