On the tenth day of English
My true love gave to me
A cool list of vocabulary.
Much of English is from Greek, Latin, and Germanic languages. This list from
Vocabulary.comincludes ten fairly common words we use, which are rooted in less common languages.
1. BUCCANEER
someone who robs at sea or plunders the land from the sea without having a commission from any sovereign nation
The direct ancestor of buccaneer is French for "user of a boucan"—boucan being a type of grill. But the grill itself and the word boucan both have their source in the indigenous peoples of Brazil, where the word in Tupi is rendered mukem.
2. LAGNIAPPE
a small gift (especially one given by a merchant to a customer who makes a purchase)
From New Orleans Creole, the origins of lagniappe are slightly murky. One popular theory has it deriving from Spanish la ñapa (one of the few words in Spanish to begin with ñ) which means "the gift." La ñapa comes from yapa, a word from Quechua, a native language family of the Andes mountains.
3. MAVEN
someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field
This word comes from Yiddish meyvn, which means "one who understands." It was a favorite of the late William Safire, a self-styled language maven.
4. BUNGALOW
a small house with a single story
The word entered English from Gujarati, spoken in India. The Gujarati word bangalo in turn comes from a Hindi word meaning "Bengalese, in the style of Bengal."
5. MAIZE
tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties
The indigenous word for "corn" entered English from Cuban Spanish maiz. Spanish got it from Arawakan, the language of the indigenous people of the Caribbean, where the form is mahiz.
6. HUBBUB
loud confused noise from many sources
The word was originally whobub, either from Gaelic ub! which was an expression of contempt, or an Old Irish battle cry, abu.
7. SLOGAN
a favorite saying of a sect or political group
This is another word from Gaelic and is also related to battle cries. Slogan comes from sluagh-ghairm, literally "army-cry."
8. COMMANDEER
take arbitrarily or by force
The South African language of Afrikaans, an offshoot of Dutch, gave rise to this word. It comes from kommandeeren, Afrikaans for "to command."
9. ZENITH
the point above the observer that is directly opposite the nadir on the imaginary sphere against which celestial bodies appear to be projected
This word is originally from Arabic samt ar-ras, which means "the way over the head." The "m" in samt was misread as an "ni," so it became sanit when it was borrowed into Latin, eventually resulting in zenith.
10. SCHLEP
pull along heavily, like a heavy load against a resistance
This word is from Yiddish, where a schlepper is not just a dragger but a scrounger or loser, less worthy of pity than a nebbish. The nebbish has misfortune thrust upon him, whereas the schlepper has a hand in his bad luck. The verb schlep is first attested in English in James Joyce’s Ulysses in 1922.
Jackie Solano | Technical Editor | Symitar®
8985 Balboa Ave. | San Diego, CA 92123 | Ph. 619.542.6711 | Extension: 766711
NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The message,
together with any attachment, may contain confidential and/or privileged information.
Any unauthorized review, use, printing, saving, copying, disclosure or distribution
is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please
immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies.
Leave a Reply