List of calques

A calque /ˈkælk/ or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word (Latin: "verbum pro verbo") or root-for-root translation. This list contains examples of calques in various languages.

English

From Arabic

Straw that broke the camel's back القشة التي قصمت ظهر البعير alqassha alathee qassamat dhahra al baeer . the straw that broke the back of the camel

From Chinese

[6][7][8]

From French

From German or Dutch

From Dutch

From German

From Hebrew

From Latin

From Spanish

From other languages

Latin

Romance languages

Examples of Romance language expressions calqued from foreign languages include:

French

Spanish

Many calques found in Southwestern US Spanish, come from English:

See also: Spanglish

Also technological terms calqued from English are used throughout the Spanish-speaking world:

Italian

Germanic languages

Afrikaans and Dutch

German

Icelandic

Dano-Norwegian

Note: From a technical standpoint, Danish and the bokmål standard of Norwegian are the same language, with minor spelling and pronunciation differences (equivalent to British and American English). For this reason, they will share a section.

Swedish

Swedish

Slavic languages

Serbian

Macedonian

In more recent times, the Macedonian language has calqued new words from other prestige languages including German, French and English.

Some words were originally calqued into Russian and then absorbed into Macedonian, considering the close relatedness of the two languages. Therefore, many of these calques can also be considered Russianisms.

Russian

The poet Aleksandr Pushkin (1799–1837) was perhaps the most influential among the Russian literary figures who would transform the modern Russian language and vastly expand its ability to handle abstract and scientific concepts by importing the sophisticated vocabulary of Western intellectuals.

Although some Western vocabulary entered the language as loanwords – e.g., Italian salvietta, "napkin," was simply Russified in sound and spelling to салфетка (salfetka) – Pushkin and those he influenced most often preferred to render foreign borrowings into Russian by calquing. Compound words were broken down to their component roots, which were then translated piece-by-piece to their Slavic equivalents. But not all of the coinages caught on and became permanent additions to the lexicon; for example, любомудрие (ljubomudrie) was promoted by 19th-century Russian intellectuals as a calque of "philosophy," but the word eventually fell out of fashion, and modern Russian instead uses the loanword философия (filosofija).

Greek

Irish

Finnish

Since Finnish, a Uralic language, differs radically in pronunciation and orthography from Indo-European languages, most loans adopted in Finnish either are calques or soon become such as foreign words are translated into Finnish. Examples include:

Modern Hebrew

When Jews make aliyah to Israel, they often Hebraize their surnames. One approach to doing so was by calque from the original (often German or Yiddish) surname. For instance, Imi Lichtenfield, founder of the martial art Krav Maga, became Imi Sde-Or. Both last names mean "light field". For more examples and other approaches, see the article on Hebraization of surnames.

According to linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann, the more contributing languages have a structurally identical expression, the more likely it is to be calqued into the target language. In Israeli (his term for "Modern Hebrew") one uses má nishmà, lit. "what's heard?", with the meaning of "what's up?". Zuckermann argues that this is a calque not only of the Yiddish expression Was hört sich? (usually pronounced v(o)sérts´kh), lit. "what's heard?", meaning "what's up?", but also of the parallel expressions in Polish, Russian and Romanian. Whereas most revivalists were native Yiddish-speakers, many first speakers of Modern Hebrew spoke Russian and Polish too. So a Polish speaker in the 1930s might have used má nishmà not (only) due to Yiddish Was hört sich? but rather (also) due to Polish Co słychać? A Russian Jew might have used ma nishma due to Что слышно? (pronounced chto slyshno) and a Romanian Israeli would echo ce se aude.[68] According to Zuckermann, such multi-sourced calquing is a manifestation of the Congruence principle.[69]

Malayalam

Modern Malayalam is replete with calques from English. The calques manifest themselves as idioms and expressions and many have gone on to become clichés. However standalone words are very few. The following is a list of commonly used calque phrases/expressions.All of these are exact translations of the corresponding English phrases.

