BORROWING

BORROWING
1. Taking a word or phrase from one language into another, or from one variety of a language into another
.
2. The item so taken, such as arpeggio from ITALIAN into English, and schlock from YIDDISH into AmE, then into BrE. Borrowing is a major aspect of language change, but the term itself is a misnomer: it presumes repayment, whereas there is no quid pro quo between languages. The item borrowed is not returned, because it never left the source language and in any case changes in the transfer. Compare LOAN, LOANWORD.

Patterns of borrowing

Any language, under appropriate circumstances, borrows lexical material from other languages, usually absorbing the exotic items or translating them into native equivalents. Some languages borrow more than others, and borrow more from some sources than others. English has borrowed massively from FRENCH, LATIN, and GREEK, significantly from Italian, SPANISH, GERMAN, DANISH, and DUTCH, and to varying degrees from every other language with which it has come in contact. The Cannon corpus of 13,683 new English words shows that this process continues unabated; the 1,029 transfers listed in the corpus entered English from 84 languages (1987–9) as follows: French 25%, Spanish and Japanese both 8%, Italian 6.3%, Latin 6.1%, Greek 6%, German 5.5%, and 77 languages contributed 1–39 items each. Here, only the Japanese element breaks the traditional pattern, in which European languages predominate.

Reasons for borrowing

The preconditions for borrowing are: (1) Close contact in especially multilingual situations, making the mixing of elements from different languages more or less commonplace. (2) The domination of some languages by others (for cultural, economic, political, religious, or other reasons), so that material flows ‘down’ from those ‘high’ languages into ‘lower’ vernaculars. (3) A sense of need, users of one language drawing material from another for such purposes as education and technology. (4) Prestige associated with using words from another language. (5) A mix of some or all of these. Individuals may use an exotic expression because it seems to them to be the most suitable term available, the only possible term (with no equivalent in any other language), or the most impressive term. Much of the vocabulary of French entered English in the Middle Ages because French was the language of political and social power and the channel through which mainland European culture reached Britain. Much of the vocabulary of Latin entered English during the Renaissance (directly or via French) because Latin was the European language of religion, education, and learning. While so prestigious a language could provide time-hallowed resources, there was little encouragement to develop the resources of relatively insignificant vernaculars like English. In the late 20c, English sometimes serves in its turn as a kind of Latin in the main because both have been languages of empire. Thus, as part of the Malaysian Government's educational programme based on Malay (intended to unify the nation's ethnic groups), the already polyglot scientific and technical vocabulary of English has been massively adopted into Malay.

Reasons for resisting borrowing

Listeners and readers have their own responses to the use of an exotic term, and these responses affect their inclination to repeat it. Although such reactions are not properties of the item itself, the associations formed may affect its new use, so that it may remain in a limited field, such as French œuvre and auteur in English literary criticism. Such a term may not be understood outside its field or may be considered pretentious. However, some items are so universally apt that they swiftly occupy a niche in the language at large, such as French garage and cliché. In addition, there may be personal and communal reasons for resisting the influx of foreignisms: for example, a protectionist language policy (as in Iceland), on the grounds that the community is small and linguistically fragile; a sense of past oppression (as in such ex-colonial countries as Tanzania, where SWAHILI is promoted as a national medium rather than English); and pride in the home language and culture (as in Iran). All three factors were present in the Canadian province of Quebec in the 1970s, when official legislation militated against English influence on French.

Diffusion and adaptation

Borrowing is sometimes simple and limited (a few words taken from Language A into Language B), sometimes complex and extensive (much of the vocabulary of A becoming available for use in B, and perhaps C and D as well, as with SANSKRIT in India, ARABIC in West Asia, and Latin in Europe). What appears to be a single process affecting two languages may be multiple, in that an item may be diffused as a pilgrim word into a range of languages, usually adapting as it goes: (1) Greek phantasía has become French fantaisie, German Fantasie, Italian fantasia, PORTUGUESE fantazia, Spanish fantasía, and English fancy, along with fantasy, fantasia, and archaic phantasy. (2) Latin planta (sprout, offspring) passed into Italian as pianta, Old English and Old French as plante, Spanish llanta, Portuguese chanta, German Pflanze, WELSH plant, and Old Irish as cland, whence it became GAELIC clann (offspring, family, stock, race). Both plant and clan are now English words. (3) Sanskrit dhyāna (meditation) passed into Pali as jhāna, into Chinese as ch'an, then into Japanese as zen. Both dhyana and Zen are now English words.

