Re: Etymology of derivation

[Taylan Kammer <taylan.kammer@gmail.com>]

On 01.11.2020 20:27, Arun Isaac wrote:
> 
> Hi Guix,
> 
> I am translating Guix to the Tamil language. Tamil doesn't yet have a
> very standardized technical vocabulary, and I mostly coin terms on my
> own. Most often, I construct calques of existing English words, and it
> sounds alright. But, I'm having trouble with the word "derivation" (as
> in Guix's low-level build actions). I haven't seen the word "derivation"
> used anywhere outside of Guix. Why is a "low-level build action" called
> a "derivation"? If someone could clarify the etymology, it might really
> help with good translation.
> 
> Thanks!
> 

In Turkish, taking the easy way, we sometimes just bastardize an English 
word, for example in this case we might say "derivasyon."  (Other such 
examples: "depresyon" for depression, "enflasyon" for inflation, etc.) 
Can such a thing be done in Tamil?


Alternatively, it might be useful to check what terminology is used in 
Tamil for mathematical derivation / derivatives, as in calculus.


By the way, using Google Translate on various English, German and 
Turkish words which all stand for "derivation" (namely "derivation", 
"derivative", "Ableitung", "türev" and "türetme") have all resulted in:

வழித்தோன்றல்

Although translating it back leads to words like "descendants" and 
"grandchildren."


- Taylan