弩

Meanings

Etymology

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *naːʔ): phonetic 奴 (OC *naː) + semantic 弓 (“bow”). Compare Proto-Tibeto-Burman *s-na (“crossbow”), whence Drung tana, Naxi daqna. Unger (1990) suggests a derivation from 努 (OC *naːʔ, “to tense; to exert”), as the crossbow shoots arrows by releasing elastic potential energy stored in its limbs. Ferlus (1999) cites Gernet's opinion that 砮 (OC *naː, *naːʔ, “stone arrow-tip”) had been semantically extended to mean the whole crossbow. More likely, 弩 (OC *naːʔ) and Proto-Tibeto-Burman *s-na (“crossbow”) were Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman renditions of a Mainland Southeast Asian Wanderwort (Ratliff, 2010), possibly of Austroasiatic origin (Norman and Mei, 1976; Benedict, 1990; Schuessler, 2007). Compare other MSEA lexical items meaning "crossbow": * Proto-Mon-Khmer *snaʔ, whence Vietnamese ná, Khmer ស្នា (snaa); * Proto-Hmong-Mien *nhaᴮ, whence White Hmong hneev, Iu Mien hnaav; * Proto-Tai *ʰnwɯəꟲ, whence Thai หน้าไม้ (nâa-máai), Lao ໜ້າໄມ້ (nā mai), Lü ᦐᦱᧉᦺᦙᧉ (ṅaa²may²). Also compare Proto-Austronesian *panaq (“to shoot (an arrow)”) (cf. Proto-Mon-Khmer *paɲʔ) whence Malay panah, Tagalog panà, Hawaiian pana. In contrast, Pain (2020) tentatively proposes a native Chinese origin for 弩 (OC *C.naʔ), which would then be borrowed in Proto-Vietic and thence into other Austroasiatic languages as well as Tai.

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Components

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