"Swallow" and "Swallow whole"

According to the above, writing "nuốt trửng" is a spelling mistake. However, that's not actually the case.

Dozens of dictionaries we have at hand record both spellings of "nuốt chút" and "nuốt trửng":

- The Vietnamese dictionary (edited by Hoang Phe - Vietlex), under the entry "nuot trửng," notes that this is an "old or dialectal" spelling, and directs readers to refer to "nuot chuc." Thus, the dictionary compiler still acknowledges "nuot trửng" but leans towards the more common spelling "nuot chuc."

- The Vietnamese Dictionary (Hội Khai trí Tiến đức - 1931) includes "nuốt trửng," meaning "to swallow something without chewing," and gives the example "to put a pill in your mouth and swallow it whole." This book does not list "nuốt chút" in a separate entry, but under "chửng," it explains it as "straightforward, without hindrance," and gives the example "to swallow whole, to swallow whole."

- The Vietnamese Dictionary (Lê Văn Đức - 1970) does not record "chửng" or "nuốt chút". In the entry for "trửng", this book explains it as "Whole, concise, complete in one go", and gives the example "The dog swallowed the piece of meat whole; the task was not completed but swallowed a thousand silver coins whole!". In the entry for "nuốt trửng", it explains it as "Swallowing whole", and notes it as "Swallowing fresh and swallowing easily".

- The Vietnamese orthography dictionary (Le Ngoc Tru - 1967) only records the word "nuot trửng", not "nuot chuc".

- The Vietnamese Dictionary (by Đào Văn Tập - 1951) only records the word "nuốt trửng" (to swallow).

- The Vietnamese New Dictionary (Thanh Nghi - 1951) also only records the word "nuốt trửng" (to swallow).

- Annamite-Français Dictionary (LM.)

Génibrel (1898) also only recorded the term "swallowing".

Notably, many books categorize the term "nuốt trọg" with the same meaning as "nuốt chút" or "nuốt trửng". For example, the Vietnamese Dictionary (Hoàng Phê - Vietlex) defines "nuốt trọg" as "nuốt chút" and gives the example "the boy swallowed the whole piece of cake." The Vietnamese Dictionary (Hội Khai trí Tiến đức) also records "nuốt trọg" and defines it as "Same meaning as 'nuốt trửng'."

Many ancient dictionaries only record "nuốt rộng" (swallowing completely) and not "nuốt trửng" (swallowing whole), such as: Đại Nam quấc âm tự vị (Huình Tịnh Paulus Của - 1885, 1896); Tự điển Annam - Latin (GM.

Taberd - 1883); Francais-Anamite Dictionary (Truong Vinh Ky - 1884).

Notably, the Đại Nam Quốc Âm Tự Vị dictionary defines "trộng" as "Large, quite large, and intact"; "trộng trọg" = "Medium-sized, not small"; "trộng trơn = Large and intact. A smooth, intact grain of rice"; "Trộng hột = Large grain"; "trộng đứa = Large child, not small"; "Ăn cơm trọg" = "Eating whole grains of rice; eating alone without chewing. (A young child)"; "Nuốt trọg" = "Swallowing something large without chewing first".

Thus, based on the appearance of words in dictionaries from ancient times to the present, "trộng" (to swallow) is the earliest, followed by "trửng" (to swallow), and the latest is "chửng" (to swallow completely).

So, considering the etymology, where does "trộngg↔trửng↔chửng" come from?

The answer is "trọng," which comes from the word "trọng" (重).

The character 重 (also pronounced "trùng" in "trùng lại") has one meaning: "large" (meaning 22 as explained in the Comprehensive Dictionary of Chinese). "Nuốt trọng" means to swallow a large piece whole without chewing. "Trọng hột" means large seeds, similar to the expression "choose the most important," meaning selecting the largest piece among those that have been chopped or cut into smaller pieces.

The relationship between ONG↔ÔNG (trọng ↔ trọngg) can be seen in many other cases such as thả rong↔ thả rong; long nhong↔ long nhong,...

The word "nuốt trọg" (to swallow completely) becomes "nuốt trửng" (pronounced "trẩng" or "trửng" in Thanh Hóa dialect). The ÔNG↔UNG relationship is still found in Thanh Hóa dialects, such as đì đồng↔đì đùng; đến cùng↔đến cồng. The TR↔CH relationship can also be illustrated with many examples, such as trà↔chè; trương↔chương,...

Thus, "nuốt trọng" and "nuốt trửng" are the earliest recorded ways of speaking and writing, followed by "nuốt chút". Currently, the way of speaking and writing "nuốt chút" is considered common, but this does not mean that the spelling "nuốt trửng" is incorrect. Accordingly, "nuốt chút" and "nuốt trửng" should be classified as "ambiguous" (both spellings are acceptable).

Hoang Trinh Son (Contributor)

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/nuot-chung-nbsp-va-nuot-trung-254254.htm