Excerpt
from A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi": The Origin of Foreign Words Used in English
by Chloe Rhodes
An Excerpt from A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi":
The Origin of Foreign Words
Used in English
À la mode
fashionable (French)
The link between France and fashion was established by King Louis XIV,
whose court became such an epicentre of good taste that the British
aristocracy didn't simply want to dress in French fashion, they wanted
the French phrase for it, too. In the seventeenth
century the term was anglicized to become "alamode" -- a light silk
used to make scarves. In the United States the phrase has also come to
mean "with
ice-cream"; there must have been a time in small-town America when the
combined flavors of cooked apple, sweet pastry and vanilla represented
the very latest in fashionable, cutting-edge gastronomy.
Can I
suggest these divine little ankle boots, madam? Python-skin platforms
are so à la mode.
Ersatz
replacement (German)
This comes from
"ersetzen," which means to "replace," and in
Germany the term is straightforward; in sports an
"Ersatzspieler"
is
a
"substitute
player."
But
the word picked up some negativity on its
route into English. During the First World War, when Allied blockades
prevented the delivery of goods to Germany, substitutes had to be
found for the basic essentials. Coffee, for instance, was made using
roasted grains rather than coffee beans. The practice resumed in the
Second World War when
Allied prisoners of war who were given this tasteless
"Ersatzkaffee"
took the word home with them for any inferior substitution or
imitation.
Pass me that glass of champagne quickly, Gloria! I think
that last canapé was some kind of dreadful ersatz caviar.
Honcho
squad leader (Japanese)
It sounds like Spanish, doesn't it? But in fact, it comes from the
Japanese word "
hancho," which has its origins in Middle Chinese.
"Han" translates as "squad"
and
"cho" means "chief," which is a common suffix in Japanese
for words that denote leadership -- "
kocho," for example, means
"school principal." The term was brought back to the United States and
the UK in the 1940s and 1950s by soldiers serving in Japan and Korea.
English speakers use it as slang for "boss," often preceded by the word
"head," which, though extraneous, does make for a pleasingly
alliterative whole.
Okay, team, this is the beginning of a brave new era.
You
may think you know how to market paper clips, but I'm the head honcho
around here now and we'll sell them my way.
Ketchup
fish brine (Malay, from "kichap")
Yes, Heinz's most popular condiment began life as a spicy pickled fish
sauce
in seventeenth-century China. The word is a westernized version of of
the Malay word "
kichap,"
which came from the Min Chinese
"koechiap," meaning "fish
brine." The sweet red
version we're familiar with began to take shape when American
seamen added tomatoes -- excellent for preventing scurvy.
In 1876 John Heinz launched his tomato ketchup, and it's been a staple
of British and American diets ever since.
Thanks so much for agreeing to look after him, Sarah.
Here's his toothbrush and his pajamas, oh, and his bottle of
ketchup -- he won't eat anything without it.
Mea culpa
my fault (Latin)
This phrase comes from a Roman Catholic prayer for Mass called "
Confiteor,"
meaning
"I
confess,"
which
includes the cheery line: "I
have sinned exceedingly in thought, word and deed: through my fault,
through my fault." This English translation appeared
beside the Latin in prayer books, and the phrase was absorbed into
general use. Now, a "mea culpa" is an admission of guilt for a mistake,
often rendered as "mea maxima culpa" by people into serious
breast-beating.
Someone among us has left his underwear in the
microwave, where I can only assume he was attempting to dry it. I
suggest that he perform a swift mea culpa if he wants the chance to
salvage the offending item.
Nous
mind, intellect (Greek)
To Homer it meant "mental activity," to Plato it denoted the conscious
part of the soul, while for Aristotle it represented the
intellect. However, in spite of these varying interpretations, "nous"
was generally accepted as a philosophical term for the mind. It
continued
to be used in this way by later philosophers, but in modern English it
has far less cerebral connotations and is used simply to mean "common
sense."
That hairdresser could make a fortune out of all the
secrets she knows about the rich and famous, but she just doesn't have
the nous -- that's why they all like her.
Peccadillo
small sin (Spanish)
This word came to us in the mid sixteenth century from the Spanish, who
got their word from the Latin "
peccare," meaning "to sin." But
it
refers only to the mildest of transgressions; an individual's bad
habits are often described as their "peccadillos," as long as they are
mildly annoying rather than seriously antisocial, and a one-off
trivial misdeed might also be described as such.
At the start of their relationship Jean had been charmed
by Alfred's little peccadillos, but as she swept his toenail trimmings
off the edge of the bathtub for the hundredth time, she knew she had to
say good-bye.
Schadenfreude
pleasure taken from another's suffering (German)
This comes from two German words,
"Schaden," meaning "damage"
or
"harm," and
"Freude," meaning "joy." Though it sounds like a
mean and
disturbed emotion to feel,
Schadenfreude actually forms the
basis of
much of our comedy. From the slapstick antics of Charlie Chaplin to the
self-deprecatory humor of modern stand-up comedians, as long as
suffering isn't permanently damaging, it can be enjoyable to
witness. The modern obsession with following the downfall of troubled
celebrities is proof of the word's continuing usefulness.
Mary couldn't bear circus clowns, the Schadenfreude
the rest of the audience experienced from watching them fall over
just left her with a nervous headache.
The above is an excerpt from the book A
Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi": The Origin of Foreign Words Used in English
by Chloe Rhodes. The above excerpt is a
digitally scanned
reproduction of
text from print. Although this
excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the
scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.
Copyright © 2010 Chloe Rhodes,
author
of
A
Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi": The Origin of Foreign Words Used in English
