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Comment by pm90 | Hacker News Reader

Another interesting tidbit: the word 'farangi', which is commonly used for foreigners ('firangi' in Hindi/Urdu) literally referred to the French (i.e. 'Frenchie'), but was later applied to anything foreign.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firangi_%28sword%29#cite_note-...

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It means "Frank" not "French". It was originally used to describe western Europeans in general.

"Frank" and "French" are essentially the same word: http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=French

Yes, but that was because French as a language/culture didn't exist. The historical Franks (including Charlemagne) despite living where France is now, actually spoke Frankish, a language related to German.

GP is talking about the people, not the language. "Frank" and "French" are two English words that refer to the same-ish people living in the same-ish part of Western Europe. Saying that a particular Hindi word means "Frank" not "French" is a distinction that doesn't really make sense in context.

Same-ish is not the same. That's like saying Anglo-Saxon and English mean the same thing. The distinction is important because the Persians never used that word to specifically refer to Frenchmen but rather to all western Europeans.

Anglo and English do in fact mean the same thing. They're the same word, pulled into and out of different languages at different times.

Any chance this was how the Ferengi from Star Trek were names?

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