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

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.

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.[1]

Glottolog accepts that it was at least Sino-Tibetan.[2]

Lexicon

Wen (1981: 18–19) lists the following basic vocabulary items, which have been taken from Thomas (1948: 399–451).

No.Chinese glossEnglish glossNam
1天skymo, nam
2云cloudgmog, mog, mog
3日sungnyi
4月moon’la, la
5火firesme/’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tigercho
10熊bear (animal)gre
11牦牛yak’brong
12马horserta, rta’, ’rta, ’rta’
13驴donkeygzu, ’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toothswa
19手hand’phyag
20心heartsyning, snyang
21盲blindklu
22死dead’shi, shi (gshi, bshi)
23箭arrow’da’, ’lda’?
24门doorrgo, ’go, ’ko(rgor)
25大bigrbo, bo-bon, rbom, ’bom, ’rbom
26小smallbyi, hbyi
27高highshid, ’shid, tho, ’tho, stang, ’stang

References

  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.
  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

  • 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.
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