Where does “Chan” come from?
Chan comes from Chinese can, a word of uncertain origin and meaning.
Chan (English): Zen Buddhism
Definitions
- Zen Buddhism
Ancestry of “Chan”, step by step
Chan traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via English Channel
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Channel | The hollow bed of running waters; also the bed of the sea or other body of water |
| 2 | English | chainwale | Obsolete spelling of channel |
| 3 | English | wale | A ridge or low barrier; A raised rib in knit... |
| 4 | Middle English | wāle | An outsider; a guest; one from an unfamiliar land |
| 5 | Old English | wealh | foreigner; Briton or Welshman; slave |
| 6 | Old English | īeġ | island |
| 7 | Proto-West Germanic | auwju | floodplain; meadow; island |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | awjō | floodplain; meadow; island |
| 9 | Proto-Germanic | agwjō | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂ékʷeh₂ | water |
via Khmer ចន្ទ
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Khmer | ចន្ទ | moon; the Moon |
| 2 | Pali | canda | moon |
| 3 | Sanskrit | चन्द्र | glittering, shining (as gold), having the brilliancy or hue of light (said of gods, of water and of soma) |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-Aryan | (s)ćandrás | — |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-Iranian | (s)čandrás | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)kand- | to glow, shine; to shine, glow |