List of calques
Encyclopedia
A calque
or loan translation is a word
or phrase
borrowed from another language
by literal
, word-for-word (Latin
: "verbum pro verbo") or root-for-root translation. This list contains examples of calques in various languages.
Also technological terms calqued from English are used throughout the Spanish-speaking world:
In more recent times, the Macedonian language has calqued new words from other prestige languages
including German
, French
and English
.
Some words were originally calqued into Russian
and then absorbed into Macedonian, considering the close relatedness of the two languages. Therefore, many of these calques can also be considered Russianism
s.
(1799–1837) was perhaps the most influential among the Russian literary figures who would transform the modern Russian language and vastly expand its ability to handle abstract and scientific concepts by importing the sophisticated vocabulary of Western intellectuals.
Although some Western vocabulary entered the language as loanwords – e.g., Italian salvietta, "napkin," was simply Russified in sound and spelling to салфетка (salfetka) – Pushkin and those he influenced most often preferred to render foreign borrowings into Russian by calquing. Compound words were broken down to their component roots, which were then translated piece-by-piece to their Slavic equivalents. But not all of the coinages caught on and became permanent additions to the lexicon; for example, любомудрие (ljubomudrie) was promoted by 19th-century Russian intellectuals as a calque of "philosophy," but the word eventually fell out of fashion, and modern Russian instead uses the loanword философия (filosofija).
, differs radically in pronunciation and orthography from Indo-European languages, most loans adopted in Finnish either are calques or soon become such as foreign words are translated into Finnish. Examples include:
to Israel, they sometimes change their name to a Hebrew calque. For instance, Imi Lichtenfield, founder of the martial art Krav Maga
, became Imi Sde-Or. Both last names mean "light field".
According to linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann
, the more contributing languages have a structurally identical expression, the more likely it is to be calqued into the target language. In Israeli (his term for "Modern Hebrew") one uses má nishmà, lit. "what's heard?", with the meaning of "what's up?". Zuckermann argues that this is a calque not only of the Yiddish expression vos hert zikh (usually pronounced v(o)sérts´kh), lit. "what's heard?", meaning "what's up?", but also of the parallel expressions in Polish, Russian and Romanian. Whereas most revivalists were native Yiddish-speakers, many first speakers of Modern Hebrew spoke Russian and Polish too. So a Polish speaker in the 1930s might have used má nishmà not (only) due to Yiddish vos hert zikh but rather (also) due to Polish co sLychac. A Russian Jew might have used ma nishma due to chto slyshno and a Romanian Israeli would echo ce se aude. According to Zuckermann, such multi-sourced calquing is a manifestation of the Congruence principle.
Calque
In linguistics, a calque or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word or root-for-root translation.-Calque:...
or loan translation is a word
Word
In language, a word is the smallest free form that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content . This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own...
or phrase
Phrase
In everyday speech, a phrase may refer to any group of words. In linguistics, a phrase is a group of words which form a constituent and so function as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. A phrase is lower on the grammatical hierarchy than a clause....
borrowed from another language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
by literal
Literal translation
Literal translation, or direct translation, is the rendering of text from one language to another "word-for-word" rather than conveying the sense of the original...
, word-for-word (Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
: "verbum pro verbo") or root-for-root translation. This list contains examples of calques in various languages.
From Chinese
- Running dogRunning dogRunning dog is a literal translation into English of the Chinese/Korean communist pejorative zǒu gǒu 走狗, meaning lackey or lapdog, an unprincipled person who helps or flatters other, more powerful and often evil people...
calques . - Brainwashing calques – usage via U.S. military during Korean WarKorean WarThe Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. - Long time no seeLong time no see (phrase)"Long time no see" is an English expression used as a greeting by people who have not seen each other for a while. It is vested in an unconventional grammatical garb, and is an imitation of broken or pidgin English. It may derive ultimately from an English pidgin such as that spoken by Native...
calques Cantonese , via Chinese Pidgin EnglishChinese Pidgin EnglishChinese Pidgin English is a Pidgin language between English and Chinese. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, there was also Chinese Pidgin English spoken in Cantonese-speaking portions of China... - Look-see calques or (via pidgin EnglishPidgin EnglishPidgin English is a non-specific name used to refer to any of the many pidgin languages derived from English. English-based pidgins include:*American Indian Pidgin English*Bislama...
