Where does “kappa” come from?
kappa (Polish) comes from Japanese 河童, from Japanese かっぱ, from Japanese 川, from Japanese 石川 — Ishi River (rivers in Japan).
kappa (Polish): kappa
Ancestry of “kappa”, step by step
kappa traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Japanese 河童
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Japanese | 河童 | a river-dwelling imp or monster from Japanese... |
| 2 | Japanese | かっぱ | 河童 river-dwelling monster from Japanese... |
| 3 | Japanese | 川 | river, stream, brook |
| 4 | Japanese | 石川 | Ishi River (rivers in Japan) |
via Ancient Greek κάππα
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Ancient Greek | κάππα | kappa, the name for the tenth letter Κ, κ of the... |
| 2 | Phoenician | 𐤊 | kaph; kap |
| 3 | Egyptian | 𓂧 | — |