There is a continuum in borrowing, from words that remain relatively alien and unassimilated in pronunciation and spelling (as with blasé and soirée from French), through those that become more or less acclimatized (as with elite rather than élite, while retaining a Frenchlike pronunciation, and garage with its various pronunciations) to forms that have been assimilated so fully that their exotic origin is entirely obscured (as with cockroach, from Spanish cucaracha, and chocolate through Spanish from Nahuatl chocolatl).

A word taken from a typologically or genetically related language would appear to be more easily assimilated than one taken from a very different kind of language. Like English, Spanish is an Indo-European language written in the Roman alphabet, and so the absorption of items like armada and guerrilla into English offers few problems. However, some elements may be too alien for convenient absorption: for example, although Mexican Spanish chili and taco have been easily absorbed, the phrase frijoles refritos has posed a problem, because the order of noun and adjective and the double plural are not native to English. As a result, the loan translation refried beans has become the choice for non-bilinguals. On the other hand, Chinese is a tone language usually written ideographically; in theory, this should deter transfer, but large-scale English—Chinese and Chinese—English borrowing has gone ahead without much difficulty, English for example acquiring chow mein, ginseng, kaolin, taipan, and tea/char.

Linguistic effects of borrowing

Transfers may have an influence on such basic aspects of a language as its pronunciation, spelling, syntax, and semantics. The local system usually overwhelms the acquisition; thus, when numbers of items with aspirated voiced stops came into English, spelled with h, the consonantal system remained unchanged, bhang being pronounced like bang, dhow like dow, ghat like gat. However, transfers into English from French may be pronounced as closely as possible to the French (as with raison d'être, sabotage), or with concessions to French and adaptations into English (the various pronunciations of garage). Morphological impact may introduce different plural forms: for example, such sets as Greek criterion/criteria, thesis/theses, Latin appendix/appendices, stimulus/stimuli, Italian graffito/graffiti, and Hebrew cherub/cherubim, kibbutz/kibbutzim. However, such adoptions are not always stable, and conflict may occur between foreign and nativized forms, as with cactus/cacti∼cactus. See CLASSICAL ENDING. Perhaps the largest morphological impact on English has been the addition of French, Latin, and Greek affixes such as dis-, pro-, anti-, -ity, -ism, and such combining forms as bio-, micro-, -metry, -logy, which replaced many of the original Germanic affixes in English. Only rarely do affixes from other sources establish themselves to any degree in English: for example, the suffix -nik, from RUSSIAN, as in kolkhoznik, and Yiddish, as in kibbutznik, and nativized, as in beatnik and peacenik.

Kinds of words borrowed

Nouns make up the highest proportion of transfers, followed by adjectives. Verbs are usually few, with even fewer adverbs and grammatical words like pronouns. However, the replacement of the Old English third-person plural hīe by Old Danish they shows that such transfers sometimes occur. The 1,029 recent transfers in the Cannon corpus break down into 916 nouns (such as art trouvé, honcho, pita), 86 adjectives (such as gauchesco, kitschy, Namibian), 12 verbs (such as francicize, nosh, vinify), 3 interjections (arigato from Japanese, ciao from Italian, inshallah from Arabic), and 12 bound forms (including atto- from Danish/Norwegian, -nik from Russian, and ur- from German). This does not, however, mean that nouns are most and interjections least easily transferred; nouns in any case predominate in a language. In terms of such proportions, interjections are at least as easily borrowed, when the conditions are appropriate, as the worldwide spread of AmE OK testifies. Phrases are also commonly transferred, as with drame à clef and roman à clef from French into English, Sentences are less common, although English has a tradition of using short Latin and French sentences like Tempus fugit and C'est la vie.

See AFRIKAANS, BANTU, BISOCIATION, CALQUE, CHINA, CLASSICAL COMPOUND, CODEMIXING AND CODE-SWITCHING, COMBINING FORM, DOUBLET, ETYMOLOGY, FOREIGNISM, INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES, INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC VOCABULARY, JAPAN, LANGUAGE CHANGE, MAORI, NEOLOGISM, NONCE WORD, NORSE, PHILOLOGY. ROMANI, TAGALOG.

