Chinese characters : List with all references

Character: 熊

Modern (Beijing) reading: xióng

Preclassic Old Chinese: whǝm

Classic Old Chinese: whǝm

Western Han Chinese: whǝm

Eastern Han Chinese: whǝm

Early Postclassic Chinese: whim

Middle Postclassic Chinese: whim

Late Postclassic Chinese: whim

Middle Chinese: ɦüŋ

English meaning : black bear (Ursus torquatus)

Russian meaning[s]: 1) зоол. гималайский медведь (Ursus torquatus); 2) Сюн (фамилия)

Comments: Viet. hùm means 'tiger', but is phonetically very close to OC *whǝm 'bear' and probably borrowed from this source; regular Sino-Viet. is hùng. Cf. also Viet. vâm 'elephant'? For *wh- cf. Xiamen him² (lit. hiɔŋ²), Chaozhou him², Fuzhou hüŋ², Jianou xöŋ² (note the archaic -m-forms).

Sino-Tibetan etymology: Sino-Tibetan etymology

Dialectal data: Dialectal data

Radical: 86

Four-angle index: 8609

Karlgren code: 0674 a-b

Vietnamese reading: hùm

Sino-Tibetan etymology :

Proto-Sino-Tibetan: *ʔʷǝ̆m

Sino-Caucasian etymology: Sino-Caucasian etymology

Meaning: bear

Chinese: 雄 *whǝm bear.

Tibetan: dom the brown bear.

Burmese: wam bear, LB *[ɣw]am.

Lushai: vom, KC *t-Xwom.

Kiranti: *wä̀m

Comments: PG *tawam; Kanauri hom; Thebor hom; Lepcha sǝtum wolf; Mikir thak-wam; Miri si-tum; Digaro tǝham~tǝhum; Bahing wam. Sh. 22, 141; Ben. 116.

Kiranti etymology :

Proto-Kiranti: *wä̀m

Sino-Tibetan etymology: Sino-Tibetan etymology

Meaning: bear

Sunwar: wā̃

Tulung: hōmu (AS wǝ̄mu)

Kaling: bhü-wäm large black bear

Limbu: hoŋ-guwā jackal (?)

Yamphu: homsa 'beaver'

Comments: Toba *hoC- in *hoC-moksi (listing also Khal. mos, Kul. moksi 'bear').

Yamphu dictionary :

Entry: homsa

Kiranti etymology: Kiranti etymology

Grammar: n.

Meaning: beaver.

Nepali: ǖt

Chinese Dialects :

Number: 1852

Chinese etymology: Chinese etymology

Character: 熊

MC description : 通合三平東云

ZIHUI: 3574 2719

Beijing: śyŋ 12

Jinan: śyŋ 12

Xi'an: śyŋ 12

Taiyuan: śyŋ 1

Hankou: śioŋ 12

Chengdu: śyoŋ 12

Yangzhou: śiɔuŋ 12

Suzhou: ioŋ 12

Wenzhou: ɦyoŋ 12

Changsha: śioŋ 11

Shuangfeng: ɣin 12

Nanchang: śiuŋ 31

Meixian: hiuŋ 12

Guangzhou: huŋ 12

Xiamen: hiɔŋ 11 (lit.); him 12

Chaozhou: him 12

Fuzhou: xyŋ 12

Shanghai: ioŋ 32

Zhongyuan yinyun: xiuŋ 12

Sino-Caucasian etymology :

Proto-Sino-Caucasian: *ʕwámħV

Meaning: a k. of predator

North Caucasian: *ʕwamħV

Sino-Tibetan: *ʔʷǝ̆m

Burushaski: *ja[m]

Comments and references : WFR 98, LDC 21.

North Caucasian etymology :

Proto-North Caucasian: *ʕwamħV

Sino-Caucasian etymology: Sino-Caucasian etymology

Meaning: hyena; wolf

Proto-Avaro-Andian: *ʕVnV (~-m-)

Proto-Lezghian: *ʔIam:

Notes: An Av.-Lezg. isogloss; since the PL form has a very archaic shape, the PEC reconstruction seems reliable.

It seems very probable that the same root serves as part of an old (PEC) compound which can be reconstructed as *dVHV-ʕwamħV. It means some small wild animal and can be traced in following languages:

a) PN *dʕaʡam 'badger', reflected in Chech. daʕam (RCD dʕama), Lev. daʕam, Itumk. dʕām, Ved. dʕaʕam, Shar. dʕām.

b) Av. ʕondó-ƛ̣: 'weasel' = PA *handa-riƛ̣:u (Akhv. Ratl. hindareƛ̣:u, And. (Khaid.) hanaroƛ̣:i, Tind. handareƛ̣:u, Cham. annaraƛ̣: (Gig. hannareƛ̣:u), God. ʕandiruƛ̣:i. This is a further compound with *riƛ̣:u 'weasel, squirrel' q.v. We must note here also a quite aberrant form Akhv. šĩda-reƛ̣:u (all other Andian languages point uniformly to *h-), which is probably a result of further contamination with šĩde- (obl. stem) 'bear'.

c) PTsKh *madu-ƛa 'weasel' q.v. ( < *madu-rVƛa = PA *handa-riƛ̣:u, Av. ʕondoƛ̣:).

It is hard to guess the original meaning of the first component *dVHV- (since it is very distorted phonetically in all daughter-languages); however, it can be (with deglottalisation) = PEC *ṭiHwV- 'small'; thus, the whole compound would mean something like 'small wolf'.

Avar-Andian etymology :

Protoform: *ʕVnV (~-m-)

North Caucasian etymology: North Caucasian etymology

Meaning: hyena

Avar: ʕan-gúr

Comments: The Av. word is a compound where the second part (-gur) goes back to PEC *gwērdV 'bird or beast of prey' (q.v.).

Lezghian etymology :

Proto-Lezghian: *ʔIam:

North Caucasian etymology: North Caucasian etymology

Meaning: wolf

Rutul: ubul

Tsakhur: umul

Kryz: eb

Budukh: eb

Archi: jam

Udi: ul

Comment: Several forms (Rut., Tsakh., Ud.) go back to a suffixed form *ʔIam:u-l (or *ʔIum:u-l with assimilation/Ablaut); the suffixless stem is preserved in Shakhdagh languages and Arch. 3d class in all class-distinguishing languages.