# Glass



## ThomasK

How do you translate the word in your language? (Material, instrument, and others, metonyms and metaphors)

Dutch: 
- *glas *(*ruit *= pane)
- *glas, glazen *[glasses for drinking]
- *bril [*= glasses, spectacles]


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## bibax

Czech:

glass (material) = *sklo* (Old Czech _stklo_), from Goth. stikls, OHG stehhal (= cup/chalice, Becher);
a (drinking) glass = *sklenice, sklenka, sklenička* (dim.);

glasses = *brýle*, from Ger. Brille;


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## DearPrudence

In *French*:

*glass (material): le verre, *possibly also "*une vitre*" (when close to "a windowpane")
*a glass (object): un verre
glasses: des lunettes*


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## apmoy70

Hi TK,

in Greek:

*Glass (material)*: «Γυαλί» [ʝa'li] (neut.), from the Byz. diminutive «γυαλίν» ʝa'lin (neut.), from the Classical masc. noun «ὕαλος» 'hŭalŏs and its diminutive neut. «ὑαλίν» hŭa'lin --> _glass_, a Mycenaean Greek word *we-a-re-ja > ϝύαλος (with obscure etymology).
*Glasses*: «Γυαλιά» [ʝa'ʎa] (pl. neut.).
*Glass (object)*: «Γυάλινος, -νη, -νο» ['ʝalinos 'ʝalini  'ʝalino] (masc. fem. neut.) lit. "of glass" (e.g. «γυάλινο ποτήρι» ['ʝalino po'tiri] --> "[drinking] glass of glass"). 

The person who wears glasses is pejoratively called «γυαλάκιας» [ʝa'lacas].
When we utterly destroy something, we say we have turned it into «γυαλιά-καρφιά» [ʝa'ʎa karfi'a] (pl. neut.) lit. "glasses and nails". 
When we teach someone a lesson, we say we have made him/her wear glasses «τoυ/της έβαλα τα γυαλιά» [tu (masc.) tis (fem.) 'evala ta ʝa'ʎa] (lit. "I've put the glasses on him/her")


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## ThomasK

Interesting to read about the associations. I could just imagine using/ looking through another 'bril' (glasses) as an expression. 

Glass & nails: what could be the origin?


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## ancalimon

Turkish:

glass: cam

drinking glass: bardak

eye glasses: gözlük (it's not related to glass. It's related to eye)


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## ThomasK

ancalimon said:


> Turkish:
> 
> drinking glass: *bardak*
> 
> eye glasses: *gözlük *(it's not related to glass. It's related to eye)


Could you comment on the last two words,on their precise meaning or origin? Thanks!


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## ancalimon

ThomasK said:


> Could you comment on the last two words,on their precise meaning or origin? Thanks!



göz: eye
gözlük: pertaining to eyes, meant for the eyes, for the eyes, fit for the eyes, ... (the suffix is lık, lik, luk, lük)



bardak is either from Old Turkic "bar~bal" with the meaning of "carrying-sheltering-harbouring a thing from a place to another place"  or from bal meaning made of clay-mud.  I'm not sure.

The oldest attested form is "bart".


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## ThomasK

Thanks for that information, Ancalimon, that is what I was looking for!


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## ahmedcowon

*Arabic (MSA):*
glass (material) = زجاج _zojaaj_
glass (drinking) = كوب _koob_
glasses = نظارة _na__dħ-__dħaarah _(from looking)

*Arabic (Egyptian):*
glass (material) = إزاز _ezaaz_
glass (drinking) = كوباية _kobbayah_
glasses = نضارة _naddaarah  _(from looking)

*Arabic (Lebanese):*
glass (material) = إزاز _ezaaz_
glass (drinking) = كباية _kebbayeh_
glasses = عوينات _ouaynaat_(from eyes)


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## ThomasK

Could you tell us more about the origin of the glass words? The etymology perhaps?


