# loanword / borrowing



## Gavril

In English, the term _loanword _is apparently a 19th-century calque of German _Lehnwort_. Many other European languages also express this concept using a word meaning "borrow"/"loan": Spanish _préstamo_, Slovenian _izposojenka_, Greek _dáneio_, etc. (Icelandic is an exception to this pattern, as it uses the term _tökuorð_ = "take-word".)

Is this use of "loan"/"borrow" in various languages' terminology based on a single original model (perhaps that of German)?

Also, how well does this pattern generally seem to fit with the existing semantics of words meaning "loan"/"borrow" in a given language? For example, as an English speaker, I would say (although there might be some English speakers who disagree) that the terms _loanword_ and _borrowing_ as used in historical linguistics don't fit very well with the usual meanings of our words _loan_ and _borrow_: both these words imply (or strongly suggest) that something must sooner or later be given back to its owner (as is the case with borrowed money or possessions), which obviously does not apply to loanwords. Does the word/phrase meaning "loanword" in other languages tend to involve a similar stretching of semantics?


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## apmoy70

Now that you mention it, it's true, that loan describes something that it should be returned to the owner (which owner?) and in linguistics this does not apply.
You do have a point there.
However, the MoGr neut. noun *«δάνειο»* [ˈðani.o] (neut.) derives from the same Classical neut. noun *«δάνειον» dáneiŏn* --> _loan, debt_, but has as ultimate source the Classical neut. noun *«δάνος» dánŏs* which means _gift_ (with obscure etymology, Beekes in fact suggests it's a foreign "loan" no pun intended).


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## Penyafort

In Catalan, the word used for Lehnwort/loanword is *manlleu*, from the verb *manllevar *'to borrow'. The origin of it is the Latin _manu levare_ 'take from the hand, take something that belonged to someone else'. When out of context, we talk about *manlleus lingüístics* (or *lèxics*, etc.), *mots manllevats *'borrowed words', and the like. As far as I know, only Occitan uses this word too (*manlevar*).

The word *préstec* 'loan', even if inaccurate, can also be used.


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## Gavril

Penyafort said:


> In Catalan, the word used for Lehnwort/loanword is *manlleu*, from the verb *manllevar *'to borrow'. The origin of it is the Latin _manu levare_ 'take from the hand, take something that belonged to someone else'. When out of context, we talk about *manlleus lingüístics* (or *lèxics*, etc.), *mots manllevats *'borrowed words', and the like. As far as I know, only Occitan uses this word too (*manlevar*).
> 
> The word *préstec* 'loan', even if inaccurate, can also be used.



Do you find _manlleu_ to be less inaccurate (in a linguistic context) than _préstec_?


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## ahvalj

Russian uses the word _заи́мствование/zaímstvovanʲije_ that means literally "borrowing", both as process and result. The German _Lehnwort_ would have been calqued as **_заимосло́вие/zaimoslóvʲije_ (cp. _заимода́тель/zaimodátʲelʲ_ "lender" and _предисло́вие/prʲedʲislóvʲije _"foreword"). I agree that this term isn't precise enough, but I can't imagine a verb with the meaning "to copy for oneself".


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## bearded

In Italian we say 'prèstito' for Lehnwort (see cognate Catalan 'prestec''), and the word usually refers to a sum of money that indeed ought to be given back some day....Anyhow, Latin 'praestare', from which the noun is derived,  not only meant 'to lend/borrow', but could also simply mean to give/deliver/put at disposal: hence without restitution, just as in linguistics.


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## fdb

By the way, “loan” words are in fact sometimes repaid to the “lender”. Sanskrit _caturaṅga_“chess” was borrowed into Middle Persian as čatrang, then from Persian to Arabic as šaṭranj, then from Arabic back into Persian as šatranj. This sort of thing is quite common in the case of Arabic and Persian. Repayment with interest, if you like.


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## Gavril

fdb said:


> By the way, “loan” words are in fact sometimes repaid to the “lender”. Sanskrit _caturaṅga_“chess” was borrowed into Middle Persian as čatrang, then from Persian to Arabic as šaṭranj, then from Arabic back into Persian as šatranj. This sort of thing is quite common in the case of Arabic and Persian. Repayment with interest, if you like.



I still wouldn't use the term _repayment_ here, unless Arabic speakers had given up the use of _šatranj _in the process of Persian adopting it.

Instead, you could say that _šatranj_ was re-copied (or copied back) into Persian.


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## djara

In Arabic, the term mostly used by lexicographers is _mu'arrab_ مُعَرَّب, adjective, short for _lafdh mu'arrab_ لفظ معرب, arabized word). 
They also use a'jami أعجمي (other than Arabic, foreign) and dakheel دخيل (alien,foreign) 
No connotation of borrowing.


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## berndf

Gavril said:


> For example, as an English speaker, I would say (although there might be some English speakers who disagree) that the terms _loanword_ and _borrowing_ as used in historical linguistics don't fit very well with the usual meanings of our words _loan_ and _borrow_: both these words imply (or strongly suggest) that something must sooner or later be given back to its owner (as is the case with borrowed money or possessions), which obviously does not apply to loanwords.


