# tongue / language



## linguist786

In your language, does the word "tongue" and "language" translate to the same word? And another little question - Why do you think they may be linked? 
My "guess" would be that _language_ is spoken - with the _tongue_. Without it, you wouldn't be able to speak. Something like that?

I know the following:
(blue = language. red = tongue)

English: 
language/tongue  

Gujarati:
ભાષા/જ઼બાન  
(bhaashaa/zabaan)

Hindi:
भाषा/ज़बान  
(bhaashaa/zabaan)

Urdu:
زبان/زبان  
(zubaan/zubaan)

French: 
langue/langue  

German:
Sprache/Zunge  

Spanish:
lengua/idioma/lengua  

Italian:
lingua/lingua  

Having said all of that, can there still be instances where the word for "tongue" can still be used to mean "language"? (or vice versa) 
(Just like in English, for example: mother tongue)

I just find the link between the two words interesting.

Corrections welcome if necessary.


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## linguist786

I forgot I knew some others:

Arabic:
لسان/لغة/ لسان  
(lisaanun/lughatun/lisaanun)

Chinese Mandarin:
舌头/语言  
(she2 tou2/yu3 yan2)


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## Pivra

Thai:

bhaasaa ภาษา/ lin ลิ้น, jewha ชิวหา


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## jazyk

Portuguese: língua (both meanings).
Czech: jazyk (both).
Polish: język (both).
Romanian: limbă (both).
Russian: язык (both).
Macedonian: jaзик (both).
Catalan: llengua (both).


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## panjabigator

Linguist, what about the lines from the Dil se song:

woh yaar hai jo khusboo ki tarah
hai jiski zubaa(n) urdu ki tarah

wouldn't the second line there refer to ones language and tongue simultaneously?  Maybe because I speak Hindi and Panjabi just like I do english sometimes, my mind is clouded, but I think they'd be the same...


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## ukuca

In Turkish:
tongue = *dil*
langue = *dil*,  also *lisan *
but, tongue is not equal to "*lisan*"


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## leesboek

Dutch
taal/tong


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## vince

Cantonese for tongue is "lei" I think but I don't know the CHinese character for it.
 It's definitely not used for " language" though.


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## avalon2004

In Greek, the word *γλώσσα [glóssa] *is also used for both *tongue *and *language*.


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## Confused Linguist

*Bengali:*
(bhaashaa/jeebh)  

*matribhaashaa* (mother-tongue)


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## midismilex

linguist786 said:
			
		

> Chinese Mandarin:
> 舌头/语言
> (she2 tou2/yu3 yan2)


Perhaps the answer is both right  in Chinese but not exactly in Mandarin.


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## Etcetera

In Russia, the word for 'language' and 'tongue' is the same - язык.
But we have two words for 'dialect' - диалект and наречие. It seems that the difference between those two words is that диалект sounds more formally, whereas наречие is a bit more informal. At least, I've never seen the word наречие in any serious work on linguistics.


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## amikama

Hebrew:
לשון/לשון 
(_lashon_/_lashon_)

And:
שפה/שפה 
(_safa_/_safa_)

(where blue = language, red = tongue, green = lip)

Furthermore, *ניב* (_niv_) means both "dialect"/"idiom" and "eyetooth/fang"


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## Aylish

in swedish it is not the same word.Tongue : tunga , language : språk


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## panjabigator

Confused, is it Bhaashaa or Bhaoshaa


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## Confused Linguist

panjabigator said:
			
		

> Confused, is it Bhaashaa or Bhaoshaa


 
It is Bhaashaa because the long 'a' sound was not affected during the vowel shift that lent Bengali its unique pronunciation of Sanskrit loan words. Hope this helps.


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## karuna

In Latvian:

valoda/mēle
(where blue = language, red = tongue)

mēle has been used to indicate language but nowadays it will sound archaic. Sometimes it is used in poetry.


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## übermönch

In German, you actually can use tongue (Zunge) for language, but it's just very archaic. Same goes for English by the way (f.e. native tongue) Besides all words with lang* or ling* in them are derrived from the latin word for tongue.


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## cherine

übermönch said:
			
		

> In German, you actually can use tongue (Zunge) for language, but it's just very archaic. Same goes for English by the way (f.e. native tongue) Besides all words with lang* or ling* in them are derrived from the latin word for tongue.


Interesting remark. Because Arabic has almost the same : the word lisaan لسان is mainly for tongue, and can also mean language, but it's usage as synonym for language is getting less common. We mostly use the word lugha لغة for language.


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## Whodunit

übermönch said:
			
		

> In German, you actually can use tongue (Zunge) for language, but it's just very archaic. Same goes for English by the way (f.e. native tongue) Besides all words with lang* or ling* in them are derrived from the latin word for tongue.


