Nam language

Nam
Region	Central Asia
Extinct	(date missing)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan (unclassified) Nam
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.

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.

Glottolog accepts that it was at least Sino-Tibetan.

Lexicon

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
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

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.