Polysemy for heaven and god, with notes on d/g and t/k alternations

In his lecture on "Sino-Tibetan Languages: Introduction and Historical Perspective", given on 25 Oct 2020, Nathan Hill discusses the word for 'heaven' in the Bailang songs, which were composed in a Trans-Himalayan/Sino-Tibetan language in China around 58-75 CE.

At the 39-43 minute mark, he considers the question of whether Bailang is a Loloish language, as claimed by W. South Coblin and Christopher Beckwith. These two scholars had claimed this because of Bailang's relatively simple phonology and isolating nature. However, in a 2019 paper, Sagart et al. did a large-scale lexicostatistical analysis of Sino-Tibetan languages and put forth several innovations that Loloish, Burmish, and Qiangic/Rgyalrongic languages share, and the only one of these innovations evident in Bailang is *mus 'heaven'. However, Rawang and Tibetan also have this same root, but with slightly different semantic meanings: Tibetan dmu 'sky god' and Rawang dvmø̀ [dəmɯ̀] 'celestial spirit'. In the video, Hill concedes: 

Now one thing that's actually kind of interesting to me and that I'm not going to push here, but, you know, see what you think, is, maybe it's the meaning "heaven" specifically that's associated with Burmo-Qiangic, because you see that outside of Burmo-Qiangic, it means 'sky god'. So if that's true, then maybe it is evidence that Bailang is somehow Burmo-Qiangic, but it just seems like quite a small difference to put a lot of emphasis on.

He presents the same data in a published article (2021:127):

There are at least two ancient Trans-Himalayan languages of fragmentary attestation (Trümmersprachen) that fall within the scope of our survey. The older, and more fragmentary of the two is Bailang, known only from the three “Songs of Bailang” (白狼歌). These are poems transliterated with Chinese characters and translated into Chinese during the Han dynasty (specifically 58–75 CE). In 1979, making extensive use of previous research, W. S. Coblin (1979) published a study of these songs. The author of these lines revisited the songs in light of ensuing progress in Chinese reconstruction (Hill 2017) and referring to the intervening more small scale studies (Mǎ and Dài 1982; Zhèngzhāng 1993; Beckwith 2008). Whereas Coblin and Beckwith propose that the language is Loloish, I do not think that this conclusion is obvious. There are many etyma of obvious Trans-Himalayan provenance, but they are etyma also attested in other branches, e.  g. 蘇 *sa ‘meat’ (Tib. śa, Bur. sāḥ, Mizo. sâ ‘meat’), 螺 *ruai ‘rain’ (Bur. rwā, Mizo. rùah), 毗 *bi ‘give’ (OBur. piyḥ, Mizo pè). The only candidate lexical innovation that Sagart et al. (2019) say is indicative of Burmo-Qiangic that is found in the Bailang songs is 冒 *mus ‘heaven’, which compares with OBur. muiwḥ ‘sky’ and Japhug tɯ-mɯ ‘rain, sky, weather’, but this word occurs in other branches as well (Tib. dmu ‘sky god’, Rawang dvmø̀ ‘celestial spirit’).

Hill had analyzed the history of this Bailang word *mus earlier in an annotated transcription of the Bailang songs:

(2017:393)

冒 mˤus [Old Chinese] > mouᶜ [Han Chinese] > mɑwH [Middle Chinese] ... 天 ‘Heaven’

(2017:400)

冒 *mˤus [Old Chinese] > mouᶜ [Han Chinese] 天 ‘Heaven’. OTib. དམུ་ dmu ‘a type of sky god’ (cf. Coblin 1987), OBur. ... muiwḥ ‘sky’, Tan. 朿 mə < *mu (3513) ‘ciel’, Japhug Rgy. tɯ-mɯ ‘ciel, pluie’, Rawang Dvmø̀ ‘spirits of the upper realm’ (LaPolla & Poa 2001: 13). The comparanda suggest the Bailang vowel was closer to the OChi. reading than the Han reading. Ma & Dai (1982: 22) and Zhengzhang (1993: 14) also note the same Burmese cognate, the former also proposing related forms in other languages.

