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It's pretty common that, at least, in the most western countries they use alot of english words (sometimes a bit modified). Which is pretty much because of the influence of the US and also because we see english as a world language. Therefore new words/stuff doesn't get translated anymore or the translation is just not used. However this also exist in (american) english and i always love to hear americans say those - in my case german - words with this weird pronunciation. As the introduction is finished, here comes the question:
What word do you knows of your own language (for non-americans/english) or of "foreign" languages which are used in (american) english?
German words i do know which are at least sometimes used are "Kindergarten" and "Schadenfreude". Even though i don't know why exactly these words are used.
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Korea (South)11558 Posts
the word balloons originated in Australia. English literally is a combination of words from every other language. There are a lot of Germanic and Latin words that have been put into English and has evolved in spelling/pronunciation of the years.
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Kindergarten is used because Kind = Child in english, and Kindergarten is one grade below grade 1 in school.
Also "Gesundheit" from German is basically another way of saying "Bless you" when someone sneezes or something.
I don't remember the German meaning for it, but I'm sure it's something like... + Show Spoiler +
EDIT: My German isn't fluent, but the Kindergarten would translate into something like child care/child maintaining, which is what kindergarten is in Canada/US.
EDIT2: Unless this was already obvious and I am completely misinterpreting the OP...
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don't a lot of people around the world use the phrase "OK" now?
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The danish word, "ombudsmand" is used in english. And it sounds very strange when spoken in english, compared to danish.
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Another word used in the English language is 'doppelgaenger' (or doppelganger?) taken from the German language, it also has the very same meaning. Today in class I heard the word 'Volkerwanderung' for the first time, expressing the time nomads north of the Himalaya travelled all over the world, also conquering Rome in about 750a.d. Again it is a word taken form the German language with the exact same meaning.
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the idea you are looking for is called a "loanword"
some off the top of my head in german: bildungsroman, angst, doppelganger, gestalt...
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51133 Posts
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On September 16 2009 16:04 Grobyc wrote: Kindergarten is used because Kind = Child in english, and Kindergarten is one grade below grade 1 in school.
EDIT: My German isn't fluent, but the Kindergarten would translate into something like child care/child maintaining, which is what kindergarten is in Canada/US.
The literal translation would be 'children's garden'. Besides, you're not giving an explanation of why that word was integrated (which is what the OP was wondering about).
There's quite a lot of German words, indeed. Whenever there's no equivalent to the notions a word carries, it is rather incorporated than replaced by a hapless translation, I guess. Weltanschauung comes to mind, Zeitgeist, Rucksack, Schnaps, Blitz, Wunderkind, okay I've been cheating: http://spreadgermanisms.com
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United States40776 Posts
Almost the entire language is Germanic or Latin in origin. Take the word Equestrian, it's unchanged from the Latin source. More interesting is which words come from where. For example lamb is Norman (Latin) in root because the Norman nobility ate lamb while mutton is Saxon because it was primarily eaten by peasants.
More recently words like pyjamas were borrowed from colonised people, in this case in India.
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Netherlands6142 Posts
wunderkind?
Seriously tough, half the English language is French
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On September 16 2009 16:15 Dagobert wrote:Show nested quote +On September 16 2009 16:04 Grobyc wrote: Kindergarten is used because Kind = Child in english, and Kindergarten is one grade below grade 1 in school.
EDIT: My German isn't fluent, but the Kindergarten would translate into something like child care/child maintaining, which is what kindergarten is in Canada/US. The literal translation would be 'children's garden'. Besides, you're not giving an explanation of why that word was integrated (which is what the OP was wondering about). There's quite a lot of German words, indeed. Whenever there's no equivalent to the notions a word carries, it is rather incorporated than replaced by a hapless translation, I guess. Weltanschauung comes to mind, Zeitgeist, Rucksack, Schnaps, Blitz, Wunderkind, okay I've been cheating: http://spreadgermanisms.com Yeah I wasn't too sure on what the OP meant specifically. You already covered it though with this sentence:
Whenever there's no equivalent to the notions a word carries, it is rather incorporated than replaced by a hapless translation, I guess. Grade 0 would just sound stupid, and since all you do really is play and crap(I.E. where the garden reference may come from, because you don't really do anything) it's just one of the words that was incorporated.
