| Abstract: |
Linguistic evidence supports the claim in archaeological studies that early metallurgy practices moved from north to south in China and Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA). This historical linguistic study of words for knives, sickles, swords, and other metal tools and weapons in the region shows an expected region of Chinese influence from China to northern MSEA, encompassing Hmong-Mien, Tai, and Vietic. However, there is also a region with Tai as the apparent source language group for such terms that appear to have spread later into Austroasiatic languages. The sociocultural circumstances and history of the spread of these words and their associated implements are explored and described.
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