# Development - De-velop-ment



## ThomasK

I am interested in translations of 'development' and all kinds of synonyms and 'equivalents' of that same word in your language - but along with the explanation of the stem:

_English_ de-velop- ment , e-volu -tion, un-fold-ing (enrolling) [taking it from a holder/ container ?]

_Dutch_ ont-wikkel-ing, e-volu -tie

_German_ Ent-wiclkl -ung, (E volu tion) Ent - falt -ung, 

_French_ dé-veloppe - ment, é -volu- tion...

_Spanish_ desarollo


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## Outsider

The Portuguese word has a similar structure to the French word: _desenvolvimento = des + en + volv(i) + mento_. "Disenvelopment" in a literal translation, if you will.


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## ThomasK

Thanks, what do you associate with 'envolve' ? Wrapping (and un-wrapping) ?


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## Outsider

To wrap, to enclose, to surround, to _envelop_...

The idea seems to be that things remain closed, until development opens them up.


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## ThomasK

Indeed, just like with us in Dutch. 

The only thing I would add is that ithe idea of slow opening and opening in the right way seems to be implied in this term.

_Development_ seems to suggest that it is like 
 - opening a nutshell (and getting to the treasure), and/or 
 - promoting its growth/ health


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## irene.acler

In *Italian*: sviluppo (svi-lup-po).


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## ThomasK

Is 'lup' the same as '(en)volve'/ 'fold' ? Thanks !


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## Setwale_Charm

Russian: развитие, эволюция, разворачивание (напр. программы).

Estonian: areng, arendus.


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## ThomasK

So sorry I cannot read Russian well, but could you spell the Russian, and perhaps tell us more about the basic meaning of the words (both in R and Estonian ?) ?


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## OldAvatar

Romanian:
_English:
_de-velop- ment , e-volu -tion, un-fold-ing (enrolling) [taking it from a holder/ container ?]
_Romanian_:
dez-volt-are, e-volu-ţie, des-pătur-ire


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## kusurija

In Czech:
Development - roz-voj
to develop - roz-ví-je-t (cf. roz-vi-nou-t)
Evolution - vý-voj
to evolute - vy-víj-et se (cf. vy-vi-nou-t se)


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## ThomasK

Great, but what is the underlying word/ metaphor : wrapping ? (Thanks)


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## ThomasK

Thought of something else in this connection _(and which refers to my worldviews thread in Etymology)_ : is there an *essentialist* aspect about this word (the essence having been 'given' (data) before, only to be developed by the person ?)


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## Nizo

The *Esperanto* term is *disvolvo*.  The prefix _dis-_ (similar to the English _un-_ or _de-_) plus the root verb _volvi_ (to roll, to wind) plus the noun suffix _-o_.  So the word is essentially identical in meaning to its English counterpart _development_.


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## Mahaodeh

in Arabic:
Development: تطوير TaTweer and تطوّر TaTawoor (depending on context)
Evolution: تطوّر TaTawoor (as in Theory of Evolution?)

I have a problem with your " un-fold-ing (enrolling) [taking it from a holder/ container ?]", I couldn't quite understand what it means so I don't think I'd be able to translate it.

The first two are derived from the root T-w-r, which gives the meanings of "coming closer" and "phase". The first one (for development) implies that someone "made it closer through phases", while the second (for evoluation), implies that it did it on it's own.


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## ThomasK

This is interesting to the say the least: *if we unwrap, unroll,unfold, we come closer to what we want* (when we buy something like candy bars, we generally have to unwrap it). 

On the other hand I am mistaken about _evolution_: *volvere has to do with turning* I think, although Merill-Webster's tells me it means *unrolling* (I would think: _roll out_, rather). 

I found this: 'Although the most common meaning of *volver is "to return*," the Latin verb from which it is derived, _volvere_, typically meant "to roll." The verbs derived it usually carry with them the idea of a return or some kind of repeated *motion [as in 'revolutions', JG]*." (http://spanish.about.com/od/spanishvocabulary/a/volver_verbs.htm)


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## ThomasK

By the way: why would the Latin _*evolution*_ linked with *turning as a movement*? 

Funny thing is : *progress* (_vooruitgang_ in Dutch) *needs feet* (gradus, gaan, all refer to feet), and *regression* (_achteruitgang_ in Dutch) as well...


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## Cosol

irene.acler said:


> In *Italian*: sviluppo (svi-lup-po).


Actually, that is simply Syllabification. 
According to De Mauro Dictionary _sviluppare_, the word for _to develop_, also means _to untangle what is eveloped_. _Viluppo_ is the world for _Velop_. The s– prefix means something similar to de– in English.


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## Setwale_Charm

Setwale_Charm said:


> Russian: развитие, эволюция, разворачивание (напр. программы).
> 
> Estonian: areng, arendus.


