Questions about words borrowed by English from another language.
0
votes
1answer
57 views
Is “paiement” an english word? [closed]
I'm wondering if the paiement word is an English word. It looks like a French word.
Could you confirm that paiement is an English word?
0
votes
1answer
77 views
Words like Schadenfreude or Sauerkraut [closed]
What are some composite German words such as "Schadenfreude" or "Sauerkraut" that are commonly used in English and with no English equivalents?
2
votes
1answer
103 views
Meaning of the German “ersatz” in English [closed]
As a native German I know some well-known uses of German phrases, but I was
astonished that a book from a British reporter I am reading today used "ersatz"
without explanation.
Is the word "ersatz" ...
0
votes
2answers
177 views
Do any UK place names have non-ASCII characters? [closed]
Are they any place names in the UK that have non-ASCII characters?
I’m looking for any cities, towns, villages, etc. in the UK that use characters that aren’t in the basic ASCII range (code points ...
5
votes
0answers
215 views
How are Japanese words spelt in English? [closed]
When they are writing material in English, I sometimes see native speakers of Japanese misspell English words that were derived from Japanese.
For example, I've seen "tunami" written instead of ...
3
votes
2answers
233 views
Is schmuck really an obscene word?
Schmuck is supposedly an obscene Yiddish term for the male sex organ, yet it appears all of the time in the media as an American idiom for a jerk. Can one use it in polite company?
0
votes
0answers
184 views
Does “mulata” have a meaning other than “mixed race”? [closed]
I came across the following sentences using the loanword "mulata", describing the film "Mulatas" (Name in Portuguese "Mulatas! Um Tufão Nos Quadris"):
“People think that to be a mulata it’s enough ...
10
votes
3answers
170 views
How should a person holding a foreign military rank be addressed?
While researching how to call a person that holds a rank at a foreign (non English speaking) military, I came to very confusing results:
Wikipedia is not consistent on the issue:
it sometimes gives ...
3
votes
2answers
773 views
How should an English speaker pronounce “vice versa”?
When using vice versa in spoken English, I tend to just completely Anglicise it and pronounce it vise VER-ser, with only one syllable in vice.
The original would be something like VEE-cay VER-sa, but ...
2
votes
1answer
97 views
What should be the plural of “kibbutz” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Plurals of foreign words
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Since this type of a settlement is unique to Israel, ...
5
votes
5answers
385 views
Generic foreign words with specific English meanings
There are many words in English that are borrowed from other languages, but acquire a much more specific meaning along the way.
For example, salsa in Spanish simply means "sauce", and could be ...
2
votes
5answers
861 views
Is there an equivalent of the spanish “que hueva” slang expression in English to denote that you feel lazy about doing something?
In Spanish slang, particularly in the west, the expressions "que hueva" or "me da hueva" are used, respectively, to convey that you are lazy about doing something. The context might be as follows:
A: ...
0
votes
0answers
299 views
“Forte” pronunciation? [closed]
I know forte is pronounced like FOR-tay as the musical term. But what is the correct pronunciation when it means someone's strong point? I thought it was something other than FOR-tay, but I often hear ...
1
vote
0answers
77 views
How to pluralize “Air de cour”? [closed]
An air de cour is a type of Baroque song. If I’m talking about several of these, would I say “we played some airs de cour”?
Frankly, and especially since this is a foreign phrase (French), the thing ...
-2
votes
1answer
523 views
The growth of English
English is (to her credit) widely considered a language of .. mixed breeding, seeing as to how she accepts favours from just about anybody and everybody. What I'd like to know is how and by how much ...
-3
votes
1answer
319 views
How do you decline nouns borrowed from languages with several categories for declining nouns (or none at all)?
English has two grammatical categories of number. One is the singular, and the other is the plural. Many nouns in English have different singular and plural forms. When nouns are borrowed from ...
0
votes
3answers
527 views
German words in common English [closed]
Just curious: Which words are often used in common English?
