I'm looking for languages for which the word twin doesn't have the number two as a root. Meaning word for twin in your languages that has nothing to do with number two.
Twin
- Thread starter dihydrogen monoxide
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Yeah. In Spanish it's the same:
two: dos
Twin: gemelo / gemela
Sayah
two: dos
Twin: gemelo / gemela
Sayah
What about gemini in English?
Gemini = blíženci(Czech)
Gemini is a loan from Latin, and it's only used for the astrological sign.
In Italian, not differently from other Romance languages obviously:
two - due
twin - gemello
Gemello comes from Latin geminus, which means 'identical'.
two - due
twin - gemello
Gemello comes from Latin geminus, which means 'identical'.
Arabic, like Hebrew, qualifies:
two: إثنان (ithnaan)
twin: توأم (taw'am)
two: إثنان (ithnaan)
twin: توأم (taw'am)
Russian:
two = два (dva)
twin = близнец (bliznets); the constellation is also called Близнецы (Bliznetsy, i.e. Twins).
two = два (dva)
twin = близнец (bliznets); the constellation is also called Близнецы (Bliznetsy, i.e. Twins).
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In Spanish we have two words: "Gemelos" and "mellizos". Both have the same meaning although usually "gemelos" are used for identical twins and "mellizos" for the non-identical ones. Also, they have the same root, so if one in not related to two ("dos") neither is the other.
Not available for Romanian. In Romanian it is only gemeni, no matter the number of them. From Latin gemini.
Of course, modern Romanian has tripleţi, cvadrupleţi etc. for defining the number of twins, but these are loanwords.
In both Swedish and Finnish the words for two and twin are connected.
In Greek:
«Δίδυμος, -μη, -μο» ['ðiðimos] (masc.), ['ðiðimi] (fem.), ['ðiðimo] (neut.) (sing.) --> twin
«Δίδυμοι, -μες, μα» ['ðiðimi] (masc.) ['ðiðimes] (fem.), ['ðiðima] (neut.) (pl.) --> twins
The Constellation Gemini, is «Δίδυμοι» ['ðiðimi].
Adj. «δίδυμος» ['ðiðimos] < Classical «δίδυμος» dídumŏs & poetic «διδυμάων» dĭdŭmáōn < compound, word-forming element meaning two, twice, double, «δί-» dí-, from numeral «δύο» dúŏ --> two (PIE *dwo-, two) + thematic form of «δύο», «δυ-» du- + productive suffix «-μος, -μη, -μον» -mŏs (masc.), -mē (fem.), - mŏn (neut.)
«Δίδυμος, -μη, -μο» ['ðiðimos] (masc.), ['ðiðimi] (fem.), ['ðiðimo] (neut.) (sing.) --> twin
«Δίδυμοι, -μες, μα» ['ðiðimi] (masc.) ['ðiðimes] (fem.), ['ðiðima] (neut.) (pl.) --> twins
The Constellation Gemini, is «Δίδυμοι» ['ðiðimi].
Adj. «δίδυμος» ['ðiðimos] < Classical «δίδυμος» dídumŏs & poetic «διδυμάων» dĭdŭmáōn < compound, word-forming element meaning two, twice, double, «δί-» dí-, from numeral «δύο» dúŏ --> two (PIE *dwo-, two) + thematic form of «δύο», «δυ-» du- + productive suffix «-μος, -μη, -μον» -mŏs (masc.), -mē (fem.), - mŏn (neut.)
Mmm... Not sure how Chinese would be viewed here, since in Chinese twins are associated with the idea of pair, which I supposed is related to two, but not exactly. Anyway you decide whether or not it fits.