 

razvitie, evolutsiya, razvorachivaniye

"Razvitie" is the main word, why "evolutsiya" is the loan word literally meaning: evolution.
"Razvorachivanie" comes from the verb "razvorachivar'" - "unfold", and literally means "unfolding".


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## ThomasK

Is that due to some common root ? I am just amazed at the resemblance, at the fact that there is a common underlying metaphor, even in Russian...


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## blue_jewel

In Tagalog:
- Kaunlaran


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## ThomasK

A Japanese spokesman added this about the word 'hatten' in Japanese: 

'Well, I guess I can see that 發 has *the sense of "something happening*", as in 發生, and then 展 has *the sense of "unfolding",* as in 展開, when you combine the two senses/words, it's not hard to imagine "developement". "

It is not quite clear to me what what the first part adds to the other nor what the examples refer to (it is Chinese to me), but any comment on Chinese or japanese is welcome !


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## ThomasK

*Moderator note:*
*Threads merged so that the discussion can be carried out in the same place.*

I have been wondering about the translation of 'development' in other languages, especially non-European. 

When comparing 
- ENG de velop ment
- DUT ont wikkel ing
- GER Ent wickl ung
- SPA des arroll o
there always seems to be the de-element (as opposed to the en- in some cases). 

I am wondering how other languages convey that idea. We might stick to the idea of 'development' as in 
- 'development cooperation' for the South ('Third World') and/ or 
- the development of a (young) person's abilities... 

RUS "международное развитие", maybe "застройка While checking on whether the word had been dealt with, I found those translations in Russian, for _international development_ but the author suggests that it is hard to give a translation because the term is not clear. I cannot however decipher these words ('sastronika ? Megdunarod... ?). I'd love to hear about their precise meaning.

_(The word as such is less important than the other word(s) it is based on)_


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## origumi

Modern Hebrew: either פיתוח pituakh or התפתחות hitpatkhut for the two examples above, respectively. Both are derived from root פתח p-t-kh = *open*.

I think that the psychology behind is that one situation is an *open*ing for the next one, thus development.


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## ThomasK

Interesting ! In fact I see a lot of similarity in both: development implies de-veloping something that has been en-veloped, and that could also be called opening it. 

_(It seems to imply that developing is based on what is inside only or mainly, but of course that is... philosophy - or is it only semantics ?)_


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## ThomasK

I had a quick look, and found also 
 - croissance (FRA), crescita (ITA), but those are interpretations, i think
 - ITA sviluppo: can anyone decipher that ? 
 - réalisation (FRA) is an interpretation as well, I think

But I suppose it is not available in all languages as a concept...


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## CapnPrep

English _development_ came from, or was based on, French _développement_ (< 14th cent. _desvelopemens_)

Italian _sviluppo_ has the same structure, with the same roots: _(di)s-vilupp-o_.


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## ThomasK

Now where are the Chinese, the Japanese, the Africans ? ;-)



blue_jewel said:


> In Tagalog:
> - Kaunlaran


 
What is the precise meaning please ?


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## Perkele

If I am not totally wrong, the Finnish verb for to develop, _kehittää_, is derived from the word _kehä_, which means _circle, ring_.

kehä - circle, ring

kehittää - develop
kehittäminen - developing
kehittyä - develop (reflexive)
kehittyminen - developing (reflexive)
kehitys - development

If the word kehittää had never been used before, I think I'd think of it as the action of forming circles if I really wanted to fetch it far. Similar to (oja-ojittaa : ditch-to ditch or läpi-lävistää : through-to pierce).

There are other examples. This is a pretty common pattern in many word classes although I have to say that it is impossible to tell whether the verb is derived from a noun or an other verb.

syy - reason
syyttää - blame, accuse

kanta - opinion; heel; stub
(kantaa - carry)
kannattaa - support, second, back up, stand for

kato - lack, dearth
(kadota - disappear)
kadottaa - lose (as in 'I lost my keys')

I don't know how a circle and development are related but Finnish has a weird way of making things illogically - like every language, I guess. The words drive, _ajaa_, and think, _ajatella_, are related (ajatella is frequentative factitive of ajaa) so that sums the Finnish language up pretty well...


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## CapnPrep

ThomasK said:


> Now where are the Chinese, the Japanese, the Africans ? ;-)


I don't think the answers have changed that much in the past 6 months…  The Japanese word is still hatten. It comes from Chinese fāzhǎn.


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## ThomasK

I am sorry, my mistake: getting old, I guess !

@ Penkele: very interesting. Could it have to do with finishing the circle ? 

@ CapnPrep : would the two ideograms (hat-tien) have changed their meanings in the meantime? I do not think they have been explained.

(Thanks and forgive me...)


