Many English words come from other languages, but this list highlights some of our favorites from non-Romance languages – i.e. they don't trace back to Latin – that sound almost the same in the original.
#1: Karaoke
Language of Origin: Japanese
About the Word:
Karaoke, the beloved/hated
entertainment that involves non-professional singers performing without live
bands, has a poetic-sounding origin: "empty orchestra."
It comes from the Japanese kara ("empty")
+ ōke, short forōkesutora ("orchestra").
That same kara also
appears in karate: "empty" + te ("hand").
Karaoke became
popular in Japan among businessmen in the late 1970s, and gained widespread
popularity in the U.S. in the late 1980s.
#2: Kerfuffle
Language
of Origin: Scottish Gaelic
About the
Word:
Kerfuffle means
"disturbance or fuss," often describing a situation that's received
more attention than it deserves.
For example, Politicoreported on
"the still-rippling kerfuffle over Hilary Rosen's comments that Ann Romney
'hasn't worked a day in her life'..." (Reid J. Epstein, Politico, April
22, 2012)
"Fuffle" was first used in Scottish English, as early as the
16th century, as a verb meaning "to dishevel." The addition of the
prefix "car-" (possibly derived from a Scottish Gaelic word meaning
"wrong" or "awkward") barely changed the word's meaning. In
the 19th century "carfuffle" became a noun, and in the mid-20th
century it was embraced by a broader population of English speakers and
standardized to "kerfuffle."
#3: Chutzpah
Language of Origin: Yiddish
About the Word:
Chutzpah comes from the
Yiddish khutspe, meaning "impudence."
In American
English,chutzpah describes a
particular kind of nerve, or gall. It refers to the supreme self-confidence
that allows a person to do or say things that may seem shocking to others.
In one classic illustration of the concept, a man convicted of killing
his parents asks the court for mercy because he's an orphan. That's chutzpah!
#4: Kowtow
Language
of Origin: Chinese
About the
Word:
To
"kowtow" is to agree too easily or eagerly to do what someone else
wants you to do, or to obey someone with power in a way that seems weak.
It comes from the
Chinesekòutóu – kòu ("to
knock") plus tóu ("head") – and originally referred to kneeling and touching one's
head to the ground as a salute or act of worship to a revered authority.
In traditional
China, this ritual was performed by commoners making requests to the local magistrate,
by the emperor to the shrine of Confucius, or by foreign representatives
appearing before the emperor to establish trade relations.
In the late 18th
century, some Western nations resisted performing the ritual, which
acknowledged the Chinese emperor as the "son of heaven."
The noun arrived in English in the early 1800s, and within a few decades
had taken on the "fawn" or "suck up" verb meaning we use
today.
#5: Schadenfreude
Language of
Origin: German
About the
Word:
The German Schaden means
"damage"; Freude means "joy"; the EnglishSchadenfreude means "enjoyment
obtained from the troubles of others."
As the Schadenfreude song from Avenue Q puts it: "And when I see how sad you are / It sort of makes me... /
Happy!
#6: Apparatchik
Language
of Origin: Russian
About the
Word:
Nowadays, apparatchik is generally used
as a mild insult for a blindly devoted official, follower, or member of an
organization, such as a corporation or political party.
For example, an
Op-Ed piece in the New York Times described a London mayoral candidate as, "a lifelong left-wing
activist, a local government apparatchik, a consummate manipulator of
subcommittees and votes of confidence."
Originally the word referred specifically to a Communist official or
agent. It comes from the Russian apparat meaning "party machine" – and for much of the 20th century
specifically "the political machine of the Communist party" – + -chik, an agent suffix.
#7: Boondocks
Language
of Origin: Tagalog
About the
Word:
Boondocks (and boonies) both mean
"a rural area," particularly one considered backward, dull, or
unsophisticated.
In Tagalog, the language that is the base for Filipino, an official
language of the Philippines, bundok means "mountains." Following the Philippine Revolution of
1898, the occupying American military forces adopted "boondocks" and
broadened its meaning to refer to the wild and rural country they found there.
#8: Ketchup
Language
of Origin: Malay
About the
Word:
This all-American
condiment started out as a spicy, fermented fish sauce in Malaysia.
That version,
known askěchap, made its way
first to Europe and then to the New World, where tomatoes eventually became the
defining ingredient.
Elsewhere, ketchup retains an earlier identity. Traditional English
ketchup, for example, is a pureed seasoning based on mushrooms, unripe walnuts,
or oysters.
#9: Juggernaut
Language
of Origin: Hindi
About the
Word:
A juggernaut is something (such
as a force, campaign, or movement) that is huge and powerful and can't be
stopped.
The word rolled
into English from Hindi with a fairly terrifying image.
It comes from Jagannāth (Hindi for "Lord of the World"), the title of the Hindu god
Vishnu. According to some exaggerated but widespread reports dating back to the
14th century, during parades in India, devotees of Vishnu would sacrifice
themselves by being crushed beneath the wheels of carriages carrying images of
Vishnu.
#10: Hazard
Language
of Origin: Arabic
About the
Word:
Hazard dates to the time
of the Crusaders and involves a game of chance.
According to the
most likely theory, the original hazard("al-zahr," in Arabic) was a die.
Players would roll the dice and bet on the outcome.
English got the word from French. In English, hazard eventually came to name any chance, risk, or source
of danger.