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English breaks my brain... How is some languages end in -an, but others end in -ese, -ish, etc... [Open Discussion Thread on Languages and their Quirks] (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 2 months ago by IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/casualconversation@lemm.ee
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I mean:

English

Russian

French? (how did this happen? France --> French?!?)

Chinese

And someone from Afghanistan is an Afghan? How did the word get shorter not longer? 🤔

Also, why is a person from India called an Indian, but the language is called Hindi? This breaks my brain...

Philippines --> Filipino? They just saw the "Ph" and decided to use an "F"? 🤔

Okay idk how language even works anymore...

[This is an open discusssion thread on languages and their quirks...]

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[–] IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I mean... similarly: How did we get "China" from ZhongGuo? 🤔

[–] hddsx@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

We didn’t. 中國likely became the most common name with 中華民國（present day commonly known as Taiwan). What you now know as China is 中華人民共和國, so 中國 carries on. During dynasty periods that was not the common name.

China comes from sina/sino. I don’t remember where this comes from. Sanskrit?

[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

China comes from sina/sino. I don’t remember where this comes from. Sanskrit?

Odds are that both were independently borrowed from Sanskrit चीन / Cīna:

  • China: Sanskrit, then Persian, Portuguese, English. By then Portuguese likely still had the [tʃ] "tch" sound.
  • Sina: Sanskrit, then Persian, Arabic, Greek, Latin, English. Arabic converted Sanskrit [tɕ] into [sˤ], then Greek into [s].

Note: dunno in English but at least in Latin "Sina" (often Sinae, the plural) refers specifically to southern China. The north is typically called Serica (roughly "of the silk").

[–] Limitless_screaming@kbin.earth 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

In Arabic it's "Seen" (صين) with a Saad (ص) ‎[sˤ]. It came from Persian "چین" (Cheen). Which came from Sanskrit.

[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 3 points 2 months ago

My bad, and thanks for the info! I'll correct my comment, I kind of rushed checking the etymologies.

[–] themoken@startrek.website 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Wikipedia says from Portuguese, through Persian, back to Sanskrit, being the grand daddy of English, calling it "cina", and/or it has to do with Qin Dynasty that unified China.

Probably better than whatever bullshit they would have gotten from Zhongguo if "Peking" was as good as they could do with "Beijing"

[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 3 points 2 months ago

back to Sanskrit, being the grand daddy of English

Sanskrit is more like English's uncle than granddaddy: English is from Proto-Germanic, and both Proto-Germanic and Sanskrit are from Proto-Indo-European.

[–] SGforce@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago

Or that soy beans are actually named after the sauce, since English didn't have a word for the bean yet.