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## Frank06

Hi,


ThomasK said:


> @ CapnPrep : would the two ideograms (hat-tien) have changed their meanings in the meantime? I do not think they have been explained.
> (Thanks and forgive me...)


發展 (_traditional_, _Pinyin_ fāzhăn, _simplified_ 发展)

First some nitpicking: Neither 發 nor 展 can be called ideograms by any standard (for a possible classification of the Chinese characters see here, though there are quite a few alternative classifications).

Secondly: Chinese _character etymology_ is often quite, erm, esoteric. On this site you can find _character etymologies_ (often, in my opinion, to be taken with a huge _bag_ of salt).
- 發
- 展

Groetjes,

Frank


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## ThomasK

Thanks, Frank. I happened to learn yesterday that Africans associate (call ?) development with chaos, but it will be clear that at that time we are getting a mix-up I get of meaning and association. 

[I think the best thing we can use as a starting point is 'natural development', from kid to adult, etc. . My other suggestion referring to development as in de 'd--- cooperation' might be too unsafe: what precisely is meant and what is an association ?]


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## ThomasK

If you do not mind, I come back to this thread. I thought that maybe there is some mix-up due to different meanings of development : 

 - it can refer to *the act* of developing a film (1a), a project (1b), and to *the result* (2a, 2b)
 - it can refer to some kind of 'spontaneous' evolutions (recent events, let's up) : *developments* (3) in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in ... 
 - the *natural process* (4)
 - *development cooperation* (5), stimulating some evolution in the South, often scenarios based on a very Northern view on what 'development' is, but OK...

I'd be pleased to hear whether all of those can be translated by the same word in your language. I cannot be sure, but I think in quite some European languages it is the same word, however maybe I am wrong - and that would be interesting...


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## rusita preciosa

Setwale_Charm said:


> Russian: развитие, эволюция, разворачивание (напр. программы).


 



ThomasK said:


> Is that due to some common root ? I am just amazed at the resemblance, at the fact that there is a common underlying metaphor, even in Russian...


 
The Russian the word *развитие* [razvitie] had the same structure as English *development*: the prefix раз- [raz-] has the meaning of "spreading, opening, undoing" and the root -вит- [vit] has the meaning of "weaving, spinning". This word is used mostly when things evolve on their own.

There is another word, *разработка *[razrabotka], the prefix is the same and the root is -работ- [rabot] meaning "work, labor", so it is kind of like English "working out", (in terns of solving a problem, not physical exercise ). This is mostly used when the development is made by humans, as in "research and development".

*эволюция* [evolutsiya] - calque from Latin, the meaning is much narrower than that of the English equivalent, used mostly for biological evolution.

The word *разворачивать* [razvorachivat], mentioned by Setwale Charm, exists. Same prefix + the root means "turn, envelop", but I struggle to think of a situation when it is used as "developing". It generally means physically unfold something or make a u-turn in a vehicle.


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## Favara

*Catalan:* (Western Catalan pronunciation)
Development: _Desenvolupament_ [dez(e|a)nvolupa'ment].
Evolution: _Evolució _[(e|a)volu'sjo]

Both mean exactly the same as in English, and seem to have evolved the same way.


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
Development is ανάπτυξη, _f._, an*a*ptiksi, from the ancient ἀνάπτυξις, _f._, ā'nāptūksīs, a compound word consisted of the preposition ἀνὰ-, ā'nă- (meaning "upward") and the feminine noun πτύξις, 'ptūksīs (the folding of a garment). Therefore an*a*ptiksi literally means the unfolding, the unrolling. In medieval times it took the secondary meaning of explanation or scientific exegesis, which retains in modern Greek too.    
Evolution is εξέλιξη, _f._, eks*e*liksi, from the ancient ἐξέλιξις, _f._, ĕ'ksĕlīksīs, a compound word consisted of the preposition ἐk-, ĕk- (which becomes ἐξ-, ĕks- when the next word begins with a vowel, meaning "movement in an upfront direction") and the verb ἑλίσσω, hĕ'līssō (to turn, twist, roll).


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## ThomasK

Thanks a lot: 
- the idea of *un-folding* keeps turning up, I think, except perhaps in Russian (with the interesting un-weaving variant [which reminds me of a lot verbs of explaining: dis-entangle; the 'working out' reminds me of the same, but developing and explaing are fairly different] 
- Catalan reminds me of the Italian _svilup_-
- the Greek 'evolution' word is interesting to me because of the link *helisso* and *volv-/turn*, but intriguing because of *the upfront idea* as opposed to the out-prefix (_ekseliksi_ reminds me of progress rather - or is that a wrong interpretation?)


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## Awwal12

rusita preciosa said:


> [razvitie]


A little correction: /razvitiye/ (since iotation in this position is natural for Russians, but is unnatural for many other languages), or, to be precise, [rʌzv'*i*t'ijə] (not sure only about the last reduced vowel - m.b. [-ijɪ]?..).


