finger (thing)

If you know anything to add to this, /msg me. Also, please include whether the language has a seperate word for toe, or whether it just says foot-finger.

The format is parallel to the format for English - the word "fingers" first, then thumb to pinkie.

English

Fingers
Thumb Thumbkin
Pointer, Index finger, "towcher" (the finger that touches) longman
Middle finger, middleman
Ring, ringman
Pinkie, little, baby, littleman

Japanese

Yubi "finger, fingers"
oya "parent"
hitosashi "person-point"
naka "middle"
kusuri "medicine"
ko "small"

Anglo-Saxon

?
?
scite-finger "the shooting finger"
long-man
lech-man "medical finger" or gold-finger (Goldfinger?)
little-man

Hindi

?
Angutha
Tarjani
Madhyama
Anamika
Karanguli

Latin

?
pulgar
indice "point"
medius
annular
?

Russian

Pal'tsy "fingers"
Bol'shoy palets "big"
Ukazatel'ny palets "pointer"
Sredniy palets "middle"
Bezymyanny palets (nameless, how's that, eh?)
Mizinets (no "palets" after this one, it's a noun, whereas the other names are all adjectives to "palets")

French

Les doigts (ley dwah): the fingers
Le pouce (luh poos) : the thumb
L'index (lindeks) : the showing finger (pointer)
le majeur (leuh mahjuhr) : the longest finger (middle vinger)
L'annulaire (lahnnulair) : the ring finger
L'auriculaire (Loreekulair) : the finger to scratch your ear (little finger)

Dutch

De vingers (duh veenghuhrrs): the fingers
De duim (duh duh-im / duh duhm) : the thumb
De wijsvinger (duh wayssveenghuhr) : the pointer
De middelvinger (duh meadle veenghuhr)
De ringvinger (duh reengveenghuhrs)
De pink (duh pink)

Norwegian

Fingrene: ("The fingers:")
Tommel (Thumb)
Pekefinger ("Pointing finger")
Langfinger ("Long finger")
Ringfinger ("Ring finger")
Lillefinger ("Little finger")

German

?
Daumen
Zeigefinger
Mittelfinger
Ringfinger
kleiner Finger
They have exactly the same meaning as the English ones.

There are some interesting patterns in the naming of fingers - ring finger somehow was known as "medicine finger" both in old english and in japanese. How did that information travel so far?

The story I have heard about the Japanese "medicine finger" is that it was the finger doctors used to apply medicine. There are also some theories related to acupuncture, somewhat similar to the western basis for calling it ring finger - it was thought to have a direct connection to the heart, so it'd be the perfect place for a wedding ring.

About fingers and toes: many languages don't seem to have a word specifically for "toes" - it's more common to call them "foot-fingers".

Languages that have a special word for "toe":

English
German - 'Zehen' - toes
Norwegian - 'tå' - toe

Languages that call toes "foot-fingers":

Spanish - dedos del pie (correction please)
French - 'doigts de pied'
Japanese - 'ashi no yubi' - "fingers of feet/leg"

Finally, note that there is a kid's joke, "how many fingers do you have?" and when you say 10, they say "no! the thumb isn't a finger, so you have only 8". I know in japanese at least this joke is impossible because they are all called finger explicitly.

Thanks to notbridgetjones for the info for french.

from http://www.bartleby.com/81/6458.html