Archaeoastronomy and Ancient Technologies 2020, 8(2), 29–40 www.aaatec.org ISSN 2310-2144 On etymology of Sinitic, Indo-European and Uralic terms for 'star' supported by regular sound correspondences Jingyi Gao Beijing International Studies University, China; E-mail: gao.jingyi@bisu.edu.cn Institute of the Estonian Language, Tallinn, Estonia; E-mail: jingyi.gao@eki.ee University of Tartu, Estonia; E-mail: jingyi.gao@ut.ee Abstract Using etymological methods, the present study has researched four Sinitic and Germanic shared (Sino- Germanic) etymologies (etyma) and two Sinitic and Uralic shared (Sino-Uralic) etyma. Two of the Sino- Germanic etyma form a rhyme correspondence. Three of the Sino-Germanic etyma form an onset correspondence. Two of the Sino-Uralic etyma form another rhyme correspondence. These regular sound changes validate the etymological connections in question. The Sino-Germanic term for 'star' and Sino- Uralic term for 'star' are supported. Keywords: etymology, rhyme correspondence, onset correspondence, Sinitic, Uralic, Sino-Uralic, Germanic, Indo-European, Sino-Germanic, astronomical terms, star Introduction The Indo-European term for 'star' (Proto-Indo-European *h₂str-n 'star' (Kroonen, 2013, p. 478) ; equivalents e.g. Danish stjerne 'star' ; Swedish stjärna 'star' ; Old Norse stjarna 'star' ; English star; Old English steorra 'star' ; German Stern 'star' ; Old High German sterno/sterro/stern 'star' ; Gothic stairn 'star' ; Middle Irish ser 'star' ; Latin stēlla 'star' ; Avestan\Zend star/stara 'star' ; Sanskrit सृ (st  ) 'star' ; Tocharian-A ś 'stars' ) has been compared to the Sinitic term for 'star'【】〖OC-W *sieŋ; equivalents e.g. Mandarin ng (ŋ) 'star' ; Cantonese sing1/seng1 'star' ; Minnan sing/tshinn/tshenn 'star' ;〗and suggested as a Sino-Germanic etymology (, 2008, p. 200). The Uralic term for 'star' (“Proto-Finno-Wlgaic” *täštä 'star > sign' (Rédei, 1988, p. 793) ; equivalents e.g. Estonian täht\tähe 'star, sign' , tähtis 'significant, important' ; Finnish tähti\tähte- 'star, sign' ; Mordvin tšt/tšč/täštä 'star, sign' ) has been compared to the Sinitic term for 'extreme'【太】〖OC-W *tʰat; equivalents e.g. Mandarin tài 'extremely' ; Cantonese taai3 'extremely' ; Minnan thài 'extremely' 〗 and suggested as a Sino-Uralic etymology (, 2008, p. 142). The present study researches and supports these two etyma with regular sound correspondences.