A-Z of English words with surprising origins
On 27 Nov, 11:24, Miles Vaches wrote:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main...08/11/26/bowor....
A-Z of English words with surprising origins
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 26/11/2008
Award-winning etymologist Henry Hitchings thought he did, until he
studied the origins of English
When I set out to write a study of the history of words, I thought I
had a decent grasp of where even the most curious English ones
originate. Those with the prefix al- - as in alchemy and alcohol -
often have Arabic roots, and many seafaring terms - skipper, schooner,
land-lubber - are Dutch.
Many words in common usage, like dachshund, flamenco and tattoo, have
foreign origins
But there were plenty of surprises. Who knew that marmalade, for
instance, while eternally associated in my mind with Paddington Bear,
is in fact Portuguese? So here is an A-to-Z of some of my favourite
English words that have been absorbed from and inspired by other
languages.
A is for…
Avocado, which comes from Nahuatl, a language spoken by the Aztecs.
Their name for it, ahuacatl, also meant ''testicle".
B is for…
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Bonsai. Although we think the tree-cultivating art is Japanese, it
originated in China.
C is for…
Coleslaw. Supposedly eaten in ancient Rome, it comes from the Dutch
kool-salade (''cabbage salad").
D is for…
Dachshund, a compound of the German Dachs (''badger") and Hund
(''dog"). Originally the breed was known in Germany as Dachs Krieger,
or ''badger warrior".
E is for…
Enthusiasm. From the Greek entheos, which means ''to be within
energy", suggesting being spiritually ''possessed".
F is for…
Flamenco, from the Spanish name for a Fleming (i.e. someone from
Flanders).
G is for…
Goulash, an invention by Hungarian herdsmen whose name derives from
gulyas.
H is for…
Hotchpotch, used in Norman legal jargon to denote property collected
and then divided.
I is for…
Intelligentsia, a collective term for the intellectual class which
derives from Latin but came to us from Russian.
J is for…
Juggernaut, Sanskrit for a giant carriage used to transport an image
of the god Krishna.
K is for…
Kangaroo, from gangurru, the large black male roo in the Guugu
Yimidhirr language.
L is for…
Lilac, which comes from the Persian nilak, meaning ''of a bluish
shade".
M is for…
Mandarin. The name of the fruit feels as though it ought to be
Chinese, but may well have come from Swedish.
N is for…
Namby-pamby. Nickname of the 18th-century poet Ambrose Phillips,
coined by the satirist Henry Careybecause of his sentimental verses
O is for…
Onslaught, from the Dutch aanslag - related to a word in Old High
German for a shower.
P is for…
Penguin, a compound of two Welsh words, pen and gwyn, which mean
''head" and ''white" - even though penguins have black heads. It is
likely that 'penguin' was at one time the name of similar, now extinct
bird which had a white patch near its bill.
Q is for…
Quack can be traced to the Dutch kwaksalver, literally someone who
hawked ointments.
R is for…
Regatta, from Venetian dialect, it originally signified any kind of
contest.
S is for…
Sabotage. Supposed to derive from the tendency of striking workers to
damage machinery by throwing shoes into it - sabot being an old French
word for a wooden shoe.
T is for…
Tattoo, Captain Cook saw Polynesian islanders marking their skin with
dark pigment. Long before that the word signified a signal or
drumbeat, a Dutch expression for 'Close off the tap', used to recall
tippling soldiers.
U is for…
Umbrella, appeared in English as early as 1609 (in a letter by John
Donne). In the middle of the 18th century the device was adopted by
the philanthropist Jonas Hanway as a protection against the London
rain.
V is for…
Vanilla, ''little sheath" in Spanish.
W is for…
Walnut, a modern rendering of the Old English walhnutu ('foreign
nut'), so known because it grew mainly in Italy.
X is for…
Xebec, a little vessel with three masts, from the Arabic shabbak, a
small warship.
Y is for…
Yogurt, a mispronunciation of a Turkish word.
Z is for…
Zero, whose immediate source is French or Italian, but its origins are
in Arabic - and before that in the Sanskrit word sunya, which meant
both ''nothing" and ''desert".
• 'The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English' by Henry
Hitchings (John Murray Publishing, £16.99) is available from Telegraph
Bookshop for £14.99 + £1.25 p&p. To order, call 0844 871 1515 or go to
books.telegraph.co.uk
Part of what makes English such a beautiful language.
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