) - lose face calques
- Paper tigerPaper tigerPaper tiger is a literal English translation of the Chinese phrase zhǐlǎohǔ , meaning something that seems as threatening as a tiger, but is really harmless. This Chinese colloquialism is similar to the English phrase "its bark is worse than its bite"....
calques
From French
- Adam's appleAdam's appleThe laryngeal prominence—commonly known as the Adam's Apple—is a feature of the human neck. This lump, or protrusion, is formed by the angle of the thyroid cartilage surrounding the larynx...
calques pomme d'Adam - BushmeatBushmeatBushmeat initially referred to the hunting of wild animals in West and Central Africa and is a calque from the French viande de brousse. Today the term is commonly used for meat of terrestrial wild animals, killed for subsistence or commercial purposes throughout the humid tropics of the Americas,...
calques viande de brousse - deaf-muteDeaf-muteFor "deafness", see hearing impairment. For "Deaf" as a cultural term, see Deaf culture. For "inability to speak", see muteness.Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was both deaf and could not speak...
calques French sourd-muet - By heartBy HeartBy Heart is an album by Lea Salonga, released in 1999. It peaked at #1 on both the pop and R&B/soul albums chart. It produced two #1 crossover hits. The album went 3x platinum and sold 2 million copies worldwide. The album earned positive reviews and the tour was very successful...
(or off by heart) calques French par cœur - Governor-GeneralGovernor-GeneralA Governor-General, is a vice-regal person of a monarch in an independent realm or a major colonial circonscription. Depending on the political arrangement of the territory, a Governor General can be a governor of high rank, or a principal governor ranking above "ordinary" governors.- Current uses...
calques Gouverneur Général - Free verseFree verseFree verse is a form of poetry that refrains from consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern.Poets have explained that free verse, despite its freedom, is not free. Free Verse displays some elements of form...
calques vers libre - Old guard calques Vieille Garde (the most senior regiments of the Imperial Guard of Napoleon INapoleon INapoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
) - Flea marketFlea marketA flea market or swap meet is a type of bazaar where inexpensive or secondhand goods are sold or bartered. It may be indoors, such as in a warehouse or school gymnasium; or it may be outdoors, such as in a field or under a tent...
calques marché aux puces - Marriage of convenienceMarriage of convenienceA marriage of convenience is a marriage contracted for reasons other than the reasons of relationship, family, or love. Instead, such a marriage is orchestrated for personal gain or some other sort of strategic purpose, such as political marriage. The phrase is a calque of - a marriage of...
calques French mariage de convenance - New WaveBritish New WaveThe British New Wave is the name given to a trend in filmmaking among directors in Britain in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The label is a translation of Nouvelle Vague, the French term first applied to the films of François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard among others.There is considerable overlap...
(artistic period) calques Nouvelle VagueFrench New WaveThe New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of... - rhinestoneRhinestoneA rhinestone or paste or diamante is a diamond simulant made from rock crystal, glass or acrylic.Originally, rhinestones were rock crystals gathered from the river Rhine. The availability was greatly increased around 1775 when the Alsatian jeweller Georg Friedrich Strass had the idea to imitate...
calques caillou du Rhin "Rhine pebble" - Staircase wit calques l'esprit de l'escalierL'esprit de l'escalierL'esprit de l'escalier is a French term used in English that describes the predicament of thinking of the right comeback too late.- Origin :...
- that goes without saying calques cela va sans dire
- Point of view calques point de vue
- J. R. R. TolkienJ. R. R. TolkienJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
used the name "Bag End" as a calque of "cul-de-sacCul-de-sacA cul-de-sac is a word of French origin referring to a dead end, close, no through road or court meaning dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet...
," to poke fun at the British use of French terms.
From German or Dutch
- MasterpieceMasterpieceMasterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....
: probably translation of Dutch meesterstuk or German Meisterstück: Dutch meester and German Meister, master + Dutch stuk and German Stück, piece of work. (The Dutch translation of masterpiece is meesterwerk, the German translation is Meisterwerk.)
From Dutch
- PineapplePineapplePineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...
calques pijnappel - Superconductor calques Dutch supergeleider
From German
- AntibodyAntibodyAn antibody, also known as an immunoglobulin, is a large Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique part of the foreign target, termed an antigen...
calques Antikörper - Ball lightningBall lightningBall lightning is an unexplained atmospheric electrical phenomenon. The term refers to reports of luminous, usually spherical objects which vary from pea-sized to several metres in diameter. It is usually associated with thunderstorms, but lasts considerably longer than the split-second flash of a...
calques Kugelblitz - Beer gardenBeer gardenBeer garden is an open-air area where beer, other drinks and local food are served. The concept originates from and is most common in Southern Germany...
calques Biergarten - ConcertmasterConcertmasterThe concertmaster/mistress is the spalla or leader, of the first violin section of an orchestra. In the UK, the term commonly used is leader...
