[Lingtyp] “Rear=North” in Mainland Northeast Asia

[Jess Tauber]

Nanai (Tungusic) dictionary online (in Russian):
https://altaica.ru/LIBRARY/tungus/nanai.pdf   The site, https://altaica.ru
has numerous links to dictionaries of different languages that were
considered to be part of the Altaic 'family'. Have at it!
Merry Christmas, and a Safe and Happy 2021 to everyone!

Best wishes,
Jess Tauber
tetrahedralpt at gmail.com

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On Fri, Dec 25, 2020 at 7:22 AM Johanna Laakso <johanna.laakso at univie.ac.at>
wrote:

> Dear Ian, dear all,
>
> in the Finnic languages, ‘north’ (Modern Standard Finnish pohjoinen etc.)
> is etymologically connected with ‘bottom’ (Finnish pohja etc.), while
> ‘south’ is ‘front’ (Finnish etelä ‘south’, Estonian edel ‘southwest’ etc.
> from ete- ‘front’). This is usually explained with the fact that the houses
> or huts normally had their doors towards the south, to get as much light
> and warmth as possible. And then you can go on speculating with whether and
> how the prehistoric people of the North, living in teepee-like huts, saw
> the world as a giant dwelling, with the sky as its ceiling.
>
> Best
> Johanna
>
> JOO, Ian [Student] <ian.joo at connect.polyu.hk> kirjoitti 25.12.2020 kello
> 7.29:
>
> Dear typologists,
>
> I am currently working on a doctoral project focusing on the areality of
> Mainland Northeast Asia (Korea, Mongolia, Northeast China, but *not* Japan,
> Russian Far East, or Southern/Western China).
> One of the interesting possible areal features of MNEA languages (Tuvan,
> Manchu, Korean, Mandarin, and Mongolian) that I’ve found is that these five
> languages, except Mandarin, can express “North” with the word meaning
> “rear; back; behind”. Please see the map:
> <Attachment.tiff>
>
> (Note that, in Mandarin, *bei* 北 `North’ and *bei *背 `back; backside’
> differ only in tone, and are etymologically related)
> I’m curious if this polysemy exists in other areas as well, and if so,
> what would be the motivation? (Historical? Cultural? Religious? Cognitive?
> Climatic?)
>
> Regards,
> Ian
>
>
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> --
> Univ.Prof. Dr. Johanna Laakso
> Universität Wien, Institut für Europäische und Vergleichende Sprach- und
> Literaturwissenschaft (EVSL)
> Abteilung Finno-Ugristik
> Campus AAKH Spitalgasse 2-4 Hof 7
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> johanna.laakso at univie.ac.at • http://homepage.univie.ac.at/Johanna.Laakso/
> Project ELDIA: http://www.eldia-project.org/
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