# Droit(s), Right(s),...



## ThomasK

What is the root word in your language for 'right(s)' 

It seems clear that there is a link between straight and the concept of justice (or justice contained in the law) in some languages: 

- FRA : (tout) droit >>> le droit, les droits
- DUT : recht(door) >>> het recht, de rechten
- GER : recht ??? / gerade (richtig) >>> das Recht, die Rechte
- ENG : right (straight seems to have a different origin - or ... ?) >>> the right/s (though narrower as a concept than the previous ones)

Are other words (especially metaphors) the root words of _justice/ the law/ le droit_ in other languages ?

_[@Moderators: I checked quickly whether the topic had been dealt with already, and did not find a thread. Neither will you, I hope ! ;-)]_


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## Hulalessar

I think this has as much to do with right-handness as straightness. The Latin words _dexter_ and _sinister_ have not survived into French and Spanish, at least to mean left and right, though they persist with those meanings in Italian. French _droit_ and Spanish _derecho_ derive from Latin _directus_, meaning straight. There was clearly an association between right-handedness and straightness - see this Wikipedia article for the negative associations of left-handedness: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-handedness#Social_stigma_and_repression_of_left-handedness It is not too difficult to make the leap associating straightness with righteousness - and crookedness with its opposite.


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## panjabigator

These concepts also exist in North Indian languages too.  Last year, I tried to teach a small group of children a simple kids' game (the Hokey Pokey) which involves moving ones party parts upon musical command.  At this age (between 4-6), many children do not quite grasp the difference between left and right, and so my efforts to use the words in Hindi (bā'i and da'ī, respectively) were futile.  But the children correctly responded when I used the word straight (sīdhā) for right and upside down (ulṭā) for left.

Hindi, Urdu, and Panjabi do not follow a similar patern for justice, however.  The words are different. 
Hindi - <adhikār>
Panjabi- <adhikār> and <7aq>
Urdu- <7aq>


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## brian

Even Eng. _right_/Germ. _Recht_/etc. are connected with Lat. _(di)rectus_/Fr. _droit_/etc. since Proto-Germanic _*rekhtaz_ and Latin _rectus_ have the common *PIE ancestor *reg-, "to move in a straight line."*

See here for Germanic (_right_) etymology and here for Romance (_regere, rectus_).

So I guess it would be interesting to know if any _non_-Indo-European languages exhibit this similarity, or which IE languages do not (like Hindi).


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## kitenok

Russian (along with other Slavic languages) has a _prav-_ root that is used for legislation/regulation (_pravitel'stvo_ = government), civic rights (_prava_), truth and factual correctness (_pravda = truth; prav _= correct), and right as a direction or side (_pravaia ruka = _right hand; _napravo_ = to the right). Offhand, I can't think of any connections in Russian to _straightness_ per se, but Vasmer's etyomlogical dictionary does make such a connection for this root in Polish, BCS, et al. 

Ultimately, Vasmer draws a connection with Latin _probus_ (good, excellent, fine; morally good, upright, virtuous). So: a different root for Slavic languages than for Germanic and Romance, but it has come to express the same complex of things.


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## berndf

brian8733 said:


> See here for Germanic (_right_) etymology and here for Romance (_regere, rectus_).


Also according to Grimm, _right_ and _rectus_ are cognates. The OE verb _rihtan_ (lost in ModE, Modern German _richten_) developed out of the adjective. The original verb (i.e. the cognate of _regere_) seems to be lost in all Germanic languages.


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## J.F. de TROYES

Old Greek used _ὀ__ρθός _with both meanings of_ straight_ and _in accordance with law_, but _δικα__ῖ__ος _is much more specific to the second meaning and in Modern Greek the first means _correct_, _proper_ while _δίκαιο_ means right, justice.​       Actually it seems to me that in various languages both notions are not so clearly associated in the same words than in the previously quoted languages. As it was already said Classical Latin distinguishes _directum _(straight), _dexter_ ( right-hand) and " _jus_" ( legal right ), even though "directum" is said to be used with the meaning of _jus_ by Cicero even then ( but rarely ).
That given,  due to the polysemic feature of all languages the same word can shift from a literal or moral sense to a figurative or juridical sense.
In Arabic _mustaqiim_ has  a literal sense (straight) and a figurative sense (upward, honest), but  _dughrii_ is synonymous only in the literal sense, and none of them has to do  with justice, as opposed to _Haqq_ , one of the words being equivalent to right(s) ( political, human rights and so on), but also meaning "truth"  . The word _yamiin _( right hand)   is quite different.
So I think that we cannot extend what is true in Germanic and Romance languages to any other .


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## origumi

In many Semitic languages right-hand and left-hand are synonyms to south and north. Looking at the rising sun, the south is on our right, north on left. Root *y-m-n* is used for south and for right-hand, and also for skill and dexterity. For example yamin (right side), Yemen (the most southern land in the Arabic peninsula), Binyamin (= Benjamin, "dexter son").

Yet Semitic, the root y-sh-r is used for both straight and just (lawful). This connection is very old and may be seen for example in the 2000BC Babylonian *mēsarum*-edict, of the same root and carries both meanings.


