Wiktionary

လည်

See also: လည့်, လည်း, and လှည့်

Burmese

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Etymology

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The "neck" sense is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g/m-liŋ (“neck”) (STEDT), and cognate with Old Chinese 領 (OC *reŋʔ).

The other senses are grouped by MED, and may be etymologically connected, though other theories separate them:

  • The "rotate" sense is not given etymology by STEDT (lɑȵ² "rotate / spin"). Luce gives Old Chinese 輪 (OC *run, “wheel; turns, rounds”) as a cognate.[1] While semantically solid, the phonetics deviate enough to make a formal relation to the Chinese difficult. There is also a chance, as mentioned above, that this is a derivative of the "neck" sense; for a semantic parallel in an unrelated language, compare Latin collum (“neck”).
  • The "understand" sense is not given etymology by STEDT (nɑ⁵⁵ lɛ²² "understand / grasp"). Perhaps a back-formation of နားလည် (na:lany), with the original interpretation of လည် (lany) being in the sense of "rotate" > "made rounds" > "well-versed"? Okell's "Burmese (Myanmar): An Introduction to the Spoken Language, Book 1", page 198, #18 of the Common Phrases Supplement section explains it as such. Additionally bears resemblance to Old Chinese 諒 (*ɡ·raŋs, “to forgive; to believe; truth”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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လည် • (lany)

  1. to revolve, to turn around, to rotate, to spin[2]
    Synonym: လည်ပတ် (lanypat)
  2. (of mills) to be running, be working
  3. to make a round of visits
  4. to make the rounds
  5. to go round in circles
  6. to revert to, regain
  7. to have ready cash
  8. to be sharp, shrewd
  9. to be well-versed in
  10. (obsolete) to understand[2]

Derived terms

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(Nouns)

(Verbs)

Noun

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လည် • (lany)

  1. neck[2]
    Synonym: လည်ပင်း (lanypang:)

Derived terms

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(Nouns)

Derived terms

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(unsorted by sense)

References

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  1. ^ Luce, G. H. (1981) A Comparative Word-List of Old Burmese, Chinese and Tibetan, London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, →ISBN, page 64
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 “လည်” in The Judson Burmese–English Dictionary (Rangoon: American Baptist Mission Press 1921), page 899.

Further reading

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