by Marky Mark on August 25th, 2009

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An English word that was taken directly from another language?

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by Not so Loony gone Ape on August 25th, 2009
Schadenfreude!
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- Good 'un! Thanks OO!:)
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  by Marky Mark on August 25th, 2009
- Cheers :)
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  by Not so Loony gone Ape on August 25th, 2009
- Thanks! Paradoxically, the reason why I always remember the word, is because as far as I know, there is no equivalent word in any language except German.
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  by Not so Loony gone Ape on August 25th, 2009
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by Suby the Coat on August 25th, 2009
Avatar, Guru, Swami, Juggernaut, Bazaar......
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- Nice, Suby! Lots of Indian words in English! Thanks! :)
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  by Marky Mark on August 25th, 2009
- Lots of English words in Indian languages too, Marky.
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  by Suby the Coat on August 25th, 2009
- Languages are so dynamic. Very interesting to find words borrowed and common/ related words. I doubt there are many "pure" languages. Like people. Seems like the world is and always was a melting pot.
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  by Marky Mark on August 25th, 2009
- To be reasonable how could you describe a bus in a single word in any other language? So a bus should be a bus everywhere. Same with bazaar. You could say a market place, but the spirit of the bazaar would be lost.
  Language chauvinists want to keep their languages pure. But my two examples above, a bus and a bazaar, would explain why words must be borrowed from other languages so that a language can grow.
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  by Suby the Coat on August 25th, 2009
- True. Language purists may invent words but it is the users of the language, the people, who ultimately decide whether a word joins the lexicon or whether it withers and dies in the dictionary of the purist.
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  by Marky Mark on August 25th, 2009
- Yes suby - a bazaar and a market are two very different things - they conjure up completely different images. When I hear "market" I think of a dull grey day with lots of stalls selling produce, when I hear "bazaar" I think of heat and sounds and smells.
  
  English is a particularly lively language - it is a mishmash of influences representing a lifetime of world colonisation! and yet also a lifetime of integration!
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  by dea_ex_machina on August 25th, 2009
- Take the best and leave out the rest, thats the policy.
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  by Suby the Coat on August 26th, 2009
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by dea_ex_machina on August 25th, 2009
bungalow
jodphurs
curry
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- Indian! Thanks dea..! :)
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  by Marky Mark on August 25th, 2009
- Why I didn't think of them?
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  by Suby the Coat on August 25th, 2009
- I like those words (oh.. and knaki, puttees etc) because they are taken directly from Indian languages with no fuss or bother, and noone knows where they came from. Look at the french words we have taken on board - everyone knows they are french, and tries to add a little bit of french accent with them, coup de grace etc, but with words like bungalow, they have been seamlessly integrated into English - and, the irony is, they are used by those proper brits who insult the local pakis!
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  by dea_ex_machina on August 25th, 2009
- The words are so well integrated into English that people are no longer aware of the word origins, dea_ex_machina. I had given a few Indian words in English in my answer to this question. You might care to look at them and the comments thread below that.
  http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/7548990
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  by Suby the Coat on August 25th, 2009
- good choices!
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  by dea_ex_machina on August 25th, 2009
- Check out VSPrasad's answer guys! Rocked my socks! :)
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  by Marky Mark on August 26th, 2009
- Checking. Thanks, Marky.
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  by Suby the Coat on August 26th, 2009
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by canbfrisky on April 29th, 2010
Halt - German
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- Didn't know that. Danke 'frisky! ;-)
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  by Marky Mark on April 30th, 2010
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by Joy on April 29th, 2010
typhoon, won ton, sushi, sashimi,samosa,campaign,mousse,aloha,ballet
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- Thanks Joy! Good ones. ;-)
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  by Marky Mark on April 30th, 2010
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by Schonberg on September 2nd, 2009
Pyjamas, Bungalow,Bouquet.
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- Good ones! Thanks Schonberg! :)
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  by Marky Mark on September 2nd, 2009
- First two from India, and second from French.Thanks
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  by Schonberg on September 2nd, 2009
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by sjw3rd on September 2nd, 2009
Many words, including schadenfreude, ennui, angst, pyjama are taken direct from another language. I thought the name of such a word might be "xenonym", but it turns out to mean the name in one language for the people who speak another, i.e., german is the English xenonym for Deutsch.
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- Interesting! I didn't know that word - xenonym. Thank sjw3rd! :)
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  by Marky Mark on September 2nd, 2009
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by Brian on August 25th, 2009
Boulevard.
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- Great one you see every day but never think of as foreign!Thanks Brian! :)
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  by Marky Mark on August 25th, 2009
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by dead leaves raked in a pile on August 25th, 2009
Czar tovarich Fillet turbot bureau wallah
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- Thanks, Untidy...!:0)
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  by Marky Mark on August 25th, 2009
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by Sid on August 25th, 2009
There are hundreds if you go back far enough, but castle, deja-vu, and limousine are three.
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- Castle? Thanks Sid. :)
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  by Marky Mark on August 25th, 2009
- Castle came from the Norman invaders.
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  by Sid on August 25th, 2009
- http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=castle
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  by dea_ex_machina on August 25th, 2009
- Interesting! Castle seems so "English". Thanks for that S&dea! :)
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  by Marky Mark on August 25th, 2009
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by Im Alec has abandoned this account on August 25th, 2009
detente
entrepreneur
cafe
restaurant
hotel
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- Good 'uns! Thanks Alec! :)
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  by Marky Mark on August 25th, 2009
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by Blue Tiger. on August 25th, 2009
chauffeur

