Re: OT: Junk
From: | John Cowan <jcowan@...> |
Date: | Tuesday, September 9, 2003, 14:53 |
H. S. Teoh scripsit:
> > I thought this would be the best forum I've got access to to learn i) if
> > that's true, ii) if so, do the Chinese have a special term for the
> > ship-types we westerners call "junks" and iii) from what kind of Chinese
> > is the word "junk" derived - it does not look much Mandarinesque.
> [snip]
>
> I've no idea if it's true. The common word for ship or boat is /chuan2/.
m-w.com says junk in this sense is < Pg junco < Javanese jon, which I'm
willing to bet is a Sinitic loan, probably not from Mandarin, more like
Cantonese or Minnan.
Does that ring any bells? Roger?
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