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…]

  • Lvxferre [he/him]English
    3·
    18 minutes ago

    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
      3·
      11 hours ago

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

      • Lvxferre [he/him]English
        3·
        11 hours ago

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