thuồng luồng

== Vietnamese == === Etymology === Uncertain. Either: From the proto-form /*thluong/ provisionally reconstructed by Trần Trọng Dương (2013). This form might be related to Middle Chinese 龍 (ljowng) in some way. The presence of preinitial /*th-/, however, is left unexplained, or From Old Chinese 龍 (OC *[mə]-roŋ, “dragon”) (B-S) (SV: long) as suggested by Schuessler (2007) and earlier by Maspero (1912). The sound change resulting in thuồng (*C-r- > ‹th-›) can be seen in cases like tháng (“month”), thông (“river (Northeastern dialectal)”), thao (“star (Northeastern dialectal)”), or Compound of thuồng +‎ luồng, two doublets which hail from ultimately Old Chinese 龍 (OC *[mə]-roŋ, “dragon”), and whose origins must have lied somewhere in coastal North(east)ern Vietnam. Either way, doublet of rồng. === Pronunciation === (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [tʰuəŋ˨˩ luəŋ˨˩] (Huế) IPA(key): [tʰuəŋ˦˩ luəŋ˦˩] (Saigon) IPA(key): [tʰuəŋ˨˩ luəŋ˨˩] === Noun === (classifier con) thuồng luồng • (從弄, 𧐺𬠥) (mythology) aquatic serpent-like monster (archaic) crocodile