latin - Does the etymology of the word "government" mean "to control the mind"? - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange 14 Is this the same site that broke down "politics" as "poli-" meaning "of the people" and "tics" meaning "blood-sucking parasites"? – Roger Mar 26 '14 at 18:04 1 Please include your own research in your question. :-) – Kristina Lopez Mar 26 '14 at 18:21 2 @KristinaLopez Thanks, I did. – Houseman Mar 26 '14 at 18:30 It seems to me that both are correct, but not in the sense you (or the conspiracy theorists) are thinking. Evidence suggests that it comes from Latin "mens" meaning "mind" but came to be used as "a general adverbial suffix" ( en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mens#Latin ). Etymologically speaking, it might help to frame it as "a group that is of a mind/disposition to govern/lead" rather than "a group that controls minds".

– Brian Lacy Mar 26 '14 at 22:13 3 If "-ment" always referred to the mind, then a replacement would be a brain transplant, punishment would be a headache, and an attachment would be a neural implant. – tobyink Mar 26 '14 at 23:08 List of English Words derived from Sanskrit via Latin Greek Persian | HitXP by Gurudev List of English Words derived from Sanskrit via Latin Greek Persian Greek Language Latin Persian PIE Roman Sanskrit One of my friends said, “Look at the rich technical vocabulary of English. Isnt it amazing that today we have so many new words created in English like Computer, Processor, Monitor, Internet, Hardware, Software etc that it is almost impossible to create words with similar meaning in other languages and so instead we will have to directly import these english words into our languages to keep pace with the rapidly evolving new terms.” “Very True.”, I said, “Any language during the time period of its peak usage as a spoken language will have its words imported into other languages that exist during that period. Just like the way Sanskrit words which got imported into Greek, Latin, Persian, etc during the peak usage of Sanskrit.

These Sanskrit words have today silently formed a vast majority of the Original English Language!”. And then I explained to him the Sanskrit source of various English words and he was quite surprised – not because he didnt knew it all these days, but because he had failed to recognize the obvious phoenetic connection that existed between words in his Indian language (which is again derived from Sanskrit) and similar sounding words with similar meaning in English! So I thought I better pen down a list of all such English words derived indirectly from the ancient Sanskrit. But before that, as usual a small preface The World’s Oldest Known Literary work - the Vedas – the root source of the Indian and Hindu Philosophy and Spirituality – are written in Sanskrit.

“The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than could not possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source which, perhaps, no longer exists; there is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the Gothick and the Celtick, though blended with a very different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanskrit; and the old Persian might be added to the same family” So said Sir William Jones – the English Philologist who for the first time in 1786 suggested in his book “The Sanscrit Language” that Greek and Latin were related to Sanskrit and perhaps even Gothic, Celtic and Persian languages were related to Sanskrit.

It was this work which later gave birth to the so called Proto-Indo-European theory which instead of looking into Sanskrit being the root language of all Indo-European languages, suggests that all Indo-European languages including Sanskrit came from another so far unheard of language called PIE or Proto-Indo-European language. Well, the irony is that till today there is no literature in the world about the so called PIE. There is no inscription found anywhere in the world written in the so called PIE. Nobody knows how the PIE was. Nobody knows who spoke it or in which part of the world was it spoken. No known ancient culture in the world talks about such a language being the root of the language they spoke. Simply put there is NO PROOF about the existence of this language. Just look at its name. It was a name GIVEN to it. A language if spoken will definitely contain words referring to everything that the people who spoke it could identify, yet here is a language which doesnt even have a name referring to itself! So then what is the basis of having introduced this language in the language tree in the first place - a language which will remain invisible forever?

Might be a guess, Max Muller used to guess a lot like this about the vedas, which he then retreated later. Be it Greek Latin English Hindi Lithuanian – Sanskrit is the mother of all Languages. Even Scholars like Voltaire, Immanuel Kant etc believed that Sanskrit was the root of all Indo-European languages. “I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges” said Voltaire. He believed that the “Dynasty of Brahmins taught the rest of the world”. “Mankind together with all science must have originated on the roof of the world ie the Himalayas” declared Immanuel Kant. About PIE – No idea, they are all linguistic experts who created this language, Oops, I mean its existence – for the language itself is not known yet. I am not an expert to speak on PIE, might be those who speak about it are experts in this language All I do is present below a list of English words which are derived from Latin/Greek/Persian which are in turn derived from Sanskrit.

Indians will be quick enough to recognize these words in their own language since most Indian languages have also originated from Sanskrit and even the other languages have a great deal of Sanskrit influence on them. And here goes the list of English words derived from Sanskrit. NOTE: Just to make it clear the below list does not contain Sanskrit words that have been directly borrowed into English in recent times like Karma, Avatar, Mantra, Guru, Cheetah, Pundit, Juggernaut, Nirvana, Lakh etc but lists only those English words which were derived from Sanskrit as English evolved by borrowing words from Greek/Latin etc.