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## Youngfun

Italian: 
- *vetro *[material]
- *bicchiere *[glasses for drinking]
- *occhiali [*= glasses, spectacles]
*- lastra (di vetro)* [=pane]

Chinese: 
- *玻璃 *[material]
- *杯子 *[glasses for drinking]
- *眼镜 [*= glasses, spectacles]

It seems that only English uses the same word for these three.



ThomasK said:


> - *glas *(*ruit *= pane)


So in Dutch there's difference between the glass material and the glass pane?


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## ThomasK

Youngfun said:


> [...] So in Dutch there's difference between the glass material and the glass pane?


Yes, there is. Are we the only ones? You can sometimes use one instead of the other, but 'ruit' is more specific...


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## DearPrudence

ThomasK said:


> Yes, there is. Are we the only ones? You can sometimes use one instead of the other, but 'ruit' is more specific...


Please reread my post 


DearPrudence said:


> In *French*:
> 
> *glass (material): le verre, *possibly also "*une vitre*" (when close to "a windowpane")
> *a glass (object): un verre
> glasses: des lunettes*


We use use "vitre" in a car for instance.


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## ThomasK

DearPrudence said:


> Please reread my post
> We use use "vitre" in a car for instance.


Scusi, signora... I had read it well, but not thought of it while writing this... ;-(


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## rusita preciosa

Russian:
glass (substance): *стекло* /steklo/ - see Czech
window / window pane: *окно* /okno/ - the root *–ok-/-otch-* means “eye”
drinking glass: *стакан */stakan/ - loanword from Turkic languages
glasses/spectacles: *очки* /otchki/ - plurale tantum; the root *–ok-/-otch-* means “eye”



ancalimon said:


> drinking glass: bardak


Is there another meaning (e.g. disorder)? In Russian бардак /bardak/ is a slang word for disorder, chaos; the etymological dictionary says it is a loanword from Turkic for “clay pot”.


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## Youngfun

ThomasK said:


> Yes, there is. Are we the only ones? You can sometimes use one instead of the other, but 'ruit' is more specific...



Added "glass pane" in Italian to my previous post.


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## apmoy70

ThomasK said:


> Interesting to read about the associations. I could just imagine using/ looking through another 'bril' (glasses) as an expression.
> 
> Glass & nails: what could be the origin?


I'm afraid I do not know the origin of the phrase but it's a common expression; now that I'm thinking of it, another one that just popped up in my mind is «τα έκαναν λαμπόγυαλο» [ta 'ekanan lam'boʝalo] lit. "they've turned it into broken lamp glass".
 It must also be noted that the drinking glass in Greek has nothing to do with glass, we call it «ποτήρι» [po'titi] (neut.) < Byz. Greek diminutive neuter noun «ποτήριον» [po'tiri.on] < Classical Greek masc. noun «ποτήρ» pŏ'tēr --> _drinking cup_ (PIE base *pī-/*pō(i)-/*peh₃-, _to drink_; cf. Skt. पिबति (pibati); Lat. bibere > It. bere, Fr. boire, Sp. beber; OCS пити (piti))


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## ThomasK

The link window pane/ eye does not seem so self-evident to me. Just based on the fact that we can see through it. Anyone?


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## bibax

*Okno* means _window_ in most Slavic languages (*oko* means _eye_) as the first windows were mere oval holes between two wooden beams and without any glass, of course.


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## ThomasK

I see... interesting! Thanks!


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## e2-e4 X

rusita preciosa said:


> window / window pane: *окно* /okno/ - the root *–ok-/-otch-* means “eye”


Addition: «око» («oko») was the Russian for "eye" in the past, but now it is «глаз» (which is pronounced very much like "glass", by the way).


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## ThomasK

How interesting. Maybe 'glass' has to do with shining - and shining might be linked to eyes... Maybe...


