名前 【なまえ】 and Name...spooky...

[neo2407]

Hey, does anyone else find it spooky that the Japanese word for name (なまえ) is very similar to the English word?
Now I assume since the word has kanji, that it wasn't taken from English. So what are the chances that 2 languages that evolved on opposite sides of the planet would come up with similar words for a person's name?

[lalaith]

neo2407 wrote:
Hey, does anyone else find it spooky that the Japanese word for name (なまえ) is very similar to the English word?

No.

Check out this site:
http://members.aol.com/yahyam/coincidence.html

Coincidences happen.

(Gin & tonic, anyone? )

[Teh_Freak]

I do find it rather odd, but stuff happens.

[neo2407]

lalaith wrote:

neo2407 wrote:
Hey, does anyone else find it spooky that the Japanese word for name (なまえ) is very similar to the English word?

No.

Check out this site:
http://members.aol.com/yahyam/coincidence.html

Coincidences happen.

(Gin & tonic, anyone? )

Or is a coincidence? (<_<) (>_>) (<_<) *Pulls out conspiracy theory book*. Just kidding.
Actually name being なまえ in Japanese makes it a lot easier to remember. Thank god for coincidence.

[Kdar]

lalaith wrote:

neo2407 wrote:
Hey, does anyone else find it spooky that the Japanese word for name (なまえ) is very similar to the English word?

No.

Check out this site:
http://members.aol.com/yahyam/coincidence.html

Coincidences happen.

(Gin & tonic, anyone? )

Not all of those word in the list are exactly coincidence...

[hungryhotei]

I don't actually think the words are similar enough for it to be spooky.　名前 does look like 'name' when it is written in romaji, but I personally don't think that the sounds resemble each other that closely. By the way, 'name' written in Japanese is ネーム.

[coco]

清水義範, a Japanese novelist, once wrote a funny short story about this subject.
A main character is a paranoid professor. He insists that an origin of English language is Japanese! He took(picked?) up some words and said, a "kill" came from 斬る(kiru), "battle" came from 場取る(batoru). 坊や(boya) became a boy. Of course 名前(namae) became a name.
( That story was kind of a sarcasm for linguists.)

Shin1roさん 『序文』読んだ? 思いっきり笑えますよね。

[AJBryant]

Hey, does anyone else find it spooky that the Japanese word for name (なまえ) is very similar to the English word?

Not in the least.

[two_heads_talking]

if you break down the kanji for namae なまえ (名前) and you get nothing similar to name.. nothing at all..

[Ezrach]

It's a useful mnemonic device for beginner students, nothing more.

[HeyItsMatt]

neo2407 wrote:
Hey, does anyone else find it spooky that the Japanese word for name (なまえ) is very similar to the English word?
Now I assume since the word has kanji, that it wasn't taken from English. So what are the chances that 2 languages that evolved on opposite sides of the planet would come up with similar words for a person's name?

Actually, what I find spooky is that I was thinking this exact same thing last night in bed. I was planning to make a thread on it today but forgot about it until I saw your thread here. I was also wondering if it was just a coincidence since "namae" is not written in katakana.

[lalaith]

coco wrote:
( That story was kind of a sarcasm for linguists.)

So was my "gin & tonic" mention. It's a cross-reference to the novel in Tanuki's revived "Geekiness test level 1". In it there's a satirical commentary about linguistic coincidence i.e. every world developed a language which has a drink pronounced "gin and tonic" -- something that drives all the linguists crazy trying to explain it.

[Tspoonami]

I wonder how many 'coincidences' can be attributed to language developments through trade, and the spreading ofthe Indo-European peoples/languages.

[Yudan Taiteki]

Well, sometimes "coincidences" do point to a common source language, but the "coincidences" have to be numerous and patterned for that to apply.

[Gundaetiapo]

If you have 50 people in a room, the chances of two people having the same birthday is 97%.

Just for your knowledge.