Reconstructions

Note

Also Tongan laʔe ‘forehead, brow’, Rennellese maga-ŋaʔe ‘forehead’. Known Oceanic reflexes of *daqiS are confined to Central Pacific languages, and all of these show an irregular lowering of the last vowel. In addition, Tongan has an irregular reflex of the initial consonant (POc *r normally > Tongan zero). The original sense of this body-part term appears to have covered both ‘forehead’ and ‘face’, but the ‘face’ sense seems to be more dominant in Formosan languages, and the ‘forehead’ sense outside Taiwan, culminating in Oceanic reflexes which to date have been recorded only in the latter meaning.