Zompist Bboard Again

Oh, related to the question about deep dishes:

• EN mug → mug 'coffee mug'

And definitely not a beer mug; that's 'une chope'

Still from the same conversation:

• German Becher, ~mug → French bécher, 'laboratory beaker'.

Ares Land wrote: ↑Sun May 16, 2021 2:49 pm Still from the same conversation:

• German Becher, ~mug → French bécher, 'laboratory beaker'.

Interestingly enough, English beaker is cognate with German Becher (probably borrowed from Middle Dutch beker).

What makes you think it's borrowed from Dutch?

Shampoo comes from a Hindi word that just means 'massage!'.

Vijay wrote: ↑Sat May 22, 2021 7:17 pm What makes you think it's borrowed from Dutch?

Well Etymonline says that it's borrowed in the mid-14th century from Middle Dutch beker or ON bikarr, which are from Medieval Latin bicarium (cf. OS bikeri, OHG behhari, StG. Becher), but the date doesn't seem right for a borrowing from ON, and the vowel's wrong too.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Sat May 22, 2021 7:26 pm

Vijay wrote: ↑Sat May 22, 2021 7:17 pm What makes you think it's borrowed from Dutch?

Well Etymonline says that it's borrowed in the mid-14th century from Middle Dutch beker or ON bikarr, which are from Medieval Latin bicarium (cf. OS bikeri, OHG behhari, StG. Becher), but the date doesn't seem right for a borrowing from ON, and the vowel's wrong too.

The vowel being different would be nothing surprising at all for a borrowing. Maybe they meant it was either borrowed in the mid-14th century from Middle Dutch or borrowed earlier from Old Norse (i.e. mid-14th century was only meant to be applied to Middle Dutch).

Hispano-Arabic qutˁún 'cotton' was borrowed into Western Basque kutun (B, G, HN) 'pincushion; amulet', but in northern varieties the meaning drifted to 'letter, writing' and even 'book' due to cotton being the raw material from which paper was made.

An interesing one from LGBT slang.

• FR femme "woman" (also "wife") → EN femme "feminine lesbian or queer woman"

The word also lost its irregular pronunciation, from /fam/ to /fɛm/.

Similarly, Spanish macho "male" > English macho "exaggeratedly masculine".

FR gauche "clumsy" (also "left" as opposed to "right") → EN gauche "socially clumsy, lacking in etiquette"
FR boutique "shop" → EN boutique "upmarket, luxury shop"

Two connected ones:
FR grappe "bunch, cluster" → EN grape "fruit of the vine" (since it grows in clusters)
FR raisin "grape" → EN raisin "dried grape"

I recently learned that the "nip" in "catnip" does in fact mean... catnip.

Today I learnt that nip is etymologically identical to nepeta; I had always thought it was a coincidence. I had always assumed it was because cats "nip" (connected to "nibble", maybe) at it.

French jour has been borrowed into Swedish with the meaning "on call duty".

German uses Shitstorm only for a shitstorm of negative comments in social media or in the comments on a website.

Imralu wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:30 pm German uses Shitstorm only for a shitstorm of negative comments in social media or in the comments on a website.

Does it have any other meaning in English?

Qwynegold wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 1:25 am

Imralu wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:30 pm German uses Shitstorm only for a shitstorm of negative comments in social media or in the comments on a website.

Does it have any other meaning in English?

To me it's much more broadly applicable, not limited to online fracas (fracases?). Certainly when I learned it in the '80s, that wasn't even an option. A term I'm fond of, and am glad to hear has been borrowed by other languages

fusijui wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 2:42 am

Qwynegold wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 1:25 am

Imralu wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:30 pm German uses Shitstorm only for a shitstorm of negative comments in social media or in the comments on a website.

Does it have any other meaning in English?

To me it's much more broadly applicable, not limited to online fracas (fracases?). Certainly when I learned it in the '80s, that wasn't even an option. A term I'm fond of, and am glad to hear has been borrowed by other languages

Same thought here - it is more widely applicable to a variety of clusterfucks than just online ones.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:27 pm

fusijui wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 2:42 am To me it's much more broadly applicable, not limited to online fracas (fracases?). Certainly when I learned it in the '80s, that wasn't even an option. A term I'm fond of, and am glad to hear has been borrowed by other languages

Same thought here - it is more widely applicable to a variety of clusterfucks than just online ones.

Oh huh, I wasn't aware.

Here's another loan word: In Swedish kick is used in the sense of "getting a kick out of something" or to mean "a jolt".

German Kick is similar. Besides meaning "thrill", it can also mean a literal kick, but only in limited contexts (such as football or martial arts).

"hit," as in "popular" or "successful," is another English term that has cought on in languages that have not borrowed other meanings of the word. Gosh, people must thing English is just a really violent language.