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The kanji 長い (“nagai”) means “long” in Japanese.

And “naga” in Sanskrit and Thai means “snake” or “serpent”.

It seems to me that there could be a relation between them given that snakes
are usually described as long.

Is there any relationship between them? Do they have a shared origin?
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2019-03-05T21:06:16.057
65858
2019-03-05T21:54:32.730
31975
question
etymology
Is 長 in Japanese related to “naga” in Thai and Sanskrit?
One could extend that hypothesis to ask if there's a connection between
English _long_ and Yiddish _schlong_.

  * [English _long_](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/long#Etymology_1) ultimately derives from Proto-Indo-European _*dlongʰos_ (“long”).
  * [Yiddish _schlong_](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%90%D6%B7%D7%A0%D7%92#Yiddish) is from German _Schlange_ ("snake") and ultimately derives from Proto-Indo-European _*slenk-_ (“to wind, twist, slink, creep”).

That is, no apparent connection.

Back to your particular thought:

  * [Japanese 長- _naga-_](http://gogen-allguide.com/na/nagai.html) is thought to derive from, or be cognate with, obsolete verb 流る _nagaru_ , root of modern verb pair 流れる _nagareru_ ("to flow") / 流す _nagasu_ ("to flush something, to make something flow"). I've also thought these might be related to verb 投ぐ _nagu_ , modern 投げる _nageru_ ("to throw").
  * [Sanskrit नाग _naga_ ("snake")](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%97#Sanskrit) ultimately derives from Proto-Indo-European _*sneg-_ (“to crawl; a creeping thing”), the same as [English _snake_](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/snake#Etymology).

So again, no apparent connection.
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2019-03-05T21:47:19.943
65860
2019-03-05T21:54:32.730
2019-03-05T21:54:32.730
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