Some people, although not many, use Rucksack for backpack, which literally means "school bag" in German. I don't see why though, because a hapless translation isn't needed when there is already just plain old regular "backpack".
I've heard people use Wunderbar by pronouncing is "wonder bar" to exclaim something wonderful, which is just what it actually means in German. All they really did here though was change the pronunciation to make it sound idiotic though.
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I don't know if this is what you're looking for but when the vikings occupied englad (790 ish) alot of words got stolen! like ugly(uggligr), husband(húsbóndi) and law(lov) - this original language is not spoken any more tho. I think the closest to it would be icelandic or Faroese
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target croissant court
and about 10,000 other words were taken from the french.
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Konnichiwa seems to fit the bill. Usually I hear it from a scuzzy guy trying to pick up on a random asian girl, regardless of whether she is Japanese or not.
"Domo arigatou Mr. Roboto" another one people throw about when listening to 80's music.
Baguette. Creme brulee. French toast (ok maybe not) Escargot. Mostly food words?
EDIT: Falafel. Döner. Gyros. Pad Thai. Pho.
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There's lots of words with either Germanic or Latin root. Think of the plural of "child". Why isn't it childs? It's children because of it's Germanic root.
You can kinda guess where most words come from just by hearing them. For example "meat" would be Germanic, and "venison" (viende) would be Latin (French), but both mean similar things.
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i don't think it counts when you're deliberately saying inserting a japanese word for the sake of saying something japanese. People use english words because it's the most apt way of saying something in their own language, and people use foreign words for the same reason.
Zeitgeist.
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Alot of words used in english actually originate from Scandinavia. Words like window,pots and tree are directly originated from old norse language.
Its a pretty interresting subject imo.
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english is mostly derived from Greek with much influence from Latin, French, and Germanic/Nordic languages.
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English is germanic based with alotta loanwords first from latin-derived languages and then later everywhere else.
say for example most of the aviation terms are french, cus french were the first people to take to the sky via air balloons, so they set the precedent for comms in the air. Maneuver, fuselage, etc., all French. For Chinese there's tofu, bokchoy, etc. Basically words for things you don't have, you use someone else's.
So how do you say Schadenfreude?
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On September 16 2009 16:12 benjammin wrote: the idea you are looking for is called a "loanword"
some off the top of my head in german: bildungsroman, angst, doppelganger, gestalt...
DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE
anyone who knows the words bildungsroman and Gestalt can chill with me anytime@!!!
Hesse/Heidegger combo FTW
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There's lots! Here's a few French ones:
Déjà vu a la carte bayonet promenade entrepreneur biscuit rendezvous renaissance sirloin chauffeur dentist
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It gets really fun when advirtisers here search a cool english word for something...
We had Backpacks advertised as Bodybags .
What I think is fun with English borrowing German words, is that you seem to take the ones that you really don't have the tongue for (Zeitgeist, Schadenfreude, Schnaps, DoppelgÄnger).
We had Backpacks advertised as Bodybags .
Oh: Rucksack = Backpack. It's just the general word for backpack, not further specified, it doesn't mean school bag (at least not directly, but most school bags are backpacks nowadays ).
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Germany2762 Posts
zeitgeist blitzkrieg angst
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The vast majority are French words probably because we were invaded by the French not long ago. I found a website that lists them: a la carte abattoir ambulance arson attaché ballet bayonet biscuit bon vivant bribe cabaret cache camouflage carte blanche chauffeur corduroy coup d'etat coupon courier crayon crochet croquet debris denim dentist detour diplomat dossier en masse en route entrepreneur envoy send espionage etiquette fait accompli faux pas gaffe gourmet grape hors d'oeuvre laissez faire lieutenant macabre margarine marinade maroon mauve mayonnaise memoir menu mortgage mutiny nasal niece nomad nouveau riche omelette panache par excellence parachute picnic pioneer plaice plaque portrait promenade publicity queue rôle raffle raison d'Etre rapport ratchet rectangle regal regime relay renaissance rendezvous reprimand reservoir resign restaurant revenue ricochet rifle roast roulette rout route routine séance sabotage sachet salvage satchel sauce saucer sauté saveloy savoir faire sirloin somersault soufflé soup souvenir spiral splendid sport suède syndicate tampon tangerine tapestry torture traffic tranquil trophy umpire unique velocity version visa wardrobe zest zigzag
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Of course the most words in english do have their roots somewhere else, but still, there are somewords who are "different", because they don't only have their roots in germanic, latin or smth. else, but are copied 1:1.
