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Finnish language W
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this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2025
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Apparently Finnish kamala is speculated to be related to Russian komólyj ("hornless") via Proto-Indo-European *ḱom-olo-s (also "hornless"). This PIE term became Proto-Germanic *hamalaz, with the meaning shifting from "hornless" to "mutilated", and then this Germanic term was loaned into Proto-Finnic as *kamala, with the meaning shifting in the direction of "bad" or "terrible".
...Unsurprisingly, completely unrelated to the given name Kamala, which is instead of Dravidian origin via Sanskrit, and means "lotus".
Every time I hear the name "Kamala", it surprises me of its Sanskrit etymology (tbf, I didn't expect much from her name), as much as the name "Costello" (a superficial look at the latter name would tell ya that's Italian)
It's a bit easier to imagine Costello is an Irish name if you hear it pronounced as "Costlow"