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The study of the history of words including their origins and the changes they've undergone through time.

1 vote

The etymological dictionary of Persian by Mohammad Hassandust

Hassandust needs to be taken with a grain of salt. I do not generally have much positive to say about Wiktionary, but the Persian etymologies there are often very good. Some competent person has had a …
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13 votes

Nations' names for themselves with foreign etymologies

America has its name from the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, whose first name is of Germanic origin. Việt Nam is Middle Chinese, meaning “Southern Yue”. Iraq is (probably) from Middle Persian ērag …
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4 votes
Accepted

Does the Arabic word for ‘flock’ come from ‘booty’, or is it the other way round?

The root ġ-n-m occurs in Arabic, Ancient South Arabian (Sabaic), and Modern South Arabian (Harsusi); otherwise there are no Semitic cognates. In Sabaic it forms a noun “booty” and a verb “to plunder”; …
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1 vote

Are PIE *bal and *welH- related?

The name is a compound of Sanskrit bhūmi- “land” and (I assume) bala- “strength”. The latter is (as has been mentioned) cognate to Greel βελτίων, “better”, so with IE *b not *w-.
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2 votes
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Can these similarities between PIE and Burushaski be explained?

A genetic relation between Burushaski and IE has been argued by Ilija Çasule (Macquarie University). This is not as yet widely accepted, but it is worthy of serious discussion and not simply rejected …
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3 votes

Etymological relationship between picture/image and education/formation

The development in German is the noun Bild “picture, image”, then the verb bilden “to make a picture, form, create”, then figuratively “to educate, to form someone’s character”, Bildung “education” et …
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-1 votes
Accepted

ʕattiq, antiquus

The similarity is a coincidence. The book can definitely be closed.
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14 votes
Accepted

Etymology of the Turkish word "rüzgâr"

The semantic shift seems to be: time > weather > wind For the first step compare Latin tempus “time” > French temps (“time, weather”). For the second compare German Wetter (“weather”) with Russian vet …
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7 votes

Is there a common ancestor between the Hebrew לבן ("lavan", white) and the English "albino"?

If we are looking for a Semitic parallel to IE *h₂elbh-o- > Lat. albus a better candidate might be the Semitic word for “milk”, Arabic ḥalab, Hebrew ḥālāḇ, Aramaic ḥalḇā, conceivably a Wanderwort or a …
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7 votes

Is the word for "brother-in-law" in Germanic languages related to the Aramaic/Syriac גיס?

I do not have an etymology for this, but it really does not look anything like Indo-European *sueḱuro- or any of its descendants. …
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7 votes
Accepted

Prefix a(n)- in Sanskrit and English

anitya is a compound of the negative prefix a- and nitya- “lasting, permanent”. As you point out, the negative particle is an- before a vowel and a- before a consonant (as here). English words with ne …
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1 vote

Why is six and seven so similar in many languages?

Do you know how to count to ten in Malay/Indonesian? satu dua tiga empat lima enam tujuh delapan sembilan sepuluh. That’s right: “two” is dua. Looks just like Latin, Greek, English, take your pick. Is …
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18 votes

Why is the word "war" in Romance languages predominantly of Germanic origin instead of Latin?

The basic meaning of the Germanic *wirr is “disorder, chaos” etc. The shift in meaning to “warfare” originated in Frankish and is attested since the 9th century in High German, English, but not Franki …
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8 votes

Ultimate Etymology of "Ides"?

Idus does not have a recognised Indo-European etymology. The concept of a “Nostratic” super-language is not mainstream linguistic doctrine. …
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6 votes

Isn't the supposed development in German "schön" > "schon" typologically unlikely

The adjective schön goes back to Old High German scōni (the umlaut in the first syllable is caused by the /i/ in the second). The adverb schon is from OHG scōno (without umlaut). So it is not really t …
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