Where does “chấm phẩy” come from?

chấm phẩy (Vietnamese) comes from Vietnamese phẩy, from Vietnamese vậy, from Proto-Vietic valʔ — skirt.

chấm phẩy (Vietnamese): punctuation (dots and commas)

Definitions

  1. punctuation (dots and commas)

Ancestry of “chấm phẩy”, step by step

chấm phẩy traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Vietnamese phẩy

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Vietnamesephẩyto gently fan (something) off; to whisk (off, away); to flick (away); to flap
2Vietnamesevậyso, thus; intensifying sentence-final particle
3Proto-Vieticvalʔskirt

via Vietnamese chấm

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Vietnamesechấmdot, point; to dip
Every word from Proto-Vietic valʔ