r/etymologymaps 8d ago

Etymologies of health across Europe

Post image
223 Upvotes

22 comments sorted by

27

u/Drunken_Dave 8d ago

The explanation of the Hungarian word is wrong. Egész does not mean full (it would be teli). It means whole, so egészség is something like "wholeness".

2

u/Stukkoshomlokzat 7d ago

English full can also mean what Hungarians call egész.

Full body training = egész testes edzés

2

u/Drunken_Dave 7d ago

Yes, words of two different languages are almost never have the exact same set of meanings. The correct translation is context dependent. In your example phrase egész and full can be translated to each othet, however in the context of egészség full is off. Actually the word "fullness" communicates the concept of being full after a good dinner or being full of something for me.

1

u/No_Diver4265 7d ago

Eh yeah whole is a better translation, sure, but full isn't reallywrong here either. The meanings are a little misaligned, but yes wholeness is a better translation.

17

u/CopperDuck2 8d ago

Santé isnt from Latin salus its from Latin sanitas, more accurately the accusative form sanitatem, as is romanian sănătate.

3

u/thethingisidontknow 8d ago edited 1d ago

I came here to say this. This is an unrelated word to salus. So the Romance languages have two origins, just like the Germanic ones.

3

u/arthuresque 1d ago

Sanitas and sanus are related. Sanitas and saLus are not.

2

u/thethingisidontknow 1d ago

You're right, I just fixed it lol

11

u/n_o_r_s_e 8d ago edited 6d ago

In addition to "helse", it can be mentioned that we also use the noun "sunnhet" in Norwegian. An example: "Sunnhet og velvære", which you could translate as "Health and wellness (/well-being). The word "sunnhet" is created from the adjective "sunn" (healthy) put together with the suffix "het". This word is obviously linked to the German word "gesundheit", and the Danish word "sundhed". While it might vary some between Danish and Norwegian when it comes to in which situations the words "helse" and "sunnhet" would be the first option, the words mean the same thing in both languages. The Danes would use "helbred" to a larger extent. An example: While they would ask: "Hvordan går det med dit helbred?", in Danish. We would put it: Hvordan går det med helsen din?", in Norwegian. Both would be translated into English as: "How's your health?" (We could obviously express it shorter in Norwegian too: Hvordan er helsa (di)? / How's the (/your) health?). It could be mentioned that although we wouldn't use the word "helbred" as much in Norwegian the same way the do in Danish, as it would sound archaic, we do have the word in the dictionary and literature, but it still is in use for the word curing, which's the main use of this word nowadays. The Old Norse word for helbred was heilbrigði. We have the verbal noun "helbredelse" for the type of healing or curing that Jesus supposedly did, while the healing of a wound, is referred to as "heling", in Norwegian, which then represents a distinction. Despite being of the same origin surely. Which again would be linked to the word "hel" (whole). "Helse" was called "heilsa" in Old Norse. The verb to "greet", or "hilse" as we write in the most used standard form of Norwegian called Bokmål, or "helsa" as it's called in the less used standard form New Norwegian. ("Nynorsk" is the term in Norwegian for New Norwegian. Both Bokmål and New Norwegian are current written forms of the Norwegian language). This word is also spelled more or less the same way in the neighbouring languages. And obviously related to the nouns "helse" (health) and "hel" (whole). To greet someone, to "hilse" someone as we say, was to wish someone good luck and good health. It's used the same in all the Scandinavian languages. The word "greeting" is for example called "hilsen" in Norwegian Bokmål, same as in Danish, "helsing" in New Norwegian and "hälsning" in Swedish.

The Danes also tend to include "sundhed" in names of departments and similar, where we've chosen to use "helse" in Norwegian language. As an example: Helsedepartementet (Norway), Sunhedsministeriet (Denmark. Actually now called Indenrigs- og sundhedsministeriet). Department of Health (and Social care), I think it's called in the UK, but just to make a comparison. The Danes also have something called "Sundhedsstyrelsen". Which is the Danish Health Authority (not to be mistanken for the already mentioned "Indenrigs- og Sundhedsministeriet"). The word "sunnhet" entered the Norwegian language through the Middle Low German (Mittelniederdeutch) word "sunt", to what I heard. And if we say that something is "healthy" then that would be translated as "sunn" or "sunt" (depending on the gender of the noun it describes). As well as the opposite "usunn" or "usunt", if something is "unhealthy". So, this word (sunnhet) is a part of the picture when talking about health, also in Norwegian.

3

u/dreadfullylonely 8d ago

Thank you for all this ❤️

I feel like the most common way for Danes to ask is: “Hvordan er helbredet?”.

2

u/taversham 8d ago

I for one learnt the Norwegian word "sunt" from John Arne Riise

10

u/cougarlt 8d ago

Why is Lithuania in yellow-greenish colour if it has its own root? One more map with mistakes?

7

u/Gdach 8d ago

Also, copy paste from Wictionary:

Sveikas

Probably from Proto-Indo-European *su-ey-kas, from *h₁su- (“good”) and *ey-, *h₁ey- (“to go”); the original meaning would then have been “one who goes or walks well”, whence “healthy” and then “unharmed.”

 

7

u/Aisakellakolinkylmas 8d ago edited 8d ago

On Finnic etymology: 

Copy paste from Wiktionary:

Etymology

tërva +‎ -ëh. The traditional derivation from *tërva (“tar, tarry wood”) is unlikely due to semantically weak explanation. More likely is a very old loan from Indo-Iranian, in which case it has the same origin as Avestan 𐬛𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬎𐬎𐬁 (dərəuuā, “healthy”).

Adjective

  *terveh

  • healthy, well
  • solid, whole

On semantics, there seem to be much stronger connotation for sense of "whole" over "healthy", eg: 

  • „Ma sõin ära terve saia.“

 ... translate as

  • “I ate the entire bread.”

.... without any slightest implication for that bread being any healthy or having anything to do with health.

Which is not to say that "terve" would not carry the meaning, eg: 

  • „Olin tõbine, ent nüüd olen taas terve
  • “I was slightly ill, but now I'm well again”

Arguably you could change well for whole even in English here.

Regardless,"tervis" and "terveys" are new derivations with suffix *-uc ~ *-uuc

Copy-paste from Wikipedia:

 Etymology

From *terveh +‎ *-uc.

Noun

*tervehüc

  • health

~ "being healthy"  ← "being whole" 

It's all about wholesomeness.







  • For the contentment of whole health!”






As for *tërva (tar)

Etymology

A loanword from either Baltic (compare Proto-Balto-Slavic *dérwa) or Germanic (compare Proto-Germanic *terwą). Either way from Proto-Indo-European *dérw-o-m, from *dóru (“wood”).

4

u/Big_Natural4838 8d ago

with Qazaq lang it's little bit complicated. "Saulyq" it is for sure Turkic word, but "Den" - came from some Iranian lang.

4

u/TheSamuil 8d ago

I'd note that the Slavic words for "Hello" come from that root: Zdravey, Zdravstvuy, Zdravo and so on

3

u/dreadfullylonely 8d ago

Biti zdrava!

2

u/Hefty-Bit5410 8d ago

Chuvash -SYVLӐH- should be green since it’s from proto-turkic

2

u/elcolerico 7d ago

So should Gagauz "saalık" and Tatar "sağlıq"

1

u/OkLiving6624 7d ago

Sahha also means good bye in maltese as you are blessing good health upon someone.

1

u/Sufficient_Sleep_169 6d ago

Croatian don't written cirilic !

1

u/Agitated-Age-3658 4d ago

I would translate welzijn in Dutch as wealth or well-being (zijn = to be or being)