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## e2-e4 X

According to Max Vasmer, the word "глаз" used to mean a little ball — and sometimes a little ball made out of glass, — which meaning is related to the meaning of a Polish cognate for a rock, a stone. The Russian word for a window does not have to have anything to do with glass — it may be just that houses are thought to look at things around them with their windows, a metaphor, sort of.


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## ancalimon

rusita preciosa said:


> Russian:
> Is there another meaning (e.g. disorder)? In Russian бардак /bardak/ is a slang word for disorder, chaos; the etymological dictionary says it is a loanword from Turkic for “clay pot”.



I don't know of such a meaning in any Turkic dialects. Although in old Turkic there is the verb "arta" meaning mulfuncion, breakdown, disorder. (and artaq meaning something which mulfunctions, is broken, is in disorder). That Russian word might be related to that.

Today we use the word arıza (loaned from Arabic for some reason unknown to me) with the same meanings.


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## bibax

IMHO the slang meaning "brothel/mess/chaos" of the word бардак (bardak) in Russian (= "a glass" in Turkish) is influenced by the similarly sounding word бордель (bordeľ) with the same meaning. It is a common method that slang uses to create new slang words.

BTW another Russian slang word for "mess/chaos" is кавардак (kavardak), also from Turkic (kavyrmak).


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## 涼宮

In *Spanish*:

Glass: vaso (from Latin vasum)
Vidrio (from Latin vitrum)
Lente (from Latin lens)

And the only expression I know in Spanish with 'glass' is _ahogarse en un vaso de agua_, which means _to make a mountain out of a molehill _or_ a tempest in a teapot._

In *Japanese*:

For some reason I don't know Japanese uses the English word グラス _gurasu_. I can't understand why, did never exist glasses in Japan? I tried to look up a proper Japanese word for glass and nothing came up. That applies to the meanings ''driking vessel'' and the thing a window is made of. When it comes to the thing you use to see better you say 眼鏡　_megane_ (lit. eyeball + mirror)


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## Youngfun

Hi 涼宮!
According to Wikipedia, the Japanese has the kanji 硝子 for the glass (material). Do you know how to pronounce it? Maybe it was used in ancient Japanese before the English borrowing?

And in Spanish _vaso_ is the drinking cup, _vidrio_ the material, and _lente_ the spectacles, right?
So in Spanish you don't dinstinguish lens and spectacles?  In Portuguese spectacles are called _óculos_.


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## DearPrudence

Please note the discussion on "glasses" on the same forum:
*glasses*

I must say I only learnt "*gafas*" in Spanish from Spain but it has other names throughout Latin America.


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## Youngfun

Hi DearPrudence!
Thanks for the link.
Reading quickly that thread, it seems that anteojos are an arcaic term for glasses (spectacles) in Spanish, _gafas_ is used in Spain as you said, and _lentes_ is used in Rio de la Plata as 涼宮 said.
So each one of you said a regional variety.



bibax said:


> IMHO the slang meaning "brothel/mess/chaos" of the word бардак (bardak) in Russian


Interesting. In Italian _baldracca_ means slut, I don't know if it's related.
But in Italian there is _casino_ /ka'sino/ (lit. little home) which means both "brothel" and "mess/chaos"; not to be confused with _casinò_ /kazi'nɔ/ which is the gambling casino.


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## e2-e4 X

bibax said:


> IMHO the slang meaning "brothel/mess/chaos" of the word бардак (bardak)  in Russian (= "a glass" in Turkish) is influenced by the similarly  sounding word бордель (bordeľ) with the same meaning. It is a common  method that slang uses to create new slang words.


There is no "brothel" meaning in the word «бардак», as far as I know. * The word rather refers to a misorganised state of things or to a disorganised institution (for example, a state institution). It is very similar to «кавардак», except that the former looks more large-scale and more concerned of politics and other such 'dull' questions, it makes think of a disorder which concerns the society as a whole, and the latter is more related to a particular person or a family.

