Questions about words borrowed by English from another language.
10
votes
5answers
797 views
fait accompli – to italicize, or not to italicize
Background
I was looking up the rule about italicizing foreign phrases and found an apparent consensus that the criterion is if the phrase is familiar. Well, who gets to decide that? I know perfectly ...
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 ...
2
votes
1answer
102 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
1answer
56 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?
3
votes
4answers
527 views
What loan-words keep their native pronunciation?
Being a non-native English speaker I recently discovered that for some words you don't use English pronunciation. For instance you seem to be omitting the l's when saying tortilla.
Yet this isn't ...
5
votes
4answers
771 views
Why are there so few words in English that are derived from Welsh?
Why are there so few words in English that are derived from Welsh?
Wikipedia mentions only 11.
0
votes
2answers
175 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 ...
4
votes
6answers
992 views
Example of sentence using “sang-froid”
In which context should sang-froid be used?
Can you provide an example?
5
votes
0answers
212 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
228 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
174 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 ...
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 ...
10
votes
3answers
166 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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?
3
votes
2answers
739 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 ...
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 ...
11
votes
6answers
990 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 ...
13
votes
5answers
872 views
Should nouns borrowed from Japanese be pluralized?
As someone who has watched a lot of subtitled Japanese animation, it seems odd to hear a word such as ninja (used in the plural) in the dialogue and see it transliterated as ninjas.
It somehow seems ...
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, ...
26
votes
1answer
2k views
From which language has English borrowed the most words?
From which language has English borrowed the most words?
5
votes
5answers
382 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 ...
5
votes
3answers
3k views
How do I pronounce Gaudí, the architect?
How do I pronounce 'Gaudi', in the name of Antoni Gaudí (the architect)?
2
votes
5answers
838 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: ...
3
votes
1answer
209 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?
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?
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?
6
votes
1answer
505 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?
16
votes
8answers
2k views
How should foreign words (with foreign characters) be written in English text?
This question is not about italicisation or how to construct plurals. I wonder what are general guidelines for writing foreign words based on a Latin alphabet in English text. I know that, for ...
5
votes
2answers
5k views
How is the word “qua” used?
I play Scrabble. I'm learning words with the letter 'q'. What is the usage of the word 'qua'?
5
votes
1answer
173 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 ...
11
votes
5answers
860 views
Diacriticals and non-English letters in anglicized loan words: keep 'em, dump 'em, italicize the words, or what?
Take an expression like déjà vu. This is a French term which is frequently seen in English. In fact, it is included in English dictionaries. But it is often seen in English in a variety of forms:
...
0
votes
0answers
290 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 ...
6
votes
3answers
3k views
“Shnide”? “Schneid”? Which is it and what's this term's origin?
"Getting off the shnide." (Obviously I'm not sure of the spelling.) It's an expression I hear almost exclusively in sports commentary to indicate a team has finally won a game after a protracted ...
-2
votes
1answer
520 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 ...
6
votes
3answers
412 views
Did “et cetera” gain its popularity from “The King and I”?
Is it possible that et cetera gained its popularity thanks to the 1956 movie The King and I?
Since I wasn't around before 1956, I'm not sure how common "et cetera" was in day to day speech. Or was it ...
6
votes
4answers
999 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 ...
-3
votes
1answer
316 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
524 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 ...
2
votes
4answers
376 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 ...
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?
5
votes
3answers
174 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
1
vote
6answers
1k views
Does 'soi-disant' have a close English equivalent?
I considered 'self-proclaimed' but that, I believe, suggests an element of self-promotion (the proclamation aspect) whereas soi-disant, at least as I think of it, is more about self-presentation and ...
4
votes
2answers
693 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
181 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 ...
0
votes
1answer
246 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 ...
1
vote
3answers
290 views
Is there a term for French words adopted by the English language, such as “hors d'oeuvres” or “objet d'art”
I would call them "Frenchisms" or some such -ism, but I figured I'd at least ask first. So is there a name for such adopted foreign phrases? Also, how about those adopted from languages other than ...
