ふぃーとぅ【海豚】 : fiitu | define meaning

Cognate with Kikai, Yoron, Kunigami (Nago) and Yaeyama (Hateruma, Hatoma & Shiraho) ぴとぅ pitu; Kikai and Kunigami (Takazato) ふぃとぅ fitu; Amami ふとぅ futu; Tokunoshima (Asama) ふィーとぅ fïïtu; Kunigami (Nakijin) ぴっとぅ pittu; Kunigami (Kin) ひーとぅい hiitui; Okinawan (Shuri) ふぃーとぅ fiitu; Okinawan (Itoman, Yomitan) ひーとぅ hiitu; Yaeyama (Hatoma) ぴとぅー pituu; Yaeyama (Kohama) ぴょうと pyouto; Yonaguni ひっとぅ hittu and Yonaguni (Sonai) ひーっとぅ hiittu "dolphin".

Ultimately borrowed from Chinese 【海豚】 "dolphin, porpoise" (cf. Mandarin hǎitún; Cantonese hoi2 tyun4; Hakka hói-thùn; Wu he den (T2); and Hokkien hái-thûn and hai2 tung5; Sino-Japanese かいとん kaiton), reconstructed for Middle Chinese as *xojX dwon. Alternatively from 【海豬】 "dolphin, porpoise" (cf. Mandarin hǎizhū; Cantonese hoi2 zyu1; Hakka hói-chû; Hokkien hái-ti and hái-tu), reconstructed for Middle Chinese as *xojX trjo.

Historical Ryukyuan attestations

• Konkoukenshuu (混効験集, 1711), "Words of the Royal Palace", records "「へと」江豚（イルカ）の事　しゆこ" [=衆口].
• The Okinawan Language (A Synchronic Description) (1963), by Owen Robert Loveless, records "fiitu, dolphin".

Reconstructions for proto-Ryukyuan

• Anna Bugaeva (2022) reconstructs *peto and connects it to Western Old Japanese *pîtunzi "lamb".
• Zachary Read (2012) proposes a borrowing from Chinese 海豚 or 海豬 "dolphin".
• Maner L. Thorpe (1983) reconstructs *peto "dolphin".