BORROWINGS INTO ENGLISH

In the following sections, arranged according to the world's major regions, is a wide selection of languages from which at various times and in various ways English has borrowed. The samples are organized so as to suggest the proportions in which material from other languages is present in English, but no section seeks to be exhaustive and the historical dimension (for example, the periods when particular words entered English) is not explored. In some cases, the intermediary languages through which material has passed are indicated.

Oceania.

1. Australian Aboriginal: billabong, boomerang, corroboree, kangaroo, koala, kookaburra, murree, wallaby, wombat, yabber, yakka/yacker
.
2. Polynesian, including: Hawaiian aloha, heiau, hula, kapu, lanai, lei, muumuu, ukulele/ukelele, wahine; MAORI aroha, iwi, kauri, kiwi, Maoritanga, marae, moa, ngati, pakeha, pohutukawa, tangata whenua, tangi, toheroa, tuatara, whakapapa, whare; Tahitian tattoo; Tongan kava, taboo/tabu.

Africa.

1. Afrikaans: aardvaark, aardwolf, apartheid, Boer, commando, dorp, kop, kopje/koppie, outspan, spoor, springbok, trek
.
2. BANTU languages, including Kongo, Swahili, Tswana, Xhosa, Zulu: boma, bwana, chimpanzee, impala, impi, indaba, mamba, marimba, tsetse, zombie
.
3. West African languages, including Ewe, Fanti, Hausa, Mandingo, mainly through the Atlantic creoles: anansi, gumbo, harmattan, juju, juke(box), mumbo-jumbo, okra, voodoo, yam; perhaps banjo, jazz
.
4. Malagasy: raffia.

5. Khoisan languages: gnu, quagga.

The Americas.

1. Algonquian, including Abnaki, Cree, Micmac, Ojibway, Narragansett, Shawnee: caucus, chipmunk, hickory, manitou, moccasin, moose, muskrat, opossum, papoose, pecan, pemmican, persimmon, pow-wow, rac(c)oon, skunk, squash, squaw, succotash, toboggan, tomahawk, wampum, wapiti, wigwam, woodchuck
.
2. Aleut and Inuit: anorak, igloo, kayak, parka
.
3. Araucanian through Spanish: coypu, poncho
.
4. Arawakan, especially through Spanish: barbecue, cacique, hammock, iguana, potato, tobacco, savanna(h)
.
5. Carib, especially through Spanish: cannibal, canoe, hurricane, macaw, maize, manatee, papaya/pa(w)paw, peccary, tomalley, yucca
.
6. Creek: catalpa, tupelo.

7. Nahuatl through Spanish: avocado, axolotl, cacao/cocoa, chili/chilli, chocolate, coyote, mescal, ocelot, peyote, teocalli, tomato
.
8. Quechua through Spanish: alpaca, charqui/jerky, coca(ine), condor, guanaco, guano, llama, pampas, puma, quinine, vicuna
.
9. Tupi-Guaraní through French, Portuguese, Spanish: buccaneer, cashew, cayenne, cougar, ipecac(uanha), jaguar, manioc, petunia, tapioca, tapir, toucan.

Asia: Western.