I came across the wiki article about "List of German expressions in English". There are listed thousands of words. I was surprised about ...
5
votes
3answers
175 views
Anglicization from Hebrew
How should one transliterate the well-known Jewish Holiday that usually takes place in December (or late November)?
Hannukah
or
Chanukah
6
votes
6answers
1k views
How did the Swedish word “fartlek” make it to the English language running vocabulary?
This is a question originally from Fitocracy by ivh:
Btw, does anybody know how the Swedish word "fartlek" made it
into English running lingo?
2
votes
4answers
377 views
Why do some non-English words become English words?
Why do some non-English words become English words even though there is already are English words meaning the same thing that are more universally understandable?
For example,
He received kudos ...
7
votes
5answers
290 views
Not “schadenfreude”, but related?
I'm thinking that there must be a word that means, rather than "feeling pleasure in the misfortune of another", "the pleasure of feeling superior to another".
This certainly seems (at least) as ...
0
votes
1answer
247 views
How do I spell a word that sounds like “reh-par-tay” and often used with “witty”? [closed]
Clever conversation, aka "witty [reh-par-tay]" ... can't for the life of me remember how to spell that loan word, though I use it in spoken English from time to time.
I am pretty sure it's not ...
14
votes
2answers
4k views
“Czar” vs “tsar” - origins and pronunciation
How did the word come into English with the two variants czar and tsar?
The 'ts' spelling is a transliteration of the Russian 'царь', but the 'cz' spelling is what interests me more. To me it looks ...
4
votes
2answers
695 views
When a foreign word or phrase becomes English [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What are the criteria to adopt new words into English?
There are many words or phrases in English that are clearly of foreign origin yet become so commonplace they are ...
5
votes
2answers
182 views
Is there a term for loanwords that are borrowed back into their original language? [closed]
Is there a word for double loanwords?
The only example I can think of right now isn't in English, but it should clarify what I mean.
Küçük, meaning small/young, the original Turkish word, was ...
6
votes
2answers
214 views
Has the incorporation of foreign phrases in English stopped?
I know English contains many words taken directly from another language - chauffeur, for example - but I am interested in foreign phrases. These are phrases you'd see in writing or spoken aloud, such ...
2
votes
4answers
274 views
Should “romaji” be capitalized?
Should, "romaji", a loanword from Japanese, be capitalized because it is ultimately related to "Rome", which is a proper noun?
I came across Should capitalization be preserved in loanwords? , but ...
5
votes
3answers
2k views
How did “gesundheit” work its way into common American usage?
Once upon a time I was hanging out with a fairly international group of people. Somebody sneezed, and one of the Americans reflexively responded, "Gesundheit!"
A German in the group seized on the ...
17
votes
6answers
17k views
How did “sinister”, the Latin word for “left-handed”, get its current meaning?
Sinister is the Latin word for left-handed. What evolution of meaning turned left-handed into evil and threatening?
5
votes
1answer
174 views
Etymology of charlâtanerie
Can anyone provide me with the etymology and details of usage of the word charlâtanerie ? I came across this word while reading The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe.The following passage ...
6
votes
1answer
507 views
Origin of “they”, “them”, and “their”
I know that they, them, and their did not exist in Old English. What language are they derived from?
12
votes
3answers
9k views
Why is the word 'bologna' pronounced like 'baloney'?
Why is the word 'bologna' (as in a bologna sandwich) pronounced so differently from the way it's spelled? The word 'lasagna' isn't pronounced 'lasagney'...
The American sausage is derived from a ...
6
votes
4answers
2k views
Why is the initial “ts” sound (e.g “tsunami”) pronounced as “s”?
Why is the word "tsunami" often pronounced as "sunami"? Can English speakers pronounce "ts"? Is it because the initial "ts" looks foreign?
3
votes
3answers
1k views
What is the meaning of the suffix “‑don”?
What are the meaning and origin of the suffix ‑don, as in the words pteranodon and megalodon?