 
I think this is interesting:



> *lingua* (ante-class. form dingua, like dagrima for lacrima, Mar. Victorin. p. 2457 and 2470 P.; cf. the letter D), ae, f. Sanscr. jihvā; original Lat. form. dingua; A. -S. tunga; Germ. Zunge; Engl. tongue. Not from the root lih, lich, v. lingo,


 
The word "dingua" may have developed to "tingua/tengua", which got to "tongue" in English (ME: tunge). The German word "Zunge" (OHG: zunga) got it's "z" sound due to the 2nd sound shift. So, after all, the two words "tongue" and "language" are closely connected - speaking about logic and etymology.


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## Maja

In Serbian it is the same!

language - *jezik *(*језик*)
tongue - *jezik *(*језик*)

Pozdrav!


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## Becker

In Sinhalese

language = _basa_
tongue = _diva_

mother tongue _= mav basa_


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## alby

In Croatian is the same:
Jezik/Jezik

Nataša


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## stargazer

Hello

In Slovenian, we also use JEZIK for both LANGUAGE and TONGUE


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## MarX

linguist786 said:


> In your language, does the word "tongue" and "language" translate to the same word? And another little question - Why do you think they may be linked?
> My "guess" would be that _language_ is spoken - with the _tongue_. Without it, you wouldn't be able to speak. Something like that?
> 
> I know the following:
> (blue = language. red = tongue)
> 
> English:
> language/tongue
> 
> Gujarati:
> ભાષા/જ઼બાન
> (bhaashaa/zabaan)
> 
> Hindi:
> भाषा/ज़बान
> (bhaashaa/zabaan)
> 
> Urdu:
> زبان/زبان
> (zubaan/zubaan)
> 
> Having said all of that, can there still be instances where the word for "tongue" can still be used to mean "language"? (or vice versa)
> (Just like in English, for example: mother tongue)
> 
> I just find the link between the two words interesting.
> 
> Corrections welcome if necessary.


Hi Linguist!

In Indonesian:

bahasa/lidah 

Lidah is never used to mean _language_.

Salam,


MarX


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## mataripis

Not in Tagalog.  Tongue= Dila    Language= Wika/Salita       But we use to say: Kung ano mayroon ang Diwa siyang mabibigkas ng Dila. ( The spirit within dictates what to say/tell)


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## OneStroke

Cantonese:
月利 (one character, but I can't type it.) v. 語言. 
(lei, jyu jin)

It used to be the same as Putonghua, but thanks to superstition, people have switched to lei instead.


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## ogrebattle

In French it is not the same at all; Langage is the capacity to build communication within the brain, Langue is the outcome of the development that follows this capacity.


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## LilianaB

In Lithuanian they are not the same (especially the way the words are used). Language (spoken and written -- a system of signs used for communication) is _kalba_. _Tongue_ (organ) is _žodis_, but also _word_ is _žodis_ (speech sometimes). I think word comes from tongue because you use tongue to speak. It is the essential organ to produce speech.


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## darush

in Persian they are the same, زبان /zabān/


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## Selyd

Ukrainian:
(мова /mowa/= language. язик /yazyk/= tongue).


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## AutumnOwl

Aylish said:


> in swedish it is not the same word.Tongue : tunga , language : språk


It's true that the common word for language in Swedish is _språk_, but there is also an older word, _tungomål, _which comes from the word tongue. There is also an expression, _"att tala i tungor"_, which comes from the Bible when the first Christians became able to speak different languages, today usually used when someone is speaking in religious ecstasy, but it can also be used when someone is "speaking gibberish", or speaking confusingly. 


*Finnish: *
Have the same word for both tongue and language,_ kieli_.


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## apmoy70

AutumnOwl said:


> It's true that the common word for language in Swedish is _språk_, but there is also an older word, _tungomål, _which comes from the word tongue. There is also an expression, _"att tala i tungor"_, which comes from the Bible when the *first Christians became able to speak different languages*, today usually used when someone is speaking in religious ecstasy


That would be _glossolalia_, wouldn't it ("speaking in tongues")?

In Greek both tongue/language are described by «γλώσσα» /'ɣlosa/ (fem.) a Classical fem. noun «γλῶσσα» 'glōssă & «γλῶττα» 'glōttă --> _tongue, language_ with obscure etymology (some philologists see a connection with the ancient fem. nouns «γλώξ» glōks --> _beard of corn_ and «γλωχίς» glō'xīs --> _any projecting point_).
It should be noted however that in Classical/Koine Greek, language was defined mostly by the masculine noun «λόγος» 'lŏgŏs --> _reckoning, ratio, proportion, word, reason, speech, language_ (e.g «Ἕλλην λόγος» --> _Greek language_)


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## AutumnOwl

apmoy70 said:


> That would be _glossolalia_, wouldn't it ("speaking in tongues")?