Mainstream English words with Sanskrit Roots Prati Shat (meaning for every hundred i.e percent)per centum (L)percent Root Sanskrit Word Median Word in Latin(L) / Greek(G) / Arabic(A) Derived English Word Mal as in Malicious, Malnutrition, Malformed etc Makshikaa (meaning Bee) Ped as in Pedestrial, Pedal etc Pancha (meaning Five) Stare (L) (meaning To Stand) Stay Vehere (meaning to Carry) (L) Vehicle Candela (L) (meaning light / torch) Candle a (prefix meaning “not” ex: gochara – agochara) a (L)(G) (prefix meaning “not”) a (prefix meaning “not” ex: theiest-atheist an (prefix meaning “not” ex: avashya – anavashya) un (L)(G) (prefix meaning “not”) un (prefix meaning “not” ex: do-undo Arjuna (meaning Charm of Silver) Argentinum (L) Argentinum – Scientific Name of Silver Nava (meaning New) Man (Ma as in Malaysia) (meaning Mind) Mens (L) Sunu (meaning Son or

 Offspring) Sunu (German) Lubo (Latin and Proto Germanic) Love They (th pronounced as in thunder, meaning they) Dei (Germanic) Prati Shat (meaning for every hundred, i.e percent) per centum (L) अंत (IPA: ənt) = end David Allen Kolb know=gnosis=jna….This is from PIE root *gno- “to know” (source also of Old Persian xšnasatiy “he shall know;” Old Church Slavonic znati, Russian znat “to know;” Latin gnoscere; Greek *gno-, as in gignoskein; Sanskrit jna- “know”).

I would also make the case for a connection between the sanskrit words agni and jna,,,as light, which fire is the source of, is always connected with the ability to know or perceive,,,light is often metaphorically used for consciousness. We can easily see the similarity between the words ignite and gnosis and knowledge,,,, you & me, always & forever Well, when a real & scientific research which has to do with greeks comes out, I will always spot some jealous & graphic greek commenters who always live by ”fantasies” and ”fairytales”, without the ”real” truth!! I’m sorry, but you ‘ve just lost the meaning of the article, saying only paranoiac bunkums!! I’ll do a copy-paste as well…:P If the root is similiar in two languages doesn’t mean that both of them are ”original”!!

The new one derived from the old one… And this goes for every word… The problem for greeks is one: Not only most english words comes from sanskrit, but also sanskrit is older than ancient greek and has given many words in ancient greek language… Wanna live only by ”imaginary” truths as all greeks do for decades?? Does it hurt you?? Makes you feel awful?? Please, try to accept the well-known proved & real facts and DON’T imagine your fake facts!! I know that truth always hurts beacuse is much more by your own ”fake” truth… And this goes for some romantic foreigners who obviously don’t know, so they make mistakes & give the right to you staying untutored & carefree!! You haven’t realised yet you will just be the same living like that?? And please, don’t ”return” this to me as you always do!!

You ‘ll never make your country better like that, so you will keep on living by europeans & foreigners, having no native products tο export and living by illusions… And no, the european civilazation doesn’t totally come from ancient greeks… Just so superficial… Read books written by honest & impartial people and be real educated… Your delusional thinking prevents any reasonable approach. This is exactly the classic original greek crumby way & style of entertainment & writting!! At your everyday life, they are always argumentative, quarrelsomes & ratbags!! Beacuse of their sad disablement, they consider this kind of behavior as ”normal”!!! So, if they try to translate their bunkums in English, they will be also heard as silly!!

Just work a bit more and don’t be rapturous… Please, if you want it too, just have a look on their comments and their ”rest” things which have to do with greece… Almost all of greek people swear you using crude jokes, sexually suggestive comments and vulgar, cowardly assaults… They just write about all foreign girls they come to greece, becoming offensive, insulting and speaking about ”how much foreign women had bedded & foreign girls are… suckers which always sleep around or something”… They just continuously make fun of you and your country, kidding & humiliating with some tolerant people writing you have stung by their mockery… BUT, BE CAREFUL, THIS IS NOT A ISOLATED INCIDENT… IT IS JUST THEIR USUAL & GENERAL WAY OF THINKING… I’m sure they are gonna tell you I’m a liar in order to persuade you with blarneys or convince you that they are just innocently effusive & welcoming and all those well-known words…Please, don’t believe them at all… This is what they really want… I dare to say that you just don’t know them clearly… Many tourists see them kinda superficially… By the way, you must have been known already that all those flung themselves

 at every tourist girl they met… They keep on saying that foreign girls are what we say ”free-and-easy”… You shoudn’t let those consider you as that, because they take liberties with you!!

Even more tragedy than their tragic economy!!!! At least, I just see many foreign women who realised somehow that they are such stupid & disgracefull… And generally, all of them, men & women, regardless of age, position, sexual orientation or another category are what we say ”disabled”!! It’s a fact that all these words describe and represent all those mental ill people of this country!! The only things that ”modern” greeks know to say constantly is about their long lost ancient history (with which they have nothing common for many centuries and just know nothing about itl!!) & their sun (which is one of those few things that has remained to them!!) You know, stupidity saves them from madness somehow, because they can realised this tragic way of thinking only in part… And of course both of them have just been ready for them for many decades!!

