Reborrowing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 is indicated by A→B→A, where A is the originating language.
In some cases the borrowing process can be more complicated and the words might move through different languages before coming back to the originating language.
The single move from one language to the other is called "loan" (see loanword). Reborrowing is the result of more than one loan, when the final recipient language is the same as the originating one.
[edit] Examples
| Old Norse: | klubba | → | English: | club | → | Swedish: | klubb ("association of people") | |||
| French: | tenez [1] | → | English: | tennis | → | French: | tennis (the sport) | |||
| French: | cotte | → | English: | riding coat | → | French: | redingote | → | English: | redingote |
| Greek: | κίνημα (kínēma, movement) | → | French: | cinéma | → | Greek: | σινεμά (sinemá, cinema) | |||
| Dutch: | bolwerk (bulwark, bastion) | → | French: | boulevard | → | Dutch: | boulevard ("broad avenue") | |||
| Dutch (Flemish) : | manneken "little man"[2] | → | French: | mannequin | → | Dutch: | mannequin ("catwalk model") | |||
| Middle Dutch : | snacken[3] "to gasp/bite at" /'snɑk-ən/ | → | English: | to snack[4] | → | Dutch: | snacken /'snæk-ən/ | |||
| English: | crack (news, gossip) | → | Irish: | craic (fun) | → | English: | craic | |||
| English: | animation | → | Japanese: | アニメ[5] (anime) | → | English: | anime (Japanese animation) |
[edit] Notes
- ^ Imperative form of the verb tenir, "to hold".
- ^ figuratively used in the Flemish textile industry for a model of a human figure on which clothing was created or displayed
- ^ De Vries, Jan W.; Willemyns, Roland & Burger, Peter (1993), Het verhaal van een taal (6th ed.), Amsterdam: Prometheus, p. 248, ISBN 9053334238
- ^ Etymology of "to snack" at www.etymonline.com
- ^ Borrowed from English directly as アニメーション (animēshon) and usually abbreviated to アニメ in a manner quite common in Japanese.