Yes it is.


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## Youngfun

Whodunit said:


> The word "dingua" may have developed to "tingua/tengua", which got to "tongue" in English (ME: tunge). The German word "Zunge" (OHG: zunga) got it's "z" sound due to the 2nd sound shift. So, after all, the two words "tongue" and "language" are closely connected - speaking about logic and etymology.


Hi Whodunit!
In Old Norse, language was "tungu". Don't know about tongue...
So I think the English tongue derives from tungu, at first meaning both language and tongue.
Then the Germanic word "tongue" stuck for referring to a common thing: a part of the body, while for the cultural concept English switched to the French-derived word language. Is it possible?
Also, in English there's an odd word: mothertongue  Shouldn't it be *"mother language" instead?
In fact in most languages it's called "mother language" (lingua madre, lengue maternelle, língua materna, 母语 etc.).



OneStroke said:


> Cantonese:
> 月利 (one character, but I can't type it.) v. 語言.
> (lei, jyu jin)


Hi OneStroke! 
What does 月利 mean?

In my Chinese dialect, Wenzhounese:
口舌/口肣 v. 语言/说话 

Curiously, we also changed the word for "tongue" due to superstition.
The original word 舌 is homophone with "折=lose money in business" (as in 折本). So we replaced it with 肣 instead, which means "tongue" in ancient Chinese and is homophone with "赚=gain money" instead.
But nowadays, young people tend to use the original "unlucky" form, while old people tend to use the "lucky" form.
But the food duck tongue (yes, we eat them ) is always called 鸭肣, with the "lucky" form.

(Actually they are homophone in Mandarin too  but Mandarin speakers aren't so supersticious, and 折本 is not a common word in Mandarin.)

Here 说话 is a noun meaning "language, speech", it doesn't mean "speaking"; for that we only say 讲话 or 讲说话。
语言 is an influence from Mandarin/Chinese written language.


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## ancalimon

ukuca said:


> In Turkish:
> tongue = *dil*
> langue = *dil*,  also *lisan *
> but, tongue is not equal to "*lisan*"



We also use *ağız* for both *mouth* and *dialect*.

For example: Azerbaycan ağzı, Türkiye ağzından biraz farklıdır. (Azerbaijan dialect is a little bit different from Turkey dialect)

*lisan* is an Arabic loan in Turkish.


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian*, the same: *NYELV *= language, tongue


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## OneStroke

Youngfun said:


> Hi OneStroke!
> What does 月利 mean?
> 
> In my Chinese dialect, Wenzhounese:
> 口舌/口肣 v. 语言/说话
> 
> Curiously, we also changed the word for "tongue" due to superstition.
> The original word 舌 is homophone with "折=lose money in business" (as in 折本). So we replaced it with 肣 instead, which means "tongue" in ancient Chinese and is homophone with "赚=gain money" instead.
> But nowadays, young people tend to use the original "unlucky" form, while old people tend to use the "lucky" form.
> But the food duck tongue (yes, we eat them ) is always called 鸭肣, with the "lucky" form.
> 
> (Actually they are homophone in Mandarin too  but Mandarin speakers aren't so supersticious, and 折本 is not a common word in Mandarin.)
> 
> Here 说话 is a noun meaning "language, speech", it doesn't mean "speaking"; for that we only say 讲话 or 讲说话。
> 语言 is an influence from Mandarin/Chinese written language.



月利 is just our 'lucky' form. The 'unlucky' form has died out in Cantonese completely except as a bound morpheme.

Also, you're right that 語言 is an influence from the written language. In colloquial Cantonese, we say 話 for 'language' (which, incidentally, has the unlucky character for 'tongue' in it), but with a change of tone to the second.

P.S. Duck tongues?!


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## Youngfun

Hi OneStroke!
I was searching about 脷 to see if it had an ancient meaning, but is not listed in the Kangxi dictionary（康熙詞典）。
According to some website, it was newly created in Cantonese, to be homophone with 利=gain, profit，then it was added the "meat" radical and it became 脷; because the original 舌 was homophone with 蝕＝to lose money in business, as in 蝕本. Practically the same as my dialect, and I'm having doubts if our word  for "losing money" should be written 折本 or 蝕本。

Your observation about 話 is interesting, probably because we need the tongue to talk. Perhaps 舌 and 話 were pronounced the same in Old Chinese (上古漢語), or maybe not: just a combined ideogram（會意字）。
So do you pronounce 廣東話 and 講話 with a different tone for 話? 

By the way, duck tongues are a popular food in Hong Kong too, where they are mostly imported from Taiwan. See here and here.
Probably because they are imported from Taiwan, they are called 鴨舌 and not 鴨脷, which could be confused with the 鴨脷洲 island in Hong Kong.


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