# bitig - [Etymology]



## macrotis

_From another thread_:



er targyn said:


> It means book, writing and is from the verb  bit-, biti- "to write", which is believed to come from Chinese.



Chinese indeed has 笔体 [bǐtǐ] meaning, noun _writing style; calligraphy; handwriting; hand_, but I don't know the direction of borrowing.

What intrigues me about _bitig_ is that when it is reversed it's like Arabic ktb (كتب) "write" (literally, _he wrote_), from which are _kitâb_ (*kitap*), _kâtib_ (*katip*) etc. Considering both Arabic and Orkhon scripts are written from right to left, this may well be purely coincidental.


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## ancalimon

This immediately reminded me of Haluk Berkmen's trial of decipherment of Etruscan Dice

http://www.astroset.com/bireysel_gelisim/ancient/a9.htm

There are Etruscan inscriptions                    which have been written in both directions. Such a system of                    writing is called *                   boustrophedon*, meaning “as the  ox ploughs”. In                    this system the hand of the writer goes back and forth like an                    ox drawing a plow across a field and turning at the end of                    each row to return in the opposite direction.

Are there other similar words? If there are does it seem like there is a pattern?


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## macrotis

I once tried to find a logical pattern using Starostin's database but was unable to find one.


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## fedoramca

As a side note: Hungarian word "betű" which means letter (harf) is considered having its roots in Turkish (bitig).


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## ancalimon

There is also betimleme which is related.


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## er targyn

fedoramca said:


> As a side note: Hungarian word "betű" which means letter (harf) is considered having its roots in Turkish (bitig).



I think this word is older than Hungarian-Turkish contacts. It means it's Turkic, but not Turkey-Turkish.


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## ancalimon

er targyn said:


> I think this word is older than Hungarian-Turkish contacts. It means it's Turkic, but not Turkey-Turkish.



Still, we use it as a result of our language being Turkic as well 

We should try to find words in Turkic which are similar and share the same context with bitig. I'm sure we can find surprising things if we tried hard enough.


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