Begged, borrowed and stolen

Most of us have a vocabulary that is growing and developing – but although we can regularly use some big words in everyday conversations, it’s highly unlikely many of us know their origins.

Thankfully, the experts at Busuu are on hand to shed some light on the subject, having looked at the words picked-up from other countries – many of them known as ‘loanwords – which have gradually morphed into daily speech.

‘It all began in the UK over 1,000 years ago, when the Vikings invaded Anglo-Saxon settlements and started swapping bits of language,’ said Federico Espinosa, a language expert at Busuu.

‘Perhaps English is the most obvious example because it's such a widely spoken language and the fact that so many different variations of English exist across the world.

‘However, this type of language evolution isn't unique to English. It's how languages have evolved all over the world.’

English is heavily influenced by Latin, Greek, French, Norse and Germanic dialects.

And over time, we have stolen and borrowed bits from over 50 different languages. As a result, ‘loanwords’ now make up a hefty proportion of the English language, blending seamlessly into our everyday vocabulary.

To whet your appetite, here are a few everyday words the English language has borrowed:

Alligator

In Spanish, this comes directly from the word for their less snappy pals, ‘el lagarto’, which can be directly translated as the lizard!

In Chinese, the word brainwash originated as ‘xǐ nǎo’, as a result of the coercion and mind control that took place during the Korean War. It took off in America soon after and later on made its way across the Western world to describe any form of indoctrination.

Cul-de-sac

This word hasn’t changed since it started being used in the French language hundreds of years ago. It originally meant ‘bottom of a sack’, however has been used as a term for dead-end streets since the 1800s.

Disinformation

In Cyrillic script, the word ‘дезинформация’ translates to ‘dezinformatsiya’, which was a term used by the KGB, an intelligence and security agency of the former Soviet Union (modern day Russia.

Diva

The word comes from the feminine singular for celebrity in Italian, ‘divo’. It slowly morphed over time to refer to a woman who has a temperamental nature. Fast-forward to the late 19th century, where it entered the English vocabulary and now describes high maintenance people.

Fiasco

The literal translation of ‘fiaschi’ in Italian means a flask, however, they had already used the term figuratively to describe failing in a performance. By the time it entered the English language in the 19th century it was used to describe a large-scale failure.

Genre

In French, the word directly translates to ‘gender’, but also roughly translated to ‘type’, which explains its context in the English language to describe different varieties of films, books and music.

Mortgage

Lots of words from Old French have seeped into our vocabulary, but the origins of this word are a bit grim. Now known as the application and funding process when buying a house, the word ‘mort’ meant ‘death’ and ‘gage’ meaning ‘pledge’. Therefore, when taking out a long loan to purchase a house, you are technically making a ‘death pledge’.

Motto

This Italian word became common parlance in the late 16th century. Its meaning is identical in both languages, but it can also be used to describe a quip, remark and in very rare literary cases, a word.