Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!news.mathworks.com!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!eng.ufl.edu!usenet.ufl.edu!draco.nova.edu!alpha!vacco
From: vacco@alpha.acast.nova.edu (Vacuum Cleaner)
Subject: Re: Protoworld: tank = liquid container
Message-ID: <D96L49.48q@draco.nova.edu>
Sender: news@draco.nova.edu (Usenet Administrator)
Organization: Nova University, FL
References: <3otjap$sfo@news.ccit.arizona.edu> <3ptupv$5jp@ixnews4.ix.netcom.com>
Date: Fri, 26 May 1995 10:28:56 GMT
Lines: 33

In article <3ptupv$5jp@ixnews4.ix.netcom.com> pstevnsn@ix.netcom.com (Paul Stevenson) writes:
>In <3otjap$sfo@news.ccit.arizona.edu> hlu@helium.gas.uug.arizona.edu
>(Hung J Lu) writes: 
>>
>>To the "grand masters" in the ultimate quest for the primordial 
>>language: has this term already been discussed?
>>
>>English: tank
>>Spanish: tanque
>>Mandarin: tong3 (pail,bucket)
>>Hokkien: thang2 (pail,bucket)
>>
>>humbly,
>>
>>-- Ekki
>
>This looks like just one of the occasional coincidences in language.
>You find them here and there. English and Spanish have a lot of common
>routes from Latin, and of course Mandarin and Hokkien are both
>varieties of Chinese.
>
>I could offer another coincidence--
>
>English: hole
>Sacapultec (a Mayan language of Guatemala): hoL (word-final /l/s are
>devoiced)
>
>I think I have read that Nahuatl has a word /wel/ which has a meaning
>similar to English "well" (as in good).
>
>Paul
Is the Sanscrit "abala" (talk?) related to the Spanish "habla"?

