{"id":59024,"date":"2023-06-08T07:39:35","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T12:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=59024"},"modified":"2023-06-08T10:21:28","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T15:21:28","slug":"greco-sinitic-%cf%88%ce%ac%ce%bc%ce%bc%ce%bf%cf%82-%ca%83%cb%a0a-mak%cc%9a-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=59024","title":{"rendered":"Greco-Sinitic \u03c8\u03ac\u03bc\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 \/ \u0283\u02e0a m\u0251k\u031a (\"desert\")"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This is a guest post by Chau Wu]<\/p>\r\n

The psammo- component of the winning word in this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee, psammophile, is of interest to me because it is a good example of European-Sinitic lexical correspondence. The Ancient Greek word ps\u00e1mmos (\u03c8\u03ac\u03bc\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2) means \u2018sand\u2019.\u00a0 When used together with a definite article (\u1f21 \u03c8\u03ac\u03bc\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2), it also means \u2018the sandy desert\u2019. Examples can be found in Herodotus: \u2018the sandy desert\u2019 of Libya (4.173), Ethiopia (3.25), and Egypt (3.26). In Sinitic, \u2018sandy desert\u2019 is \u6c99\u6f20 (MSM sh\u0101m\u00f2 \/ Tw soa-b\u00f4\u00b7). From psammos to sh\u0101m\u00f2, it is easy to see three processes of simplification that may have taken place to transform the Greek loan: simplification of the initial cluster ps- > s-, that of the medial -mm- > -m-, and the loss of the final -s. The simplification of ps- > s- is also seen in Greek derived English words such as psyche, pseudo-, and psalm.<\/p>\r\n

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The correspondence between Greek psammos and Sinitic shamo has been mentioned in my SPP-262 paper<\/a>, p. 99, in the section describing the pattern of sound correspondence: the loss of final -s.<\/p>\r\n

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Selected readings<\/strong><\/p>\r\n