Just for example Rucksack. (which is translated backpack btw and not school bag - Ruck stands for Rücken = back and sack = pack).
The examples given are really cool. Even though I can only imagine how you would pronounce the german words (which is very funny btw.), it's nice to see words of other languages as well. Since I have the feeling that the most words of other languages who are used in english are used in german as well. Like Sauna, Faux Pax or Déjà vu
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Used everyday all over the world not words but numbers "0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9" are Arabic as it the word Algebra.
A lot of pretty cool words are actually Arabic, quite surprising just how much is owed to the Arabic learning culture of the past.
admiral adobe albacore albatross alchemy alcohol alcove alembic algebra algorism algorithm or algorism alidade alizarin alkali almanac al-fisfisa alkanet amalgam amber aniline apricot arsenal artichoke assassin attar aubergine azimuth azure
caliber candy carat carmine carob checkmate chemistry cipher civet coffee cotton crimson camel
elixir
ghoul giraffe
harem hashīsh, Cannabis hazard henna
ifrit - Ifreet an ancient demon. jar jasmine jinn
lacquer lilac lime loofah lute
mafia magazine mascara massage mattress mocha mohair monsoon mummy
orange racquet or 'racket' rice
safari safflower saffron sash sequin sherbet, sorbet, shrub, syrup soda sofa sugar sesame
talc tamarind tangerine tariff
zenith zero - sifr, cipher, zero.
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Well, basically english belongs to west germanic language branch with heavy influence old norse(viking-ish) and norman(french-ish) and celtic languages and the Great Vowel Shift. Technical words are mainly from Greek and Latin. - So there.
From finnish: Sauna......and sisu and perkele.
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cheese, derived from kase, a Fries word0. apartheid, well uh, you know the word...
English is a melting pot of languages... not strange though, back in the renaissance, French was the upperclass language. English obvious not.
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A few words taken from Malay:
bamboo paddy dugong orangutan ketchup cooties
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On September 16 2009 15:54 Keniji wrote: and "Schadenfreude". Even though i don't know why exactly these words are used.
There isn't really an English equivalent. At least not that I know of, someone please fill me in. And Kindergarten has been eingeenglischt as kindergarden
Anyway, it's a tricky question. I mean you have words that have been used for so long they are considered English despite foreign origins (like algebra / Al-Jabr), native English words etymologically related to foreign words but whose meaning has changed in English (knight / knecht, knave / knabe, etc), words borrowed from the Normans that are obviously French in origin but that was so long ago they too are English, more recent borrowings from India or from Mexico etc etc.
It's a little hard to separate all these out from words that are clearly foreign but used conversationally in English. And how long before such words are considered to belong to one of the previously mentioned categories?
I rather like Schmuck, given to us from German by way of Yiddish, with slightly different meanings at each step
cheese, derived from kase, a Fries word I'm not sure you can really say that. That's like saying father is derived from Vater, a German word, when both are simply descended from the same germanic root. They are both words that have just been in English from the moment it split off from the other germanic languages. I wouldn't make any more sense than to say kase is derived from Käse (the German word); they, and cheese, are all derived from kasjus, an early germanic borrowing from Latin
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sushi haiku samurai tempura honcho bento
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United States40776 Posts
I wouldn't include French in that list because the French spoken today wasn't the national language of France until around one hundred years ago. It was the regional dialect around Ile de France but just one of a great many descendants from Latin that while similar in root and structure were still different languages. In the Norman conquest the Anglo-Saxon English (which already had a grounding in Latin (the language of Roman England)) was mixed with the Norman Latin dialect. To put French on that list misunderstands the nature of the languages in Europe at that time and what was spoken in Normandy would not be recognised as modern French.
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Can't believe any other swede hasn't mentioned this yet.
Smorgasbord is from the swedish smörgåsbord.
