Is 長 in Japanese related to “naga” in Thai and Sanskrit?


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?




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.




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.