二 (Mandarin: er; Cantonese: yi) - two
两 (Mandain: liang; Cantonese: loeng) - two (measure word - we would count with 二 but say 两杯水 - two cups of water)
双胞胎 (Mandarin: shuang bao tai; Cantonese: soeng baau toi) - twins (双 means pair)
孖生仔 (Cantonese: maa saang zai - dialectal) - twins (孖 is a dialectal word for pair)
二 (Mandarin: er; Cantonese: yi) - two
两 (Mandain: liang; Cantonese: loeng) - two (measure word - we would count with 二 but say 两杯水 - two cups of water)
双胞胎 (Mandarin: shuang bao tai; Cantonese: soeng baau toi) - twins (双 means pair)
孖生仔 (Cantonese: maa saang zai - dialectal) - twins (孖 is a dialectal word for pair)
In Tagalog; Two is Dalawa, Pair is "Tambalan" and twin is "Kambal.
Catalan differs here from the rest of the Romance languages by not using a word derived from GEMELLU, but the word bessó (bessons in the plural). For a Catalan speaker, it is not linguistically related to the word 'two' (which is dos/dues), but the two theories about the origin of the word point towards it: a Latin form *bissone, from bis 'twice', and a pre-Roman form *bikione/bekione, based on either Basque 'two' or an Indo-European word for 'pair, couple'.
Another formal word in Chinese is 孪生子 (孿生子). 孪 itself contains the meaning of "twin".
Japanese terms are simply associated with numbers such as one, two, three...
一人っ子hitorikko: only child (hitori=one person, kko=child)
双子futago: twin (futa=two, go=child)
三つ子mitsugo: triplet (mitsu=three)
四つ子yotsugo: quadruplet (yotsu=four)
P.S
I have come up with another translation for it: 双生児(sou-sei-ji, an infant born together): sou means a pair, sei means to be born and ji means an infant.
一人っ子hitorikko: only child (hitori=one person, kko=child)
双子futago: twin (futa=two, go=child)
三つ子mitsugo: triplet (mitsu=three)
四つ子yotsugo: quadruplet (yotsu=four)
P.S
I have come up with another translation for it: 双生児(sou-sei-ji, an infant born together): sou means a pair, sei means to be born and ji means an infant.
I would like to add, in case somebody don't know, that 雙胞胎 can be also the name of a food in Taiwan.
A 雙胞胎 is two round-shaped bread sticking together; that's why it's called 雙胞胎。
So next time, don't be freaked out and give a you-are-a-barbarian look if someone says "我們去吃雙胞胎吧！"
It seems twins are always delicious...
No, the Spanish name Iker is actually Basque (not a "natural" name, but one created by Basque writer and nationalist Sabino Arana).
I don't know if it means anything in Basque.
The Hungarian word "iker" is a loanword from an old Turkic language.
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The Scottish Gaelic word for "twin" is "leth-aon", which literally means "half-one".
Welsh "gefell" is borrowed from Latin gemellus.
Occitan also has besson (nm) / bessona (nf).
Besson (nm) / bessonne (nf) exists in French too, but it is rare and dated. You may come across this word in George Sand's rural novels (XIX century).
And it still exists as a surname, e.g. Luc Besson.
In Old Norse, the first god, from whom all other gods and even the Earth came, was named Ýmir, which meant "twin" or "one in a pair". I don't know whether it's been replaced with something else based on "2" in modern Nordic languages. This character seems to have somehow been combined from what was originally a pair of characters called "the twins" or "the couple", based on not only its name but also the story that it apparently reproduced when its right and left legs had sex with each other!
The name comes from PIE *i̯emH-no-/*iemH-no-/*jemH-no-/*yemH-no- (pick your favorite way to deal with that consonant at the beginning; it's the equivalent of Y in English but J or I in a bunch of other languages). That seems to be the origin of Latin "geminus". There isn't a regular sound shift of *i̯- to *g-, but in this case it seems to have been replaced through analogy with "genus".
The name comes from PIE *i̯emH-no-/*iemH-no-/*jemH-no-/*yemH-no- (pick your favorite way to deal with that consonant at the beginning; it's the equivalent of Y in English but J or I in a bunch of other languages). That seems to be the origin of Latin "geminus". There isn't a regular sound shift of *i̯- to *g-, but in this case it seems to have been replaced through analogy with "genus".
Well, Catalan and Occitan are twins themselves.
I didn't know about besson being used in Old French, though. That points to the Latin origin being likelier than the pre-Roman one then.