biết
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Norman and Mei (1976), Schuessler (2007), Sagart (2008): Related to Min Chinese 捌 (bā, “to know”) (proto-Min: *pat). The direction of borrowing is debated; Norman and Mei, and Schuessler favour an Austroasiatic origin for this word, and regard Min as a loan. Sagart, on the other hand, proposes that the sense “to know; to recognise” in both Min and Vietnamese is an extension of the sense “to differentiate; to separate” of 別 (OC *N-pret) (B-S), and hence treats V. biết as a non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 別 (SV: biệt), a semantic development shared with Min.
The word has mostly displaced the use of hay, the more commonly seen word for "to know" in older literature.
Also compare Proto-Bahnaric *băt (“to know”) (Starling).
The Protestant biblical sense is a semantic loan from French connaître.
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