# Hindi "-pur", Greek "polis", Romance "ville/villa" -- cognates?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindi-pur-greek-polis-romance-ville-villa-cognates/366316>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 27, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindi-pur-greek-polis-romance-ville-villa-cognates/366316 "2006-07-27T19:32:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindi-pur-greek-polis-romance-ville-villa-cognates/366316/1 "2006-07-27T19:32:58Z")

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There are many cities in India ending in what I presume to be a suffix, “-pur”. Is this thought to be a cognate to the Greek “-polis” and the Latinate “ville/villa”?

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**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindi-pur-greek-polis-romance-ville-villa-cognates/366316/2 "2006-07-27T19:37:29Z")

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Indeed. “Pura” just means “town” in Sanskrit.

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**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindi-pur-greek-polis-romance-ville-villa-cognates/366316/3 "2006-07-27T19:49:18Z")

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My understand is that “bury” in English (see Salisbury, Asbury Park, etc) would be a direct descendant. In Thai it has evolved into “buri”, as in Chonburi.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindi-pur-greek-polis-romance-ville-villa-cognates/366316/4 "2006-07-27T19:56:01Z")

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[QUOTE=ShibbOleth]  
In Thai it has evolved into “buri”, as in Chonburi.  
[/QUOTE]

But Thai is not an Indo-European langauge, so if that’s related to an Indo-European word, it was borrowed from an Indo-European language and is not a native Thai word.

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**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindi-pur-greek-polis-romance-ville-villa-cognates/366316/5 "2006-07-27T20:22:17Z")

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I suspect that British ‘bury/burgh’ is related to German ‘burg’.

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**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindi-pur-greek-polis-romance-ville-villa-cognates/366316/6 "2006-07-27T20:31:06Z")

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[QUOTE=Baffle]  
I suspect that British ‘bury/burgh’ is related to German ‘burg’.  
[/QUOTE]

Not unreasonable to suspect German ‘burg’ is from the same Sanskrit root.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindi-pur-greek-polis-romance-ville-villa-cognates/366316/7 "2006-07-27T20:32:40Z")

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[QUOTE=awldune]  
Not unreasonable to suspect German ‘burg’ is from the same Sanskrit root.  
[/QUOTE]

It wouldn’t be from a Sanskrit root, it would be from an Indo-European root-- the same root from which the Sanskrit word was derived.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hindi-pur-greek-polis-romance-ville-villa-cognates/366316/8 "2006-07-27T21:47:29Z")

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As for the OP…

-polis and -pur come from the I-E root “pel”, meaning a citadel or a fortified high place

-ville/villa comse from the I-E root “weik”, meaning a clan