When they look how modern man has advanced beyond the ancient greeks (thinking of experimental science, the development of mathematics, the art of the renaissance, the great depth and understanding of the relative shallowness of greek philosophy, etc., etc.), they say, “What do you mean—what was wrong with the ancient greeks?” They continually put their age down and the old age up, until to point out the wonders of the present seems to them to be an unjustified lack of appreciation for the past. What they are learning in school is to be intimidated into thinking they have fallen so far below their ancestors. You see, generally greeks had been helpless, hopeless & impractical so, they always learn to leave by other European or not countries!! They constantly cling to them!! Because happened to them being born in a country with climate & ancient history, they have been acting like being the masters of the world, so it’s impossible to live without it!! You only have to check some mock-tragic profiles of those, so you will understand what I’m talking about!!

But, on the other hand, you don’t need to do that… Only by their profile name and their paranoiac insulting comments, you may have already realised much more things for the real side of them…;-) I know they kinda wanna justify their existence, so they always try to find a way living by delusions and telling catchy quotes for public consumption and for misery escape!! They haven’t realised yet that all the rest developed countries have moved more forward!! It’s just an illusion saying that Greece is a developed country!! If you ask many greeks (especially those silly old geezers and wrinklies who don’t know any English word) they will answer you ”What Europe?? I don’t know, blah blah, I want Greece!!”!! But they still stay alive by Europe!! All those accuse the rest Europeans for THEIR INTERTEMPORAL mess, for which THEY are blameful!! Not even their politicians which THEY had been voting all these years insistently!! They are always against memorandum(!!) but, at the same time, THEY HAD BEEN TRADITIONALLY UNABLE TO PRODUSE THINGS!! THEY JUST PRODUSE NOTHING!!!

This mess’ has been a mixture of a semi-developed and (mostly) developing country!! IN MODERN YEARS, NOT ONLY BEFORE TURKEY SUBJUCATION BUT ALSO NOT LONG AGO ROMANS SUBJUCATION, THERE WAS NOT ANY SENCE & ANY MEANING OF CIVILIZAΤION!! FOR MANY YEARS, THE PROBLEM OF THIS COUNTRY HAD NOT BEEN ONLY FINANCIAL!! IT HAD BEEN A SET OF DEEPEST PROBLEMS SUCH AS EDUCATION, CULTURE, MANNERS, BEHAVIOR, WAY OF LIFE AND PERCEPTION OF THINGS!! SO ALL THESE PROBLEMS SOONER & LATER FORMED THE FINANCIAL CRISIS!! PLEASE, DON’T GET SERIOUSLY THE NEWS ABOUT THE RECENT REFUGEES RESCUE!! THIS IS JUST A ILLUSION FOR GREEKS IN ORDER TO PROOVE THAT THER ARE JUST ”’SO GOOD & CIVILIZED PEOPLE”!! (ARSONS HAVE BEEN AT REFUGEE CAMPS!!) CIVILIZATION ISN’T ”FRAGMENTARY”!!!

AND MANY OTHER COUNTRIES ARE MUCH MORE CIVILIZED & DEMOCRATIC THAN THIS QUARRELSOME… You must have realised that many greeks living in abroad also maintain this rotten mentality!! BECAUSE OF THEIR STUPIDITY, MANY GREEKS ARE ADDITIONAL HYPOCRITS, DUPLICITOUS, SOPHOMORIC, LIARS & CHEATS!! Of course, it’s self-explanatory that every country has got its own sobinists, roosters, losers, dumbasses etc etc!! No offence!! But some countries have all those in higher rates!! it’s just a pity to observe some foreigners who keep on saying kinda good words for this bankrupt, spoiled & failed country!! I could justify you, because you are so far away obviously!! You often connect them with sun, holidays and history wrongly!! And this is the trap… If you had ever learnt the real life & the real behavior in this country, you would have disapointed & you would have changed your mind immediatelly as many many other people all over the world which did the ”crime” and moved to this country!!

All romantic foreigners must stop licking their dirty boots (if they still have got boots to wear!!) and let them rotting away and living like common jungle animals!! They never realised that they had been living for many many decades in a very huge ”bubble” without substance or seriousness!! Unfortunatelly, the game is over, they bubble has popped and they gonna pay it… Foreigners are not suckers to pay them for ducking around and being slacking!!! Because of their hyper-paranoiac belief, they think they are what we say ”upper & best race”!! But this doesn’t change the fact & the truth that they still remain some grungies!! P.S. Instead of writing various usual gibberish about their damaged nation or youtube videos, go and find the true meaning of life!!! Don’t blame the other nations or your politicians for YOUR intertemporal mess!! You have always been a mess, still remain the same and they ‘ve got to blame themselves only!! Of course, they’ve also got too many habitual offenders & molesters in their mess!!