You are absolutely right. The calque _loanword _fails to convey an important subtlety of the German original_ Lehnwort_: The German word for _lend _or _borrow _(the two are not distinguished in German) exists in two variants: _leihen_ and _lehnen_. The second variant is almost exclusively used for a medieval _Lehen_ = English _fief _(which conceptually is loan to a nobleman given by the king who in term received his authority over the realm as a loan from God, the ultimate owner of all land) and not for the everyday use of the word as in _Can I borrow your car? _If one said _Leihword _rather than _Lehnwort _in German that would sound absolutely ridiculous. That would indeed refer to a word that you borrow for some time and that you promise to give back.


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## Quiviscumque

bearded man said:


> In Italian we say 'prèstito' for Lehnwort (see cognate Catalan 'prestec''), and the word usually refers to a sum of money that indeed ought to be given back some day....Anyhow, Latin 'praestare', from which the noun is derived,  not only meant 'to lend/borrow', but could also simply mean to give/deliver/put at disposal: hence without restitution, just as in linguistics.



Indeed: in Latin legalese it is said _mutuum, mutuo dare, mutuo accipere_


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## CapnPrep

Penyafort said:


> In Catalan, the word used for Lehnwort/loanword is *manlleu*, from the verb *manllevar *'to borrow'. The origin of it is the Latin _manu levare_ 'take from the hand, take something that belonged to someone else'. When out of context, we talk about *manlleus lingüístics* (or *lèxics*, etc.), *mots manllevats *'borrowed words', and the like.


Speakers may now understand this verb as "take with one's hand" or (in my opinion less likely) "take from someone else's hand", but the Latin source is _manum levare_, "to raise one's hand [to swear an oath]". So originally there was also the idea of promising to return the object or repay the debt.


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## berndf

CapnPrep said:


> Speakers may now understand this verb as "take with one's hand" or (in my opinion less likely) "take from someone else's hand", the Latin source is _manum levare_, "to raise one's hand [to swear an oath]". So originally there was also the idea of promising to return the object or repay the debt.


Irrespective of how one may or may not understand the word, the etymology of the linguistic term seems pretty clear not only in English but also in other European languages: A calque from German and in each case suffering from the problem I described in #10 and which sufficiently explains the strange semantics of the terms.


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## CapnPrep

In the case of English _borrow_, the "strange semantics" is not limited to the concept of linguistic borrowing, and it pre-dates the 19th century. Some examples from the OED:

Let hym borowe example at Salomon. (Latimer, 1549)
Inferior eyes That borrow their behauiours from the great. (Shakespeare, _King John_)
The Rabbies would..borrow Words from other Languages. (1706, Bedford)
Generally speaking, the concepts of "lending" and "borrowing" are prototypically applied to physical objects, but many languages allow figurative uses of these concepts involving abstract/immaterial things, and this naturally implies relaxing or abandoning some of the prototypical elements of the meaning (e.g. that only one person can hold the object at one time, that there is some kind of consensual agreement between the two parties, that the transfer of possession is only temporary, etc.). All that is left is the idea that the thing originally belonged to the "lender", and the "borrower" did something to get it.

On the other hand, the word _loan_ in English is more strongly associated with concrete possessions, especially money, and according to the OED, when it refers to a word/custom adopted by one people from another, this is a "recent use" (recent relative to the entry's publication date of 1903).


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## Gavril

CapnPrep said:


> Generally speaking, the concepts of "lending" and "borrowing" are prototypically applied to physical objects, but many languages allow figurative uses of these concepts involving abstract/immaterial things, and this naturally implies relaxing or abandoning some of the prototypical elements of the meaning



While I'm aware of cases such as _He borrowed the idea from his predecessor_, which resembles the older examples you quoted, this is (at least from my perspective as an English speaker) a very marked and stylized use of _borrow_. I have gotten used to specific cases like this, but I wouldn't productively apply _borrow_ (or expect to see it productively applied) to new nouns in this way -- e.g. the sentence _I borrowed that song from another musician_ suggests to me that the other musician temporarily granted the rights to the song, but was expected to rescind them later.

It seems doubtful (though not impossible) that the above usage of _borrow_ was the main impetus for the use of _borrow / loan(word)_ in historical linguistics, rather than the influence of German _entlehnen / Lehnwort_. Knowledge of German seems relatively strong among historical linguists overall (which makes it easier for them to recognize the connection between _loan_/_borrow_ and _entlehnen_), while at the same time historical linguistics as a field doesn't seem especially well-known among the general English-speaking public (which lessens the potential public confusion over terminology like _loan/borrow_, so there is less motivation to create alternative terms).


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## CapnPrep

I think it is accepted that as a term in historical linguistics, English _loan word_ is a translation of the German expression. But the phenomenon was recognized a long time before the birth of historical linguistics as a discipline, and it was already described as borrowing (and people already amused themselves with the idea of having to give the borrowed words back).

