Comments:In Jpn. -u- is irregular (*-ǝ- would be expected); this is probably a distortion in a long word. Turkic, as in a number of other cases, preserves here some traces of nasalization.
Comments:Cf. also modern Kor. moru 'anvil', moru-čhä 'hammer' (although the vocalism is not quite clear < *maru?). Turk. *baltu 'axe' > Mong. balta (whence Evk. balta etc.), see Doerfer 1, 199, Щербак 1997, 104. Both Iranian and Akkadian origins of Turk. *baltu (see Poppe 1953, Menges 1953) seem improbable and its Altaic origin quite possible.
Comments:Poppe 1966, 196, Doerfer MT 61, Rozycki 155 regard the TM form as borrowed from Mong., which is not excluded (although dubious). The Karakh. word may belong here if its original meaning was 'digging instrument' ( > 'cutting instrument' > 'sickle'), but on the whole it is rather dubious, because of the unique cluster -št- (violating Helimski's rule). The Jpn. form reflects a frequent confusion between *mV- and *V- in front of the following nasal. {AD: from Turkic rather *mal- 'immerse'}
Comments:A Tung.-Jpn. isogloss. Not quite reliable, since the Jpn. word is usually derived < *mána- 'imitating, similarity' (v. sub *méŋa); but a confusion of two originally different root was possible in Japanese.
Comments:Cf. also Kalm. manǯǝ(g) zaɣǝsn 'Plötze; Kaulbarsch' (KW 255, 256); WMong. montuwqai, Khalkha montōxoi 'a k. of fish', maj 'herring'. Like in many other fish names, there are phonetic problems, probably due to interdialectal borrowing.
Comments:АПиПЯЯ 113, 280. A Tung.-Jpn. isogloss (within Jpn. preserved only in the Ryukyu dialects, where it is the basic word for 'big'). Cf. perhaps Khak., Oyr. maŋ 'success, luck' (if not < OUygh. (Suv.) maŋal < Sanskr. maŋgala). In TM a possible derivative is *maŋ(g)ī 'giant; evil spirit' (ТМС 1, 530) - which brings us to Mong. maŋgus id. (which, despite Doerfer MT 39, can hardly be the source of Tungus words).
