random stuff about languages -24

[howsmyenglish]

I've gone so far that I wake up in the mornings, think my "random stuff about languages", then decide it's been posted and continue with my chores. But I am, I'm telling you, I am going to get to number -1 eventually!

I woke up today screaming in the still ongoing dream "bhay! bhay!" - or, actually, भय! भय!, because I was seeing the letters when I was screaming the word. भय means "fear" in Hindi, and this is what I was screaming, but in Russian. I mean, I was screaming: "भय на хинди - ужас!" ("bhay na hindi - uzhas!"). Why, you might ask, did I scream this? I'd like to tell you. But I don't really know myself. The sleeping me thought she had found an etymological connection between the Hindi "bhay" and - some Russian word. But I have no idea what Russian word that was! I've been racking my brain. What word was that? There is a "бабай" ("babay") in Russian, who is some kind of a scary creature small children are being frightened with, but there is a difference between "bh" and "b", and, being awake, I cannot agree that the two might be related in any way. Another possibility I was thinking of, is the verb "бояться" ("boyatsa", "to be afraid"), so... I don't know... the sleeping me might have decided that the "boy" in this verb comes from "bhay"? But it does not sound logical. My husband says I should try and ask the sleeping me when I go to sleep again. Weeell... I'm afraid, wishful thinking might be much stronger in the darkness of night...

I love etymologies. Did you know that the English "stand", "stay", "station", "stadium", as well as the German "stehen" and "Stunde" ("hour"!) and the Russian "стоять" (to stand) and all the "-stans" and "-sthans" in Pakistan and Rajasthan all come from the Sanskrit root स्था "sthā"?

And the English "heart", German "Herz", Russian "сердце", Czech "srdce" as well as "cardiology", "cordial" etc. all come from the Sanskrit हृदय "hṛ́daya"?

Isn't this cool?!

Comments

[smallhobbit]

The sleeping brain is apt to get confused ... Mine told me it was Friday (when I don't work) so I was unimpressed to wake up and realise it was Thursday!

[howsmyenglish]

Oh yes, I know the sort of thing you mean! To wake up can be very disappointing at times...

[hamletta]

This is super cool indeed!

My favourite etymology is for the word "turkey" (the bird) -- called in many languages for its presumed origins in India (or West Indies, which at the time was thought to be pretty much the same). English got stuck with turkey (on the way, isn't it?) French got "dinde" (or d'inde -- from india). Polish folled suit with "indyk," while other countries embellished it even further -- the Dutch call it "kalkoen," which derives from Kolcata. I'm sure you can add to this list!

[howsmyenglish]

Sure, in Hebrew it's "hodu", which means India, in Russian - very close to Polish - "indyuk". The Germans are the only ones I know that call this bird either "Truthahn" or "Pute", and neither has anything to do with India or Turkey! Rather, it's supposed to be imitative of the sound they make.

I did not know about "kalkoen" and Kolcata!

[halfshellvenus]

("babay") in Russian, who is some kind of a scary creature small children are being frightened with

Baba Yaga, perhaps? And she IS pretty frightening. She eats children, so that's a good reason to be scared.

Hmm... so, what does "sthā" mean in Sanskrit?

I had honestly never considered the 'stans' as being related to 'stand' or 'stay.' I just knew they were a thing popular in Muslim-culture country names!

Also that there are so many 'stans now, one might come to mind and you can't always be sure you haven't just made it up. Turkmenistan? Probably real. Arkmenistan? Um....

[howsmyenglish]

I've spent some time on the net reading about both of them, and now I do think there might be an etymological connection between "babay" and "baba yaga", but I'm sure this is not what I meant, I meant some word-word, not a name. At least I think so. But I guess, there's no way of knowing now :D

"sthā" means "to stand"! Sorry! I kind of thought it was self-explanatory.. :)
Turkmenistan is real, there's no Arkmenistan though. *rofl* There's an Armenia!