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I've always found it interesting that some words are constructed the same across many languages. For example, response: responsibility in - English (well) - R
by tazjin 4y ago
I've always found it interesting that some words are constructed the same across many languages. For example, response: responsibility in
- English (well)
- Russian (ответ : ответственность)
- German (Antwort : Verantwortung)
- Scandinavian (svar : ansvar)
There's likely more! Even though the modern words have diverged completely, the concept behind the construct is the same.
- paulhalla 4y agoInteresting! Same in Estonian (vastus: vastutus)
- Cosi1125 4y agoPolish: odpowiedź : odpowiedzialność
- schoen 4y agoNote that a large number of these examples in European languages are calques https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calque https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calque In these cases, people who knew both languages consciously adopted the structure of a foreign word by translating its components (morphemes). For example, German has a lot of calques from Latin compounds. That is to say that it's not always a coincidence or an indication that people inherently think of the concept in the same way; sometimes it's an indication that people thought a foreign word for a concept was awesome, and wanted to borrow it by translating it literally.