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And of course 'footganger' almost makes sense in English — 'gang' in the sense of a passage is preserved in 'gangplank', and modern 'gang' has the related sense

And of course 'footganger' almost makes sense in English — 'gang' in the sense of a passage is preserved in 'gangplank', and modern 'gang' has the related sense of 'group of people who go together'.

Scarblac 8y ago
But "gang" here doesn't mean passage, it's the noon of the verb to go. It's foot-goer.
MisterOctober 8y ago
Yep! It also shows up in loan vocabulary like "doppelganger" [double-goer] and old-timey quotes like "gang aft agley" [go often awry, via Robert Burns' "To A Mouse"]
- smcl 8y ago
  In the case of Burns it’s not a loan word from German in English, but an actual Scots word: http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/gang http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/gang
NicoJuicy 8y ago
Footwalker would be a more appropriate translation, German uses more describing words.
- jhanschoo 8y ago
  Well, there's already the footwalk. I think the parent comment was going more for using etymologically related words.
benc666 8y ago
In Afrikaans - spoken in ZA (south africa) - that is pretty much the actual word :) "voetganger" "voet" - foot/feet "ganger" - someone who moves along using the former noun The Latin Root is what connects many European languages.
- idontpost 8y ago
  > The Latin Root is what connects many European languages. Not in this case. Proto-Germanic before the Norse languages split off would be the root that connects English, Dutch, and German with Norwegian.
- NicoJuicy 8y ago
  Voetganger is the same in Dutch ;)
  - chupasaurus 8y ago
    Afrikaans is a derivative of Dutch, so no surprise.
- thaumasiotes 8y ago
  English "foot" (and the equivalent Germanic words) are cognate with the Latin word "pes" (= foot), but do not descend from it. It's not a Latin root.
  - dmichulke 8y ago
    Not an etymologist, but I think they still have a common ancestor (proto Indo-European?). Lots of words in Latin with p have an equivalent with f in the Germanic languages: Pater - father Pes - foot Primus - first Note the English word is not necessarily the closest to the Latin one. P and f are also considered the same sound in a few word distance metrics such as Soundex for the very same reason.
    - idontpost 8y ago
      Yes, but Latin still isn't the root. PIE would be.
    - thaumasiotes 8y ago
      Yes, having a common ancestor is what "cognate" means. (Technically, in normal usage, "cognate" refers to words that (1) have a common ancestor and also (2) mean the same thing.) To use the familial metaphor, you descend from your mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and so on, but you are cognate with your niece, cousin, aunt, great-aunt, etc. "Foot" and "pes" both descend from the same Indo-European root, but the English word has no influence from the Latin one. Compare "pedestrian", which uses the Latin root directly.

Scarblac 8y ago

But "gang" here doesn't mean passage, it's the noon of the verb to go. It's foot-goer.

MisterOctober 8y ago

Yep! It also shows up in loan vocabulary like "doppelganger" [double-goer] and old-timey quotes like "gang aft agley" [go often awry, via Robert Burns' "To A Mouse"]

smcl 8y ago
In the case of Burns it’s not a loan word from German in English, but an actual Scots word: http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/gang http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/gang

NicoJuicy 8y ago

Footwalker would be a more appropriate translation, German uses more describing words.

jhanschoo 8y ago
Well, there's already the footwalk. I think the parent comment was going more for using etymologically related words.

benc666 8y ago

In Afrikaans - spoken in ZA (south africa) - that is pretty much the actual word :) "voetganger" "voet" - foot/feet "ganger" - someone who moves along using the former noun The Latin Root is what connects many European languages.

idontpost 8y ago
> The Latin Root is what connects many European languages. Not in this case. Proto-Germanic before the Norse languages split off would be the root that connects English, Dutch, and German with Norwegian.
NicoJuicy 8y ago
Voetganger is the same in Dutch ;)
- chupasaurus 8y ago
  Afrikaans is a derivative of Dutch, so no surprise.
thaumasiotes 8y ago
English "foot" (and the equivalent Germanic words) are cognate with the Latin word "pes" (= foot), but do not descend from it. It's not a Latin root.
- dmichulke 8y ago
  Not an etymologist, but I think they still have a common ancestor (proto Indo-European?). Lots of words in Latin with p have an equivalent with f in the Germanic languages: Pater - father Pes - foot Primus - first Note the English word is not necessarily the closest to the Latin one. P and f are also considered the same sound in a few word distance metrics such as Soundex for the very same reason.
  - idontpost 8y ago
    Yes, but Latin still isn't the root. PIE would be.
  - thaumasiotes 8y ago
    Yes, having a common ancestor is what "cognate" means. (Technically, in normal usage, "cognate" refers to words that (1) have a common ancestor and also (2) mean the same thing.) To use the familial metaphor, you descend from your mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and so on, but you are cognate with your niece, cousin, aunt, great-aunt, etc. "Foot" and "pes" both descend from the same Indo-European root, but the English word has no influence from the Latin one. Compare "pedestrian", which uses the Latin root directly.