When we borrow money from any person, we feel poorer to do that. We promise to ourselves that we are not going to repeat it. Never again. And the feel haunts till we return the money. But English as a language loves to borrow words from other languages around the globe. It has become richer in vocabulary and continues to do so. Quite contrast isn't it!
Here is the calculation of the percentages of the languages that enriched English throughout the centuries.
Latin 29%
French 29%
Germanic Languages
(Old/Middle English, Old Norse, Dutch) 26%
Greek 6%
Other languages/ uknown 6%
Derived from Proper Names 4%
Let's check into the details of borrowing:
We start with India.
A for AVATAR
Nowadays movies to help the natives accept the foreign words that are Hollywood block busters - James Cameron's Avatar - made the word enter straight into the vocabulary.
Some more words are - Yoga, Dhyana, Guru
Basmati - is the word taken from Hindi. It means something with a pleasant aroma/
In English, it is usually used along with 'rice'. It refers to the ingredient Basmati Rice.
Food wise: Curry, chutney, dal, sambar (the list is endless)
Place wise: Jungle, bunglow, gymkhana, bazaar
Animals: Cheetah, Sher
While searching about Indian words in English, I have come to know one interesting loaned word -SHAMPOO.
You know what, this word too is ours. We loaned it to the English. Actually it means massage in Hindi, with a bit or Turkish origin, was taken in and around 18th century.
The word 'Bangle' too entered the vocabulary around the same time period. Bangli - in Hindi means 'a glass bracelet'.
Region oriented products: Jodhpur chappals, Cashmere Shawls
Abba and Anna, Gulabjamun and Vada - these and many other words of Indian origin can now be found in Oxford English Dictionary. Its 2017 edition had already listed nine hundred words. These seventy are newly added. Wow... We can declare we have more than one thousand words of English vocabulary!
Here is the calculation of the percentages of the languages that enriched English throughout the centuries.
Latin 29%
French 29%
Germanic Languages
(Old/Middle English, Old Norse, Dutch) 26%
Greek 6%
Other languages/ uknown 6%
Derived from Proper Names 4%
Let's check into the details of borrowing:
We start with India.
A for AVATAR
Nowadays movies to help the natives accept the foreign words that are Hollywood block busters - James Cameron's Avatar - made the word enter straight into the vocabulary.
Some more words are - Yoga, Dhyana, Guru
Basmati - is the word taken from Hindi. It means something with a pleasant aroma/
In English, it is usually used along with 'rice'. It refers to the ingredient Basmati Rice.
Food wise: Curry, chutney, dal, sambar (the list is endless)
Place wise: Jungle, bunglow, gymkhana, bazaar
Animals: Cheetah, Sher
While searching about Indian words in English, I have come to know one interesting loaned word -SHAMPOO.
You know what, this word too is ours. We loaned it to the English. Actually it means massage in Hindi, with a bit or Turkish origin, was taken in and around 18th century.
The word 'Bangle' too entered the vocabulary around the same time period. Bangli - in Hindi means 'a glass bracelet'.
Region oriented products: Jodhpur chappals, Cashmere Shawls
Abba and Anna, Gulabjamun and Vada - these and many other words of Indian origin can now be found in Oxford English Dictionary. Its 2017 edition had already listed nine hundred words. These seventy are newly added. Wow... We can declare we have more than one thousand words of English vocabulary!
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