|
Reborrowed
Reborrowing is the process where a word travels from one language to another and then back to the originating language in a different form or with a different meaning. This path is indicated by A → B → A, where A is the originating language, and can take many forms. A reborrowed word is sometimes called a ''Rückwanderer'' (German, a 'returner'). The result is generally a doublet, where the reborrowed word exists alongside the original word, though in other cases the original word may have died out. Alternatively, a specific sense of a borrowed word can be reborrowed as a semantic loan; for example, English ''pioneer'' was borrowed from Middle French in the sense of "digger, foot soldier, pedestrian", then acquired the sense of "early colonist, innovator" in English, which was reborrowed into French.''The Oxford Guide to Etymology,'' by Philip Durkin, 5. Lexical borrowing, 5.1 Basic concepts and terminologypp. 212–215/ref> In other cases the term may be calqued (loan translat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Craic
''Craic'' ( ) or ''crack'' is a term for news, gossip, fun, entertainment, and enjoyable conversation, particularly prominent in Ireland. It is often used with the definite article – ''the'' craic – as in the expression "What's the craic?" (meaning "How are you?" or "What's happening?"). The word has an unusual history; the Scots and English ''crack'' was borrowed into Irish as ''craic'' in the mid-20th century and the Irish spelling was then reborrowed into English. Under either spelling, the term has attracted popularity and significance in Ireland. History The word ''crack'' is derived from the Middle English ''crak'', meaning "loud conversation, bragging talk". A sense of ''crack'' found in Northern England and Scotland meaning "conversation" or "news" produces expressions such as "What's the crack?", meaning "how are you?" or "have you any news?", similar to "what's up?", "how's it going?", or "what's the word?" in other regions. The context involving "news" and "g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doublet (linguistics)
In etymology, two or more words in the same language are called doublets or etymological twins or twinlings (or possibly triplets, and so forth) when they have different phonological forms but the same etymological root. Often, but not always, the words entered the language through different routes. Given that the kinship between words that have the same root and the same meaning is fairly obvious, the term is mostly used to characterize pairs of words that have diverged at least somewhat in meaning. For example, English ''pyre'' and ''fire'' are doublets with merely associated meanings despite both descending ultimately from the same Proto-Indo-European (PIE) word *'. Words with similar meanings but subtle differences contribute to the richness of modern English, and many of these are doublets. A good example consists of the doublets ''frail'' and ''fragile''. (These are both ultimately from the Latin adjective ', but ''frail'' evolved naturally through its slowly changing forms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semantic Loan
A semantic loan is a process of borrowing semantic meaning (rather than lexical items) from another language, very similar to the formation of calques. In this case, however, the complete word in the borrowing language already exists; the change is that its meaning is extended to include another meaning its existing translation has in the lending language. Calques, loanwords and semantic loans are often grouped roughly under the phrase "borrowing". Semantic loans often occur when two languages are in close contact, and takes various forms. The source and target word may be cognates, which may or may not share any contemporary meaning in common; they may be an existing loan translation or parallel construction (compound of corresponding words); or they may be unrelated words that share an existing meaning. Examples A typical example is the French word ''souris'', which means "mouse" (the animal). After the English word ''mouse'' acquired the additional sense of "computer mouse," wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |