Where do words come from?

Are the words in the photo really English words? Whenever we come into contact with other countries through trade, travel, migration, or even war, new words can, and do, enter our languages. To find out which languages a lot of English words come from, try this Quia activity: Where do these English words come from?

What words has your language borrowed from other countries? Why do you think they entered your language? Post a comment below.

Comments

[Justin]

Most Koreans use many words from foreign language: English, Japanese, and Chinese. Thousand years ago, Koreans used Chinese characters so Korean uses many Chinese and Japanese words. Nowadays, English is an international language. Therefore, many Koreans like to speak English.

[Jun, Mi-Hyang]

In Korea, we use words from other languages. For example, we use the words camera, hamburger, and guitar, but we use Korean pronuciation. Strictly speaking, hamburger is from German, and guitar is from Spanish. Thus, now they are also part of the Korean language. So, we memorize them and use them as Korean words?

[Adel]

I think hamburgers is a very famous word in my country because fast food restaurants are more and more popular. Moreover, all of the fast food restaurants have hamburgers. So we usually eat them. I think the word came from Germany.

[Great Andy]

There are many foreign language in Korea especially, a proper noun like hamburber, pizza Surely, there is common noun. Some of foreign word remake Korean word by using Chinese letters.

Anyway, we use this word "manner", it means same. Also, there is word 'root'in English. This word are of Latin

[Yumi]

In my language, there are many foreign words. One example is the word cell phone. People usually use that word, but sometimes they say hand phone. A cell phone is the same as a hand phone. Hand phone is a combination of two words: hand and phone. Hand phone is not used by native English speakers, but the expression was created in a commercial.

[Seon Mi]

There are many English words in Korea. We are using many kinds. We have borrowed many cosmetic names and all computer words. A long time ago we didn't use computers and cosmetics, so we used the new words from America. Some examples are the words mascara, foundation, lipstick, e-mail, Internet, and site. All Koreans generally use these words.

[Eugene Rhim]

In Korean words there are many naturalized words. I learned French in high school and I saw a word ,'gomme'. It is same with Korean word 'gomu'. They has similar meaning and pronunciation. Also, Korean has many Japanese words but Korean try to use pure Korean, not Japanese-Korean.

[Jiro]

Do you know "kasutera" that means a kind of a sponge cake in Japan? It is a very famous cake that is made in Nagasaki city in Japan. It is written in English "castilla." To tell the truth, it is the cake made in Castilla in Spain in origin. In 18 century Portuguese brought it to Nagasaki with guns and compasses. I think because it was first a cake in Japan, it was named as the sound.

[Anne]

I have to tell you that I really enjoy this site. It is wonderful! I love talking about language and where words come from. I remember reading this in a 'Building Your Vocabulary' book by Martin Terban and published by Scholastic: The word delicatessen is a store or restaurant that sells cooked or prepared foods. I was amazed to learn that delicatessen comes from a German word, delikatessen, which came from
a French word, delicatesse, which came from an Italian word, delicatezza, which came from a Latine word, delicatus, which mean "pleasing."

Now that's something to chew on, right?