Now, let's go back and see what Sagart et al. (2019b:26) had to say about it.

The hypothesis of a genetic relationship between Lolo-Burmese and Gyalrongic languages has been previously discussed by several scholars, including Bradley (1997), Jacques and Michaud (2011), and Lǐ (1998). The Burmo-Gyalrongic hypothesis is strongly supported by our analysis. Potential Burmo-Gyalrongic innovations in our database are the following:

1. Japhug ɕɤɣ “new” – Old Burmese sac ‘new’ (Jacques (2004: 190)). This etymon has cognates elsewhere in Sino-Tibetan, but in other branches the coda is nasal (for instance Chinese 新 sin < *siŋ)

2. Japhug ɣɯrni “red” – Old Burmese nī ‘red’ (Jacques (ibid.: 172))

3. Japhug zdɯm “cloud” – Old Burmese tim “cloud” (Jacques (ibid.: 185))

4. Japhug ɯ-ʁɤri “the front side” – Old Burmese rheʔ ‘the front side’ (Jacques (ibid.: 104)).

5. Japhug tɯ-rtsʰɤz “lung” – Old Burmese ʔachut ‘lung’ (Jacques (ibid.: 150)).

6. Japhug tɯ-mɯ “rain, sky, weather” – Rangoon mo⁵⁵ ‘rain, sky’(Jacques (ibid.: 154))

7. Daofu sme “woman” – Old Burmese minḥ-ma ‘woman’

8. Daofu kvo, Wobzi Khroskyabs djú “year” – Lisu kho̱³¹ “year” (Jacques (2014: 101)).

9. Japhug nɯqambɯmbjom, Wobzi Khroskyabs jmbjə̂m “to fly” – Old Burmese pjaṃ ‘to fly’. This root is related to Tibetan’byam “spread” and Chinese 泛 phjomH “float”, with unidirectional semantic change “float” → “fly”. The Japhug verb form has reduplication and additional prefixes, but related language have the simple verb root.

Jacques (ibid.: 305-306) lists a additional few phonetic and lexical innovations, notably the verb ‘to be’, ŋu in Japhug, ŋǽ in Wobzi Khroskyabs, corresponding to Proto-Burmese *ŋwa¹ ‘to be the case’ (Bradley 1979 0698a). Jacques (2014: 305-306) suggests that the copular use of this verb is derived from an earlier meaning, namely ‘to be true’. 

So in the video linked above, Hill was saying that the only etymon being proposed by Sagart et al. as a common Lolo-Burmo-Gyalrongic or Burmo-Qiangic innovation which appears in the Bailang songs is the word for 'heaven' or 'sky', and that cognate forms also appear in other Trans-Himalayan languages such as Rawang and Tibetan, but with the meaning of 'sky god' rather than 'sky', and so the only common innovation, if it is an innovation, linking Bailang to Loloish as Coblin and Beckwith proposed is the meaning 'heaven' attached to *mus. 

But to disprove even this uniqueness, I want to offer further Rawang data on this root which also has the meaning of 'heaven' or 'sky': 

In several Rawang dialects such as Dərù, Jerwàng, and Rəmɯ̀l, there are two similar forms cognate with Mətwàng dəmɯ̀ 'god', which are distinguished by tone: gəmɯ̀ 'god' and gəmɯ́ 'heaven'. The form muʔ 'sky; thunder; the name of a Nat (deity-spirit)' also appears in both Mətwàng and other dialects.

As evidence for the usage of gəmɯ̀ 'god' and gəmɯ́ 'heaven', let's take a look at several lines from a Jerwàng (= Southern T'rùng) translation of the New Testament book of Mark, completed in the early 1990s. (I realize that conversion to Christianity, starting around 1917, becoming a mass movement around 1950, and continuing till today, has changed the Rawang languages spoken in Burma, especially as their traditional animist cosmology has interacted with the Jude-Christian and modernist worldviews. However, the data here at least provide a starting place.)