Besides, I do not quite understand what do you mean by 'slang' here. I would say that both words are 'colloquial'.

* It turned out that I'm just too young or something to know this word in its primary meaning. Yes, the primary meaning is "brothel", but hardly anyone uses it this way nowadays. It is a colloquial word of general use, not slang.


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## 涼宮

Youngfun said:


> Hi 涼宮!
> According to Wikipedia, the Japanese has the kanji 硝子 for the glass (material). Do you know how to pronounce it? Maybe it was used in ancient Japanese before the English borrowing?
> 
> I knew that kanji but I simply never see it in use. It's read as グラス but according to the dictionary it can be read as しょうし. I wonder in what kind of context that kanji would be used. Still, I don't get why they say グラス and ジュース, such borrowings are absurd to me being JP an agglutinative language.
> 
> And in Spanish _vaso_ is the drinking cup, _vidrio_ the material, and _lente_ the spectacles, right?
> So in Spanish you don't dinstinguish lens and spectacles?  In Portuguese spectacles are called _óculos_.



And nope, lens and spectacles are the same thing, be it gafas, anteojos o lentes. And as you said, anteojos is old-fashioned, I only see that word used in dubs, video games and books because it seems to be the choice considered 'neutral' for all speakers to understand.


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## ThomasK

DearPrudence said:


> Please note the discussion on "glasses" on the same forum:
> *glasses*.


Interesting hint, had not thought of glasses at first, I must admit. I had been thinking of metaphorical/ metonymical meanings of glass (material).

Just by the way: we *associate glass with clarity and with 'hardness',* as in 'glashard', 'glashelder' (clear as glass).




涼宮 said:


> In *Japanese*:
> 
> For some reason I don't know Japanese uses the English word グラス _gurasu_. I can't understand why, did never exist glasses in Japan? I tried to look up a proper Japanese word for glass and nothing came up. That applies to the meanings ''driking vessel'' and the thing a window is made of. When it comes to the thing you use to see better you say 眼鏡　_megane_ (lit. eyeball + mirror)



Interesting cultural question: is 'window' a universal concept as such ? Glass (cup) is not, cup is, I think...


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## Youngfun

@涼宮:
It seems that 硝子 has two readings: an English reading (_gurasu_), while the other one _shoushi_ sounds like a Chinese reading, probably the original pronunciation of the two kanjis. (In Chinese it would _xiao zi_)
You shouldn't be surprised if Japanese uses a loanword for "glass", they even say _appu_ (from _up_)=to raise, _supichi_=speech, _purasu_=plus, _akusento_=accent, _supootsu_=sports, and a long long list.
眼鏡 is definitely a loanword from Chinese.


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## ThomasK

I happened to read about 'appuru', apple. But I still wonder if the word 'window' is original in Chinese or Japanese, with or without glass...


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## Youngfun

I don't know for Japanese.
Chinese has very few loanwords, windows is 窗户, while glass is 玻璃. Or glass window is 玻璃窗.


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## ThomasK

Did you mean that all three are loanwords? Could you comment on those ideogrammes (if it makes sense to do so)?


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## Youngfun

Sorry, I didn't express myself well.
I mean that Chinese has very few loanwords, and would never use loanwords for these common things, but native words.

According Wikipedia, 玻璃 has been the word for "glass" (the material) in China since thousands of years. 

窗 is the basic word for "window". 
Modern Chinese tends to avoid monosyllabic (i.e. only 1 ideogram) words, so we usually "enrich" it, we make compounds like 窗户, which consists of window+door, actually with no additional meaning: it still means "window". Other compounds meaning window are 窗口、窗门。

玻璃窗 is just 玻璃 + 窗 (glass + window). Here we only use the basic word for window, we don't need anymore to "enrich" it, because of the "glass" before.
Of course you will be still understood if you say 玻璃窗户, but that would sound redundant.

On the other hand, Japanese has A LOT of loanwords.


