Re: Beijing, Zhongguo, etc. (was Re: 'out-' affix in conlangs?)
| From: | Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, August 18, 2008, 18:10 |
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Found this interesting paper:
http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp019_peking_beijing.pdf
...which, along with tracing the pronunciation of the name of the city
in question across time and space, suggests that the first syllable of
said name is cognate with English "back". Actually, it does more than
suggest it:
"There can be no question that English 'back' and Chinese 'bak' are
derived from the same etymon."
It then lists a collection of cognates that, as far as I can tell,
succeeds in demonstrating that English "back" is in fact of Germanic
origin rather than an English innovation. What that has to do with
its relation to Chinese, I don't know.
My wingnut sense is tingling...
--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
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