"right"(correct, proper) and "right"(direction opposite of left)..

[Harpoon]

are these similar in Chinese? Just wondering (don't know if this is the right forum)... it seems European languages (as geographically distant as English and Russian) have the phenomenon that the right direction is a synonym for "correct"...

[geraldc]

对and 右 don't seem to have much of a link.

[trevelyan]

I'm not sure about Russian, but the Latin the word for left was "sinister" -- it came with cultural connotations of something that was incorrect or wrong. So it shouldn't be too surprising to see the opposite association perpetuate over time and across the Romance languages.

[Harpoon]

I'm not sure about Russian, but the Latin the word for left was "sinister" -- it came with cultural connotations of something that was incorrect or wrong. So it shouldn't be too surprising to see the opposite association perpetuate over time and across the Romance languages.

yeah, like in the middle ages you weren't allowed to be a knight if you were left handed because it was considered to be a sign of the devil (that's why staircases in castles were spiralled towards the right, because attackers would be righthanded and would be banging their elbows against the wall when they try to force their way up)

yeah its like that in russian, polish, and probably most other slavic languages as well... hmm i didnt know about the latin cultural connection...i would have assumed "left" would be looked at as bad by everyone, since most people are right handed... guess it depends on the culture ...

[zhwj]

《古汉语常用字字典》 gives 右 as (1) privileged position, and from that a verb meaning to respect, and (2) to support. It quotes 《史记·平津侯传》：“守成尚文，遭遇右武。”

Conversely, 左 is the lesser position, and has a verbal meaning of "to oppose", as in 右韩而左魏” from 《三国志》. It also hence has a meaning of "evil" or "heretical", as in 左道旁门 (heterodoxy), or, from 《礼记·王制》：“执左道以乱政。”

[johnmck]

In French"right" as is directoin is "droite" and does not mean correct. Funnily enough "on your right" is "a droite" and straight-on is "toute a droite".

[Jose]

straight-on is "toute a droite"

My French is quite rusty, but shouldn't that be "tout droit"?

In Spanish, the word for "right", "derecha", can mean "straight", but not "correct". As for "left", it was "siniestra" in old Spanish. Maybe because that word took on the meaning of "sinister", a Basque word, "izquierda", ended up replacing the Latin word. Catalan and Portuguese also use variations of the Basque word ("esquerda" and "esquerra" respectively).

[TCcookie]

Out of curiosity, is there any historical relationship between "derecha" (direction right) and "derecho" ("right," "law") or is that just coincidence? I've always wondered.

[Jose]

TCcookie,

The meaning of "derecha" as "right side" is derived from its older meaning as "straight" or "law". As far as I know, the original Latin word "directum" (technically a past participle of the verb "dirigere") already took on the meaning of both "straight" and "law" in Ancient Rome. This word gave rise to Spanish "derecho", French "droit", Italian "diritto", and so on. Nowadays these words are also used for the noun "right" as in "human rights".

On the other hand, the original Latin word for "right side" was "dexter", I think (not sure if "-er" is the right ending when used as a noun). This gave rise to old Spanish "diestra" and old French "dextre". The curious thing, and I haven't found any explanation as to why this happened, diestra/dextre eventually came into disuse, and the "straight" words extended their range of meaning by assuming an additional "right side" meaning in both Spanish and French (and Portuguese and Catalan, I think).

Italian, however, maintains the original Latin distinction: "destra" is used for the spatial direction, while "diritto" is used as a noun meaning "law" and as an adjective meaning "straight".

Italian, the modern language that bears a closest resemblance to Latin, also uses "sinistra" for "left", while the other Western romance languages have abandoned their versions of this word. In modern Spanish, "siniestro" usually means "sinister", but there remain a few archaic or humorous uses of the word with its original "left" meaning.

[shibo77]

In politics Chinese uses 左派zuo3pai4 "the Left" and 右派you4pai4 "the Right". That is mostly a borrowed sense. Otherwise, I don't think there is much connection between the two.

-Shìbó