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## ThomasK

Hulalessar said:


> I think this has as much to do with right-handness as straightness. The Latin words _dexter_ and _sinister_ have not survived into French and Spanish, at least to mean left and right, though they persist with those meanings in Italian.


 
Is there a literal link between straightness and right-handedness? I'd think _rectus_ is the basic meaning. But then: is _dexter_ related to r_ectus _? Isn't straight is the basic meaning.


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## ThomasK

straight (sīdhā) for right and upside down (ulṭā) for left. Is that your own association, or were you referring to an existing link. 



> Hindi, Urdu, and Panjabi do not follow a similar patern for justice, however. The words are different.
> Hindi - <adhikār>
> Panjabi- <adhikār> and <7aq>
> Urdu- <7aq>


 
Is there a link between _adhikar _and _siddha,_ and between _Siddartha _and _Sidha ?_


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## ThomasK

@JFT : I am suggesting there is truth in it, just that there is some association. But don't Chinese, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian maybe, show some spontaneous associations, suggesting some trend towards universality ?


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## berndf

origumi said:


> Binyamin (= Benjamin, "dexter son").


You are surprising me. I remember having learnt that y-m-n stands for _luck_ or _happiness_ in _Benjamin_.


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## Hulalessar

ThomasK said:


> Is there a literal link between straightness and right-handedness? I'd think _rectus_ is the basic meaning. But then: is _dexter_ related to r_ectus _? Isn't straight is the basic meaning.


 
What I am saying is that French and Spanish abandoned _dexter_ and took up _(di)rectus_, keeping the original meaning of "straight" but adding "right" = "not left".


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## larosenoire

derecho, derechos


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## ThomasK

Hulalessar said:


> What I am saying is that French and Spanish abandoned _dexter_ and took up _(di)rectus_, keeping the original meaning of "straight" but adding "right" = "not left".


 
Ok, I see. I'll be adding some more this evening...


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## BP.

panjabigator said:


> These concepts also exist in North Indian languages too...many children do not quite grasp the difference between left and right, and so my efforts to use the words in Hindi (bā'i and da'ī, respectively) were futile.  But the children correctly responded when I used the word straight (sīdhā) for right and upside down (ulṭā) for left.
> 
> Hindi, Urdu, and Panjabi do not follow a similar patern for justice, however.  The words are different.
> Hindi - <adhikār>
> Panjabi- <adhikār> and <7aq>
> Urdu- <7aq>



The same thing happened with me when I tried to provide directions to someone on the road. _daahini_ _jaanib_ doesn't cut it with people, you have to say _seedha_ (not upturned!).

Interestingly, rightness (in both senses) and straightness aren't the same thing in Urdu.
right (law) - _Haq_
right (direction) - _daai.n_
right ('correct') - durust
straight - _raast_   (from which _raasta_ - path)
straight (honest, 'not a crook') - _raast baaz
_


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## J.F. de TROYES

berndf said:


> You are surprising me. I remember having learnt that y-m-n stands for _luck_ or _happiness_ in _Benjamin_.


 
That's was what I thought too, but this page of Semitic roots gives such a meaning.
 Yet I suppose you are also right about the notion of happiness involved  in this root, as in Arabic "y-m-n" gives :  _yamiin_ with two meanings (righthand and oath), but also the name _yumn_ ( fortune, happiness, prosperity ) and the adjective _maymuun_ ( auspicious, prosperous). 
It's easy to understand how these various meanings were brought about by the same root .


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## J.F. de TROYES

ThomasK said:


> @JFT : I am suggesting there is truth in it, just that there is some association. But don't Chinese, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian maybe, show some spontaneous associations, suggesting some trend towards universality ?


 
If I try to sum up the main notions involved by the words _straight_, _rights and Recht_, rechts or droit(e) and derecho/a , I think we can distinguish :
1- righthand (space vocabulary )
2- straight (space vocabulary )
3- righteousness (moral vocabulary)
4- legitimate or lawful right ( social or institutional vocabulary).

Languages where the same word can be used seem to me rather rare , particularly associating the 1 and 2 notions ; some of them use the same for 3 and 4 ; in many languages ( I feel like saying "most of them" , but how could I know !  ) the notion 2 is an obvious  metafor for 3.
I have already given examples of Arabic in a previous post where actually  the notions 3 and 4 link up in the same word , but , as far as I know, it's impossible in Chinese.  The 2 and 3 notions are expressed by words or compounds with words as :
 直 zhí (straight, honest,fair) , *正* *zhèng * ( straight,true ) 正义 *zhèng yì*  ( righteousness). 
But words related to lawful rights use 权 quán, meaning "power, authority", so : *人权 rénquán ( human rights ) or  公民 权 gōng mínquán  ( civil rights). So the notions 3 and 4 are not semantically related.*


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## psxws

Also interesting to note that Spanish changed both directions from the Latin; Derecha from Latin for straight and Izquierda from Basque, leaving diestro (as an adj. from dexter) to mean able to do something well and siniestro to mean sinister (a connotation I believe it had in Latin itself, right?)

And to add to the Arabic, left is yasaar, but an older word used for left was shaam, and it was also used for the north; thus the levantine called bilaad ash-shaam (the countries of the north) and even tribes within the peninsula will call their northern portion "shaami."   Note also MSA "Shamaal" for North.


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