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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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