Reconstruction:Proto-Austronesian/buqaya

This Proto-Austronesian entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Austronesian

Etymology

  • Proto-Austronesian: *buqaya (Blust, 2008)

The presence of buqaya (“shark”) in Puyuma of southeastern Taiwan, reflecting *buqaya (“crocodile”), suggests that when Austronesian speakers left southern Taiwan to settle the northern Philippines, the saltwater crocodile was still found in the former area. As it gradually decreased to ultimate extinction in Taiwan, the word came to be applied to its nearest functional equivalent.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /buqaya/

Noun

*buqaya

  1. crocodile

Descendants

  • Proto-Malayo-Polynesian: *buqaya (see there for further descendants)
  • Puyuma: buqaya (“shark”)

References

  1. ^ Blust, Robert. 2002. "The History of Faunal Terms in Austronesian Languages" Oceanic Linguistics 41, 1:89-139.

Further reading

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