loanword

Definition: A word taken directly from another language.
Note: As opposed to a loan translation, which is word derived from another language through a part-for-part translation.
Example: The word wigwam is an Algonquian word that directly entered English in the 17th century.
Etymology: The term loanword was coined as a loan translation of the German Lehnwort.
Oxford English Dictionary: Its first citation is from 1874:
"*Loan-words are common to all dialects."
Note: evidently the term loanword entered English before the term loan translation; the latter's first citation is from 1933.
(Sayce, Comparative Philology, volume 171)



Please comment

E-Mail: