Etymology and origin of the Czech word "pět" and its strikingly similar counterparts in Russias, Polish and many other Slavic languages.

R

Rainbowlight

Senior Member
Spanish
Hello everyone,

I would like to know about the etymology and origin of the Czech numeral "pět" and its strikingly similar Slavic counterparts in Russian, Polish and many other Slavic languages. Is it named after the hand, the palm of the hand or the fist?

Thanks in advance for your time and help.
 
    • Rainbowlight said:
    Hello everyone,

    I would like to know about the etymology and origin of the Czech numeral "pět" and its strikingly similar Slavic counterparts in Russian, Polish and many other Slavic languages. Is it named after the hand, the palm of the hand or the fist?

    Thanks in advance for your time and help.
    Click to expand...
    It expectedly goes back right to Proto-Indo-European (*pénkʷe > *pénkʷti) and is a cognate to English "five" and Spanish "cinco".
     
    Awwal12 said:
    It expectedly goes back right to Proto-Indo-European (*pénkʷe > *pénkʷti) and is a cognate to English "five" and Spanish "cinco".
    Click to expand...
    And *pénkʷe possibly also shares a common root with English fist and finger. This would suggest that within Proto-IE the word for the number 5 would indeed be related to concepts like hand, fist or finger.
     
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