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. thanitopsis. 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.

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

Greek words - medical terminology (like for instance phobias and ologies)

Spanish - words relating to Spanish culture - for example paella, siesta, plaza, salsa, etc.

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.

Afrikaans - apartheid, trek.

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.