 Mark 1:10 

Wangk vdungkwaih kongkshøa luaidi, gvmøh takaq vpuqpuqdi Gvmøs Gvrai pais-a singcvnt vgømp taiwa Angk mvdvmp zvng laqshøa zaaq mai zvng Yohan angk mia meqhinhin yaangnge.

wàŋ ədùŋ-wáj kòŋ-ʃɯa-luaj-di, 

water inside-from rise-REFL-UP.PST-when

'When (he) rose up from inside the water,'

gəmɯ́ ta-kaʔ ə-puʔ-puʔ-di 

heaven each-half INTR-open-REDUP-when

'each half of heaven was opening and'

gəmɯ̀ gəraj pàj-a siŋ-tsə̀n əgɯ̀m taj-wa 

god god MALE-POSS spirit-DIMINUTIVE dove manner-ADV

'God's spirit like a dove'

àŋ mədə̀m zəŋ laʔ-ʃɯa-zaaʔ maj zəŋ 

3SG above ALLATIVE alight-REFL-DOWN CL.NMLZ ALLATIVE

'onto him alighting'

johan àŋ mia meʔhinhin jaaŋ-e.

John 3SG AGT immediately see.3OBJ-DECL

'John immediately saw.'

"And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit [of God] descending on him like a dove."

 Mark 16:19 

Oya kont waih, Vkangk pais Yesu mia nø angning zvng ka lvp beeng bøi taih was nø, Angk zvng nø Gvmøh mvdvmp zvng lonh-wa vbonboon bøsdi, Gvmøs Gvrai-a vbrangk paq kais roongh bøie.

oja kòn wáj, 

that place from

'From that place'

əkàŋ pàj jesu mia nɯ aŋniŋ zəŋ 

lord MALE Jesus AGT 3PL ALLATIVE

'the Lord Jesus, to them'

ka ləp beeŋ-bɯj táj wà nɯ, 

speech speak finish.3OBJ-PFV.PST ?? TOP

'as he had finished speaking and'

àŋ zəŋ nɯ gəmɯ́ mədə̀m zəŋ lón-wa ə-bon-boon-bɯ̀-di, 

3SG ALLATIVE TOP heaven above ALLATIVE get-ADV INTR-go-REDUP-AWAY/PFV-when

'when he was taken away to upper heaven,'

gəmø̀ gəraj-a əbràŋ paʔ kàj róoŋ-bøj-e.

god god-POSS right side LOC sit-AWAY/PFV.PST-DECL

'sat at God's right side.'

"So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God." 

 Mark 12:17a

Oyapoq kais Yesu mia angning zvng grøøng mai nø, Kesvr-a møngk nø kesvr zvng, Gvmøs Gvrai-a møngk nø Gvmøs zvng natvngs pantna, grøøngnge.

...kesər-a mɯ̀ŋ nɯ kesər zəŋ, 

Caesar-POSS PL TOP Caesar ALLATIVE

'Caesar's things, to Caesar,'

gəmɯ̀ gəraj-a mɯ̀ŋ nɯ gəmɯ̀ zəŋ nə-ətə̀ŋ-pà-na...

god(name) god(name)-POSS PL TOP god ALLATIVE N1-return-BEN-2PL

'God's things, to God, you-all return for him.'

"Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."

 Mark 12:26

...Ngas nø, Abraham Angknga Gvmøs pais shøs, Isak Angknga Gvmøs pais shøs, Ingnga mai eye...

...ŋà nɯ, abraham àŋ-a gəmɯ̀ pàj shɯ̀, 

1SG TOP Abraham(name) 3SG-POSS god MALE also

'I, Abraham his god also,'

isak àŋ-a gəmɯ̀ pàj shɯ̀, iŋŋa maj eje...

