Foreign language influences in English
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
While many words enter English as slang, not all do. Some words are adopted from other languages; some are mixtures of existing words (portmanteau words), and some are new coinages made of roots from dead languages: e.g. thanatopsis. No matter the origin, though, words seldom, if ever, are immediately accepted into the English language. Here is a list of the most common foreign language influences in English, where other languages have influenced or contributed words to English.
- Celtic words are almost absent, except for dialectal words, such as the Yan Tan Tethera system of counting sheep. However, English syntax was influenced by Celtic languages, starting from the Middle English; for example, the system of Continuous tenses (absent in other Germanic languages) was a cliche of similar Celtic phrasal structures.
- French words for the meat of an animal, noble words (this comes from the influence of the Norman language), words referring to food - e.g. au gratin. Nearly 30% of English words (in an 80,000 word dictionary) may be of French origin.
- German: Main article: List of German expressions in English. Some words relating to the World War I and the World War II, e.g. blitz. And some food terms, such as wurst, hamburger and frankfurter. Also: wanderlust, schadenfreude, zeitgeist, kaputt, kindergarten, autobahn, rucksack.
- Scandinavian languages such as Old Norse - words such as sky and troll or, more recently, geysir.
- Dutch - words relating to sailing, e.g. skipper, keel etc., and civil engineering, such as dam, polder.
- Latin words, technical or biological names, medical terminology, legal terminology. See also: Latin influence in English
- Spanish - words relating to warfare and tactics, for instance flotilla and guerrilla; or related to science and culture, whether coined in arabic language (such as algebra), origined in amerindian civilizations (Cariban: cannibal, hurricane; Mescalero: apache; Nahuatl: tomato; Quechua: potato; Taíno: tobacco), or Iberian Romance languages (aficionado, albino, alligator, cargo, cigar, embargo, guitar, jade, mesa, paella, platinum, plaza, renegade, rodeo, salsa, savvy, sierra, siesta, tilde, tornado, vanilla etc). See also: List of English words of Spanish origin.
- Italian - words relating to music, piano, fortissimo. Or Italian culture, such as piazza, pizza, gondola, balcony, fascism. The English word umbrella comes from Italian ombrello.
- Arabic - Islamic religious terms such as jihad and hadith. Also some scientific vocabulary borrowed through Iberian Romance languages in the Middle Ages (alcohol, algebra, azimuth, nadir).
- Nahuatl - tomato, coyote, chocolate.
- Russian - words relating to the Cold War and the aftermath (perestroika, glasnost), and also words relating to Russian culture, such as Cossack or Babushka.
- Indian - words relating to culture, originating from the colonial era. Many of these words are of Persian origin rather than Hindi because Persian was the official language of the Mughal courts. e.g.: pyjamas, bungalow, verandah, jungle, curry, shampoo, khaki.
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- Pyles, T. & J. Algeo (1993). The Origins and Development of the English Language. Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers.
[edit] External links
- AskOxford - What is the proportion of English words of French, Latin, or Germanic origin?
- Mathematical Words: Origins and Sources (John Aldrich, University of Southampton) The contribution of French, Latin, Greek and German are surveyed.
