Nam | |
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Region | Central Asia |
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Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | None (mis ) |
Glottolog | namm1235 |
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.
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 norinQinghai 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]
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 |
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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 |
Sino-Tibetan branches
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Western Himalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim) |
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Eastern Himalayas (Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal) |
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Myanmar and Indo-Burmese border |
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East and Southeast Asia |
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Dubious (possible isolates) (Arunachal) |
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Proposed groupings |
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Proto-languages |
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Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches. |
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