Where does “dấu chấm phẩy” come from?
dấu chấm phẩy (Vietnamese) comes from Vietnamese phẩy, from Vietnamese vậy, from Proto-Vietic valʔ — skirt.
dấu chấm phẩy (Vietnamese): a semicolon
Definitions
- a semicolon
Ancestry of “dấu chấm phẩy”, step by step
dấu chấm phẩy traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via Vietnamese phẩy
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vietnamese | phẩy | to gently fan (something) off; to whisk (off, away); to flick (away); to flap |
| 2 | Vietnamese | vậy | so, thus; intensifying sentence-final particle |
| 3 | Proto-Vietic | valʔ | skirt |
via Vietnamese dấu
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vietnamese | dấu | mark, sign; diacritic; tone |
| 2 | Proto-Vietic | k-toːʔ | trace, footprint |
via Vietnamese chấm
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vietnamese | chấm | dot, point; to dip |