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In Spanish they are the same word also -- "alquilar" -- "to rent" and "to rent out". Do any linguistics geeks reading have a word I can google for this phenome

In Spanish they are the same word also -- "alquilar" -- "to rent" and "to rent out". Do any linguistics geeks reading have a word I can google for this phenomenon? That is, a word that means something like "a word or phrase that is bidirectional in one language but part of a unidirectional pair in another"

itsthejb 4y ago
Ditto in German. One of those rare times English is more specific!
techdmn 4y ago
Also in Minnesota! (I'm joshing you Minnesotans, it's a lovely state full of wonderful people. I'll borrow you whatever you need any time. ;-p )
- gamegoblin 4y ago
  I wonder if this is due to the language that whatever large immigrant populations in Minnesota spoke. I know Minnesota had a lot of Northern European immigrants, and another commenter in this thread says German doesn't distinguish borrow/lend.
zamfi 4y ago
I don't have an answer but English LOVES preposition-attached verbs. You can use lent and borrowed in both directions (I lent X to him; he lent X to me -- I borrowed X from him; he borrowed X from me) so the main difference is not in whether the verbs can be used bidirectionally, but in how you indicate the direction. I suspect Spanish (and maybe Polish) disambiguate in different ways, but disambiguate I'm sure they do!
- dragonwriter 4y ago
  > You can use lent and borrowed in both directions (I lent X to him; he lent X to me -- I borrowed X from him; he borrowed X from me) Those are both unidirectional: lent is always “the (possibly implicit) direct object moves from the subject to the indirect object prefaced with ‘to’” while borrowed is always “the (possibly implicit) direct object moves to the subject from the indirect object prefaced with ‘from’”. Birectional would be where the subject could be the source or recipient depending on, e.g., the preposition used to relate the other party as the indirect object.
- marcus0x62 4y ago
  English doesn’t have noun cases, so we have to use prepositions and word order to disambiguate.
- mejutoco 4y ago
  In your examples the direction seems to be the same. Or, more specifically, in regards to the verb the direction is the same. idk if there are regional exceptions, but in general borrow and lend seem more akin to learn and teach, respectively. The have an implicit direction: (from, in the case of borrow; to in the case of lend). I teached something from you today or I will learn you calculus in extracurricular classes don't work. In Spanish it is disambiguated in a similar way as you were mentioning (to me, to you) "Alquilo" translates literally to rent, so not really the same: - Me alquilas un piso. (you rent me a flat) - Te alquilo un piso. (I rent you a flat) I think a better translation to borrow/lend is "prestar/dejar: - Me prestas/dejas un lápiz. (you lend me a pencil/I borrow a pencil from you) - Te presto/dejo un lápiz. (I lend you a pencil/You borrow a pencil from me) Language is interesting!

itsthejb 4y ago

Ditto in German. One of those rare times English is more specific!

techdmn 4y ago

Also in Minnesota! (I'm joshing you Minnesotans, it's a lovely state full of wonderful people. I'll borrow you whatever you need any time. ;-p )

gamegoblin 4y ago
I wonder if this is due to the language that whatever large immigrant populations in Minnesota spoke. I know Minnesota had a lot of Northern European immigrants, and another commenter in this thread says German doesn't distinguish borrow/lend.

zamfi 4y ago

I don't have an answer but English LOVES preposition-attached verbs. You can use lent and borrowed in both directions (I lent X to him; he lent X to me -- I borrowed X from him; he borrowed X from me) so the main difference is not in whether the verbs can be used bidirectionally, but in how you indicate the direction. I suspect Spanish (and maybe Polish) disambiguate in different ways, but disambiguate I'm sure they do!

dragonwriter 4y ago
> You can use lent and borrowed in both directions (I lent X to him; he lent X to me -- I borrowed X from him; he borrowed X from me) Those are both unidirectional: lent is always “the (possibly implicit) direct object moves from the subject to the indirect object prefaced with ‘to’” while borrowed is always “the (possibly implicit) direct object moves to the subject from the indirect object prefaced with ‘from’”. Birectional would be where the subject could be the source or recipient depending on, e.g., the preposition used to relate the other party as the indirect object.
marcus0x62 4y ago
English doesn’t have noun cases, so we have to use prepositions and word order to disambiguate.
mejutoco 4y ago
In your examples the direction seems to be the same. Or, more specifically, in regards to the verb the direction is the same. idk if there are regional exceptions, but in general borrow and lend seem more akin to learn and teach, respectively. The have an implicit direction: (from, in the case of borrow; to in the case of lend). I teached something from you today or I will learn you calculus in extracurricular classes don't work. In Spanish it is disambiguated in a similar way as you were mentioning (to me, to you) "Alquilo" translates literally to rent, so not really the same: - Me alquilas un piso. (you rent me a flat) - Te alquilo un piso. (I rent you a flat) I think a better translation to borrow/lend is "prestar/dejar: - Me prestas/dejas un lápiz. (you lend me a pencil/I borrow a pencil from you) - Te presto/dejo un lápiz. (I lend you a pencil/You borrow a pencil from me) Language is interesting!