ACD - Austronesian Comparative Dictionary Online

*isa₁ one

PAN isa₁ one ⇫ ¶

Form.
Kavalan	issa	one
Rukai (Budai)	iθa	one
Rukai	iθa	one
Paiwan	ita	one
WMP
Isneg	isá	one
Itawis	isá	one
Pangasinan	isá	one
Tagalog	isá	one; another
Hiligaynon	isá	one
Maranao	isa	one; a, an
Manobo (Western Bukidnon)	isa	the number one, used in counting
Samal	isa	one (in counting)
Kadazan Dusun	iso	one
Minokok	isəʔ	one
Bare'e	isa	one
Bikol	isá	one
Malagasy	isa	one
CMP
Kamarian	isa	one
Leti	ida	'one; each, every'
Manggarai	ica	one
Idate	isa	one
Tetun	ida	one; a
Kodi	iha	one
Kambera	d-iha	one
	iha	alone, separate
SHWNG
Buli	isa	one
Minyaifuin	pi-sa	one
OC
Marau₂	eta	one

PWMP isa-q one ⇫ ¶

WMP
Mongondow	intaʔ	one
Ma'anyan	isaʔ	one
Tae'	issaʔ	one

PWMP ika-isa first ⇫ ¶

WMP
Hiligaynon	i-ka-isá	first
Kadazan Dusun	ko-isa	first

PAN isa-ŋa the remaining one ⇫ ¶

Form.
Paiwan	ita-ŋa	there is one left
WMP
Cebuano	usá-ŋa	the other one of two or more

PAN isa isa distributive; one-by-one, one at a time ⇫ ¶

Form.
Paiwan	ma-ita ita	one by one, one after the other
WMP
Tagalog	isa isa	one by one, one each time
Maranao	isa isa	alone, only
Kadazan Dusun	to-isa isa	one by one, one at a time
Malagasy	tsi-isa isa	one by one
CMP
Tetun	ida ida	one by one, each one

PMP ma-isa only, alone ⇫ ¶

WMP
Chamorro	maysa	one (of living things)
Hanunóo	maysá	oneness, aloneness
Tae'	misa	one, alone, on its own
Sasak	mésaʔ	self, alone
CMP
Yamdena	mésa-n	single, alone (of only children)
Tetun	missa-k	alone, one
	oan missa-k	only child

Also Erai méha ‘only, alone’, and the morphological parallel in Kelabit edheh ‘one’, midheh ‘once’. Tagalog mag-isá ‘be alone, do something alone’ suggests that Hanunóo maysá may reflect *maR-isa. Mills (1975:712) posits Proto-South Sulawesi *(ma-)isa ‘one’.

PAN paR-isa-an to unite, combine in one ⇫ ¶

Form.
Puyuma	paR-asa-n	to do once
Puyuma (Tamalakaw)	paR-asa-n	to do once
WMP
Tagalog	pag-isah-ín	to combine (many things) into one
Old Javanese	pisan	once, the first one, one; at the same time, all together
Javanese	pisan	once, the first one, first time; at the same time; altogether
Balinese	pisan	first; all, complete, whole

Reconstructions

PAN	isa₁	one
PWMP	isa-q	one
PWMP	ika-isa	first
PAN	isa-ŋa	the remaining one
PAN	isa isa	distributive; one-by-one, one…
PMP	ma-isa	only, alone
PAN	paR-isa-an	to unite, combine in one

Note

The number ‘one’ is unique among numerals universally in that it alone tends to develop into an article. Moreover, semantically the number ‘one’ carries something of the "antithetical sense of primal words" (to borrow a phrase from Freud): morphological derivatives in many languages refer both to unity (‘one with’) and to aloneness (‘one apart from’). The number ‘one’ is unique among Austronesian numerals in that it alone has reconstructed doublets (*esa and *isa). Moreover, in addition to these apparent stem variants a clitic form *sa- is found in some languages, including languages that lack the full numeral (e.g. Malay se- formative in se-puluh ‘ten’, se-ratus ‘100’, se-ribu ‘1000’, etc., next to satu ‘one’; Tongan ha ‘indefinite article: a, an, some, any’, next to taha ‘one’).

The following additional points should be noted: 1. it is unclear whether *isaq should be treated as morphologically complex (*isa-q) or as a doublet (*isaq), 2. *ma-isa ‘alone’ appears to contain the stative or attributive prefix *ma-; Tagalog mag-isá ‘be alone, do something alone’, however, suggests that Hanunóo maysá may reflect *maR-isa. Such an interpretation is not available for Sasak, Tae', Chamorro, or Yamdena, where *R did not regularly disappear, 3. the nasal grade reflexes of *s (*insa) in Sulawesi and the Lesser Sunda islands are assumed to be a product of independent changes, 4. it is not clear whether a reflex of *esa or *isa survived in POc, although the clitic form *sa- evidently did. Possible reflexes of the full stems invariably appear subject to a morphological analysis which disqualifies them: Lakalai isasa (according to Chowning (n.d. a.) = i-sasa), Lamogai isawala (POc *tolu > Lamogai itlu ‘three’ suggests i-sawala ‘one’), Kilokaka kaʔisa (but kai-keu, kai-ke, kaʔi-sei, and the like in other languages of Ysabel, hence Kilokaka kaʔi-sa), TandaiI, Ghari kesa, Marau₂, Lau, Sa'a, Arosi eta ‘one’, where *esa would be reflected with initial o, and *isa with initial i; Sa'a ite ‘one, another’, but Arosi ta- ‘one, only’.