Proto-Altaic: *zi̯ăbsa
Meaning: lentil, pea
Russian meaning: чечевица, горох
Comments: In Mong. and Tung. the root may have been confused with a local Wanderwort for 'sorgho', cf. Man. šušu 'holcus sorghum', Nan. sịso id. (cf. also Rozycki 196); Kor. susu id. The direction of borrowings here is difficult to establish, but note that Mong. *sisi violates the rule of dissimilation of fricatives - if it were genuine, we would rather expect *sisi > *isi. A possible scenario, therefore may presuppose a development of the meaning 'sorgho' (from 'lentils', 'peas') in the TM area, whence it penetrated into Mongolian and Korean. The root for 'lentil', 'pea' itself, preserved in Turkic, TM and Japanese, seems, however, common Altaic.