Isaac(name) 3SG-POSS god MALE also be.1SG NMLZ be.DECL

'Isaac his god also, I am, is the case.'

"I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob"

Mark 12:27

Gvmøs Gvrai nø, Shis-a bøi møngknga Gvmøs pais nø mv-e pos-ae. Plon shøa møngk angningnga Gvmøs Gvrai lvng epos-a mai eye...

gəmɯ̀ gəraj nɯ, ʃì-a-bɯj mɯ̀ŋ-a gəmɯ̀ pàj nɯ mə-e-pò-a-e. 

god(name) god(name) TOP die-?-PFV.PST PL-POSS god MALE TOP NEG-be-BEN-?-DECL

'God is not the dead people's god for them.'

plon-ʃɯa mɯ̀ŋ aŋniŋ-a gəmɯ̀ gəraj ləŋ e-pò-a maj eje...

live-REFL PL 3PL-POSS god(name) god(name) only be-BEN-? NMLZ be.DECL

'It is the case that he is only the living people's god.'

"He is not God of the dead, but of the living."

Let's now review the Jerwàng terms we have collected:

HEAVEN

• gəmɯ́ 'heaven' (= Mətwàng muʔ-làŋ 'sky-area?')
• gəmɯ́ mədə̀m (heaven above) 'upper heaven' or 'above heaven' (= Mətwàng muʔ-làng taʔ-lap 'sky-area upper-side')

GOD

• gəmɯ̀ 'god' 
• gəmɯ̀ pàj 'male god' (the male morpheme seems to show respect and specificity, like səra pàj 'male teacher' or səra màj 'female teacher'; it is also related to the phenomenon of placing a bare classifier after a noun for definiteness like 'the'.)
• gəmɯ̀ gəraj 'creator god' (gəràj is a Jinghpaw loanword for the creator god)

Alternation of d and g in 'happy'

Why is there alternation between d and g in the word for 'god' in the two Rawang dialects? I don't know, but there is also a correspondence between the Mətwàng form dəbù 'be happy' and the Jerwàng and Dərù form gəbù 'be happy'. Jinghpaw also has the form kəbu ~ gəbu 'be happy', which led Waʔdə́mkong Yohan, a Rawang pastor in Kent, WA, to comment to me that Dərù is similar to Jinghpaw. 

Alternation of t and k in 'six'

A further example of alveolar and velar onset alternations is the number six: 

k: 

Anu/Lu: Gongshan Anu krou (Desgodins 1873), klu⁵⁵ (Luo Changpei 1999[1944]:85), 

khɹŭʔ⁵⁵ (Sun Hongkai 1982); Loutse/Melam (autonym)/Ngia (exonym) (at Tsekou = Cigu) kron [probably mistranscribed from krou] (d'Orleans 1898); Loutse (at Tamalou) keou (d'Orleans 1898); 

T'rung: Kioutse (at Tukiu Mu) keou (d'Orleans 1898); T'rung kʻlu⁵⁵ (Luo Changpei 1999[1942]:44); Central T'rung kruʔ⁵⁵ (T'rung Dictionary), kɹŭʔ⁵⁵ (Sun Hongkai 1982); Southern T'rung kɹuʔ⁵⁵ (Huang & Dai 1992); 

Anung: Fugong Anung kuŋ⁵⁵ (Sun & Liu 2009); Putao Anung ɑkok (Anung Bible); 

Dərù kruʔ (Konglang Zineng); 

Məpáng Tangsar: kruʔ (Məpáng Du); 

t: 

Waʔdə́mkong: thruʔ²² (Shintani 2014:184), tɑruʔ (Sarep 1996), htăru (Barnard 1934:103), tᵃru(k) (Grierson 1928); 

Rəmɯ̀l: təruʔ; 

Dinglak Lungmi: tʰəlɔk (Powelson 2018:124); 

