Chinese and Sumerian

INITIAL AND FINAL SOUNDS, ETC. 7

Lastly, to conclude with an instance as remarkable as any, the Sumerian group ac] i had the two values GAL, MUL (written GALLA, MULLA), and the meaning ghost, spirit, demon (Assyr. loanword gad/#). Here, as I pointed out years ago, we have an exact agreement with the Chinese J kwei, cii, kwai, J. ki, ghosts, spirits, demons, G. 6430 (old sound kut, P. 684), and H&E mei, mui, mi, H. mat, mwoui, K. mi, J. bi, mi, a demon, G. 7738 (old sound mot, P. 135). Cf also G. 7748. The old Chinese final t=Sumerian L, as in many other instances (see pp. 4, 10).

From the above examples it will be seen that sometimes the related G- and M- or B-forms are represented by one and the same character, sometimes by different characters. It will also be noticed that these changes from guttural to labial sounds, which are characteristic of the Amesal, ‘The Women’s Speech’ or softer pronunciation of Sumerian, reappear in the Chinese dialects in the most unmistakable manner. And in both languages closely related words, distinguished by these different initial sounds (G, K, H=M, B, P, W), occur, not only as dialectic variations, but also as constituent elements in the vocabulary of the main body of speech: eg, ‘blood’ is expressed by (G)USH and MUD in Sumerian, and by the corresponding words hiit and myt in Chinese.

We saw that the character for mei, demon, is read bi as well as mi by the Japanese. This reminds us of the Sumerian equivalence BAR=MASH. The mutual equivalence of the labial letters, and the transition from one to another of them, finds ample illustration in the Chinese dialects. It is well known that F, which seems never to have emerged in Sumerian (unless we regard dede¢dr, Hesychius’s transcription of DIL-BAD, as an indication of its appearance at the very latest stage in the history of the language), is a modern sound in Chinese. It is wanting in Mongol. In Chinese it has taken the place of an older p, which itself sprang from b. The dialects and the older pronunciation of Chinese words traditional in Korea, Japan, and Annam, supply abundant proof of this and other facts important for Chinese Phonology and Chinese Etymology. }# fang, house, for instance, is K. pang, J. bo (Japanese drops the final ng, as always), Ningpo vong, Wenchow voa, Shanghai vang, Amoy pong (G. 3440). Here we have f, p, b, v, in succession. The old sound would be bam, ban; and the term appears to be ultimately identical with the Sumerian MAL, house, which is probably from MAN (WAN), weakened from GAN. The character is y-], read GA (GA-L or GA-N) and MAL. A trace of GA(N) may be recognized in Fuchau hwong (=kwong, gong). So féng, the wind, K. pung, A. fong, anciently bam (P. 571); but the Fuchau hung (=kung) implies an earlier kam, gam, agreeing with the primary Sumerian GAM, GAN, the wind, which later became IM, EN.

This last word illustrates another important and normal interchange of sounds in both languages; I mean that of the final m and n. As the Sumerian character Aol, wind, was read both IM and EN, so we find in Chinese that i), heart, is read