Comment on Learning Japanese
Tuuktuuk@anarchist.nexus 4 days agoLiterally it’s more like “non-speakers”, though, isn’t it? Nie + mowić = Not + to speak.
So, maybe in contemporary Polish the word has been polished to mean “mute”, but could be that they were “those damn non-speakers [of our Polish] across that river-thing!”
agavaa@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Well, the “mówić” part is not present, the root of the word is more similar to “niemy”, meaning “mute”; the Polish word comes from “non-speaker”, as in “not speaking at all”. but that’s just speculation on my part, I’m no linguist or etymologist 🤷♀️
Tuuktuuk@anarchist.nexus 3 days ago
At least Wiktionary completely agrees with you!