Rə́zà Krəngkú: təruʔ (Samuel Mani); 

Kiutse/Metouan (autonym, = Mətwàng?)/Khanung (exonym) (at Sing-leng): terou (d'Orleans 1898)

tʃ: 

Mətwàng: (ə)tʃuʔ (Rawang Dictionary)

In the case of 'six', there is a relatively even split among dialects between k- and t-, with a few more data-points for k-. However, the k- initial can't be a result of Jinghpaw influence, because we have Dinglak and Rə́zà Krəngkú both with t-, although they were spoken in a Jinghpaw area and Dinglak is said to be heavily influenced by Jinghpaw. Modern Mətwàng (ə)tʃuʔ is either influenced by or borrowed from Burmese ခြောက် ʧʰaʊʔ (Hill 2019:61 reconstructs this as Written Burmese khrok < *kruk 'six').or was originally kruʔ in its own right, because in cases where Dərù has gr or gl, Mətwàng has dʒ, and if the Mətwàng form for 'six' were originally t(ə)ruʔ, there would be no need to reduce t(ə)r- to tʃ-, as in my experience in Nungish, tr- is always sesquisyllabified to tər-, which fits Mətwang phonology, whereas kl- or kr- would have to be either sesquisyllabified as kəl- or kər-, or changed to tʃ- in Mətwàng.

Alternation of t and k in 'rotate, turn' via 'bicycle'

For 'bicycle', I elicited the Rəmɯ̀l word hí-kərí (foot-turn) from Tʃɯmgòŋgàŋ Tʃaŋ, but from əBɯr Yosep, another Rəmɯ̀l speaker, I got several different forms in succession for 'bicycle' while he was narrating a Pear story: ləgoŋlíng (from Jinghpaw ləgɔ-léŋ (foot-wheel/vehicle),  hí-təri, and then he corrected himself and used ləgoŋlíŋ, followed by ləgolíŋ further on in the story. Note further, though, the Jinghpaw words kəyin 'rotate' (= Rawang təri), gəlé 'turn over, turn inside out', kəlé 'turn', pəlé 'turn over'. When I look in the Jinghpaw dictionary, I see hardly any words starting with tə-, but a number of words starting with kə-. Hence, if it is a case of dissimilation from t-r/l to k-r/l in Rawang, then it might be a case of some Nungish speakers and dialects following the same dissimilative pattern as Jinghpaw. (The prefixes tə-/də-/sə-/ʃə- are common causative prefixes in Nungish.)

All this is to say that t and k in the prefix position are in variation in certain words and in certain dialects and among certain speakers. I wonder if it might be a case of assimilation (kr > tr) or dissimilation (tr > kr). Or it could reflect borrowing from Jinghpaw, like dəbù > gəbù 'happy'. In the latter case, Matisoff might say that there was t/k variation already in Proto-Tibeto-Burman, which expressed itself differently in different daughter languages and then the borrowing and analogy led to contemporary variation within single languages.

Divine names in Mətwàng

Moving back to the original topic, here are some more names for God from the (Mətwàng) Rawang Dictionary, with my annotations in brackets:

• Mø̀ [mɯ̀] ~ vMø [əmɯ] 'deity, god'
• Mø̀mè [mɯ̀mè] (lit. mɯ-mè god-female) proper noun: goddess, another name for Dvmø̀. Mv[ng]rùng language (ritual song vocabulary)
• Gvmø̀ [gəmɯ̀] ~ Gvmǿ [gəmɯ́] proper noun: Gameu; the highest God. Gvmø̀ kaq noq-ì [gəmɯ̀ kaʔ noʔ-ì] (god OBJ worship-1PL). 'Let's worship God.' = Dvmø̀. 
• Dvmø̀ [dəmɯ̀] proper noun: Dameu; celestial being, the creator and highest god. Dvmø̀ toq-shì-e [dəmɯ̀ toʔ-ʃì-e] (god communicate-REFLEXIVE-NPAST) 'Communicate with God.'
• Gvrày [gəràj] 'God'
• Gvsv̀ng [gəsə̀ŋ] 'the creator and highest god'
• Gvrày Gvsv̀ng [gəràj gəsə̀ŋ] 'God'

(The divine name kərài kəsàŋ is also found in Jinghpaw, and it is likely that Rawang borrowed it from Jinghpaw, which explains why the Rawang spelling gvrày preserves the -ay rhyme even though Mətwàng likes to reduce -ay to -e.)

