3 ms·

You immediately see the difference (or similarly) of languages when using words that are very old, such as "iron", or "stone", which are words that have existed

You immediately see the difference (or similarly) of languages when using words that are very old, such as "iron", or "stone", which are words that have existed from the origins of that language.

lqet 2y ago
Also "cow". And "sun", "mama" and "papa" seem to transcended most European languages.
- svilen_dobrev 2y ago
  salt, tea, .. one can follow migrations.. and criss-crosses.. btw, "orange" as color in Bulgarian is still "orange" (оранжев/а/о/и), but "orange" as fruit is портокал ("portokal") - so that's tricky.. "oranges" seems more correct, vs "orange color" maybe
  - adrian_b 2y ago
    Salt and tea are good examples for the 2 reasons that can be the cause for finding the same word in many languages. Salt is an ancient Indo-European word that was already in use several millennia ago, so it has been inherited in most Indo-European languages. Tea is a relatively recent borrowing in the European languages, which has spread from one language to another, with a few pronunciation variants, across all Europe, regardless of the genetic relationships between languages.
  - wongarsu 2y ago
    Poland took issue with the story that worldwide there are only two words for tee, and which one you use depends on whether you got introduced to tea via sea or via land
- adrian_b 2y ago
  For some words, their identity is not obvious when you do not know the rules for the changes of sounds between the Indo-European language subfamilies. For instance "cow" and "Kuh" come from the same word as "boeuf" and "buey" (also despite the gender difference).
- retrac 2y ago
  Mama and papa is a whole other phenomenon. Arabic: mama babi. Mandarin: mama baba. Swahili: mama baba. Inuktitut: anaana ataata. English: mama papa. Tamil: amma appa. These languages are not known to be related. The first vowel sound a child makes is approximately "a" and the first consonant they form tends to be a nasal plosive "mba mba mba" and the second distinct sound tends to be a dental or labial plosive "pa ta pa ta". And the first thing a baby says is "mommy" of course and the second thing a baby says is "daddy" of course. So mama is mommy and papa or tata is daddy. That's the usual explanation, anyway.
  - oguz-ismail 2y ago
    > Inuktitut: anaana ataata That's interesting. Ana/ata means mother/father in Turkic languages
    - rrr_oh_man 2y ago
      Check this out: https://polatkaya.net/Native_Americans.htm https://polatkaya.net/Native_Americans.htm
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

You immediately see the difference (or similarly) of languages when using words that are very old, such as "iron", or "stone", which are words that have existed from the origins of that language.

lqet 2y ago

Also "cow". And "sun", "mama" and "papa" seem to transcended most European languages.

svilen_dobrev 2y ago
salt, tea, .. one can follow migrations.. and criss-crosses.. btw, "orange" as color in Bulgarian is still "orange" (оранжев/а/о/и), but "orange" as fruit is портокал ("portokal") - so that's tricky.. "oranges" seems more correct, vs "orange color" maybe
- adrian_b 2y ago
  Salt and tea are good examples for the 2 reasons that can be the cause for finding the same word in many languages. Salt is an ancient Indo-European word that was already in use several millennia ago, so it has been inherited in most Indo-European languages. Tea is a relatively recent borrowing in the European languages, which has spread from one language to another, with a few pronunciation variants, across all Europe, regardless of the genetic relationships between languages.
- wongarsu 2y ago
  Poland took issue with the story that worldwide there are only two words for tee, and which one you use depends on whether you got introduced to tea via sea or via land
adrian_b 2y ago
For some words, their identity is not obvious when you do not know the rules for the changes of sounds between the Indo-European language subfamilies. For instance "cow" and "Kuh" come from the same word as "boeuf" and "buey" (also despite the gender difference).
retrac 2y ago
Mama and papa is a whole other phenomenon. Arabic: mama babi. Mandarin: mama baba. Swahili: mama baba. Inuktitut: anaana ataata. English: mama papa. Tamil: amma appa. These languages are not known to be related. The first vowel sound a child makes is approximately "a" and the first consonant they form tends to be a nasal plosive "mba mba mba" and the second distinct sound tends to be a dental or labial plosive "pa ta pa ta". And the first thing a baby says is "mommy" of course and the second thing a baby says is "daddy" of course. So mama is mommy and papa or tata is daddy. That's the usual explanation, anyway.
- oguz-ismail 2y ago
  > Inuktitut: anaana ataata That's interesting. Ana/ata means mother/father in Turkic languages
  - rrr_oh_man 2y ago
    Check this out: https://polatkaya.net/Native_Americans.htm https://polatkaya.net/Native_Americans.htm

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]