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I wholeheartedly agree as well. The only nitpick I'd have on this incredible dissertation is on the "U" association with "U-boat" - this is an anglicized form o

I wholeheartedly agree as well. The only nitpick I'd have on this incredible dissertation is on the "U" association with "U-boat" - this is an anglicized form of the German word "Unterseeboot" (undersea boat) which was itself shortened to "U-boot" (presumably the etymology of the Swedish "ubåt"). The first known use of the term "U-boat" is 1914, while the Germans and Swedish armed forces were commissioning submarines around a decade prior (in 1906 and 1904 respectively).

lolinder 3y ago
It looks like it could also be an anglicized version of the modern Swedish word for submarine, which appears to be Ubåt [0]. In the US we definitely usually associate the word U-boat with the Germans, but I'm not sure how else one would anglicize Ubåt. [0] https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ub%C3%A5t https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ub%C3%A5t
- primitivesuave 3y ago
  The primary sources are hard to find on this, but the common year of first usage in English (1914) seems to coincide with the first sinking of a ship by a German submarine-launched torpedo [1]. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pathfinder_(1904) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pathfinder_(1904)
  - lolinder 3y ago
    Right, I didn't meant to imply that English got the word from Swedish, just that the author chose a reasonable anglicization that their readers would recognize.
tialaramex 3y ago
I assume the author knows why they're called U-boats, but the fact is that modern English speakers don't call them U-boats unless they mean very specifically German World War II submarines and maybe not then. I would use "U-Boat" but only in the same way I'd use "Boomer", to indicate a specific type of vessel in a particular context, if I meant a submarine, such as in a simple drawing, I'd say "submarine" and so would other English speakers I know.
- primitivesuave 3y ago
  You're right, I didn't put that together, and now find myself descending down the rabbit hole of Navy slang :) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_U.S._Navy_slang#B https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_U.S._Nav...
- croemer 3y ago
  And probably also German WW I submarines which were a factor drawing the US into WW I but might be less discussed as the war had less impact on the US and was longer ago
Tistron 3y ago
Swedish probably got the word from German, but u-båt is short for the Swedish word undervattensbåt, which is pretty much a straight-forward translation of submarine boat or Unterseeboot. The U- is not from German.

lolinder 3y ago

It looks like it could also be an anglicized version of the modern Swedish word for submarine, which appears to be Ubåt [0]. In the US we definitely usually associate the word U-boat with the Germans, but I'm not sure how else one would anglicize Ubåt. [0] https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ub%C3%A5t https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ub%C3%A5t

primitivesuave 3y ago
The primary sources are hard to find on this, but the common year of first usage in English (1914) seems to coincide with the first sinking of a ship by a German submarine-launched torpedo [1]. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pathfinder_(1904) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pathfinder_(1904)
- lolinder 3y ago
  Right, I didn't meant to imply that English got the word from Swedish, just that the author chose a reasonable anglicization that their readers would recognize.

tialaramex 3y ago

I assume the author knows why they're called U-boats, but the fact is that modern English speakers don't call them U-boats unless they mean very specifically German World War II submarines and maybe not then. I would use "U-Boat" but only in the same way I'd use "Boomer", to indicate a specific type of vessel in a particular context, if I meant a submarine, such as in a simple drawing, I'd say "submarine" and so would other English speakers I know.

primitivesuave 3y ago
You're right, I didn't put that together, and now find myself descending down the rabbit hole of Navy slang :) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_U.S._Navy_slang#B https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_U.S._Nav...
croemer 3y ago
And probably also German WW I submarines which were a factor drawing the US into WW I but might be less discussed as the war had less impact on the US and was longer ago

Tistron 3y ago

Swedish probably got the word from German, but u-båt is short for the Swedish word undervattensbåt, which is pretty much a straight-forward translation of submarine boat or Unterseeboot. The U- is not from German.