Languages borrow words from each other through a process called loanword adoption. This happens for various reasons, such as trade, migration, cultural influence, or the need to describe new concepts, inventions, or technologies that the borrowing language doesn’t have a term for. Here’s how it typically works:
- Contact Between Languages: When two communities speaking different languages interact—whether through trade, war, colonization, or other forms of cultural exchange—words can be borrowed. For example, English borrowed many words from French after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.
- Adoption of Words: The borrowing language incorporates words from another language. Sometimes, the original word is kept almost exactly as it is (known as a direct loan), and other times, it might be modified to fit the sounds or spelling conventions of the borrowing language (adapted loan).
- Meaning Shift or Expansion: Sometimes borrowed words acquire new meanings in the borrowing language that they didn’t have in the original language. For example, the English word “kindergarten” comes from German, where it literally means “children’s garden,” but in English, it refers to a preschool class.
- Integration: Over time, borrowed words can become so common that speakers of the borrowing language no longer recognize them as foreign. These words may be fully integrated into the grammar and phonology of the borrowing language.
- Reasons for Borrowing: Borrowing happens for different reasons. If one language develops new technologies or has cultural prestige (such as English or French historically), other languages might adopt words from it. Additionally, languages might borrow words for things they don’t have native terms for, like “sushi” from Japanese or “piano” from Italian.
Some common examples of borrowed words in English include:
- “Pizza” from Italian
- “Taco” from Spanish
- “Déjà vu” from French
- “Karaoke” from Japanese