I think
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- I think so too! Thanks Tiger!:)
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  by Marky Mark on August 25th, 2009
- Its Blue Tiger.
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  by Blue Tiger. on August 25th, 2009
- Whooaa! Easy, Tiger! LOL! OK Blue Tiger! ;)
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  by Marky Mark on August 25th, 2009
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by kool on August 25th, 2009
Guru
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- Kool! Thanks! ;D
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  by Marky Mark on August 25th, 2009
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by Marky Mark on September 4th, 2009
Many nautical English words originate from Dutch. Some unchanged, some anglicized.

Ahoy
from hoi (="hello")

Avast
a nautical interjection (="hold! stop!"), probably worn down from Dutch houd vast (="hold fast")

Boom
from boom (="tree"); cognate to English beam, German baum

Bung
from Middle Dutch bonge (="stopper"), or perhaps from French bonde, which may be of Germanic origin, or from Gaulish bunda

Buoy
from boei (="shackle" or "buoy")

Commodore
probably from Dutch kommandeur, from French commandeur, from Old French comandeor.

Deck
from dek (originally "covering")

Dock (maritime)
from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German docke

Filibuster
from Spanish filibustero from French flibustier ultimately from Dutch vrijbuiter (="pirate" or "freebooter")

Freebooter
from vrijbuiter

Freight
from vracht

Galoot
(="awkward or boorish man"), originally a sailor's contemptuous word (="raw recruit, green hand") for soldiers or marines, of uncertain origin; "Dictionary of American Slang" proposes galut, Sierra Leone creole form of Spanish galeoto (="galley slave"); perhaps rather Dutch slang kloot (="testicle"), klootzak (="scrotum"), used figuratively as an insult.

Grab
from grijpen (="to seize, to grasp, to snatch")

Hoist
possibly from Middle Dutch hijsen

Iceberg
probably from Dutch ijsberg (literally ice mountain).

Keelhauling
from kielhalen (literally "to haul keel")

Kink
from kink referring to a twist in a rope.

Maelstrom
from maalstroom (literally "grinding current" or "stirring current") (possibly Norse in origin)

Plug
from plugge, originally a maritime term

Pump
from pomp

Roster
from rooster (="schedule, or grating/grill")

Rover
from rover (="robber")

Schooner (boat)
from schoener

Shoal
from Middle Dutch schole (="large number (of fish)") (etymology not sure)

Skipper
from Middle Dutch scipper (now schipper, literally "shipper")

Sloop
from sloep

Smack (boat)
possibly from smak "sailboat," perhaps so-called from the sound made by its sails.

Stoker
from stoken (="stoke a fire")

Stern
hind part of a ship related to Steven in Dutch and Stiarn in Frisian

Tattoo (military term)
from taptoe (literally "close the tap"). So called because police used to visit taverns in the evening to shut off the taps of casks.

Trek
from trekken (via Afrikaans) (literally "to march" or "to travel")

Vang
from Dutch vangen (=to catch)

Yacht
from obsolete Dutch jaght, from Middle Low German jacht, short for jachtschip (literally "hunting ship")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Dutch_origin
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An English word that was taken directly from another language?

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