So, they shoudn’t be wussy hypocrites and calm down finally I very well know that there are many greeks who live abroad and keep on having this kind of miserable & seedy behavior!! P.S.2 Some people say that ”lazy Greeks” is just a sterotype & a myth!! Hmmm… Well, I think that the truth is in the middle!! I firmly believe that ”hardworking Greeks” is somehow a myth!! You know what the irony is?? The phrase ”hard working” has been formed by those kinda for a cover!! All those hypocritic ”working” people in Greece have realised(!!) that they are ”hardworking”, just by 2009(!!) & by the beginning of the crisis, reading a research of OASA… You know, despite their own problems, the most European peoples with fewer hours of work, managed to have a real helpful society, civilized, friendly people, organized with methodicalness etc… And those hard-working greeks, with the most working hours, are just failed & incapable of anything !! And neither the state (which they have been born), nor the many working hours… Only their low IQ sings!!!

You know, it has been proved that the average IQ level is absolutely connected with productivity!! While all the rest Europeans outside pay their living, they stay there and do nothing… And when they work, they do produce nothing!! Even some jobs helping by European subsidies have been failed… All those years, those hard-workings had been stolen European money, they have just degenerated into corrupt scammers, into rogues & fakes who claime to be workers etc. Their low iq & their education makes them piddly, useless and unable to make just one decent thing!! Even those who have been measured with high IQ, have ridden the stake!! Not even don’t know how to talk!! Their stupidities far outweigh their sensible acts. Most of them who go abroad, still remain incompetent!! And I realise that every day… You know, myths & fictions are nices… But, for greeks, it’s well-known all over the world that words never become deeds!! They have the most working days but they don’t produce anything and swear the rest europeans who work!! By my side, I realise even at their jobs, they keep on trying not to lose their welfare & well-being!!

This ”well-being” purpose had been one of all those many many ”genetic defects” that led them to destruction!! Moreover, tt’s well-known that greeks always seek until today fortune & money, with an easy & comfortable life only, without problems & at the expense of other people (greek or foreigners)!! With all these foible, do you believe that takes a long time to tell them sluggards?? I guess this doesn’t need an answer!! Well, I believe that people of northern countries have an excuse to wait for the summer!! But, do you know what the irony is?? Although greeks have usually sunny days, they always wait for their summer much more than the northern people!!! I’m sure that they have always loved watching the rest Europeans working, while they make fun of them, living by their money!! anonymous sanskrit is not the oldest but one of the oldest languages. Greek is about as old as sanskrit and they both have similar roots. english borrowing from only sanskrit is a theory not a fact. words could be from greek or sanskrit or PIE, which you mentioned as a follower to sanskrit. It is actually the apparent parent language to both greek and sanskrit.

Arushi Singh sanskrit is not the oldest but one of the oldest languages. Greek is about as old as sanskrit and they both have similar roots. english borrowing from only sanskrit is a theory not a fact. words could be from greek or sanskrit or PIE, which you mentioned as a follower to sanskrit. It is actually the apparent parent language to both greek and sanskrit. Aakash Nair kafa cant be sanskrit. it could be kapha instead. no fs or zs in any words of indian origin. Lucia Grazia McMaster Sir, where could we find the full list of dhatis? i’ve found a dhatukosha and dhatupatha (not sure what the difference is) where the meanings are explained in english, but the dhatus themselves are in devangari script (which i can’t read). I can see how the the dhatupatha would come handy if one wanted to understand a written sanskrit text, but it doesn’t help when one is trying to decipher the meaning of sanskrit names when they are written in latin script. is there a list where both the dhatus and their meanings are written in latin script for us western dummies?

(basically, the way you posted the root sanskrit words, but all 2012 of them) Thank you for the interesting and educational articles! Shreekant Paranjape Help | Merriam-Webster Help Where do new words come from? How do you figure out their histories? An etymology is the history of a linguistic form, such as a word; the same term is also used for the study of word histories. A dictionary etymology tells us what is known of an English word before it became the word entered in that dictionary. If the word was created in English, the etymology shows, to whatever extent is not already obvious from the shape of the word, what materials were used to form it. If the word was borrowed into English, the etymology traces the borrowing process backward from the point at which the word entered English to the earliest records of the ancestral language. Where it is relevant, an etymology notes words from other languages that are related ("akin") to the word in the dictionary entry, but that are not in the direct line of borrowing.

How New Words are Formed An etymologist, a specialist in the study of etymology, must know a good deal about the history of English and also about the relationships of sound and meaning and their changes over time that underline the reconstruction of the Indo-European language family. Knowledge is also needed of the various processes by which words are created within Modern English; the most important processes are listed below. Borrowing A majority of the words used in English today are of foreign origin. English still derives much of its vocabulary from Latin and Greek, but we have also borrowed words from nearly all of the languages in Europe. In the modern period of linguistic acquisitiveness, English has found vocabulary opportunities even farther afield. From the period of the Renaissance voyages through the days when the sun never set upon the British Empire and up to the present, a steady stream of new words has flowed into the language to match the new objects and experiences English speakers have encountered all over the globe. Over 120 languages are on record as sources of present-day English vocabulary. Shortening or Clipping Clipping (or truncation) is a process whereby an appreciable chunk of an existing word is omitted, leaving what is sometimes called a stump word.

