Re: Baby/infant

On Tue, 22 Aug 2006, Charlie wrote:
>
> Hi!
> I'm looking for a word for "baby/infant" in a natlang that has not
> evolved from "indistinct speech" (baba > baby) or from "not speaking"
> (in-fans > infant).  Does anyone know of such?
>
> Charlie
> http://wiki.frath.net/senjecas
 - Malay (Austronesian) has "bayi" for "infant, baby".
 - Iban (Austronesian) has "anak biak" for "baby", literally "child breed".
 - Kadazan (Austronesian) has "tanak tonini", literally "child small" for
"baby" and "koposusuvan", literally "suckler" for "suckling".
 - Spanish (IE, Romance) in all varieties has "niño" for "male infant" and
"niña" for "female infant".
 - Andean Spanish (IE, Romance) has "guagua" for "baby"; I don't know its
etymology.
 - German (IE, Germanic) has "Säugling" for English (IE, Germanic)
"suckling".
 - Tamazight (Semitic) has "taslmiya" or "tislmiwin" for baby; I cannot
determine the etymology of either word, but both appear to have the
triliteral root "s-l-m-" which in Arabic and Hebrew (Semitic) means "peace"
or "safety".
 - Greek (IE) has "vréfos" for "infant, baby", "nípio" for "infant, baby,
newborn child", and "moró" for "baby".  "nípio" *seems* to combine the roots
for "new" and "child".

HTH,
Yahya

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