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United Kingdom2674 Posts
This thread reminds me of the story about George W Bush supposedly saying, "The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur." Apparently he didn't actually say it, sadly.
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http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/a/frenchinenglish.htm
and Without going into too much detail, I want to give a little bit of background about the other languages which shaped English. It was born out of the dialects of three German tribes (Angles, Jutes, and Saxons) who settled in Britain in about 450 A.D. This group of dialects forms what linguists refer to as Anglo-Saxon, and at some point this language developed into what we know as Old English. This Germanic base was influenced in varying degrees by Celtic, Latin, and Scandinavian (Old Norse) - the languages spoken by invading armies.
Bill Bryson calls the Norman conquest of 1066 the "final cataclysm [which] awaited the English language." (1) When William the Conqueror became king of England, French took over as the language of the court, administration, and culture - and stayed there for 300 years. Meanwhile, English was "demoted" to everyday, unprestigious uses. These two languages existed side by side in England with no noticeable difficulties; in fact, since English was essentially ignored by grammarians during this time, it took advantage of its lowly status to become a grammatically simpler language and, after only 70 or 80 years existing side-by-side with French, Old English segued into Middle English.
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best thing was when i read an english news article on some news site and out of nothing there is the german word "Bildungsroman". I was laughing because it came so unexpected and it didn't fit in an english text at all. Especially because the word "Roman" is "novel" in english, so i would have never thought they use "Bildungsroman" in english. haha "educational novel" would be fine, but i looked it up and it seems like they really use "Bildungsroman" rofl.
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To those knowledgable in math "Eigenwert" comes to mind directly translated something like "self value". Don't know if this is true but someone told me a lot of english speaking people think there was a Mr. Eigen from whom the Eigenwert originated. Can anyone comment on this?
My friends and I try to persuade people to believe some word is related to a person as kind of an inside joke. Like for example Binomial theorem comes from Nicolai Binomi or "en passant" from chess comes from Pierre Enpassant so I'd like to know if Eugen Eigen could have a chance
[EDIT]: Oh I just saw it's eigenvalue and not Eigenwert in english which makes it realistic that lots of people would think "eigen" was a person.
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On September 16 2009 16:53 omninmo wrote:Show nested quote +On September 16 2009 16:12 benjammin wrote: the idea you are looking for is called a "loanword"
some off the top of my head in german: bildungsroman, angst, doppelganger, gestalt... DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE anyone who knows the words bildungsroman and Gestalt can chill with me anytime@!!! Hesse/Heidegger combo FTW Dude, anyone who reads Hesse is my BFF, no doubt.
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On September 16 2009 21:00 silynxer wrote: To those knowledgable in math "Eigenwert" comes to mind directly translated something like "self value". Don't know if this is true but someone told me a lot of english speaking people think there was a Mr. Eigen from whom the Eigenwert originated. Can anyone comment on this?
i think its Eigen = own (egen in swedish) and wert = worth (värd in swedish) so it seems about right. Swedish and German are very similar on some levels, like that word, the pronounciation in German sounds very familiar to the pronounciation in Swedish.
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On September 16 2009 16:06 Ota Solgryn wrote: The danish word, "ombudsmand" is used in english. And it sounds very strange when spoken in english, compared to danish. It's actually a swedish word. From the same people that gave you "smorgasbord" and apparently "moped" as well.
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i always lol when foreign people use the word "smörgåsbord/smorgasbord" it just sounds hilarious
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It just makes me swell with patriotic pride.
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On September 16 2009 18:58 Kwark wrote:I wouldn't include French in that list because the French spoken today wasn't the national language of France until around one hundred years ago. It was the regional dialect around Ile de France but just one of a great many descendants from Latin that while similar in root and structure were still different languages. In the Norman conquest the Anglo-Saxon English (which already had a grounding in Latin (the language of Roman England)) was mixed with the Norman Latin dialect. To put French on that list misunderstands the nature of the languages in Europe at that time and what was spoken in Normandy would not be recognised as modern French.
You have to realize the biggest changes to the French language was between 1760 and 1850. When France had to concede Quebec (back then Canada), the latest reports had said the French used both in Canada and France was similar. The first report that came back after that (around 1810) said that Canada had stayed to a popular, lowly accent and pronunciation. But that was only because France had moved on to using superior, clean pronunciation that lawyers and nobles would use and that since Canada was now english there was no way or reason to keep up with Paris.
