# eye



## übermönch

This is related to the following discussion in the slavic forum:

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=169694

Latin: o*c*ulus
Classical Greek: ofthalmós
Old High German: ouga
Old Church Slavonic: око Oko
Sanskrit:  akshi, chakshu, netra

 Old Norse & Icelandic: auga
 Middle High German: ouge
Gothic: augō
Swedish: öga

Indian, Urdu, Gujarati: aankh
Persian: Chishim

Standard German: Auge
English: Eye
 Dutch:Oog
Danish: Øje
Luxembourish: A
Swedish: Öga
Romanian: Ochi
French: Oeil
Spanish: Ojo
Italian: Occhio
Portuguese: olho
Catalan: Ull
Russian: Око, Глаз (Oko, Glaz)

Arabic: Ayn
Hebrew: Ayn


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## vince

Other Romance:
Portuguese: olho
Catalan: Ull

Germanic:
Danish: Øje
Icelandic: Auga
English: Eye
Luxembourish: A
Swedish: Öga

Perhaps it comes from a proto-Indo-European root?

I mean although proto-Slavic dates from after Latin was spoken, proto-Germanic also has similarities with the Latin one, and proto-Germanic dates from at least 500 BC, back to when Latin was just another Italic dialect.

You see the similarity: Latin had oculo, some romance languages don't have the middle k-sound but preserve the "L" (e.g. oeil, ull, olho)
Slavic languages seem to preserve the "k" (e.g. "oko")
Germanic languages don't have the "L" but preserve the "k" or convert it to "g" or "y" (the k --> g --> y is not an uncommon linguistic shift)

Here are some non-IE words for eye for comparison:
Turkish: Göz
Vietnamese: Mắt
Finnish: Silmä
Estonian: Silm
Mandarin (Chinese): Yan-jing
Minnan (a Chinese "dialect"): Bak-Chiu


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## Whodunit

If it helps you: 

Middle High German: ouge
Old High German: ouga
Gothic: augō
Swedish: öga
Latin: o*c*ulus
Indo-European root: *ok


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## diegodbs

Classical Greek: ofthalmós.


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## übermönch

Whodunit said:
			
		

> If it helps you:
> 
> Middle High German: ouge
> Old High German: ouga
> Gothic: augō
> Swedish: öga
> Latin: o*c*ulus
> Indo-European root: *ok



 Who... whodunit, du.. du sprichst doch nicht all diese Sprach.. en?

*translation: whodunit, you don't speak all that languages, right?

Thanks for that, that's exactly what I am looking for. Another vital argument would be Arian (ie. persian, hindi etc.) words for it. So Tisia, Panjabigator, Bienvenidos, where are you?


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## Whodunit

übermönch said:
			
		

> Who... whodunit, du.. du sprichst doch nicht all diese Sprach.. en?
> 
> *translation: whodunit, you don't speak all that languages, right?


 
Haha, no, of course not. I have a dictionary about Germanic etymology which helps me lot with this stuff. 



> Thanks for that, that's exactly what I am looking for. Another vital argument would be Arian (ie. persian, hindi etc.) words for it. So Tisia, Panjabigator, Bienvenidos, where are you?


 
Again, if Arabic may help you:

*عين* ('ayn)/*العين* (al-'ayn)
By the way, it has to do with the letter ع ('ayn). The same phenomen has occured in Hebrew as well with the letter *ע*:
*עין *('ayn)/ *העין *(ha-'ayn)

However, I'm not sure if you wanted to know about this, since these are not Indo-European languages.


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## Bienvenidos

I believe Persian (Farsi) is Indo-Iranian, which is Indo-European?

Persian (Farsi):

*chishim

Bien*


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## Pivra

Sanskrit:

akshi
chakshu   ... 
netra   .....
 In Thai we use netra เนตร and ta ตา


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## linguist786

übermönch said:
			
		

> Another vital argument would be Arian (ie. persian, hindi etc.) words for it. So Tisia, Panjabigator, Bienvenidos, where are you?


Not forgetting me!  ...  
hehe joking. anyway:

(Note: The 'n' in these words are nasalised sounds)

*Hindi:*

आँख (aankh) 

*Urdu:* (same word)

ﮪﮑﻨﺁ (aankh)

(Some users may see this backwards for some reason, in which case ﺁﻨﮑﮪ would be the right one)

*Gujarati:* (same word again!)

આઁખ (aankh)


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## panjabigator

Punjabi: ਅਖ੍ਖ
Thanks linguist..did you type that backwards?


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## linguist786

panjabigator said:
			
		

> Punjabi: ਅਖ੍ਖ
> Thanks linguist..did you type that backwards?


Yes lol.. i figured you might see it backwards so I wrote it backwards myself _first_ so you see it forwards (right way round) (if that makes sense!)


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## parakseno

In Romanian the word is "ochi".


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## stargazer

Slovenian:
OKO (singular)
OČI (plural)


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## Knuð

In Norwegian:
Bokmål:

øye

Nynorsk:

auga / auge


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## Jhorer Brishti

In Bengali the word is চখ or chokh. I forgot the Sanskrit word it derives from but I distinctly remember it being much longer than "chakshu"....

EDIT: A more poetic word is "Nayan"(Noyon) but this is mainly restricted to literature and songs..


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## avalon2004

Modern Greek has retained the Ancient word *οφθαλμός/*_ofthalmós_ but it is only used in formal circumstances. The common word is *μάτι*/máti (plural: *μάτια*).


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## shaloo

In telugu,we say 
kannu/ netram/ nayanam for eye.

