Point
On this map we can distinguish four etymological roots: First, there are languages with a Latin-based word. English, for instance, “point” originates from the Latin punctum, derived from the verb pungere, meaning “to prick” or “to pierce.” Second, a big group of Slavic-based words, derived from Proto-Slavic tъčьka, meaning “dot” or “point,”. Third, in Czech and Slovak, bod comes from another Slavic root meaning “to stab” or “to prick”. And fourth, languages influenced by the Arabic term نقطة (nuqta) is used, meaning “point” or “dot.”
Line
In geometry, the word “line” originates from the Latin term linea, which means “a string” or “a thread.” This word itself derives from linum, meaning “flax,” as threads were commonly made from flax fibers in ancient times. Linea was adopted in most languages with some modifications, such as ligne in French and línea in Spanish.
In some languages, however, the Latin term was not adopted, and instead, a native word is used. Let’s take a look from north to south:
In Finnish, the word viiva (meaning “line”) originates from the Proto-Finnic viildäk, which means “to cut.” In contrast, to the south, the origin of the words used in the Baltic countries remains uncertain.
In the heart of Europe, the Czech word for “line,” čára, and the Slovak čiara both stem from the native Slavic root čarъ, which means “magic” or “sorcery.” This connection likely originated from the concept of drawing magical lines or markings associated with rituals. Meanwhile, the Hungarian word vonal is a neologism, created from von, meaning “to pull” or “to draw”.
In the South, the word Greek is γραμμή (grammē), derived from γράφω (gráphō) “I write”. We can find them in modern English: The first root, “grammar”, the second in “graphite” or many other words with the ending “-graph(ic)” or the prefix “graph-“.
Polygon
Polygons have been known since ancient times but it was the Greeks who named them: poly– (πολύ), meaning “many,” and gonia (γωνία), meaning “angle” or “corner.” The term spread through Latin, the language of science, and then into various European languages, “polygon” became widely adopted with minimal change. However, several languages developed direct calques based on the Greek roots. In German, for instance, Vieleck or In Russian, многоугольник (mnogoúgol’nik). On the map, languages in orange, the Greek-derived term can be found along with the calque.