The French spoken today is actually pretty much the same it was 100 years ago. There are still notable differences in pronunciation and accent moving from a department to another, especially when you compare the North and South. There hasn't been much uniformity, although they're working towards that goal. You'll find central departments to be the stereotypical French though. Go to Alsace-Lorraine and you'll still be greeted with a semi-german accent with like, 1/8 of what they say in german.
And if you're going to call bs, I was born in France and have been going there every summer for a month for the past 15 years so I can tell. As a French-Canadian, I don't nearly have as much problems interacting with people from Normandy, Brittany and northern departments than Paris and lower even if I have French roots and have an "above average" vocabulary/pronunciation. An example would be how I can go all out quebecois on my aunt from Normandy (and has never moved from there), but have to restrain myself and over pronounce things to my Parisian sister.
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French words in English language are hilarious. Especially because it is supposed to be "classy".
On September 16 2009 21:27 SwEEt[TearS] wrote:I wouldn't include French in that list because the French spoken today wasn't the national language of France until around one hundred years ago. It was the regional dialect around Ile de France but just one of a great many descendants from Latin that while similar in root and structure were still different languages. In the Norman conquest the Anglo-Saxon English (which already had a grounding in Latin (the language of Roman England)) was mixed with the Norman Latin dialect. To put French on that list misunderstands the nature of the languages in Europe at that time and what was spoken in Normandy would not be recognised as modern French.
The French words used in English are still used in "modern" French too. That's not like if English people are using some regional "patois" words.
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On September 16 2009 21:50 Boblion wrote: French words in English language are hilarious. Especially because it is supposed to be "classy".
not. At least most aren't. Also it depends on the user of the word.
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Santa Claus is ours! derived from Sinterklaas, they even sound the same, well more or less
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from hungarian
coach paprika itsy-bitsy sabre
and of course goulash
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there are a couple words that originate from yiddish, which sounds rather funny when you're german. like:
schmutz schmeering spritzing fleishig zaftig milchig mensch schnorrer
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the most ridiculous sounding german loanword is "abseiling" imo, although i only saw it once in use. btw it sounds really stupid how you english people pronounce déjà-vu :D
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HnR)hT
United States3468 Posts
Some rich cultural contributions from Russian:
pogrom
gulag
agitprop
zek
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Danish has stolen an insane amount of words from English, but only donated one word to the English language (according to one of my old Danish teachers at least): Angst. I would like to point out that you're actually pronouncing it right - sort of.
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kielbasa (sausage) is the only one Polish word that comes to my mind
edit: apparently there are more
pierogi, pierogees, pierogee Nudge - from Polish 'nudzić' Paczki (donuts) - 'pączki' Polack - Pole as curse heh Schav (sorrel) - from 'szczaw' Uhlan - 'ułan' Dupa yash o.O spruce - 'z Prus' - from Prusy, current northern Poland from where spruce was exported to England
Why did I use google instead of wikipedia... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Polish_origin
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On September 16 2009 22:54 beetlelisk wrote:kielbasa (sausage) is the only one Polish word that comes to my mind edit: apparently there are more pierogi, pierogees, pierogee Nudge - from Polish 'nudzić' Paczki (donuts) - 'pączki' Polack - Pole as curse heh Schav (sorrel) - from 'szczaw' Uhlan - 'ułan' Dupa yash o.O spruce - 'z Prus' - from Prusy, current northern Poland from where spruce was exported to England Why did I use google instead of wikipedia... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Polish_origin what about kurwa, by now everyone in UK knows and uses it lol
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United States40776 Posts