  1. Simha bhagam (സിംഹ ഭാഗം)- Lion's share
  2. Varikalkidayil vaayikuka (വരികള്‍ക്കിടയില്‍ വായിക്കുക)reading between the lines
  3. Chuvarazhuthu (ചുവരെഴുത്തു) writing on the wall
  4. Moola kallu (മൂലക്കല്ല്) cornerstone
  5. Naazhikakallu (നാഴികക്കല്ല്) milestone
  6. Ooshmala varavelppu (ഊഷ്മ്ല വരവേല്‍പ്പ്) warm welcome
  7. Thanuppan prathikaranam (തണുപ്പന്‍ പ്രതികരണം) cold response
  8. Sheetayuddham (ശീതയുദ്ധം) Cold war
  9. Hridayabhedakam (ഹൃദയഭേദകം) Heart rending/breaking
  10. Chekuttaanum kadalinumidayil(ചെകുത്താനും കടലിനുമിടയില്‍)between the devil and the sea
  11. vazhivittu sahaayikkuka (വഴിവിട്ടു സഹായിക്കുക)go out of one's way
  12. kuthira kachavadam (കുതിര കച്ചവടം) horse trading
  13. mrigeeya bhooripaksham (മൃഗീയ ഭൂരിപക്ഷം) monstrous majority
  14. kavya neethi (കാവ്യനീതി) poetic justice.

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ brainwashing. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  3. ↑ http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/chop-chop.html
  4. ↑ lose face – Definitions from Dictionary.com
  5. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "paper". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  6. ↑ Novotná, Z., "Contributions to the Study of Loan-Words and Hybrid Words in Modern Chinese", Archiv Orientalni, (Prague), No. 35 (1967), pp. 613–648. (In English; examples of loan words and calques in Chinese)
  7. ↑ Novotná, Z., "Contributions to the Study of Loan-Words and Hybrid Words in Modern Chinese", Archiv Orientalni, (Prague), No. 36 (1968), pp. 295–325. (In English; examples of loan words and calques in Chinese)
  8. ↑ Novotná, Z., "Contributions to the Study of Loan-Words and Hybrid Words in Modern Chinese", Archiv Orientalni, (Prague), No. 37 (1969), pp. 48–75. (In English; examples of loan words and calques in Chinese)
  9. ↑ Adam's apple. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  10. ↑ Website of the Governor General of Canada.
  11. ↑ free verse. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  12. ↑ old guard. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  13. ↑ flea market. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  14. ↑ Lynch, Guide to Grammar and Style – N
  15. ↑ new wave. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  16. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "rhinestone". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  17. ↑ Foreign Words. Fowler, H. W. 1908. The King's English
  18. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "Forget-me-not". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  19. ↑ Tom A. Shippey, The Road to Middle Earth, Grafton, 1992 page 66 (1st Edition George Allen & Unwin 1982)
  20. ↑ masterpiece. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
  21. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "superconductor". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  22. ↑ "cookie". Wiktionary.
  23. ↑ antibody. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  24. ↑ English in Europe by Manfred Görlach
  25. ↑ beer garden. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  26. ↑ concertmaster – Definitions from Dictionary.com
  27. ↑ Paul McFedries, Wordspy
  28. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "flame". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  29. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "foreword". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  30. ↑ heldentenor – Definitions from Dictionary.com
  31. ↑ Online Etymology Dictionary
  32. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "I.Q.". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  33. ↑ loanword – Definitions from Dictionary.com
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 German Loan Words in English M-Z
  35. ↑ superman. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  36. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "rain forest". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  37. ↑ standpoint. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  38. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "superego". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  39. ↑ storm trooper. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  40. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "subliminal". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  41. ↑ "thought experiment." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
  42. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "watershed". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  43. ↑ worldview. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  44. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "world war". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  45. ↑ The Mavens' Word of the Day. January 28, 1997.
  46. ↑ commonplace. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  47. ↑ devil's advocate. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  48. ↑ wisdom tooth. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  49. ↑ Milky Way. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  50. ↑ RIP. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  51. ↑ in a nutshell – Definitions from Dictionary.com
  52. ↑ Pliny VII.21
  53. ↑ blue blood. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  54. ↑ moment of truth. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  55. ↑ gospel. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  56. ↑ Webster's Third New International Dictionary
  57. ↑ Arnold, Em. Prof. M.A. (1987). "Glossary of Anatomical Terms" (PDF). Retrieved 24 February 2009.
  58. ↑ Cruijff de film
  59. ↑ Søk i elektroniske ordbøker
  60. ↑ Søk i elektroniske ordbøker
  61. ↑ Søk i elektroniske ordbøker
  62. ↑ Ordnett.no – Ordbok
  63. ↑ Søk i elektroniske ordbøker
  64. ↑ Ordnett.no – Ordbok
  65. ↑ Ordnett.no – Ordbok
  66. ↑ Søk i elektroniske ordbøker
  67. ↑ Søk i elektroniske ordbøker
  68. ↑ See p. 62 in Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2009), Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns. In Journal of Language Contact, Varia 2 (2009), pp. 40–67.
  69. ↑ See p. 48 in Zuckermann, Ghil'ad, Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns. In Journal of Language Contact, Varia 2 (2009), pp. 40–67.