WesDymMay 22, 2023
English has two different terms for words that come into English from other languages. A 'calque' is translated from the source language. (E.g., flea market, beer garden, paper tiger) A 'loanword' is ported in its original form. (E.g., cafe, bazaar, kindergarten) Perhaps ironically, the word 'calque' is a loanword, while 'loanword' is a calque (from Ger. 'lehnwort').
Show threadDavid MankinsMay 23, 2023

@wesdym
I think my favorite loan word is "caucus". It sounds so Latin! And it's about politics, and one's mind goes to caucusing in the Roman Senate.

But, no -- it has a much more interesting heritage: it comes from the Algonquin family of languages, along with, it turns out, a lot of other ideas about freedom, politics, and economy as the monarchical Europeans encountered the societies of the Americas and had their eyes opened to many novel ways of organizing societies.

Show threadCastedo EllermanMay 23, 2023

@lain_7 @wesdym

Doesn't "caucus" mean "drinking vessel" in Latin?

It seems far more likely that the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Caucus that met in a tavern to enjoy drinks like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_(cocktail), was named after a Latin word for a drinking vessel. And this group influenced American political jargon with members like Samual Adams and John Adams.

Boston Caucus - Wikipedia

Show threadWesDym
@castedo One of several Latin terms for various drinking vessels, I believe -- of the goblet variety, I believe. (There is a goblet-shaped fungus named Ciboria caucus.) It's the hypothesis I personally prefer, because it seems to me to require the fewest and least extravagant assumptions. But to my knowledge, there is no solid proof for this or any other hypothesis so far.
May 23, 2023 at 5:17pmWeb