We’ve previously mused on the subject of untranslatable words. It’s easy to be envious of another language for an elegant turn of phrase with no English counterpart.
From time-to-time loanwords are adopted as a neat solution to this problem. Why invent a new word in English when we can borrow a word from another language? One important note: despite the name, loanwords are almost never returned to the language they are borrowed from!
In this article, we’ll take a look at some interesting loanwords adopted into English from German, Spanish and Yiddish.
German loanwords
English is a Germanic language which is why there are many similarities between the two Western European languages. Over the years, many German words have become part of day-to-day English. Even “loanword” is somewhat of a loanword, being adapted from the German “Lehnwort”.
Lager is one. The shortened form of “Lagerbier”, which is derived from the word for a storehouse – “Lager”. The word and popular alcoholic drink originate from Bavaria when beermakers experimented with brewing beer at lower temperatures incorporating yeast. The word lager is thought to have been co-opted into English in the 1850s when the technique grew in popularity.
Noodle, although most associated with the cuisines of Southeast Asia, is as German as schadenfreude and bildungsroman. The word noodle is thought to have been used in English as early as 1779.
Spanish loanwords
Despite being a Germanic language, English and Spanish share more than 1,000 words with the same spelling (with a few additional accents here and there).
Tornado derives from two words “Tronada” which translates to thunderstorm and “Tornar” meaning to turn. So, the English word tornado literally means a turning thunderstorm which we think is a perfect description.
Guerilla in English is pronounced more like gorilla. However, the word was adopted from Spanish. A guerrilla if you were confused with the hairy cousin to humanity, is a type of soldier. They’re often referred to as guerrilla fighters; however they are not usually part of an official army.
Yiddish loanwords
Popular in US English, we bet you know more than a few Yiddish loanwords that pepper the speech of English speakers. Yiddish made its way into UK English through Jewish communities moving to Britain following WWII. Yiddish went on to have influence over the development of the cockney dialect.
Bagel is an example of a Yiddish-to-English loanword where the original has been anglicised to fit English speech more comfortably. Taken from “Beygel”, a bagel is that distinctive ring-shaped dense bread roll commonly enjoyed with meats and cheeses.
Shtick in Yiddish means a gimmick usually part of a comedian’s act. It entered English from the Yiddish “Shtik”, which was derived from the German word “Stück” meaning “Theatre play”.
Choosing the right word at the right time
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