4
votes
4answers
4k views
Why do some English speakers pronounce “fête” as “fate”?
In French, from whom we’ve borrowed the word, it’s /fɛt/ “fet”.
But if we pronounced it as if it were an English word after dropping the accent, it would be /fi:t/ “feet”.
Yet the pronunciation we ...
3
votes
1answer
211 views
What is the word of Spanish or Portuguese origin starting with “a” and meaning enthusiast?
There is a word starting with "a" (along the lines of "afinados") meaning enthusiast, connoisseur or fan. What is it?
2
votes
3answers
3k views
Pronunciation of foreign words in American vs. British English?
One of the differences between modern US English (hereafter referred to as "American English") and British English is the way in which we pronounce foreign words, particularly those of French origin ...
8
votes
2answers
465 views
Where is the root morpheme in Modern English ambassador, embassy?
If there were no such a word as embassy, I would consider ambassad as a root and -or as an agent derivational suffix here. But embassy makes me puzzled.
If we accept that segmentation shold be done ...
5
votes
2answers
560 views
Latin (or Greek) -x becomes -ght?
I have attested two words in English that come from two Latin words. These are "night" and "light". They derive from the words "nox" and "lux" respectively; both Latin — in the case of the word "nox", ...
2
votes
2answers
358 views
What is the correct plural of “chaise longue”? [closed]
Is it "chaises longues" or just "chaise longues"? Both examples exist in different dictionaries. Or should it be something else entirely?
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Is the -re “supposed” to be silent in the pronunciation of “macabre”?
Is the "-re" supposed to be silent in the pronunciation of the word macabre? I'm aware that dictionaries give two pronunciations, \məkäb\ and \mekäbrə\, but is one of them just a fixed "error" of the ...
5
votes
3answers
320 views
Is it common to use the borrowed noun-adjective form for borrowed French phrases?
Lately, something has struck me. I've been hearing several expressions in English, some clearly borrowed from French and preserving their noun-adjective form. Some examples are:
Attorney General
...
0
votes
2answers
389 views
English from Icelandic?
Why is it that so many English words, as one traces their etymologies, run through Icelandic as one goes back?
5
votes
2answers
566 views
Proper usage of “status quo”
I was attending my college re-union and a speaker just said that "Having an ebook reader is status quo". Apparently, it means that it is in vogue or in fashion.
I do not think it is the correct ...
6
votes
2answers
314 views
Using “RSVP” as a noun
RSVP literally means "Please respond", however it seems to have turned itself into a noun in common usage:
"What's your RSVP for the party?"
"I'm attending"
Is it acceptable to refer to a ...
6
votes
4answers
1k views
What is the origin of the place name “Abbottabad?”
We know that Abbottabad is named after Major James Abbott, an officer in the Indian Army who founded the town. But where does the "...abad" come from? Does it have any relationship to the English word ...
11
votes
6answers
997 views
How would you spell “Tehran” in English for it to be pronounced “correctly” (i.e. as in Persian)?
Native English speakers do not pronounce the h in Tehran so it is pronounced like "Teran". But in the original pronunciation in Persian the h is pronounced, resulting in /tehˈɾɒːn/.
Is there any ...
7
votes
2answers
444 views
How does one use the adjectival noun “l'enfant terrible”?
I have seen this phrase bandied about from time to time, usually in more "academic" works; my problem is that I remember it rarely being applied to children, as a direct translation might imply ...
7
votes
2answers
161 views
Monsters! another question about what-was-it-then
Etymonline has the original meaning of monster as
c.1300, "malformed animal, creature afflicted with a birth defect"
but I am curious to know the term used at that time -- and even earlier -- for ...
8
votes
1answer
662 views
Are “tomorrow” and “morning” etymologically related?
I know this is true for German and Spanish:
Morgen morgen
and
Mañana por la mañana
both mean "tomorrow morning". There may well be other examples too.
I wonder- since these languages ...