1. Arabic, through European languages: admiral, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alembic, algebra, alkali, almanac, apricot, arsenal, assassin, assegai, attar, aubergine, azimuth, bedouin, caliph, cipher/cypher, emir, gazelle, genie/jinn, ghoul, giraffe, hazard, jasmine, kismet, Koran, lemon, magazine, minaret, mohair, monsoon, Moslem, nadir, saffron, sash, scarlet, sequin, sheik(h), sherbet, simoom/simoon, sirocco, sofa, syrup, talisman, tariff, zero; direct or through Afro-Asian languages: ayatollah, harem, hashish, henna, hooka(h), imam, Islam, jihad, kaffir, muezzin, mufti, mujahedin, mullah, Muslim, nadir, Qur'ān, safari, sahib, salaam, Sharia, shaykh, zenith
.
2. Aramaic: abbot, kaddish, pharisee
.
3. Hebrew, especially through Greek, Latin, and Yiddish: alphabet, amen, bedlam, camel, cherub, cinnamon, hosanna, Jehovah, manna, maudlin, nard, nitre, rabbi, seraph, shemozzle, simony, sodomy; more or less direct: behemoth, cabal, Cabala, chazan/haz(z)an, golem, hallelujah, leviathan, messiah, sabbath, shalom, shibboleth, Talmud, Torah, Yahweh
.
4. Persian through European languages: arsenic, azure, check, checkmate, magus/magic, paradise, peach, pilaf, pistachio, spinach, talc; direct or through Asian languages: bazaar, caravan/caravanserai, dervish, durbar, jackal, khaki, kiosk, lilac, maidan, mogul, pilau/pulao, pyjamas/pajamas, shah, shawl, sherbet, tiara, tulip, turban
.
5. Turkish/Tatar: bosh, caftan/kaftan, caique, coffee, cossack, divan, horde, kavass, khan, kumiss, mammoth, pasha, Tartar, turkey, turquoise, yoghurt/yogurt/(CanE) yoghourt.

Asia: Southern and South-Eastern.

1. Hindi/Urdu: bungalow, crore, dacoit, deodar, dinghy, dungaree, ghee, gymkhana, lakh/lac, loot, paisa, pakora, Raj, samo(o)sa, shampoo, tandoori, tom-tom, wallah
.
2. Javanese: bantam, batik, gamelan, junk
.
3. . Malay: amok/amuck, bamboo, caddy, camphor, cassowary, cockatoo, dugong, durian, gecko, gingham, gong, kampong/compound, kapok, kris, lory, mangosteen, organgutan/orang-outang, paddy, pangolin, rattan, sago, sarong
.
4. . Malayalam: betel, coir, copra, singer, teak.

5. . Marathi: mongoose
.
6. Sanskrit through various languages: ashram, avatar, banya, banyan, beryl, brahmin, carmine, cheetah, chintz, chutney, crimson, juggernaut, jungle, jute, lacquer, mandarin, palanquin, pundit, sapphire, sugar, suttee; more or less direct: ahimsa, asana, ashrama, atman, avatara, bodhisattva, brahmana, Buddha, chakra, guru, hatha yoga, karma, lingam, maharaja(h), mahatma, mantra, Maya, nirvana, raja(h), rani/ranee, satyagraha, sutra, swastika, yantra, yoga, yogasana
.
7. . Sinhala: anaconda, tourmaline
.
8. TAGALOG: boondock, ylang-ylang
.
9. . Tamil: catamaran, cheroot, curry, mango, mulligatawny, pariah
.
10. . Telugu: bandicoot.

Asia: Central and Eastern.

1. Chinese languages: china, chin-chin, chopsticks, chopsuey, chow chow, chow mein, fan-tan, ginseng, gung-ho, kaolin, ketchup/catsup, kowtow, kung fu, litchi/lichee/lychee, loquat, mahjong, pekoe, sampan, tai chi, taipan, Tao, tea, yang, yen, yin
.
2. Japanese: aikido, banzai, bonsai, bushido, futon, geisha, haiku, harakiri, judo, jujitsu, Kabuki, kamikaze, kimono, koan, mikado, sake, samisen, samurai, sayonara, Shinto, shogun, soy(a), sushi, teriyaki, tofu, tycoon, yen, Zen
.
3. Tibetan: lama, yak, yeti
.
4. Tungus: shaman.

Europe: the Celtic languages.

1. Breton through French: bijou, dolmen, menhir
.
2. Celtic before Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, and Cornish, and through Latin, French, and Old English: ambassador/embassy, bannock, bard, bracket, breeches, car/carry/career/carriage/cargo/carpenter/charge, crag, druid, minion, peat, piece, vassal/valet/varlet.

3. Cornish: porbeagle, wrasse
.
4. Gaelic, general: bog, cairn, clarsach, coronach, crag, crannog, gab/gob, galore, skene, usquebaugh/whisk(e)y; Irish: banshee, blarney, brogue, colleen, hooligan, leprechaun, lough, macushla, mavourneen, poteen, shamrock, shebeen, shillelagh, smithereens, spalpeen, Tory.