On September 16 2009 21:27 SwEEt[TearS] wrote:Show nested quote +On September 16 2009 18:58 Kwark wrote:I wouldn't include French in that list because the French spoken today wasn't the national language of France until around one hundred years ago. It was the regional dialect around Ile de France but just one of a great many descendants from Latin that while similar in root and structure were still different languages. In the Norman conquest the Anglo-Saxon English (which already had a grounding in Latin (the language of Roman England)) was mixed with the Norman Latin dialect. To put French on that list misunderstands the nature of the languages in Europe at that time and what was spoken in Normandy would not be recognised as modern French. You have to realize the biggest changes to the French language was between 1760 and 1850. When France had to concede Quebec (back then Canada), the latest reports had said the French used both in Canada and France was similar. The first report that came back after that (around 1810) said that Canada had stayed to a popular, lowly accent and pronunciation. But that was only because France had moved on to using superior, clean pronunciation that lawyers and nobles would use and that since Canada was now english there was no way or reason to keep up with Paris. The French spoken today is actually pretty much the same it was 100 years ago. There are still notable differences in pronunciation and accent moving from a department to another, especially when you compare the North and South. There hasn't been much uniformity, although they're working towards that goal. You'll find central departments to be the stereotypical French though. Go to Alsace-Lorraine and you'll still be greeted with a semi-german accent with like, 1/8 of what they say in german. And if you're going to call bs, I was born in France and have been going there every summer for a month for the past 15 years so I can tell. As a French-Canadian, I don't nearly have as much problems interacting with people from Normandy, Brittany and northern departments than Paris and lower even if I have French roots and have an "above average" vocabulary/pronunciation. An example would be how I can go all out quebecois on my aunt from Normandy (and has never moved from there), but have to restrain myself and over pronounce things to my Parisian sister. Well your point is that since 1850 it's been more uniform whereas my point was regarding 1066 so it doesn't change anything.
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They do o.O? The same way we do o_o? I still think 'fuck' is easier to pronounce I've read 'dzien dobry' is being used too but that's just courtesy... (good morning/afternoon/evening)
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In Polish:
fart - means 'luck' in common street language stal (as in english stall) - means steel patriota - patriot
But there will be many common words since most modern languages have the same basis (Latin).
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On September 16 2009 22:53 prOxi.Beater wrote: Danish has stolen an insane amount of words from English, but only donated one word to the English language (according to one of my old Danish teachers at least): Angst. I would like to point out that you're actually pronouncing it right - sort of.
Well, Angst is a German word as well. Same spelling, and though I don't know any Danish, most likely same meaning too. Kind of hard to tell from which of the two (and possibly more) languages it was taken, or which language had it first.
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On September 16 2009 23:40 Kwark wrote:Show nested quote +On September 16 2009 21:27 SwEEt[TearS] wrote:On September 16 2009 18:58 Kwark wrote:I wouldn't include French in that list because the French spoken today wasn't the national language of France until around one hundred years ago. It was the regional dialect around Ile de France but just one of a great many descendants from Latin that while similar in root and structure were still different languages. In the Norman conquest the Anglo-Saxon English (which already had a grounding in Latin (the language of Roman England)) was mixed with the Norman Latin dialect. To put French on that list misunderstands the nature of the languages in Europe at that time and what was spoken in Normandy would not be recognised as modern French. You have to realize the biggest changes to the French language was between 1760 and 1850. When France had to concede Quebec (back then Canada), the latest reports had said the French used both in Canada and France was similar. The first report that came back after that (around 1810) said that Canada had stayed to a popular, lowly accent and pronunciation. But that was only because France had moved on to using superior, clean pronunciation that lawyers and nobles would use and that since Canada was now english there was no way or reason to keep up with Paris. The French spoken today is actually pretty much the same it was 100 years ago. There are still notable differences in pronunciation and accent moving from a department to another, especially when you compare the North and South. There hasn't been much uniformity, although they're working towards that goal. You'll find central departments to be the stereotypical French though. Go to Alsace-Lorraine and you'll still be greeted with a semi-german accent with like, 1/8 of what they say in german. And if you're going to call bs, I was born in France and have been going there every summer for a month for the past 15 years so I can tell. As a French-Canadian, I don't nearly have as much problems interacting with people from Normandy, Brittany and northern departments than Paris and lower even if I have French roots and have an "above average" vocabulary/pronunciation. An example would be how I can go all out quebecois on my aunt from Normandy (and has never moved from there), but have to restrain myself and over pronounce things to my Parisian sister. Well your point is that since 1850 it's been more uniform whereas my point was regarding 1066 so it doesn't change anything.
