Talk:thuốc

Etymology

SEAlang suggests that this term came from Proto-Vietic *tʰuok, but somehow, i doubt this.PhanAnh123 (talk) 12:16, 25 October 2017 (UTC)

@PhanAnh123 It is probably a non-SV reading of độc (毒). Wyang (talk) 15:50, 16 January 2018 (UTC)

Độc (毒）seems to indicate poison rather than medicine. Are we sure the connection is simply not to dược (藥)? Vien.Vu1 (talk) 15:05, 19 March 2023 (UTC)

The etymology is not perfect, I would expect a lower register tone if it is indeed from 毒 (MC dowk), but the semantics is strong, you can see its (likely) original meaning in thuốc cá (“Derris”), literally "to poison fish", and a potential phonological parallel can be found with thắng (“to caramelize”) vs. 糖 (MC dang, “sugar”) (still, this argument is faulty because thắng is obviously a rather recent loan from a Sinitic lect, while thuốc does not seem to be as recent). To answer the other question, it can not be derived from 藥 (MC yak), the initials are irreconcilable. PhanAnh123 (talk) 15:32, 19 March 2023 (UTC)