When it is the end of a word that is lopped off, the process is called back-clipping: thus examination was docked to create exam and gymnasium was shortened to form gym. Less common in English are fore-clippings, in which the beginning of a word is dropped: thus phone from telephone. Very occasionally, we see a sort of fore-and-aft clipping, such as flu, from influenza. Functional Shift A functional shift is the process by which an existing word or form comes to be used with another grammatical function (often a different part of speech); an example of a functional shift would be the development of the noun commute from the verb commute. Back-formation Back-formation occurs when a real or supposed affix (that is, a prefix or suffix) is removed from a word to create a new one. For example, the original name for a type of fruit was cherise, but some thought that word sounded plural, so they began to use what they believed to be a singular form, cherry, and a new word was born. The creation of the the verb enthuse from the noun enthusiasm is also an example of a back-formation.

Blends A blend is a word made by combining other words or parts of words in such a way that they overlap (as motel from motor plus hotel) or one is infixed into the other (as chortle from snort plus chuckle  the -ort- of the first being surrounded by the ch-...-le of the second). The term blend is also sometimes used to describe words like brunch, from breakfast plus lunch, in which pieces of the word are joined but there is no actual overlap. The essential feature of a blend in either case is that there be no point at which you can break the word with everything to the left of the breaking being a morpheme (a separately meaningful, conventionally combinable element) and everything to the right being a morpheme, and with the meaning of the blend-word being a function of the meaning of these morphemes. Thus, birdcage and psychohistory are not blends, but are instead compounds. Acronymic Formations An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of a phrase.

Some acronymic terms still clearly show their alphabetic origins (consider FBI), but others are pronounced like words instead of as a succession of letter names: thus NASA and NATO are pronounced as two syllable words. If the form is written lowercase, there is no longer any formal clue that the word began life as an acronym: thus radar ('radio detecting and ranging'). Sometimes a form wavers between the two treatments: CAT scan pronounced either like cat or C-A-T. NOTE: No origin is more pleasing to the general reader than an acronymic one. Although acronymic etymologies are perennially popular, many of them are based more in creative fancy than in fact. For an example of such an alleged acronymic etymology, see the article on posh . Transfer of Personal or Place Names Over time, names of people, places, or things may become generalized vocabulary words. Thus did forsythia develop from the name of botanist William Forsyth, silhouette from the name of Étienne de Silhouette, a parsimonious French controller general of finances, and denim from serge de Nîmes (a fabric made in Nîmes, France).

Imitation of Sounds Words can also be created by onomatopoeia, the naming of things by a more or less exact reproduction of the sound associated with it. Words such as buzz, hiss, guffaw, whiz, and pop) are of imitative origin. Folk Etymology Folk etymology, also known as popular etymology, is the process whereby a word is altered so as to resemble at least partially a more familiar word or words. Sometimes the process seems intended to "make sense of" a borrowed foreign word using native resources: for example, the Late Latin febrigugia (a plant with medicinal properties, etymologically 'fever expeller') was modified into English as feverfew. Combining Word Elements Also available to one who feels the need for a new word to name a new thing or express a new idea is the very considerable store of prefixes, suffixes, and combining forms that already exist in English. Some of these are native and others are borrowed from French, but the largest number have been taken directly from Latin or Greek, and they have been combined in may different ways often without any special regard for matching two elements from the same original language.

The combination of these word elements has produced many scientific and technical terms of Modern English. Literary and Creative Coinages Once in a while, a word is created spontaneously out of the creative play of sheer imagination. Words such as boondoggle and googol are examples of such creative coinages, but most such inventive brand-new words do not gain sufficiently widespread use to gain dictionary entry unless their coiner is well known enough so his or her writings are read, quoted, and imitated. British author Lewis Carroll was renowned for coinages such as jabberwocky, galumph, and runcible, but most such new words are destined to pass in and out of existence with very little notice from most users of English. An etymologist tracing the history of a dictionary entry must review the etymologies at existing main entries and prepare such etymologies as are required for the main entries being added to the new edition. In the course of the former activity, adjustments must sometimes be made either to incorporate a useful piece of information that has been previously overlooked or to review the account of the word's origin in light of new evidence. Such evidence may be unearthed by the etymologist or may be the product of published research by other scholars.

In writing new etymologies, the etymologist must, of course, be alive to the possible languages from which a new term may have been created or borrowed, and must be prepared to research and analyze a wide range of documented evidence and published sources in tracing a word's history. The etymologist must sift theories, often-conflicting theories of greater or lesser likelihood, and try to evaluate the evidence conservatively but fairly to arrive at the soundest possible etymology that the available information permits. When all attempts to provide a satisfactory etymology have failed, an etymologist may have to declare that a word's origin is unknown.

The label "origin unknown" in an etymology seldom means that the etymologist is unaware of various speculations about the origin of a term, but instead usually means that no single theory conceived by the etymologist or proposed by others is well enough backed by evidence to include in a serious work of reference, even when qualified by "probably" or "perhaps." 10 Foreign Words You Thought Were English - Toptenz.net Toptenz.net Posted by Shannon Harris on July 28, 2010 in Humor , Literature | 5,252 Views | 39 Responses “English; A language that lurks in dark alleys, beats up other languages, and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary.” (Bumper Sticker) A humorous quote that is quite accurate, actually. Of 80,000 English words, roughly 28% originate from Latin, 28% from French, and 25% from Germanic languages (Pie Chart: Wikipedia ). So, to honor those countries that have shared their vocabulary, by choice or by force, here is a list of ten words that native English speakers may not know as foreign.