Here is a quote from Richard Verstegan (_A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities_, pp. 204ff), originally published in 1605. Although the linguistic chauvinism still feels quite current…


> Since the time of _Chaucer_, more Latin and French hath been mingled with our tongue then left out of it, but of late wee haue falne to such borrowing of words from Latin, French, and other Tongues, that it had bin beyond all stay and limit […] if wee were put to repay our borrowed speech backe agayne, to the languages that may lay clayme vnto it, wee should be left little better then dumbe, or scarsly able to speake any thing that should be sencible.
> For mine owne part, I hold them deceiued that thinke our speech bettered by the aboundance of our daily borrowed words […]
> Such examples (how euer wee delight in strange language borrowing) doe when wee heare them, sound very sportfull in our owne eares; and therefore giue more liberty to strangers to be in this case merry with vs, seeing they may say they haue nought else for the loane of their words. But doubtlesse if our selues pleased to vse the Treasury of our owne tongue, wee should as little neede to borrow words, from any Language, extrauagant for ours, as any such borroweth from vs: our tongue in it selfe beeing sufficient and copious enough, without this daily borrowing from so many, as take scorne to borrow any from vs.


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## Gavril

CapnPrep said:


> I think it is accepted that as a term in historical linguistics, English _loan word_ is a translation of the German expression. But the phenomenon was recognized a long time before the birth of historical linguistics as a discipline, and it was already described as borrowing (and people already amused themselves with the idea of having to give the borrowed words back).
> 
> Here is a quote from Richard Verstegan (_A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities_, pp. 204ff), originally published in 1605. Although the linguistic chauvinism still feels quite current…



Thanks for the quote. _borrow_ seems to be a very charged term for the quote's writer: since he views only some words as being properly "part of" English, then any other vocabulary that English speakers use is (for him) literally *owed* to others, because English speakers can't (ever?) make this vocabulary their own.

Thus the word _borrow_ still seems closer to its normal meaning in this quote than it does in its modern historical linguistic usage, because there seems to be a real implication of "owing" words to someone else.

This metaphor of "ownership" shows up in modern writing sometimes as well -- e.g. one might see a sentence like "English *owes* much of its legal vocabulary to Latin" -- but it is probably not (most of the time) meant as literally as it seems to be in the Verstegan quote. I still wonder if _borrow_ would have gained the foothold it has in linguistic terminology without the influence of words like _entlehnen_.


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## CapnPrep

There are plenty of examples where _borrow_ is used in a more neutral, descriptive context. I chose the Verstegan quote because of its early date, and because the author used the word _borrow_ so many times (also associating it ironically with the more literal _loan_ and _repay_).

An Universal Etymological English Dictionary (1675):


> If a tongue be once esteemed more learned, from thence the learned commonly borrow Technical words, or words of art; as in Physick, Philosophy, Mathematicks, and others, from the Greek. If it be esteemed more elegant or fine in pronunciation, then courtiers, who are apt to dislike any thing that is common, and the product of their own country, and to delight in what is foreign, borrow a great many words of complaisance and address.



See also Johnson's Grammar (1755):

The original English privative is _un_; but as we often borrow from the Latin, or its descendants, words already signifying privation, as _inefficacious, impious, indiscreet_, the inseparable particles _un_ and _in_ have fallen into confusion, from which it is not easy to disentangle them. […] In borrowing adjectives, if we receive them already compounded, it is usual to retain the particle prefixed, as _indecency, inelegant, improper_; but if we borrow the adjective, and add the privative particle, we commonly prefix _un_, as _unpolite, ungallant_.

We have many words borrowed from the Latin; but the greatest part of them were communicated by the intervention of the French; as _grace, face, elegant, elegance, resemble._ Some verbs, which seem borrowed from the Latin, are formed from the present tense, and some from the supines.
As to many words which we have in common with the Germans, it is doubtful whether the old Teutons borrowed them from the Latins, or the Latins from the Teutons, or both had them from some common original



Gavril said:


> I still wonder if _borrow_ would have gained the foothold it has in linguistic terminology without the influence of words like _entlehnen_.


I think the examples show that _borrow_ was already the established term very early on. I agree with you that figurative uses of _borrow_ have declined in present-day English (I wouldn't say "borrow someone's example" or "borrow a behavior from someone", cf. the OED citations above), and the expression "borrow words from another language" probably survives by terminological convention, reinforced by the later introduction of _loan word_ from German.


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## francisgranada

In Hungarian the term _jövevényszó _is used. It's a compound word,  _szó _means "word" and _jövevény _is  approximately "someone/something that has come from elsewhere". Another term is _átvétel _literally meaning "takeover" or "something that has been taken (from ...)".

These terms have nothing to do with the idea of _borrowing _itself, however the verb/expressions corresponding to _loan/borrow_ in Hungarian can be used in figurative sense as well (e.g. _to borrow an idea/word/etc _...)


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