# Languages with no etymology dictionary



## Encolpius

Hello, are there any not rare (spoken by 10-100 people ) languages which have no etymology dictionary?  I mean languages like Sanskrit, ancient Greek which could be *the origin for* other languages. Thanks.


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## Frank06

Encolpius said:


> Hello, are there any not rare (spoken by 10-100 people ) languages which have no etymology dictionary?


There +/-6400 languages on this planet, the vast majority of which are only spoken. So it would be easier to make a list of languages in which such a dictionary _is_ published. But then, just out of curiosity, what would be the point of such a list?



> I mean languages like Sanskrit, ancient Greek which could be *the origin for* other languages. Thanks.


This doesn't make sense. What do you mean?

Frank


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## Encolpius

Frank06 said:


> There +/-6400 languages on this planet, the vast majority of which are only spoken. So it would be easier to make a list of languages in which such a dictionary _is_ published. But then, just out of curiosity, what would be the point of such a list?
> 
> 
> This doesn't make sense. What do you mean?
> 
> Frank



You did not get what I meant.


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## clevermizo

Encolpius said:


> You did not get what I meant.



Well, how about you explain what you meant, as it's not really clear from your post. There are plenty of languages without etymological dictionaries. Like Xhosa, for example, which has about 8 million speakers.


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## Encolpius

Most etymology dictionaries (European ones) tend to trace back etymology to Sanskrit or Ancient Greek. So, my questions is: do extinct ancient languages have etymology dictionaries? Or could Sanskrit adopt some words form other extinct languages, too?


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## Frank06

Encolpius said:


> Most etymology dictionaries (European ones) tend to trace back etymology to Sanskrit or Ancient Greek.


This is absolutely *not* the case (and, besides, why would they?).
Most, if not all modern etymological dictionaries for Germanic languages I know about try to go back to Proto-Indo-European (or Proto-Germanic). A lot Romance dictionaries I know have the (bad) habit to stop at Latin. 
Most of these dictionaries often mention Sanskrit and Greek forms, but as cognates, but that's something else. (I am obviously not talking about loanwords from these languages).


> So, my questions is: do extinct ancient languages have etymology dictionaries? Or could Sanskrit adopt some words form other extinct languages, too?


I still don't get the second part of your question, the part I marked in blue.


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## clevermizo

Frank06 said:


> I still don't get the second part of your question, the part I marked in blue.



I think they're asking whether ancient languages which are often viewed as etymologically relevant to us have their own etymological dictionaries which can trace back roots even further. I.e. could we know if a Sanskrit word was borrowed from an ancient Tibetan language or something.



Encolpius said:


> do extinct ancient languages have etymology dictionaries? Or could Sanskrit adopt some words form other extinct languages, too?



They do not, or not that we know of. Although interest in etymology is very old, some things are shrouded in the mists of prehistory, alas. We do not know about etymological dictionaries that would have been published oh, 2400+ years ago. If we did know about the etymology of ancient languages we probably wouldn't need to have developed the comparative method.


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## Alxmrphi

I thought it would have been more the case of, pre-William Jones, before that famous speech he gave in India which is _said to_ have been the the birth of comparative philology, the mass-study / research of relating words back to earlier forms in other languages hadn't really existed, so I wouldn't imagine many people would have compiled a dictionary detailing etymologies, especially going as far back as Sanskrit.



> If we did know about the etymology of ancient languages we probably  wouldn't need to have developed the comparative method


Ditto.


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## Encolpius

I think clevermizo understood what I meant.


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## origumi

clevermizo said:


> Although interest in etymology is very old, some things are shrouded in the mists of prehistory, alas. We do not know about etymological dictionaries that would have been published oh, 2400+ years ago.


No dictionaries, but there are etymological comments in ancient books. The Bible for example (as for the names Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Israel, and so on). Mostly not too scientific, unfortunately.


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## Encolpius

origumi said:


> No dictionaries, but there are etymological comments in ancient books. The Bible for example (as for the names Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Israel, and so on). Mostly not too scientific, unfortunately.



Do you mean Hebrew has no etymology dictionary? That would be interesting.


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## origumi

Encolpius said:


> Do you mean Hebrew has no etymology dictionary? That would be interesting.


Actually I just repeated clevermizo's comment about ancient dictionaries. But anyway - As far as I know Hebrew (Biblical or Modern) has no comprehensive etymological dictionary.


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## Cilquiestsuens

Just one remark about Sanskrit here. The traditional grammar of Sanskrit is the famous and amazing and I must say unparallelled grammar of Panini.
The whole point of the whole grammar of Panini is to identify the words that are not Sanskrit words (Sanskrit means 'perfect')...
Panini's grammar is a generative grammar which contrary to other generative grammar produced in other languages actually works...
According to Sanskrit grammarians, a word which cannot be re-created by the grammar of Panini is not a Sanskrit word.... A very famous example of these words (non-Sanskrit origin) is the word *ashwa* (horse), which is considered a non-Paninian word... therefore not Sanskrit... although it is a very common word in the language.

Well this answers only partially your query... I don't know of any etymological dictionary in the Sanskrit Vedic and Classical tradition.


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## Encolpius

Thanks again. Very interesting answers about Hebrew and Sanskrit.


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## XiaoRoel

De especial interés para las lenguas ides. es el diccionario de Pokorny, *Indogermanisches Etymologisches Woerterbuch,*
 que se puede consultar en red aquí.
Para la lengua griega, es fundamental el Chantraine,*Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque*, que se puede descargar aquí.
Para el latín existe el magnífico *Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine* de Meillet y Ernout.
Para *otras lenguas ides. y romances*, aquí hay una bibliografía actualizada. Otra bibliografía con enlaces y motor de búsqueda en esta página en red.


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## Encolpius

Wow, thank you, excellent and interesting links.


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