Granted, there are thousands of words to choose from, and to pick ten was difficult. After all, how many know that tycoon comes from the Japanese word “taikun” (great lord)? Or, that gung ho is Mandarin Chinese for “gongye hezhoushe” (work in harmony)? Impress your friends with your new knowledge of the English language as you explain the interesting origin of words like robot (robota, Czech for “drudgery”), chic (originally schick, German for “elegance”), and kiosk (Turkish for “pavilion” or “palace”): 10. Poltergeist As so vividly demonstrated in the numerous Poltergiest and Amityville Horror movies, a poltergeist is some sort of paranormal (and usually violent) activity taking place around those who are deeply troubled or have been traumatized. The word itself comes from the German words “poltern”, meaning to make noise, and “geist”, meaning ghost . Most of this activity has been attributed to various physical or electrical explanations by skeptics, but like with anything paranormal, there are cases that are too weird for explanation. 9.

Placebo You’ve probably heard of the placebo effect, especially in drug testing. A placebo is “an innocuous or inert medication; given as a pacifier or to the control group in experiments on the efficacy of a drug” ( wordnetweb.princeton ). The noun placebo comes from a Latin verb, meaning “I shall please”, in reference to some participants’ belief that the “medication” had an effect. What is actually happening however is that the participant may be unwilling to say that they experienced nothing out of fear of failure or of disappointing the researcher. 8. Loot Loot, swag, plunder. No matter what word you use, you know that you’re talking about treasure. The word loot itself is an Anglo-Indian word with a root in the Hindi word “lut”. As a Hindi word, loot is an item stolen during war or riot. The word came into the English language during the British occupation of India during the eighteenth century. 7. Kudos An ancient Greek word that means “glory” or “reknown”. In ancient Greek culture, glory was found on the battlefield, much like every other civilization. When a solider was refused his earned due, or kudos, it was considered a very serious insult.

One of the most famous examples of kudos is in the Iliad when Agamemnon takes the maiden Briseis from the soldier Achilles as a gift of honor- kudos earned from his glory in battle. 6. Khaki If there is one thing that the British Army was known for up until the nineteenth century, it was their bright red uniforms, earning them the nickname “redcoats”. This made them an easy target no matter where they went, and in combination with their emphasis on holding their formation, they were sitting ducks especially during the American Revolution. However, if one looks at the British Army now, they wear a different and more sensible color : khaki. The British began using the cloth and color found in their colonization of India, hence the name khaki, which means “dusty” or “earth” in Hindi. 5. Juggernaut While most people think of the X-Men villain when they hear this word, it actually dates back to pre-colonial times. Juggernaut is actually Sanskrit for “lord of the universe”, and is a form of the Hindu deity Krishna.

The word came into the English language when British visitors to India witnessed a parade famous to the Jagannath Temple, in which statues of deities that were forty-five feet tall on platforms with wheels seven feet in diameter are rolled through the streets. Ironic, as Juggernaut himself is represented as a young boy, often playing a flute. 4. Glitch A word for “slip up”, glitch is believed to be a conglomeration of two words, both that meant to slip or slide, around 1962: “glitshen” (Yiddish) and “glitschen” ( German ). It was first used in English by American astronauts when there was a spike in an electrical current, and then broadened to other technical mishaps. (Image: GLITCH – Designing Imperfection.) 3. Confetti Traditionally, confetti is an Italian word to mean “ candy ”, specifically sugared almonds and other sweet confections eaten during special religious occasions like weddings, baptisms, and first communions. The custom of throwing confetti however, does not come from Italy.

In times of antiquity, small food items such as rice, dates, or nuts were thrown during times of celebration to represent fertility and abundance. 2. Berserk Berserk refers to an Old Norse word used to describe the Viking warriors. The word itself means “bear shirt” for the bearskins that the warriors used instead of armor. They believed that by wearing the skins and working themselves into their war frenzy, that they would be endowed with the bear’s energy. Sir Walter Scott began using the word in the 1822 in his book The Pirate, more than one thousand years after the Viking invasions. 1. Assassin The origins of this Arabic word date back to the ninth century, when an Islamic sect was led to overthrow the Suni Muslims. Yemeni Shiite Hasan-I Sabbah was the founder of the group and set about his mission by targeting the enemies’ leaders. The group was given the name Hashshashin , meaning hashish-eaters, and was converted into English in 1603 as “assassin”. by Shannon Harris | Permalink There is no real "cutoff date" for words.

For a word to be considered a part of the language it has to be known by most of the speakers of that particular language and be actively used in communication. However, this is not a clear definition and has many exceptions. Even experts are not clear on this point, there are as many opinions as there are authors. But, generally speaking, while saying a word is "English" we mean it has roots in English and is not a loan word from any other language. I am a student of interpretation myself and I have a diploma from linguistics, so I could start a longer discussion about this. I just provided some basics you may need for your paper. If you need more information, just ask. Appendix:English toilet slang - Wiktionary Appendix:English toilet slang This section does not cite its references or sources. You can help Wiktionary verify this information by introducing appropriate citations. Toilet slang headwords in Wikisaurus This list of toilet slang represents a form of toilet humour , often as a result of attempts to replace taboo words related to certain bodily functions and parts by euphemisms and witticisms .

