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 \u2013 many of them known as \u2018loanwords \u2013 which have gradually morphed into daily speech.<\/p>\n
\u2018It all began in the UK over 1,000 years ago, when the Vikings invaded Anglo-Saxon settlements and started swapping bits of language,\u2019 said Federico Espinosa, a language expert at Busuu.<\/p>\n
\u2018Perhaps 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.<\/p>\n
\u2018However, this type of language evolution isn't unique to English. It's how languages have evolved all over the world.\u2019<\/p>\n
English is heavily influenced by Latin, Greek, French, Norse and Germanic dialects.<\/p>\n
And over time, we have stolen and borrowed bits from over 50 different languages. As a result, \u2018loanwords\u2019 now make up a hefty proportion of the English language, blending seamlessly into our everyday vocabulary.<\/p>\n
To whet your appetite, here are a few everyday words the English language has borrowed:<\/p>\n
In Spanish, this comes directly from the word for their less snappy pals, \u2018el lagarto\u2019, which can be directly translated as the lizard!<\/p>\n
In Chinese, the word brainwash originated as \u2018x\u01d0 n\u01ceo\u2019, 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.<\/p>\n
This word hasn\u2019t changed since it started being used in the French language hundreds of years ago. It originally meant \u2018bottom of a sack\u2019, however has been used as a term for dead-end streets since the 1800s.<\/p>\n
In Cyrillic script, the word \u2018\u0434\u0435\u0437\u0438\u043d\u0444\u043e\u0440\u043c\u0430\u0446\u0438\u044f\u2019 translates to \u2018dezinformatsiya\u2019, which was a term used by the KGB, an intelligence and security agency of the former Soviet Union (modern day Russia.<\/p>\n
The word comes from the feminine singular for celebrity in Italian, \u2018divo\u2019. 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.<\/p>\n
The literal translation of \u2018fiaschi\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
In French, the word directly translates to \u2018gender\u2019, but also roughly translated to \u2018type\u2019, which explains its context in the English language to describe different varieties of films, books and music.<\/p>\n
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 \u2018mort\u2019 meant \u2018death\u2019 and \u2018gage\u2019 meaning \u2018pledge\u2019. Therefore, when taking out a long loan to purchase a house, you are technically making a \u2018death pledge\u2019.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Most of us have a vocabulary that is growing and developing \u2013 but although we can regularly use some big words in everyday conversations, it\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":692,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,1546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-free-content","category-homepage"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runyourownwebsite.uk\/sorted\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runyourownwebsite.uk\/sorted\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runyourownwebsite.uk\/sorted\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runyourownwebsite.uk\/sorted\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/692"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runyourownwebsite.uk\/sorted\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8727"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/runyourownwebsite.uk\/sorted\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8731,"href":"https:\/\/runyourownwebsite.uk\/sorted\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8727\/revisions\/8731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runyourownwebsite.uk\/sorted\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runyourownwebsite.uk\/sorted\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runyourownwebsite.uk\/sorted\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}