foreign words in the English language

[cacian]

post your known or favourite foreign words here.
and make a line or an impression of it to showcase your writing skills :)

my first one is:

deja vu

a deja vu is an image solitaire it appears to double when it nears tears.

[hannah_arendt]

I like 'assassin'.

[cacian]

I like 'assassin'.

French I believe?

[mal4mac]

French I believe?

Arabic I think. Look it up - v. complicated & disputed etymology!

I quite like "bungalow"

[cacian]

Arabic I think. Look it up - v. complicated & disputed etymology!

from Medieval Latin assassīnus, from Arabic hashshāshīn, plural of hashshāsh one who eats hashish
latin first. the Arabic explanation does not make sense. 'the one that eats hashish' what does that mean?



I quite like "bungalow"
indian origin from bangla.

[Steven Hunley]

from Medieval Latin assassīnus, from Arabic hashshāshīn, plural of hashshāsh one who eats hashish
latin first. the Arabic explanation does not make sense. 'the one that eats hashish' what does that mean?



indian origin from bangla.


It mean there's an eatable hashish, and was used by the Old Man of the Mountain, a dude back during the third crusade, who trained assassins.

But I like Pajama, from India I think.

[Hawkman]

Look up Hobson Jobson - It'll show you how many non-English words are common usage in English.

[hannah_arendt]

French I believe?

Arabic, I suppose.

[mona amon]

Chutzpah - from Hebrew, I think.

[cacian]

Chutzpah - from Hebrew, I think.

never heard of it. is this word used in English?

[cacian]

It mean there's an eatable hashish, and was used by the Old Man of the Mountain, a dude back during the third crusade, who trained assassins.
I see. getting high and meddling with assassins is a crazy cocktail. how does one manage? ;)


But I like Pajama, from India I think.
I write that pyjamas. it must be American your spelling.

[mona amon]

never heard of it. is this word used in English?

I don't really know - haven't come across it that often, and never used it myself so far but it's in the dictionary. I remember the first time I encountered it - I don't remember the book, but there was this nun, Mother Superior of the convent I think, telling the protagonist (a police detective) that she liked a man with chutzpah. :) I didn't even have to look it up since the meaning was so clear from the context.

EDIT: It means cheek and audacity (sort of).

[Lokasenna]

It has now and then been necessary to bring some of the ridiculous social climbers one sees around university towns down a peg or two, and I am thankful to the French for giving me the ability to call such a person a nouveau riche little parvenu... it sounds gratifyingly insulting.

[PeterL]

from Medieval Latin assassīnus, from Arabic hashshāshīn, plural of hashshāsh one who eats hashish
latin first. the Arabic explanation does not make sense. 'the one that eats hashish' what does that mean?


One eats hashish to become intoxicated by it. Eating hashish was as common as smoking it until fairly recently. The high is somewhat different, but it takes longer to take effect.


More specifically, the Hashshāshīn were a group of professional murderers who were headquartered on a mountain in Persia and led by Hasan ibn al-Sabah. He took orders for assassinations from anywhere and sent one or more of his men, and they were effect. There's a lot more to the story. The Hashshāshīn were trained and kept well intoxicated, and they were persuaded that they were already in Paradise. When one was to be sent on a job, he was not given any more hashish, so he became aware of the situation, and he desired to return to Paradise.

[PeterL]

Chutzpah - from Hebrew, I think.

It isn't an English word. It is a Yiddish word that many Jews use, but that's it. In English we say "balls".

[Dreamwoven]

It isn't an English word. It is a Yiddish word that many Jews use, but that's it. In English we say "balls".
Its in the English version of Wikipedia, so my view would be its OK to use.

[mona amon]

It isn't an English word. It is a Yiddish word that many Jews use, but that's it. In English we say "balls".

It is in my Concise Oxford English Dictionary - good enough for me. But how do you tell if a word has entered the English language, anyway?

[PeterL]

It is in my Concise Oxford English Dictionary - good enough for me. But how do you tell if a word has entered the English language, anyway?

It not in my dictionary.

[cacian]

two more words:
cliché
and
clique.
they could almost be the pair made in heaven. :)

[Primavera888]

"robot", it is definietely isn't the English word:)

[cacian]

It has now and then been necessary to bring some of the ridiculous social climbers one sees around university towns down a peg or two, and I am thankful to the French for giving me the ability to call such a person a nouveau riche little parvenu... it sounds gratifyingly insulting.

or even les arrivistes?! that is a word that came out in the eighties.

[cacian]

"robot", it is definietely isn't the English word:)

is it not? Russian perhaps? it sounds it. they have a word they use for 'work' and that is 'rabbout'. it is similar to 'robot'.

[PeterL]

"robot", it is definietely isn't the English word:)

Origin:
< Czech, coined by Karel Čapek in the play R.U.R. (1920) from the base robot-, as in robota compulsory labor, robotník peasant owing such labor

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/robot?s=t

[cacian]

Origin:
< Czech, coined by Karel Čapek in the play R.U.R. (1920) from the base robot-, as in robota compulsory labor, robotník peasant owing such labor

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/robot?s=t

Hi Peterl and thank you for the link.
about the word 'coin' it is an interesting word. a similar word in French COIN means corner. I wonder if it is latin/French origin.

[PeterL]

Hi Peterl and thank you for the link.
about the word 'coin' it is an interesting word. a similar word in French COIN means corner. I wonder if it is latin/French origin.


