Portraits X - Conclusion

 

Shona: zuva / zuva

Somali: gorraxdu / maalin

Swahili: yua / siku

Sundanese: pononpoe / dinten

   ("eye of the day" / "day")

Tagalog: araw / araw

Thai: Dwng xathith / Wan

   ("eye of the day" / "day")

Tajik: oftob / rûz

Telugu: suryudu / rôju

Tsonga: dyambu / siku

Turkish: günéS /gün

Turkoman: gün /gün

Twi: awia / da

Uzbek: quyosh / kun

Vasco (Euskara, Basque): eguzkia / eguna

Vietnamese: mat tròi / ngày

   ("eye of heaven" / "day")

Xhosa: ilanga / usuku

Yoruba: oorun / ojo

Zulu: ilanga / usuku

Coptic (Sahidic): re / hoou*

* Note that Coptic (Late Egyptian, written in a form of the Greek alphabet) /hoou/ comes from a Middle Egyptian form /hru/ which was probably pronounced "haru."

I was inspired by the Indonesian "matahari" ("sun" = "eye of the day") to check the word for "eye" in several languages:

Samoan: mata

Malagasy: maso

Malay: mata

Hawaiian: maka (= mata, due to t/k sound shift in Hawaiian)

Mizo (a Tibeto-Burman language): mit

Burmese: myetci (myetsi)

Cebuano (a Bisayan language of the Philippines): mata

Ilokano: mata

Indonesian: mata

Tagalog: mata

Vietnamese: mat (there should be a brève accent over the vowel). Vietnamese is an Austroasiatic (mainland Southeast Asian) language. The word "mata" for "eye" is characteristic of the Austronesian (Pacific Island) languages.

Greek: máti

The forms checked, for "sun" and "day," very effectively corroborate known linguistic familial relationships, and may possibly suggest a few new ones.

Text and images Copyright © 2023 by Donald C. Traxler.