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Languages and Linguistics

Lydia Leftcoast

(48,217 posts)

22. "Amok" as in "run amok" comes from Malay

Reply to Betty Karlson (Original post)

Wed Feb 8, 2012, 02:25 AM

Feb 2012

"Tepee" is Lakota.

The use of "dumb" to mean "stupid" and the use of "fresh" (not so common anymore) to mean "impudent, out of line" come from German immigrants. "Dumb" originally meant "mute."

"Skirt," "like," and "egg" are words that were brought to England by the Vikings, who ruled the north of England in the region known as the "Danelaw." Even though both Old English and Old Norse were Germanic languages, these particular forms were Scandinavian in origin and replaced the original Old English forms.

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Languages you didn't know you borrow words from (1) [View all] Betty Karlson Dec 2011 OP

English's usage of "do" as a dummy verb is a Welsh influence. Odin2005 Dec 2011 #1

That would be a grammatical substratum. Betty Karlson Dec 2011 #2

A borrowing from French is our use of the object pronouns as emphatics Lydia Leftcoast Dec 2011 #4

And the Italians would say "Sono io" I am I Starboard Tack Dec 2011 #5

English has to some extent been absorbed into the West Romance sprachbund. Odin2005 Jan 2012 #18

That is not exactly right. OldEurope Jun 2015 #29

There is a strong Old Norse adstratum. Odin2005 Jan 2012 #17

Case and gender still survive in English, Lionel Mandrake Aug 2014 #28

In the case of "do you speak English" Welsh doesn't change word order for a question geardaddy Dec 2011 #3

The Celtic languages are awesome. Odin2005 Jan 2012 #19

Yep! geardaddy Jan 2012 #20

P celtic is said to have african syntax refrescanos Jul 2013 #24

Interesting! geardaddy Jul 2013 #25

messed up refrescanos Jul 2013 #26

Two borrowings from Japanese: Lydia Leftcoast Dec 2011 #6

I thought Tycoon was Chinese. pink-o Jan 2012 #7

Typhoon is Chinese geardaddy Jan 2012 #10

That's Interesting. Wolf Frankula Jan 2012 #8

Soughs? IntravenousDemilo Jan 2012 #9

Pidgin geardaddy Jan 2012 #11

brasserie geardaddy Jan 2012 #12

Hindi: Shampoo and Pajamas pink-o Jan 2012 #13

I think Thug comes from Hindi, too. geardaddy Jan 2012 #14

Other words from Arabic A777 Jan 2012 #15

Same with zero, alcohol, algebra, several names of stars (Altair, Betelgeuse), and magazine NuclearDem Jul 2013 #27

"tea" comes from Min-nan (Taiwanese Hokkien) geardaddy Jan 2012 #16

'Boondocks' comes from Tagalog RZM Jan 2012 #21

"Amok" as in "run amok" comes from Malay Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2012 #22

I was going to enter "Amok", you beat me to it.. years ago! vkkv Mar 2016 #30

Spam deleted by MaineDem (MIR Team) bestbagsforu Apr 2012 #23