Talk:valkea

Either Ural-Altaic or Eurasiatic

világ

Hungarian

Etymology

The original meaning of the world was illumination. From the same Finno-Ugric root *walke as Finnish valkea and Estonian valge

++ (added)

, probably cognate with Korean 밝다 (balg-da, bak-) "to be bright, illuminating," 박쥐 (bag-jwi, bak-) "bat"

-- (deferred)

from obsolete Korean 밝쥐 (balg-jwi, bak-), literally meaning "bright(-eyed) rat," perhaps also cognate with Middle English bakke "bat." --KYPark 01:55, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm not very familiar with the etymology, but at first sight the connection between Finno-Ugric root language abd Korean appears surprising. Is it sure that this word is not only a coincidence? Are there more examples of such connection? One must also take into account that there are no original written sources to the roots of Finno-Ugric words. To my understanding the roots have been formed by reasoning backwards from the currently existing languages. Hekaheka 10:34, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

The said Finno-Ugric root may be "probably cognate with Korean 밝다 (balg-da, bak-)," judging from the w:Ural-Altaic hypothesis prior to the w:Nostratic and w:Eurasiatic which are much more debatable. If the latter hypotheses are taken for granted, the cognates may probably include Middle English bakke and Modern English bat in addition.

(All these hypotheses are not mine but published by the linguistic experts, however debatable. By "probably" I mean that the said cognates may not be published anywhere as such, but suggested from my own observation. Even published cognates would more or less suffer from lack of certainty, as all of them are reasoned after all. Strictly speaking, Middle English bakke and Modern English bat for example may or may not be cognate. On the other hand, some unpublished cognates may be more certain or assuring than some published. I wish that etymological reasoning could more generously accommodate unpublished cognates.)

In relation to metsäjänis, I mentioned Estonian mets and Finnish metsä "forest," which may also be cognate with Korean 뫼 (moe) or 메 (me) "mountain, forest, wilderness," which as prefixes very often take form of moes/moet and mes/met looking more like the Baltic equivalents. Furthermore, all these may also be cognate with Latin mons or mont.

Finnish keinu, which may be cognate with Greek κούνια (kunia) "swing," may be still another probable cognate with Korean 그네 (geune). Furthermore, either may be cognate with Latin cunae, Spanish cuna, Italian culla "cradle," and Spanish acunar and Italian cullare "to cradle, rock."

I wish these observations of mine could appeal to the pure curiosity at least. --KYPark 02:59, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Eurasiatic or Nostratic hypotheses are not popular among linguistics. Ural-Altaic hypothesis seems to be more or less discredited. Even the existence of the Altaic family is debated.

According to the Nykysuomen etymologinen sanakirja, metsä is likely a Baltic or Germanic loan. keinu comes from keinua, which itself derives from Proto-Germanic *skain. Valkea derives from the old original word *walkɜ, but possible cognates from Hungarian are very uncertain.--Jyril 23:36, 15 March 2007 (UTC)