売買の買とbuyの関係はあります？


買 in 売買{ばいばい} is pronounced ばい. The word "to buy", which is the translation of
買う, sounds the same. Is there some sort of connection?! 親父ギャグだけなのか…？




ないです。

It's only a superficial coincidence in present-day pronunciation.

The word corresponds to English _buy_ is assumed to have been pronounced like
[_*bugjaną_](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-
Germanic/bugjan%C4%85) //buɣ.jɑ.nɑ̃// in Proto-Germanic period [around 500
BC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-
Germanic_language#Archaeology_and_early_historiography). Meanwhile, 買 is
assumed to have been pronounced like _*mˁrajʔ_ ([Baxter-
Sagart](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Baxter-
Sagart_Old_Chinese_reconstruction)) or _*mreːʔ_
([Zhengzhang](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%B2%B7#Chinese)) in the
Central Plain of China. It still retains _m-_ consonant in most Sinitic
languages (dialects).

The reason why we have _b-_ for this kanji is that, Buddhist monks imported
Middle Chinese vocabulary through Chang'an (the capital of Tang) dialect,
which showed denasalization making _m-_ into _mb-_ ; they transcribed it with
then-prenasalized consonant _n b-_, which corresponds to today's voiced _b-_.




From [Online Etymology Dictionary](http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=buy)

> **buy** (v.)
>
> Old English _bycgan_ (past tense _bohte_ ) "to buy, pay for, acquire;
> redeem, ransom; procure; get done," from Proto-Germanic _*bugjan_ (source
> also of Old Saxon _buggjan_ , Old Norse _byggja_ , Gothic _bugjan_ ), which
> is of unknown origin and not found outside Germanic.
>
> The surviving spelling is southwest England dialect; the word was generally
> pronounced in Old English and Middle English with a -dg- sound as "budge,"
> or "bidge." Meaning "believe, accept as true" first recorded 1926. Related:
> Bought; buying. To buy time "prevent further deterioration but make no
> improvement" is attested from 1946.

From 新漢和大辞典

> ### 【買】
>
> [常用音訓] **バイ** ・ **か** う  
>  [音] バイ（漢）・メ（呉）  
>  mĕg – măi (mbăi) – mai – mai (mǎi)

Only looking at the development of these two words in themselves, it seems to
be very unlikely that there is any connection between 買【ばい】 and "to buy".