5. Scottish: caber, cailleach, cairngorm, clachan, clan, claymore, corrie, glen, loch, lochan, pibroch, plaid, ptarmigan, slogan, sporran, strath, trews, trousers
.
6. Welsh: bug, coracle, corgi, cromlech, cwm, eisteddfod, flannel, flummery.

Europe: the Germanic languages.

1. Danish: smørrebrød/smorrebrod
.
2. Dutch, including Flemish and Low German (but not Afrikaans): bluff, boor, boss, brandy, bully, bumpkin, clamp, clipper, coleslaw, cookie, cruise, dapper, derrick, dope, drill, drum, easel, frolic, golf, grime, hunk, kink, landscape, loiter, poppycock, rant, runt, scow, skipper, sled, sledge, sleigh, slim, smack, smuggle, snap, snoop, splint, spook, stoop, yacht, yawl
.
3. German: blitz(krieg), dachshund, fahrenheit, flak, frankfurter, glockenspiel, gneiss, hamburger, hamster, kaffeeklatsch, kindergarten, kitsch, leberwurst, leitmotiv, nix, pretzel, quartz, realpolitik, sauerkraut, schadenfreude, schmaltz, schnitzel, schwa, strafe, waltz, weltanschauung, weltgeist, yodel, zeitgeist
.
4. Icelandic: auk, eider, geyser, saga.

5. Norse: anger, balderdash, bing, bleak, blether, blink, bloom, blunder, blur, call, clamber, creek, crook, die, dirt, dowdy, doze, dregs, egg, fellow, flat, flaunt, flaw, fleck, flimsy, gasp, gaunt, gaze, girth, glint, glitter, gloat, happen, harsh, inkling, kick, kilt, law, leg, loan, meek, midden, muck, muggy, nasty, nudge, oaf, odd, raise, root, scalp, scant, scowl, seat, skerry, skewer, skid, skill, skin, skull, sky, sniff, snub, squall, squeal, take, they, thrall, thrift, thrust, ugly, vole, want, weak, window
.
6. Norwegian: fjord/fiord, floe, kraken, krill, lemming, ski, slalom
.
7. Scots, in English at large: balmoral, burn, canny, carfuffle/kerfuffle, collie, cosy, eerie, eldritch, forebear, glamour, glengarry, gloaming, glower, gumption, guddle, lilt, pony, raid, rampage, uncanny, wee, weird, wizened, wraith; mainly in Scotland: ashet, bogle, bonnie, burn, cleg, dreich, dwam, fornent, furth of, glaikit, glaur, hochmagandy, howf, leal, lowp, outwith, scunner, speir, stot, thole, trauchle
.
8. Swedish: glogg, ombudsman, smörgåsbord/smorgasbord, tungsten
.
9. Yiddish: chutzpah, shlemiel, shlep, shlock, schmaltzy.

Europe: Greek.

1. Inflectional endings retained but spelt in the Latin style: abiogenesis, aegis, analysis, anemone, antithesis, automaton, charisma, cinema, crisis, criterion, cytokinesis, diagnosis, dogma, drama, electron, enigma, genesis, gnosis, hoi polloi, kerygma, lalophobia, magma, osteoporosis, phenomenon, photon, rhinoceros, rhododendron, stigma, synthesis, thesis.

2. With Latin endings: brontosaurus, chrysanthemum, diplodocus, hippopotamus, Pliohippus.

3. Endings dropped or adapted: agnostic, agnosticism, alphabet, alphabetic, analyst, analytic, anthocyanin, astrobleme, atheism, automatic, biologist, biology, blasphemy, charismatic, chemotherapy, chronobiology, cinematography, critic, criticism, dinosaur, dogmatic, dogmatism, dramatic, dramatist, electric, electronic, enigmatic, epistemic, epistemology, gene, genetic, herpetology, narcolepsy, odyssey, oligarchy, patriarch, phenomenology, photograph, pterodactyl, sympathomimetic
.
4. Modern: bouzouki, moussaka, ouzo, rebetika, sirtaki, souvlaki.

Europe: Latin.

