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.
What about gemini in English?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.
Gemini is a loan from Latin, and it's only used for the astrological sign.What about gemini in English?
I think you mean Turkish does not qualifies... :dYeah in Turkish too;
Twin:İkizler(iki means two)
Not available for Romanian. In Romanian it is only gemeni, no matter the number of them. From Latin gemini.I think that Latin and the Romance languages qualify.
Is it related to Spanish name Iker?Hungarian: iker [now no relation with two, but originally 1000 years ago there was, Turkish iki, eki]
Another formal word in Chinese is 孪生子 (孿生子). 孪 itself contains the meaning of "twin".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.
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)
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.双胞胎 (Mandarin: shuang bao tai; Cantonese: soeng baau toi) - twins (双 means pair)
In Czech párek means pair (diminutive) and sausagethe pronunciation of 双生児(twin) and ソーセージ(sausage) is same in Japanese(even in English), it sounds a bit funny.
Hungarian: iker [now no relation with two, but originally 1000 years ago there was, Turkish iki, eki]
No, the Spanish name Iker is actually Basque (not a "natural" name, but one created by Basque writer and nationalist Sabino Arana).Is it related to Spanish name Iker?
Occitan also has besson (nm) / bessona (nf).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'.
And it still exists as a surname, e.g. Luc Besson.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).
Well, Catalan and Occitan are twins themselves.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).