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## Tjahzi

Swedish is very much like Dutch and English regarding this matter. That is, there is little variation between the words. 

Material - _glas_ [glɒːs]
Drinking tool - _(ett) __glas_ [glɒːs]
Pane - _(glas)ruta_ ['glɒːsrʉːta]
Visual tool - _(ett par) __glasögon_ ['glɒːsøːgɔn]*

*_ögon _is the plural of _öga_ -_ eye__._


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## 涼宮

ThomasK said:


> Interesting cultural question: is 'window' a  universal concept as such ? Glass (cup) is not, cup is, I  think...



Window in Japanese is 窓 _mado, _which is not a  borrowing from English, fortunately_. _The Japanese language is weird, in  my opinion, when it comes to taking loanwords. Regarding technology and stuff  like that, there are many words created by their roots and thus they don't use  loanwords, but with some other very common words such as 'coffe', 'juice',  'glass' they use the English words, why? who knows. But there are also many  native equivalents to such borrowings which are sometimes preferred over  loanwords. For instance, the usual word for 'rape' is taken from English, レイプ  _reipu, _the proper Japanese word for that is 強姦　_goukan_, but  it's considered formal and less strong a word, therefore it doesn't convey the  seriousness of 'rape', in a newspaper, for instance.

As for ''appuru', I've always seen the native word りんご _ringo_, perhaps that ''appuru'' refers to the company and not the fruit.


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## 涼宮

Youngfun said:


> 窗 is the basic word for "window".
> Modern Chinese tends to avoid monosyllabic (i.e. only 1 ideogram) words, so we usually "enrich" it, we make compounds like 窗户, which consists of window+door, actually with no additional meaning: it still means "window". Other compounds meaning window are 窗口、窗门。



Japanese does that, too. Since it's a language with few sounds it has one hell of a lot of homophones, so, to avoid extreme confusion it uses compounds words.


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## bibax

Once I read an article about the salarymen (a kind of Japanese white-collars working for corporations). The Japanese term sounds _sararīman_. Surprisingly the English word salaryman is a loanword from Japanese.


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## ThomasK

Interesting consideration about loan words, but did I get it right that the loan word is considered stronger? -- You were right: 'appuru' is just the company, my mistake. 

As for 'mado': does it refer to the opening only? Not to the glass?


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## Youngfun

涼宮 said:


> 'coffe'


But "coffee" makes sense, as it is an "exotic" drink, which is a loanword in more or less all the languages of the world. 
The Japanese used to write "coffee" in Kanji 珈琲. Some people say that the Chinese hanzi 咖啡 (pronounced ka fei) could derive from the Japanese Kanji.
See Coffee in All languages and Etymology of Coffee



涼宮 said:


> For instance, the usual word for 'rape' is taken from English, レイプ  _reipu, _the proper Japanese word for that is 強姦　_goukan_, but  it's considered formal and less strong a word, therefore it doesn't convey the  seriousness of 'rape', in a newspaper, for instance.


Well, that's odd. In Chinese rape is 強姦 (_qiang jian_), simplified: 强奸, it's the only specific word for rape.



涼宮 said:


> As for ''appuru', I've always seen the native word りんご _ringo_, perhaps that ''appuru'' refers to the company and not the fruit.


You say that Japanese uses the English loanword for juice (_jusu_?), then I guess that "apple juice" should be something like _appuru jusu_. Right?



bibax said:


> Once I read an article about the salarymen (a kind of Japanese white-collars working for corporations). The Japanese term sounds _sararīman_. Surprisingly the English word salaryman is a loanword from Japanese.


Actually there are a lot of English words created by the Japanese and are called _wasei-ego_, see Wikipedia; or here and here for a more complete list.
Some of them entered in the West, such as _walkman, anime _(abbr. of animation)_, cosplay _(abbr. of costume play).