What? Certainly there were differences between the North and South departments of France in 1066 (which makes it hard to put an official dialect as proeminent) but I'm pretty sure the disparity between Normandy and Ile de France in 1066 was much smaller than it is nowadays to be honest. When I studied Dante's De vulgari eloquentia, he dissected romance languages in 3 parts (oil for northern france, oc for southern france and si for italy and whatever else it was). And as far as I remember (twas 2 years ago so I might be wrong), langue d'oil was like the entire northern half of france excluding brittany, alsace and other eastern french/german departments. Whether it was Normandy or Paris that invaded England, as long as it wasn't Bordeaux it makes very little difference.
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On September 17 2009 00:19 spinesheath wrote:Show nested quote +On September 16 2009 22:53 prOxi.Beater wrote: Danish has stolen an insane amount of words from English, but only donated one word to the English language (according to one of my old Danish teachers at least): Angst. I would like to point out that you're actually pronouncing it right - sort of. Well, Angst is a German word as well. Same spelling, and though I don't know any Danish, most likely same meaning too. Kind of hard to tell from which of the two (and possibly more) languages it was taken, or which language had it first.
True, but it made its way into English due to Kirkegaard's thoughts on the issue.
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Here's a bunch of words from Hindi that are widely used.
Pundit Thug juggernaut Avatar guru jungle khaki loot shampoo
I am sure there are many more.
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Sauerkraut?
i think most americans say it like
sourer krout
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another german word "kaput"
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The only Filipino word I can recall right now is boondock (bundok in Tagalog).
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It's very noticeable that Germanic has influenced English for us swedes at least =p huge number of words are the same.
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Belgium6733 Posts
French: chaise ~ chair Dutch: Koekjes ~ Cookies
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On September 16 2009 23:53 Manit0u wrote:
But there will be many common words since most modern languages have the same basis (Latin).
most?? lol...
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While most of taken words are probably from french/spanish/german languages I think most of people don't know that word "robot" comes originaly from czech language.
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racoon (originally Native American... which I guess it means its from my country..although not my ethnicity)
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A lot of spanish is used in my daily southern californian life. Lots of Food, taco, burrito, etc etc Then stuff like lasso, rodeo, nada, deniro are actually spanish words.
Someone already mentioned tsunami and I've always wondered why Tidal Wave is the english way of saying it. It doesn't even make sense really. Because more often then not tsunamis are caused by EQs, Volcanos or landslides. It has nothing to do with tides
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coolie is from the chinese word "Ku li" which literally means "bitter labor." Given the importation of chinese laborers into the US in the middle of the 19th century, it's not hard to see how "Ku li" became "coolie."
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On September 17 2009 01:55 andrewlt wrote: The only Filipino word I can recall right now is boondock (bundok in Tagalog). Good old history, bundok meaning mountian if remember any of tagalog, and boondock is a remote rural place usually meaning the middle of no where which the GI's felt like it was and the GI's brought it back from the Philippines.
Another one is Yo-Yo i believe although the bandalore was a stupid name to begin with.
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This is a very interesting subject. Norwegian loanwoards to English are funny because they really depict the country's customs and history:
Fjord Ski Slalom Quisling
..And apparently.. Lemming.
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United Kingdom2674 Posts
On September 17 2009 07:41 teks wrote: This is a very interesting subject. Norwegian loanwoards to English are funny because they really depict the country's customs and history:
Fjord Ski Slalom Quisling
..And apparently.. Lemming.
I wouldn't say that "quisling" was really a loanword since it was actually a Norwegian name rather than a word in the language. I believe that it was actually first used with its current meaning by an English newspaper rather than by Norwegian speakers.
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Off the top of my head, wasn't the original language in england keltic (celtic?) up untill like the 12th century? making many/all the words used in todays english loan words.. i heard about a small village that supposedly still speaks celtic and also wants to be their own celtic state .
edith: I take it back!
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Vatican City State491 Posts
I think 'wunderwaffe' is pretty popular; just like 'wunderkind'. Not to mention the fake "ze Geremans" pronounciation. If you like such type of humor, Id recommend you to try the old TV series 'allo, allo' which supposedly is one of the few shows that were not shown in Germany, due to the fact that they make fun of them in it (actually they make fun of everyone in it... so I kinda dont understand this hidden censorship).
