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Etymology of книга question | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| chucknorrisman Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5236 days ago 321 posts - 435 votes  Speaks: Korean*, English, Spanish Studies: Russian, Mandarin, Lithuanian, French | Message 1 of 7 26 February 2011 at 6:13pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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книга means book in Russian and other Slavic languages.
According to the Wiktionary page for книга, the word is "From Proto-Slavic *kъniga. From Old Turkic *küinig, Bulgaric Turkic *küiniv (Uyghur kuin, kuinbitig) which is from Chinese." I'm wondering, what's this Chinese word that contributed to "kuin" or "kuinbitig"? Or could this just be an error in Wiktionary? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cthulhu Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7011 days ago 139 posts - 235 votes Speaks: French*, English, Mandarin, Russian | Message 2 of 7 26 February 2011 at 6:51pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Keep in mind that's only one possible theory as to the origin of the word, but it's probable that the kuin originally came from the Chinese 經 (While the bitig part is an Old Turkish word for book or writing whose own origin I'm unfamiliar with). Edited by Cthulhu on 26 February 2011 at 6:52pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 6944 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 3 of 7 26 February 2011 at 7:35pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
This is the entry from the Hungarian etymological dictionary.
With my rusty Hungarian, I understand that the word for "book" is a Wanderwort but whose ultimate source is uncertain. It could be from the Chinese word or even the Assyrian word. The words used here are: Armenian: kniќ = "slab, letter" Assyrian: kuniku = "slab, document" Chinese: k'üen = "book-spool/scroll" Hungarian: könyv = "book" Korean: kwen = "book" (권) Mordvin: końov = "paper" Old Church Slavonic: kъńiga = "book, character, writing" Sumerian: kunukku = "seal, stamp" Uigur: küin = "book-spool/scroll" I am curious why the Hungarian dictionary considers the Assyrian word as a possible source rather than Sumerian considering that Assyrian descended from Akkadian which was contemporaneous with Sumerian. In other words Assyrian was first attested as a distinct language long after Sumerian was first attested and so the time-scales seem out of line. Since you speak Korean, look up the etymology of 권 to see what Korean linguists think. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cthulhu Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7011 days ago 139 posts - 235 votes Speaks: French*, English, Mandarin, Russian | Message 4 of 7 26 February 2011 at 8:54pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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^ In light of the information on Korean, which the Russian etymological dictionary I checked didn't mention, I was completely wrong and the Chinese word they're referring to is 卷, which actually is pronounced 권 in Korean.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 6944 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 6 of 7 27 February 2011 at 7:49pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
To answer your question, they are related. According to the Polish etymological dictionary:
In a nutshell, Polish książka is a diminutive of księgi which in turn arose from an earlier *knięga via a sound change of kń to kś. The Polish editor here states that the word is a borrowing whose ultimate origin is unclear - similar to the Hungarian entry above for könyv. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| FrostBlast Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4887 days ago 168 posts - 254 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Icelandic | Message 7 of 7 01 March 2011 at 2:29am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I won't say anything helpful here.
I just want to point out that this sort of thread is why I like this forum so much. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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