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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
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Dickens speaks of a young man "singeing" his calves before a fire. I wondered about etymology of "singe". First site I looked at, by that médicin extraordinair, Dr. Wertelecki, I saw an Egyptian statue of a large panther (I guess) licking its kitten, with this footnote: "Singe embrassan son chaton" (Cat embracing kitten), Egyptian, c. 4th century BC. - Louvre Museum, Paris, France."
I learned French "singe" = monkey. Since when did it mean a kitten?
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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Singa is the Indonesian for lion (hence Singapura = lion city). I believe it's from an Indian or Arabic etymon.
Bingley
Bingley
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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I remember seeing "Simba" as name for lion. But that seems unrelated to "singe". Surprisingly I did not find a good site to confirm this.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I think Simba is Swahili, but I could very well be wrong. On further reflection, I'm inclining to singa being from Sanskrit. Maahey?
Bingley
Bingley
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Perhaps Singe was the cat's name.
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old hand
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old hand
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Simha = lion in Sanskrit.
Dunno about Simba - may be convergent evolution?
cheer
the sunshine warrior
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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If Simba is Swahili only, I wouldn't exclude loan word from a Hindic language. If it has cognates in other Bantu languages I'd tend to go with shanks on the convergence idea.
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