Word Origin & History

coin
1304, from O.Fr. coigne "a wedge, cornerstone," from L. cuneus "a wedge." Die for stamping metal was wedge-shaped, and the word came to mean "thing stamped, a piece of money" by late 14c. To coin a phrase is c.1590. The "cornerstone" sense is now usually quoin.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/coin?s=ts


I'd have to dig deeper, but I think that a wedge and a French corner have the same origin in coigne.
I looked further, and the French word "coin" is there.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=coin
coin (n.) Look up coin at Dictionary.com
c.1300, "a wedge," from Old French coing (12c.) "a wedge; stamp; piece of money; corner, angle," from Latin cuneus "a wedge." The die for stamping metal was wedge-shaped, and the English word came to mean "thing stamped, a piece of money" by late 14c. (a sense that already had developed in French).

[DieterM]

"Spritzer" as in "White wine spritzer" is one of my favourites because it is very clearly Viennese. Order a "Spritzer" in Germany, and people will look at you rather oddly, so it is not German but really and genuinely Austrian/Viennese (my home country). I came across the word in some New-York-based novels and immediately fell in love with the fact that it seems to be used in New York. Now "spritzen" is a German verb meaning "to splash", and in Vienna we use the noun "Spritzer" ("splasher") when we talk about white wine mixed with bubbly mineral water. I guess the word was introduced after '38 when many Austrian jews had to leave Vienna and settled in the USA.

Nice topic btw!

[cacian]

"Spritzer" as in "White wine spritzer" is one of my favourites because it is very clearly Viennese. Order a "Spritzer" in Germany, and people will look at you rather oddly, so it is not German but really and genuinely Austrian/Viennese (my home country). I came across the word in some New-York-based novels and immediately fell in love with the fact that it seems to be used in New York. Now "spritzen" is a German verb meaning "to splash", and in Vienna we use the noun "Spritzer" ("splasher") when we talk about white wine mixed with bubbly mineral water. I guess the word was introduced after '38 when many Austrian jews had to leave Vienna and settled in the USA.

Nice topic btw!

thanks Dieter.
do you think ' Spritzer' was a coincidence that it was introduced after the jews left or does he another hidden meaning?
sprit and zer could they mean something separately like sprit sounds like spit? just trying haha. :)

[Dreamwoven]

Spritzer may well be a Habsburg word used by most people at the time for carbonised water, but not in any negative or down-putting sense, it was fashionable to drink chilled alone or with wine and other stronger drinks. Vienna in the 1930s before the Anschluss (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluss) was for many Jews who fled to England and from there to the USA a place of great culture and renown. It was indeed seen as the capital of Europe, not just Austria. My Aunt who was Hungarian used to go to Vienna from Slovakia where she lived for concerts and musicals. She was also a flapper (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flapper) in the 1920s. The older generation of Jewish Hungarians were born when the Dual Monarchy was still significant as having made Hungarian a language equal to German in the Habsburg Empire. Most jews learned Hungarian as their mother tongue. Of course, the Anschluss changed all that and those Jews who stayed after that were treated abominably.

[MANICHAEAN]

A goy fluffer.

[Pompey Bum]

Loan words from the various indigenous peoples of the Americas include: tobacco, chocolate, barbecue, cigar, cannibal, shark, hurricane, canoe, moose, raccoon, chipmunk, pecan, cashew, and mugwump. "Uh-oh" may or may not be one as well (at least someone said something similar when Columbus turned up :) ).

[Dreamwoven]

My father fled Slovakia while he could. He spoke Hungarian as many Jews did after the Hungarian language was given equal status with German. He once told me he had made carbonated water to sell after he was excluded from finishing his education at the Gymnasium.

[Nick Capozzoli]

Loan words from the various indigenous peoples of the Americas include: tobacco, chocolate, barbecue, cigar, cannibal, shark, hurricane, canoe, moose, raccoon, chipmunk, pecan, cashew, and mugwump. "Uh-oh" may or may not be one as well (at least someone said something similar when Columbus turned up :) ).

I wonder about "mugwump." This expression was explained to me in my 9th Grade civics class as a sarcastic coinage to describe US political fence sitters who sat on a fence with their "mugs" facing one way and their "wumps" (i.e. "rumps") the other way. It may sound like a Native American word.

[Pompey Bum]

I wonder about "mugwump." This expression was explained to me in my 9th Grade civics class as a sarcastic coinage to describe US political fence sitters who sat on a fence with their "mugs" facing one way and their "wumps" (i.e. "rumps") the other way. It may sound like a Native American word.



I wonder about "mugwump." This expression was explained to me in my 9th Grade civics class as a sarcastic coinage to describe US political fence sitters who sat on a fence with their "mugs" facing one way and their "wumps" (i.e. "rumps") the other way. It may sound like a Native American word.


That's a cute folk etymology. Like most such explanations, it's better than the truth. But Mugwump comes from an Algonquian word that means "important person" or "great chief." Your version probably originates from 1884, when certain Republicans saw themselves as powerful enough not to have to support James Blaine's presidential candidacy, and became known as mugwumps. Nowadays (Harry Potter notwithstanding) it means something more like a political boss or hack.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=mugwump

[Ecurb]

In "Ty Cobb's Wild 10-Month Fight To Live" by Al Stump (one of the great sports profiles), Cobb often used the word "Mugwump" as a sort of generic insult. I'm glad I finally found out what it means. Thanks.