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## 涼宮

ThomasK said:


> Interesting consideration about loan words, but did I get it right that the loan word is considered stronger? -- You were right: 'appuru' is just the company, my mistake.
> 
> As for 'mado': does it refer to the opening only? Not to the glass?



Only to the opening. 



Youngfun said:


> You say that Japanese uses the English loanword for juice (_jusu_?), then I guess that "apple juice" should be something like _appuru jusu_. Right?



Nope! For that one you say りんご果汁 or りんごジュース, but I have never seen ''apple'' as appuru to refer to the fruit.


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## mataripis

ThomasK said:


> How do you translate the word in your language? (Material, instrument, and others, metonyms and metaphors)
> 
> Dutch:
> - *glas *(*ruit *= pane)
> - *glas, glazen *[glasses for drinking]
> - *bril [*= glasses, spectacles]


There are only two Tagalog words that can be used to describe an object that is made of glass. 1.) Bubog= a crystal   and 2.) Salamin= Mirror or translucent glass. The rest are loan words from Spanish like  Baso (Glass) and Kristal ( anything that are made of Silica)


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## ThomasK

How about window, Mataripis? Is there a Tagalog word for that?


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## Encolpius

*Magyar*

1. glass (material) = *üveg *(maybe of Iranian origin)
2. glass (drinking) = *pohár *(German < Bavarian)
3. glass (spectacles) = *szemüveg *(compound < szem "eye" + üveg "glass" <German (old, Austrian?): Augenglas]


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## darush

Hi Thomask,

glass(material): شیشه /shishe/  or  آبگینه /ābgine/;  āb: water,      gine:?
glass(drinking): لیوان /livān/, _Arabic; _the most common glass
استکان /estekān/, _Russian; medume-size glass esp for drinking tea
_فنجان /fenjān/, Arabic; the smallest one, cup
جام /jām/: literal drinking glass, larg(uncutted)sheet of glass

spectacles: *عینک* /eynak/, from Arabic عین (eye); meaning *'pseudo eye'
*
mirror: آینه /āyene, āyne/

lens: عدسی/adasi/,      عدس /adas/: lentil_(*Lens Culinaris)*
_
crystal: بلور /bolur/, Arabic; I've read the word _'bolur' _is  an Arabic derivation from the Greek word for 'peridot'(brilius?)


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## ahmedcowon

darush said:


> Hi Thomask,
> 
> glass(material): شیشه /shishe/  or  آبگینه /ābgine/;  āb: water,      gine:?
> glass(drinking): لیوان /livān/, _Arabic; _the most common glass
> استکان /estekān/, _Russian; medume-size glass esp for drinking tea
> _فنجان /fenjān/, Arabic; the smallest one, cup
> جام /jām/: literal drinking glass, larg(uncutted)sheet of glass
> 
> spectacles: *عینک* /eynak/, from Arabic عین (eye); meaning *'pseudo eye'
> *
> mirror: آینه /āyene, āyne/
> 
> lens: عدسی/adasi/,      عدس /adas/: lentil_(*Lens Culinaris)*
> _
> crystal: بلور /bolur/, Arabic; I've read the word _'bolur' _is  an Arabic derivation from the Greek word for 'peridot'(brilius?)



*Hi darush,*

the word ليوان is not exist in Arabic

the word for 'lens' in Arabic is عدسة /adasah/


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## darush

ahmedcowon said:


> *Hi darush,*
> 
> the word ليوان is not exist in Arabic
> 
> the word for 'lens' in Arabic is عدسة /adasah/



salam aleykom *ahmedcowon,

*I read it in wiktionary, it doesn't seem to be wrong
http://fa.wiktionary.org/wiki/لیوان


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## arielipi

Hebrew:
glass for drinking - כוס kos(+ot for plural), ספל sefel(not +,sfalim for plural) is for hot liquids[=tea,coffee etc], but it bears no connection to the material glass word.
glass(material) - זכוכית zchuchit.
glasses - משקפיים mishkafa(y)im.
lens - adasha עדשה


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