Note that dəmɯ̀ can also be used for other gods besides the highest god, as seen in the following verse from the Rawang Bible:

Ruth 1:15

...Eyà:ngò nvnvmmè nø ang dvcì rì nvng ang dvmø̀ rì yv́ng svng vtv́ngá:mì...

è-jàŋ-ò[,] nə-nəm-mè nɯ 

N1-see-3OBJ 2SG.POSS-sibling-FEMALE TOP 

'(You) see, your sister (or parallel cousin),'

àŋ dətsì rì nə̀ŋ àŋ dəmɯ̀ rì jə́ŋ sə̀ŋ ətə́ŋ-ám-ì

3SG.POSS race PL and 3SG.POSS god PL LOC ALLATIVE return-AWAY/PFV-3PST

'has returned to where those of her race, and her gods, are'

"See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods..."

Conclusion

Together, this shows that there are several forms of the 'heaven/god' root in Nungish:

• mɯ̀ 'god' (Mətwàng)
• dəmɯ̀ 'god' (Mətwàng)
• gəmɯ̀ 'god' (Jerwàng)
• gəmɯ́ 'heaven' (Jerwàng)

Additionally, it is possible that in the distant past, there was a connection between the above forms and muʔ 'sky; thunder; the name of a Nat (deity-spirit)'.

All this shows that Rawang still maintains the semantic link between 'heaven' and 'god' in the same or similar forms, bridging the gap between Bailang *m(ˤ)us 'heaven', Japhug tɯ-mɯ 'rain, sky, weather' and Burmese mo⁵⁵ < Old Burmese muiwḥ 'rain, sky' on the one hand, and Tibetan dmu 'sky god' on the other hand.

Does this mean that Rawang is close to Burmo-Gyalrongic? Yes. Just how close remains to be seen, but at least we can conclude that it helps to look at multiple dialects and textual and usage examples in our etymological comparisons, and not just rely on the minimal glosses we find in wordlists and dictionaries.

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Language resources

Anung Bible:

Geumeu heungshangc shiuva khaziut se bok [The New Testament in Anung language]. 1990.

Jinghpaw Dictionary:

Maran, La Raw, Richard Barrett, John Clifton, Zau Lahpai & Ja Gune Maran. 1978. The Jinghpaw dictionary / A dictionary of Modern Jinghpaw / A dictionary of Modern Spoken Jinghpaw. Bloomington, IN: The Jinghpaw Dictionary Project. (Manuscript.)

Kachin Dictionary (multilingual dictionary app and webpage):

https://rawang.org/raw/ka%CC%80-paqzi%CC%81linguistics/kachin-dictionary

Rawang Dictionary:

LaPolla, Randy J. & David Sangdong. 2015. Rawang-English-Burmese dictionary (A Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Myanmar). Privately published for limited circulation. http://rawang.webonary.org/ (23 December, 2015).

T'rung Dictionary:

Trung Dictionary Committee, Li Aixin 李爱新, Li Jinming 李金明, Yang Jiangling 杨将领 & Ross Perlin. 2015. Concise Trung-English-Chinese dictionary / Tvrung kvt cv’tyeng / 简明独龙语英语汉语词典 Jianming Dulongyu Yingyu Hanyu cidian. Draft. Trung Dictionary Committee. http://trung.webonary.org (18 June, 2016).