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Most languages are like this. That English words are so opaque is quite a historically contingent thing, not the baseline of how languages usually work. English
by bonoboTP 3y ago
Most languages are like this. That English words are so opaque is quite a historically contingent thing, not the baseline of how languages usually work. English retains a lot of Latin and Greek and French compounds, which are usually translated more literally in many other languages.
In German, plane is Flugzeug (flight tool), fridge is Kühlschrank (cooling closet). In Hungarian, they are repülőgép (flying machine) and hűtőszekrény (cooling closet) as well, calqued from German.
English speakers often perceive this as some kind of endearing primitive Tarzan-like communication without all those classy prestigious words, but English also has plenty examples. How about "washing machine" for example?
- lproven 3y agoCalques are great, as are loanwords. In English, "calque" is a loanword, but "loanword" is a calque.
- nickisnoble 3y agoThat is simply fun.
- lproven 3y agoRight? :-D
- jameshart 3y agoIn English, we make words the same way - it's just that we construct them out of latin or greek roots. "Television" is tele (Greek, 'far') + vision (Latin, 'seeing'). German for Television is "Fernsehen" - fern (German, 'far') + sehen (German, 'seeing').
- u8080 3y agoseatbelt pineapple