( slang ) Contents Running the Sidney Lanier Bridge Talking to grandma slowly To go and spend a penny Aim Archie at the Armitage Answer the call of nature (or nature's call) Beating the piss out of the little guy Blasting the beast Breaking the seal (specifically the first visit during a drinking session) Change water on the goldfish Coffee dump Cooling a tire (American truck driver slang) Do a wee Going to water my horse Hosing the porcelain Leak the lizard Let er' fly Lift leg (used commonly among members of the furry fandom , derived from how male canines urinate ) Lower the water level Piddle (considered a coarse expression in some quarters) Piss Point Percy at the Porcelain Point the Pink Pistol at the Porcelain Firing Range Powder one's nose See a man about a horse Shaking hands with the president Shaking hands with the vicar Shaking hands with the wife's best friend Shaking the dew off the lily Soaking yourself Squirt(ing) the dirt (American truck driver slang) Steering Stanley to the stainless steel Syphon the python Taking a piss (considered a coarse expression in some quarters) Taking a slash Training Thomas on the terracotta Troggle Write my name in the water Write

 my name in the snow Take a wicked "Yes" ( Family Guy ; Peter Griffin in French class after hearing the words, Oui Oui ) Having a slash A sewer snake to release Abort a baby Backing the big brown motorhome out of the garage Baiting the trap Blow one out - Also flatulence Blow the load Dropping an otter (dropping a Leith Otter) Dropping a Purtle Dropping bass ("base" as in the opposite of treble.

Not the fish.) Dropping logs Dropping some friends off at the pool Dropping the Browns off at the Super Bowl Dropping the kids off at the pool Dropping the Mexican Boll Weevil Dropping the weights Empty one's spaghetti house (from Tim & Eric's 'Dr. Steve Brule' segments) Faxing a shit to the toilet machine Feeding the seagulls (politer version of "Feeding the shitehawks") Feeding the toilet Fertilising the plants (refers to defecating outdoors and on the ground, such as while camping) Filing some papers Giving birth to a family of otters Giving birth to the black eel Giving birth to the Spineless Brownfish Going Boom Boom Going to meet Jim Davidson Going to number two Going to have a talk with Mr.Hanky (South Park [1] Reference) Going to have a meeting with the Governor Going to the restitorial Inagurate Barack Obama to the White House Inserting a SEAL Team "Liam Neeson!" a satisfying phrase to yell after a good bowel movement.

Lift tail (used commonly among members of the furry fandom) Logging Logging into the toilet and making a huge download Logging out Lose some weight (Also used in urination) Making a banoogie (referring to an unusually large defecation, often clogging the toilet) Making a tail Making an appointment with Dr. John Making gravy Making logs (or a log) Making waves Monopoly !

Montezuma's Revenge (traveller’s diarrhoea ) Number two (a portable toilet company advertises itself as "Number One in Number Two"; a Midwest plumbing company proclaims, "We're Number One in a Number Two Business.") Pebble-dashing the porcelain Pinching a yam Pinch-hitting for Kurt Bevacqua (a reference to the old brown uniforms worn in the 1970's and 1980's by the San Diego Padres .) Poo-Poo Pump a clump of dump out of my rump Pull a few cones (Think Mr Whippy soft serve ice cream, and the cones) Punching a growler Put food in the dog's water Releasing a depth charge Releasing a Dungbomb (from Harry Potter ) Releasing Meatloaf's Daughter Restocking the pond with brown trout Ride a pony and trap Riding the Centaur Sacrificing to the Toilet/Porcelain god Saturday morning special Shitting bricks (Houses or apartments as substitutes for higher quantity.) Showering the room with roses Shtounga Slopping gruel in Oliver's bowl Spray-painting the porcelain Squirt juice Stalling a brown sedan Streaming Nixie (naval expression referring to an anti-sub

marine device towed behind a ship by a long, thick, possibly brown cable) Studying one's Process Design notes (refers to Environmental Engineering Process Design, a course taught to civil and environmental engineering undergraduates and that deals with, among other topics, the design of wastewater treatment facilities) Taking a crap (see also Mr.

Thomas Crapper ) Taking a dump Taking a Nixon (used by Kinky Friedman in his detective novels) Taking a poo Taking a Shatner (as in Captain Kirk; would also accept "dropping" or "doing" a Shatner) Taking a shit (a coarse expression, not a euphemism) Taking a slam Taking a Tarzan (crapping in the woods/forest) Taking the Browns to the Superbowl Taking the mains offline and ejecting the warp coil Taking the morning curl Turtle time (see Turtle Action) Uni(I've got to take an uni) Unlikely Traveler (Defecation, usually on vacation, when you defacate in your pants away from a toilet) Unload Unloading a batch of cigars UH-OH!

