#word spread

[mapsontheweb]

How a word for "banana" from Papua New Guinea spread with ancient trade routes, becoming the scientific name for the banana genus. The Trans-New-Guinea word is also the source of the regular word for banan in languages like Turkish, Somali and Amharic

This is based on "Things your classics master never told you: a borrowing from Trans New Guinea languages into Latin" by Roger Blench. As far as I know, it's the easternmost word to have made it into European languages in pre-colonial times, having spread from New Guinea (where bananas where domesticated) along old trade routes. Some words have travelled further though, such as the Aymara word for 'potato' into Maori.

by LlST-

[mapsontheweb]

How did the word for 'stomach' spread through Indian languages?

[mapsontheweb]

How the Germanic word for soap reached Aboriginal Australia

[mapsontheweb]

How did the word for 'stomach' spread through Indian languages?

[mapsontheweb]

The origin of the word "apricot"

[mapsontheweb]

Gamal tras Tebe & Lakda - how four words for camel spread across the Old World over the last few thousand years

by u/chotchorton

[mapsontheweb]

Spread of the Proto Indo European word for “sky father”