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A lot of things in English are also named as to what they do, but they are disguised because we tend to use Greek and Latin. I remember when I was learning Germ
by jhbadger 8y ago
A lot of things in English are also named as to what they do, but they are disguised because we tend to use Greek and Latin. I remember when I was learning German I found it amusing that the Germans call a television "ein Fernseher" -- literally a far-seer. But then I thought about what television means! It's tele (far) + vision!
- jganetsk 8y agoThe Germain "ein Ferhseher" is likely just a literal translation of the English "television", being a 20th century technological invention.
- Fellshard 8y agoThis. Trying to categorically distinguish between English and German words gets more difficult when a lot of modern terminology just gets shipped over as loan words.
- jhbadger 8y agoBut what makes German a little different is that they translate the loan words using their own roots. No doubt Fernseher is taken from television, but compare it to Spanish "televisión" -- there they literally took the word.
- Fellshard 8y agoSome loan words are, some aren't. Certainly a lot of them do get properly translated, and it's always fun to see what sticks.