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## apmoy70

ThomasK said:


> ...the Greek 'evolution' word is interesting to me because of the link *helisso* and *volv-/turn*, but intriguing because of *the upfront idea* as opposed to the out-prefix (_ekseliksi_ reminds me of progress rather - or is that a wrong interpretation?)


When I hear the word ekseliksi, I get the picture of the DNA helix (helix derives from helisso) in my mind, how it translates along the axis.
Progress is πρόοδος (pr*o*oðos, _f._), again formed by the combining together of the ancient preposition πρὸ- ('prŏ-, which describes something that precedes something else in time or in space, or the public announcement of something) and the feminine noun ὁδός, hŏ'ðŏs, the route/road/street/way.
Eks*e*liksi describes the sum of successional phases of a phenomenon (historical, social, cultural), pr*o*oðos is used mostly to describe the practical/technological advancement


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## ThomasK

Quite interesting indeed, this explanation :'the sum of successional phases of a phenomenon (historical, social, cultural)'. 

But why 'translates along'? Are you suggesting moving upwards ? 'Upfront' reminded me of confrontational, moving forward, that is why I associated progress with it.


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## stupoh

Indonesian: development = per-kembang-an
Origin: it means growing or becomes larger, a similar word is used to express a baked bread which has become larger than its original unbaked form.


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## ThomasK

Ah, this is nice: an interely new metaphor. But ... if you don't mind, Stupoh, could you check possibilities 1-5 in message #34 ? Can you use *per-kembang-an* in all those situations? And: is *kembang *the rising or swelling itself, or the bread, or simply big ?


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## bibax

In Czech (and similarly in other Slavic languages) *vý-voj/vy-vi-nu-tí*, *roz-voj/roz-vi-nu-tí* is derived from the verb *ví-ti, vi-nou-ti* (*-voj-* and *-vi-* are different root grades) = to wind (as in _the coil is wound_). The verb *roz-ví-ti/roz-vi-nou-ti* means to unwind, to unreel.


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## stupoh

ThomasK said:


> Ah, this is nice: an interely new metaphor. And: is *kembang *the rising or swelling itself, or the bread, or simply big ?



*Kembang* as a verb, it means the rising, swelling, growing or blooming action. However, *kembang* can also be a noun, and as a noun it means flower. Flower blooms. I think this is origin of the metaphor. Although, to specifically say flower blooms, usually a different verb with similar meaning, *mekar* is used. And the verb *kembang* is used for other (more general) things, like bread above. 




ThomasK said:


> If you do not mind, I come back to this thread. I thought that maybe there is some mix-up due to different meanings of development :
> 
> - it can refer to *the act* of developing a film (1a), a project (1b), and to *the result* (2a, 2b)
> - it can refer to some kind of 'spontaneous' evolutions (recent events, let's up) : *developments* (3) in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in ...
> - the *natural process* (4)
> - *development cooperation* (5), stimulating some evolution in the South, often scenarios based on a very Northern view on what 'development' is, but OK...



1. Film (I assume a film / photo negative), project, or research. The stem kembang is used but with different suffix: pe-ngembang-an. Indonesian has many many irregular suffix, infix and postfix rules. I can't tell why it is pengembangan instead of perkembangan, I just know 

2. No, I dont think so, it's only used for the action not the result. It implies a progress so it can't be the result.

3, 4 & 5. I'm not so sure but as far as I can think of, yes.


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## ThomasK

Thanks, I was just told that *'mar'* or something the like in Estonian refers to evolution, but is based on the growth of a baby. Maybe it is the same in Finnish. 

I also thought of *epanouissement* in French. I think this refers to some kind of unfolding as well (we call it *ontplooiing*, unfolding, in Dutch - and that has both a fig. and a lit. meaning). But I suppose we end up at the same problem here: development and this kind of personal growth may be related but are not quite the same. But I think it is something like 4b: it is not just growing in the physical sense, it is like flourishing, reaching some kind of maturity, developing one's beauty (or something perceived by the outside world als beautiful, lovable, interesting). 

_(Is there a moderator who can refer us to a thread on near-synonyms, etc., on the difficulty of translations?)_


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## ThomasK

Regarding Arabic: I have just learnt that there is 'tawwara' (form 2, transitive) : develop, faire évoluer, advance, modify, transform. And 'tatawwara' is another form of this verb (not transitive): to develop [oneself], change, to transform [oneself], etc. 
 
Interesting derivations :  
- mutatawwir (évolutif, avancé, développé); 
- tawr (phase); 
- *tuwr (mountain); *
*- tuwrani (wild*); 
- tatawwur (development, evolution), etc., etc.
​


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