你所学的小语里面,方位词「右」,与短语「一直走」是否有联系?是否很多语言里面,「右」与「直」是有某种联系的?

有趣的问题。维基辞典[1]:

From Middle English right (“right”), from Old English riht, reht (“right”), from Proto-Germanic *rehtaz (“right, direct”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵtós (“having moved in a straight line”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten, direct”). An Indo-European past participle, it became a Germanic adjective which has been used also as a noun since the common Germanic period. Cognate with Dutch recht, German recht/Recht, Swedish rätt and rät, Danish ret, Norwegian rett, and Icelandic rétt. The Indo-European root is also the source of Greek ὀρεκτός, Latin rectus and the Sanskrit ṛtá (ऋत)

一八五四年的德语辞典,格林兄弟编纂[2],德语 recht:

I. herkunft und form.
1) ein altes gemeingermanisches wort, bis heute in allen dialekten geblieben: goth. raíhts; altnord. rêttr, schwed. rätt, dän. ret; ags. reht, riht, engl. ryht, neuengl. right; fries. riucht; alts. altnfr. reht, niederd. recht, niederl. regt; ahd. mhd. reht; von urverwandten bildungen entspricht altpers. râsta gerade, recht, richtig, und lat. rectus, hier deutliches particip zu lat. regere gerade richten, lenken, während in den germanischen sprachen ein solcher lebendiger zusammenhang mit einem verbum nicht mehr vorhanden ist. die sinnliche bedeutung des gerade aus gehenden, die auch in die des starren verläuft (ahd. rigidus harter l. rehter Steinmeyer 1, 239, 31) ist gegen die abgezogene die seltenere geworden, vgl. unten II, 1. 2 gegen 3—7.

英文在线辞源辞典[3]:

"opposite of left," early 12c., riht, from O.E. riht, which did not have this sense but meant "good, proper, fitting, straight" (see right (adj.1)). The notion is of the right hand as the "correct" hand. The usual O.E. word for this was swiþra, lit. "stronger." "The history of words for 'right' and 'left' shows that they were used primarily with reference to the hands" [Buck]. Cf. similar sense evolution in Du. recht, Ger. recht "right (not left)," from O.H.G. reht, which meant only "straight, just." The usual PIE root (*dek-) is represented by L. dexter(see dexterity). Other derivations on a similar pattern to English right are Fr. droit, from L. directus "straight;" Lith. labas, lit. "good;" and Slavic words (Boh. pravy, Pol. prawy, Rus. pravyj) from O.C.S. pravu, lit. "straight." The political sense of "conservative" is first recorded 1794 (adj.), 1825 (n.), a translation of Fr. Droit "the Right, Conservative Party" in the French National Assembly (1789; see left).

结论:印欧语系中「右」的概念,实际上是从「正确」衍生而来的,身体的右侧就是「正确的」那一侧——也许是和右惯用手有关?而「直」(线)的意义无疑更接近「正」。那「右侧」的意义出现在这个词根上面之前,怎么表达「右」呢?「强壮的」。也可能就不表达了吧,须知这世界上有些语言没有「左」、「右」这种相对的方向概念,只有绝对的东西南北[4]……

[1] en.wiktionary.org/wiki/
[2] woerterbuchnetz.de/cgi-
[3] etymonline.com/index.ph
[4] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R
原发布于 https://www.zhihu.com/question/20041697/answer/13779290