Questions about words borrowed by English from another language.
11
votes
5answers
862 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:
...
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 ...
6
votes
4answers
805 views
Plurals of foreign words
What rules of thumb govern when to pluralise a foreign word as it should be in the original language and when it should be pluralised as an English word?
For example, you'd get some funny looks using ...
13
votes
5answers
874 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 ...
10
votes
5answers
800 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 ...
11
votes
6answers
994 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
297 views
Should capitalization be preserved in loanwords?
The fundamental principle of gestalt perception is the law of prägnanz (German for pithiness).
In German, all nouns are capitalized. Should the above text be written as is, or with "the law of ...
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?
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?
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 ...
21
votes
5answers
2k views
How do you spell Muammar Qaddafi?
This name, which is spelled القذافي in Arabic, is spelled in so many different ways in the Latin alphabet:
Gadafi, Gadaffi, Gaddafi, Gaddaffi, Gadhafi, Gadhaffi, Ghadafi, Ghadaffi, Ghaddafi, ...
6
votes
1answer
1k views
Why is baba ghanouj pronounced with a final “sh” sound?
Baba ghanouj is a delicious Middle Eastern dip made from roast eggplant and garlic. I've found the name spelled a multitude of different ways on the internet, but there are two peculiar things about ...
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 ...
6
votes
2answers
313 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
1answer
489 views
Interjection “et voila”
I know et voila is a French interjection and means there it is.
It is very much used in the US. Why is the use of et voila so popular in the US?
Which historical fact has made it so popular?
6
votes
3answers
2k views
Naïve, naïf, naïvety, naïveté
I have two related questions about the word "naïve" and its relatives. The first is, shouldn't it be "naïf" if the subject is male? I've been told that it's correct to use the correct ending of ...
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 ...
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
5
votes
4answers
772 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.
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 ...
2
votes
4answers
847 views
What's up with the hyphen in “orang-utan”?
For most of my life 'till about a couple of years ago, I had only seen the spelling orangutan written to describe those delightful red-headed apes from the tropical forests of Borneo. Lately, though, ...
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 ...