1. Inflectional endings retained: addendum, albumen, apex, area, bacterium/bacteria, cactus, calix, camera, cancer, circus, colossus, complex, datum/data, discus, equilibrium, fauna, flora, formula, fungus, genius, genus, homunculus, honorarium, inertia, interim, latex, locus, medium/media, memorandum, momentum, onus, opera, ovum, pauper, pendulum, peninsula, propaganda, radium, referendum, series, simile, simplex, status, stimulus, terminus, vertigo, victor
.
2. Actual inflected Latin verbs used as nouns: audio, audit, caveat, exeunt, fiat, floruit, imprimatur, mandamus, video
.
3. Fixed phrases: ad hoc, a posteriori, de facto, de jure, extempore, (ex) post facto, post mortem, quid pro quo, sine die
.
4. Binomials: Homo sapiens, Pax Britannica, miles gloriosus, gluteus maximus
.
5. Endings dropped or adapted, often through French: add, addition, additive, agent, agentive, aqueduct, candle, colo(u)r, colossal, consider, contemplate, decide, decision, erupt, eruption, general, generic, hono(u)r, hono(u)rable, honorary, igneous, ignite, ignition, ignoble, illiteracy, illiterate, immoral, immortality, ingenious, ingenuity, literacy, literate, literature, meditate, meditation, meditative, memorable, memory, moment, momentary, momentous, moral, morality, nobility, noble, pendulous, peninsular, revise, revision, sex, similar, similarity, temple.

Europe: the Romance languages.

1. French, Old: allow, bastard, beauty, beef, brush, castle, chivalry, choice, cloister, conquest, constraint, court, defeat, destroy, dinner, forest, frail, garden, govern, honest, hostel, interest, judge, loyal, marvel, mutton, paste, place, poison, pork, priest, push, quarter, quest, royal, stuff, sure, tempest, ticket, trick; Modern: aperitif/apértif, apresski/après-ski, avantgarde, bidet, bourgeois(ie), brasserie, brassiere/brassière, cafe/café, camouflage, canard, chateau/château, chef, chevalier, coup de grace/grâce, coup d'etat/état, croissant, cuisine, debacle/débacle/débâcle, debut/début, dessert, elite/élite, esprit de corps, etiquette, fiance(e)/fiancé(e), fricasee/fricassée, frisson, garage, gourmand, gourmet, hors d'oeuvre, hotel, joie de vivre, liaison, limousine, lingerie, marionette, morale, nee/née, objet d'art. parole, pastiche, patisserie/pâtisserie, petite, pirouette, prestige, regime/régime, risque/risqué, silhouette, souvenir, toilette, vignette, voyeur,

2. Italian, through French: balcony, battalion, brigade, charlatan, design, frigate, granite, squadron; direct: alto, arpeggio, bordello, broccoli, cameo, canto, confetti, contralto, cupola, ghetto, graffiti, grotto, imbroglio, lasagne, libretto, mozzarella, pasta, piano(forte), piazza, piccolo, pizza, pizzeria, pizzicato, ravioli, risotto, sonata, seraglio, soprano, spaghetti, staccato, stanza, studio, tagliatelle, vermicelli
.
3. Occitan/Provençal, usually through French: ballad, beret, cocoon, funnel, nutmeg, troubadour
.
4. Portuguese: albino, caste, marmalade, molasses, palaver
.
5. Spanish, adapted: alligator, anchovy, barricade, cask, cedilla, galleon, grenade, hoosegow, lariat, ranch, renegade, sherry, stampede, stevedore, vamoose; direct: adobe, armada, armadillo, borracho, bravado, chili, chinchilla, embargo, guerrilla, hacienda, mosquito, mulatto, negro, peccadillo, pinto, pronto, sarsaparilla, silo, sombrero, vigilante.

Europe: the Slavonic languages.

1. Czech: howitzer, pistol, robot
.
2. Polish: mazurka, polka
.
3. Russian: agitprop, borsch, cosmonaut, czar/tsar, dros(h)ky, glasnost, gulag, perestroika, pogrom, samizdat, samovar, steppe, troika, vodka.

Europe: the unique languages.

1. Basque through Spanish: chaparral, jai alai
.
2. Finnish: sauna
.
3. Hungarian: coach, czardas/csárdás, goulash, hussar, paprika, tokay
.
4. ROMANI: nark, pal.