The English words “wheel” and “rickshaw” are extraordinary cognates

119 points · 6 comments · view on lemmy.world

6 Comments

hakase@sh.itjust.works · 17 pts · 2y (3 replies)

"Mead/honey" followed basically the exact same path, except for the final borrowing of the Japanese word back into English.

Proto-Indo-European *med^h^u > English "mead"
Proto-Indo-European *med^h^u > Tocharian B (not A) "mit" > Old Chinese "mit" > Japanese "hachi-mitsu" (bee-honey)

IoSapsai@lemm.ee · 2 pts · 2y (2 replies)

In most slavic languages it's also "Med" or a cognate.

loputozirak@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 2y (1 reply)

catalan: mel

IoSapsai@lemm.ee · 2 pts · 2y

Same as Latin!

danl@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 2y

Cool post though I’m not fully onboard with the map implying the modern words came into form in America.

deegeese@sopuli.xyz · 6 pts · 2y

Also the source of the word 'circle'