Is ciao/cao an international word???

chabing · Post by **chabing** » 13 Dec 2004 16:16

Does it also exist in your language or something similar???

French: ciao

Serbian: ćao

and then...

Maïwenn · Post by **Maïwenn** » 13 Dec 2004 16:24

Well, ciao isn't exactly a French word... We use it a lot but it's a borrowing from Italian. I don't think it's considered as a French word - yet.

Gilen · Post by **Gilen** » 13 Dec 2004 16:35

In Vietnamese you have chào which is pronounced [tyao] and means "hi !" or "good bye !".

chabing · Post by **chabing** » 13 Dec 2004 16:39

I know that ciao comes from Italian, actually old Venetian and means "servant" or "slave", that is to say "I am your servant" whe you say ciao... but in other languages... for Vietnamese I was not sure, thx

I cannot remember how is slave in Italian or Latin....

ldngli · Post by **ldngli** » 14 Dec 2004 09:51

In Italian "slave" is SCHIAVO, in Latin SERVUS.
"Servus" seeped into Austrian German with a meaning akin to CIAO.

chabing · Post by **chabing** » 14 Dec 2004 12:15

and where does the german word tschüss come from???

Sisyphe · Post by **Sisyphe** » 14 Dec 2004 21:08

chabing wrote:and where does the german word tschüss come from???

Tschüss (which was once "Atschüss) comes from spanish "adios" (beside "Ade" which comes from french "Adieu ; but this one is maybe more literary).

flamenco · Post by **flamenco** » 14 Dec 2004 21:12

"chao" in spanish, I don't think it's a spanish word, but the spanish people use it currently... (sorry my english is a bit poor!

)

Enzo · Post by **Enzo** » 14 Dec 2004 21:19

In Czech : Čau
In German : Tschau
(in both languages pronounced like in French or Italian)
Exists as well in Portuguese.

bambino · Post by **bambino** » 15 Dec 2004 12:02

In Croatian, in the south we also say ciao, and in capital, some of them, the older people, say servus.

The rest and the biggest part say BOK which derived from BOG and Bog means GOD!

vbergus · Post by **vbergus** » 17 Dec 2004 04:40

It is an Italian word. But, I see it used in French - spelled Tchao in textbooks. It is used in Spanish also, spelled Chao. Hope this helps.