​


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## Becker

In Sinhalese,

aehae (most common)
aesa
neta
netraya
akshiya
lóchanaa
nuwana


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## panjabigator

shaloo said:
			
		

> In telugu,we say
> kannu/ netram/ nayanam for eye.
> 
> ​



Similar to the tamil word for eye, kan.  I think there is a song from the movie Bombay...kannalolay or something.


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## panjabigator

/nain/ is a poetic word used in Hindi, Panjabi, and Urdu for "eye."  And in songs, a lot of times you'll hear /akhiyaaN/


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## karuna

*In Latvian:*

eye = _acs _(_c_ is pronounced as _ts_).
Deminutives are _actiņas _and_ ačteles _(little, cute eyes)


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## MarX

In Indonesian, as in basically _all_ Austronesian languages:

*mata*


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## blue_jewel

In Tagalog: Mata


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## kusurija

In Czech:
oko(sg.), oči(pl.)

In Lithuanian:
akis(sg.), akys(pl.)

In Japanese: 
me


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto *the word is *okulo*, which comes from the Latin.


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## Setwale_Charm

*Roviana:*

*mata*


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## bb3ca201

avalon2004 said:


> Modern Greek has retained the Ancient word *οφθαλμός/*_ofthalmós_ but it is only used in formal circumstances. The common word is *μάτι*/máti (plural: *μάτια*).


 
I guess that's the root for English words like ophthalmology (the study of the eye)?  Personally, I like *μάτι*; it sounds more beautiful, anyhow (I speak a bit of Greek, too)


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## bb3ca201

In Gaelic, we use the word "suil" (SOOL), plural "suilean" (SOOL-un).  Don't ask me what the word history is; I'll try to find it out, though...


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## Setwale_Charm

In Irish Gaelic it is also *suil* (the surname Sullivan actually comes from Gaelic and means "clear eyes", literally "white eyes").

In Manx it is *sooill*


In Cornish: *lagas*


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## bb3ca201

Setwale_Charm said:


> In Irish Gaelic it is also *suil* (the surname Sullivan actually comes from Gaelic and means "clear eyes", literally "white eyes").
> 
> In Manx it is *sooill*
> 
> 
> In Cornish: *lagas*


 
I think that, in Irish, Sullivan is spelt "Súilleabháin (coming from, as you said, "súil bhán").  Am I on target?  (Remember, Irish isn't my native language...Scottish Gaelic is; I'm going on my best guess!


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## mataripis

Interesting to know that "Ochi" for "Eye" is common for most European Languages.But in the case of el-linika , Opthalmos?(classical)/ Maty(Koine) , why in Tagalog and other asian pacific language, "Mata" is common. and if you ask me if "Ochi" is close to Tagalog word for "Eye" ,the answer is No ,but in Tagalog "to see" (maKIta) has KI as in OCHI of Latino forms.


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## apmoy70

mataripis said:


> Interesting to know that "Ochi" for "Eye" is common for most European Languages.But in the case of el-linika , Opthalmos?(classical)/ Maty(Koine) , why in Tagalog and other asian pacific language, "Mata" is common. and if you ask me if "Ochi" is close to Tagalog word for "Eye" ,the answer is No ,but in Tagalog "to see" (maKIta) has KI as in OCHI of Latino forms.


«Μάτι» is not Koine but Medieval/Byzantine vernacular Greek: «Μάτιν» ('matin, _n._). It's the diminutive of «ὄμμα» ('ŏmmă, _n._), alternative (and rarely used) name for eye:
«ὄμμα»> dim. «ὀμμάτιον»> «ὀμμάτιον».
«Ὄμμα» from «ὄπμα» ('ŏpmă, _n._) after assimilation (stem «ὀπ-» which in Greek is related to vision, eye, face). So, the relation between «μάτι» and "mata" is purely coincidental


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## francisgranada

vince said:


> Finnish: Silmä
> Estonian: Silm



Hungarian:

*szem*

(common Finno-Ugric/Uralic origin)


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## Tamar

> *عين* ('ayn)/*العين* (al-'ayn)
> By the way, it has to do with the letter ع ('ayn). The same phenomen has occured in Hebrew as well with the letter *ע*:
> *עין *('ayn)/ *העין *(ha-'ayn)


Whodunit, העין ha-'ain means "the eye". The HA- is a determiner - "the" (so in Hebrew anything that is "the X" would be HA-X. Like: the glass = הכוס = ha-kos.) I'm pretty sure that it's the same with Arabic, but it'd be better for an arabic speaker to comment, I unfortunately don't speak Arabic. 



> In telugu,we say
> kannu/ netram/ nayanam for eye.


Shaloo, three words for "eye"? What's the difference between them?


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## A.O.T.

übermönch said:


> Russian: *Око*, Глаз (Oko, Glaz)


Nowadays a word *око *in Russian is not used. It was used in the past.

Ukrainian: *око*.


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## Gavril

Tamar said:


> Whodunit, העין ha-'ain means "the eye". The HA- is a determiner - "the" (so in Hebrew anything that is "the X" would be HA-X. Like: the glass = הכוס = ha-kos.) I'm pretty sure that it's the same with Arabic, but it'd be better for an arabic speaker to comment, I unfortunately don't speak Arabic.



Probably related is Akkadian _īnum_ "eye" (often seen in the dual form _īnān_)

Other languages:

Welsh _llygad, _pl. _llygaid_ (cognate with Cornish _lagas_ and thought to be from the same root as Eng. _light, _Lat. _lux _etc.)
Armenian _achk' _(probably from the same root as Latin _oculus_, Gr. _ophthalmós_ etc.)


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