On September 16 2009 22:54 beetlelisk wrote:kielbasa (sausage) is the only one Polish word that comes to my mind edit: apparently there are more pierogi, pierogees, pierogee Nudge - from Polish 'nudzić' Paczki (donuts) - 'pączki' Polack - Pole as curse heh Schav (sorrel) - from 'szczaw' Uhlan - 'ułan' Dupa yash o.O spruce - 'z Prus' - from Prusy, current northern Poland from where spruce was exported to England Why did I use google instead of wikipedia... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Polish_origin
This is pretty sad actually, because all the above words are just used to describe Polish things in English. I bet Finnish words are used to describe Finnish food, Hungarian words for Hungarian food and so on (goulash?). The only true addition would probably be vodka, and perhaps kurwa.
btw. in Polish they sometimes say "wihajster" for random random gadgets, widgets etc. "wie heiss er" = "how is it called"
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I don't think 'kurwa' is used instead of 'whore' or 'fuck' and vodka could came from Russian
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Thank the aztecs for chocolate (originally chocolatl) and chipotle (originally chilpoctli)
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On September 16 2009 16:51 .risingdragoon wrote: So how do you say Schadenfreude?
look here: http://www.leo.org/dict/audio_de/s/die_Schadenfreude.mp3
notice the women saying "die schadenfreude" so you have to leave out the first part, i am sure you can figure it out
schadenfreude is a word for a special happiness, it describes the joy a person feels when they see someone get hurt or that someone they dont like is failing with a task. it means the small satisfaction people may get by the failure of others.
pretty hard to describe, i hope you get what i am trying to say
also if anyone has any questions about some words feel free to pm me, i will try to explain them the best i can.
cheers
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On September 18 2009 04:19 faryn wrote:Show nested quote +On September 16 2009 16:51 .risingdragoon wrote: So how do you say Schadenfreude?
look here: http://www.leo.org/dict/audio_de/s/die_Schadenfreude.mp3notice the women saying "die schadenfreude" so you have to leave out the first part, i am sure you can figure it out schadenfreude is a word for a special happiness, it describes the joy a person feels when they see someone get hurt or that someone they dont like is failing with a task. it means the small satisfaction people may get by the failure of others. pretty hard to describe, i hope you get what i am trying to say also if anyone has any questions about some words feel free to pm me, i will try to explain them the best i can. cheers
There is an english word with this meaning btw. It isn´t any easier to pronounce than Schadenfreude: epicaricacy
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On September 17 2009 07:11 ondik wrote: While most of taken words are probably from french/spanish/german languages I think most of people don't know that word "robot" comes originaly from czech language.
I know, because the author who came up with the word is czech. It comes from the word robota = work, right?
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Vatican City State491 Posts
On September 18 2009 04:40 Mah Buckit! wrote:Show nested quote +On September 17 2009 07:11 ondik wrote: While most of taken words are probably from french/spanish/german languages I think most of people don't know that word "robot" comes originaly from czech language. I know, because the author who came up with the word is czech. It comes from the word robota = work, right?
You are right. In Polish robotnik = worker, I assume it's the same in Czech.
Actually Polish <=> Czech translations are might lead to hilarious results as there are many false friends (aka words which sound the same, but have completely different meanings) e.g. "Sekretarka szuka szefa" = 'the sercretary is searching for the chief' (in Polish) = 'the secretary is fucking the chief' (in Czech). I wonder if this is the same with Norwegian/Swedish etc.
There are some old jokes - with fake (?) Czech words/phrases which sound completely ridiculus in Polish; I think those can be only understood by people who actually speak these languages. So dear Czech users of this site, is that true that a squrrel in Czech is called 'drzewni kocur' (something like "tree cat"), pidgeon = 'dachovi obsrywak' ("roof pooper"), batman = 'netoperek' (impossible to translate)...? :D :D :D
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Hurakan = Hurricane
From Mayan
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That website is so sweet. You are the man.
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i dunno if this has been mentioned but a friend of mine who studied arabic for the military said that "alcohol" is based in arabic. Like "al" is "the" and "cohol" is "fermented/spirits". So alcohol in arabic is "the fermented/spirits"
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McDonalds.
Wait a minute... ._.
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