Reconstructions

Note

Also Yami uetek ‘brain’, Tagalog útak ‘brains; marrow; intellect, head’, ma-útak ‘brainy’, Sambal (Botolan) ɨtɨk ‘brain’. The initial consonant of this form is problematic. On the one hand Itbayaten and Bikol independently support the reconstruction of PMP *h-. On the other hand, *h- is contradicted by at least Aklanon, Cebuano, Manobo (Western Bukidnon) and Tausug (Hanunóo reflects PMP *h- sometimes as /h/, and sometimes as zero).

Based on the inclusion of Tongan ʔuto ‘brain’, Dyen (1953) reconstructed *qutek, but the initial consonant of his reconstruction is contradicted not only by Itbayaten, Bikol /h-/, but also by Kalamian Tagbanwa, Tboli, Moken initial zero (rather than **k-), and by Banjarese, Sundanese initial zero (rather than **h-). For these reasons I prefer to associate the Tongan form with POc *quto ‘pith of a tree’, and to assume a semantic innovation which produced a remarkable chance similarity with reflexes of PMP *hutek.