Where does “vùng vẫy” come from?

vùng vẫy (Vietnamese) comes from Vietnamese vậy, from Proto-Vietic valʔ — skirt.

vùng vẫy (Vietnamese): to shake, wiggle or struggle to break free from a constraint

Definitions

  1. to shake, wiggle or struggle to break free from a constraint

Ancestry of “vùng vẫy”, step by step

vùng vẫy traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Vietnamese vậy

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Vietnamesevậyso, thus; intensifying sentence-final particle
2Proto-Vieticvalʔskirt

via Vietnamese vùng

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Vietnamesevùngregion, area
Every word from Proto-Vietic valʔ →Every word from Vietnamese vậy →