April 09, 2003

"German Professors Declare War on English Terms"

From this:

A group of German university professors, angered by the U.S.-British war against Iraq, have launched a campaign to replace many popular English-language words used in Germany with French terms... the four professors declared war on borrowed English terms in German such as "okay," "T-shirt" and "party."

From their list, they seem to be replacing words of Germanic origin with words of French/Latin origin. In only one case (mannequin) have they chosen the Germanic word over the Fr/L word:

Key:
E=English
ME=Middle English
G=German
Fr=French
L=Latin
Gr=Greek
Gmc=proto-Germanic

--------
Bassin for Pool
pool is E/Gmc

Billett for Ticket
ticket is Fr from Gmc

Bonvivant for Playboy
play and boy are both E/Gmc (boy might be Fr, or it might be Dutch)

Chanson for Song
cf. G singen

Chauffeur for Driver
drive is E/Gmc

Chef for Boss
boss is Dutch

Communiqu� for Briefing
brief is ME from Fr + E -ing (cf G -ung)

Conf�rencier for Showmaster (Scheinanglizismus)
cf G shauen und meister

Formidable for cool
cf G kuehl

Hautevolee for High Society
cf G hoch

Klassement for Ranking
rank is ME from Fr from Gmc

Mannequin for Model
mannequin is from Dutch mannekijn

Equipe for Team
team is ME from Gmc

F�te for Party
both Fr/L

Sofa for Couch
sofa is Turkish, couch is ME from Fr.

Rendezvous for Date
date is L

Revue for Show
see showmaster above

Souterrain for Basement
base is ME from Fr from L from Gr

Tantieme for Royalty
royal is Fr

Tournee for Tour
tour is Fr

Trikot for T-Shirt
shirt is ME from Gmc

Tristesse for Sadness
sad is ME from Gmc
--------

Posted to WackyHumor at April 9, 2003 07:25 PM

Comments

Cool cool

Posted by: play boy at August 3, 2004 10:38 PM