(Peter Griffin again; is incontinent at awkward moments) Take a Critical Ambient to the Lab Upgrading my Thetan Level A quick piece from the anus orchestra (in F Minor) Air poo Bake brownies (from South Park ) Barking spiders Blow one out - Also defecation Blowing out the colon Bunny (As in "OOPS I let a Bunny.") Bust arse Churning urn of burning funk Corporal Fart Sounds the Trumpets for the arrival of General Kaka Crop Dusting (while walking) Drop one's guts (as in "Who dropped their guts?") Dropping wolf bait Give birth to a brown baby ghost Give up the funk Grunt (as in "Who grunted?") Guff/guff an eggy Killing the barking spiders (helps if you stomp) Launching a growler Let Polly out of prison Let slip the dog of war Let the peach speak Listening to Jim Davidson (or any ill-regarded musician) Meef Missouri mud ducks Mouse on a motorcycle Number four (note, numbers 3 and up are often switched, only numbers one and two are generally accepted as standard) Odor Opera "Speak to me, oh toothless one!" Step on a duck Taking the Browns to the Super

bowl The lonely cry of an imprisoned poop Toot Was that a mouse on a Harley?

Watch out for those barking spiders Whicked Whistlin' Blow chunks Booting Bow down before the porcelain god (On some occasions, the worshipper vows to the god never to drink again.) Bradding Bring it up for a vote Calling dinosaurs (Used for particularly loud bouts of emesis.) Calling Huey (or Ralph ) on the commode-a-phone Catch it on the rebound Cheektowaga scream Cook up a pavement pizza Cry Ruth Date Porcelain Patty Do the Bush Thing (used in Japan , after President Bush, Sr. threw up on a Japanese prime minister) Driving the Buick to Europe Driving the porcelain (school) bus Eat backwards Feed the fish (when seasick) Feed your young (like a mother bird regurgitates food for her chicks) Food Escape! Hug the porcelain wishing well Hurling Kneel before the porcelain throne Lap lung butter Leaving lunch on the sidewalk Make an offering to the porcelain gods Make a crustless pizza Make a hideous jiffy bag Make like Mount St.

Helens McDonald's "Special" Munt New England Clam Chowder Number three (note, numbers 3 and up are often switched, only numbers one and two are generally accepted as standard) Offer a sacrifice at the porcelain altar Paint the sidewalk Pay homage to the Irishman Huey O'Rourke Pop a gastric zit Pray/worship at the porcelain altar/temple Pray to the porcelain god/goddess/princess Protein Spill Pulling the trigger (intentionally vomiting) Quease Reverse-drink (from the Thunder Mug) Revisit dinner Rope på elgen ( Norwegian for "call the moose") Round trip meal ticket Sing psychedelic praises to the depths of the china bowl Snarf Snow bank pizza Soittaa posliinipuhelimella Norjaan ( Finnish for "make a phone call to Norway with a telephone made of porcelain ") Soul coughing Spraying McDonalds (as in "Did somebody spray McDonalds ?") Talking on the porcelain telephone Talking to the weeds Talking to God on the big white telephone Technicolour yawn/yodel Yawn for the hearing impaired Yodelling to the porcelain megaphone Yorxing Seltch (Sneezing and belching due to overpressures.) The

 call of the wildebeest Combinations[ edit ] Another section of toilet humour involves combination bodily functions, which are generally the unexpected result of some forcing mechanism.

While these events certainly don't have the lexicographical diversity of their single-function counterparts, they are generally considered humorous in discussion and especially in occurrence. Acid Beak - (see Turtle Action) Anal Leakage- Leaking anus. Generally unexpected, Action of incontinence, also 'sharting' in one's pants or underwear. Chain-Sharting - Sharting as the result of overpressures created by laughing at someone who has just sharted. Crop Dusting - Flatulation while walking quickly {'the man crop dusted his office hoping no one would pin the bad smell on him'} Escapee - A fart that escapes while urinating and/or defecating and/or eructating and/or vomiting and/or sneezing (Snarting). Hot Wheels - (Toy car brand name, T.V ad shows flaming tracks),track/skid marks remaining on the floor of the porcelain bowl after the first, and/or several flush(es) Out of the Closet Pooper - A colleague who defecates at the office unashamedly; usually seen going to the bathroom with a newspaper in hand.

Prairie Dogging - (see Turtle Action) SBP - (DMU), Defecation, menstruation and urination in unison. Sharting - When someone defecates as the result of overpressures created by attempting to flatulate. Snarting - When someone farts as the result of sneezing-induced overpressures. The Holy Shart - When someone defecates in his/her pants with a fart that came as the result of sneezing. Better if someone says "bless you" with the sneeze. Turd Burglar - A person who tries to open the door of your stall while you are defecating. Turtle Action - (see Turtle Time), occurs when the tip, or head of the feces peeks out the anus and/or the sensation of. Vurping - When someone vomits when they eructate. Doing the Triple - When all the pressures in your body build up at the same time (usually during drink fuelled sex) resulting in simultaneous: defecating, vomiting and ejaculating

Question: The English word Parliament derives from what foreign word-meaning?
Answer: Speak