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I hear you! A long time ago I was in the US and I used the word "labyrinth" because I didn't know "maze" and, well, in french for a maze we say "labyrinthe"...
by TacticalCoder 5y ago
I hear you!
A long time ago I was in the US and I used the word "labyrinth" because I didn't know "maze" and, well, in french for a maze we say "labyrinthe"... I still remember the reaction of my american friend, very surprised by my "advanced" english vocabulary.
We native romance language speakers have it easy ; )
- cafard 5y agoRichard Feynman had a similar story about speaking Portuguese, coming up with a longish word because he couldn't remember the common one, and impressing his hostess. But is "labyrinth" from a romance language? It appears in Liddell & Scott's Greek-English Lexicon with the remark that it is a foreign word.
- mytailorisrich 5y agoIt's the Greek word that was adopted in Latin and then romance languages.
- shakow 5y agoIt's not originating from romance languages, but it's the “default” (and virtually only) word in romance languages (well, at least French).
- trashtester 5y agoThe Norwegian word ("labyrint") is also based on the Greek word (possibly through Latin, somehow). Ironically, though, "maze" may come from the Norwegian word "mas". https://www.etymonline.com/word/maze https://www.etymonline.com/word/maze
- Broken_Hippo 5y agoToday, I've learned a new Norwegian word - labyrint. I've not stumbled across it. Thank you.