and concertmeister calque Konzertmeister - FlamethrowerFlamethrowerA flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
calques Flammenwerfer - ForewordForewordA foreword is a piece of writing sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the writer of the foreword and the book's primary author or the story the book tells...
perhaps calques Vorwort, which itself calques Latin præfatio (from præ- "before" plus fari "speak") "preface" - Heroic tenorTenorThe tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
calques Heldentenor - HomesicknessHomesicknessHomesickness is the distress or impairment caused by an actual or anticipated separation from the specific home environment or attachment objects....
calques Heimweh - Intelligence quotientIntelligence quotientAn intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. When modern IQ tests are constructed, the mean score within an age group is set to 100 and the standard deviation to 15...
calques Intelligenzquotient - Loan translation calques Lehnübersetzung
- LoanwordLoanwordA loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
calques Lehnwort - mercury/quicksilver vapor lamp calques Quecksilberdampflampe
- Motorway calques Autobahn
- OvermanÜbermenschThe Übermensch is a concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche posited the Übermensch as a goal for humanity to set for itself in his 1883 book Thus Spoke Zarathustra ....
and supermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
(i.e., self-transcending human) calque ÜbermenschÜbermenschThe Übermensch is a concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche posited the Übermensch as a goal for humanity to set for itself in his 1883 book Thus Spoke Zarathustra .... - Power politicsPower politicsPower politics, or Machtpolitik , is a state of international relations in which sovereigns protect their own interests by threatening one another with military, economic, or political aggression...
calques Machtpolitik - RainforestRainforestRainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
calques Regenwald - StandpointPerspective (cognitive)Perspective in theory of cognition is the choice of a context or a reference from which to sense, categorize, measure or codify experience, cohesively forming a coherent belief, typically for comparing with another...
(point of view) calques Standpunkt - Superego (formed from Latin super- "over, above" plus ego "I") calques Überich "over-I"
- StormtrooperStormtrooperStormtroopers were specialist soldiers of the German Army in World War I. In the last years of the war, Stoßtruppen were trained to fight with "infiltration tactics", part of the Germans' new method of attack on enemy trenches...
s calques Sturmtruppen - SubliminalSubliminal stimuliSubliminal stimuli , contrary to supraliminal stimuli or "above threshold", are any sensory stimuli below an individual's threshold for conscious perception. The large majority of research has found that subliminal messages do not produce strong or lasting changes in behavior...
(formed from Latin sub-, "below", plus limin (gen. liminis, "threshold") calques unterschwellig, "beneath the threshold" - Thought experimentThought experimentA thought experiment or Gedankenexperiment considers some hypothesis, theory, or principle for the purpose of thinking through its consequences...
calques Gedankenexperiment - Watershed calques Wasserscheide
- Worldview calques German Weltanschauung
- World warWorld warA world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span multiple countries on multiple continents, with battles fought in multiple theaters....
calques Weltkrieg
From Hebrew
- ScapegoatScapegoatScapegoating is the practice of singling out any party for unmerited negative treatment or blame. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals , individuals against groups , groups against individuals , and groups against groups Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any...
is a mistaken calque of עזאזל (AzazelAzazelAzazel or Azazael or Azâzêl is a term used three times in the Hebrew scriptures, and later in Hebrew mythology as the enigmatic name of a character....
) as ez ozel ( literally, "the goat that departs," hence "[e]scape goat"). The mistranslation is attributed to William TyndaleWilliam TyndaleWilliam Tyndale was an English scholar and translator who became a leading figure in Protestant reformism towards the end of his life. He was influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus, who made the Greek New Testament available in Europe, and by Martin Luther...
in his 1530 translation of the BibleBibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
.
From Latin
- Commonplace calques locus commūnis (referring to a generally applicable literary passage), which itself is a calque of Greek koinos topos
- Devil's advocateDevil's advocateIn common parlance, a devil's advocate is someone who, given a certain argument, takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with, just for the sake of argument. In taking such position, the individual taking on the devil's advocate role seeks to engage others in an argumentative...
calques advocātus diabolī, referring to an official appointed to present arguments against a proposed canonization or beatification in the Catholic Church - Wisdom toothWisdom toothA wisdom tooth, in humans, is any of the usually four third molars. Wisdom teeth usually appear between the ages of 17 and 25. Most adults have four wisdom teeth, but it is possible to have fewer , or more, in which case they are called supernumerary teeth...
calques dēns sapientiae - Milky WayMilky WayThe Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
calques via lactea - Rest in PeaceRest in peace"Rest in peace" is a short epitaph or idiomatic expression wishing eternal rest and peace to someone who has died. The expression typically appears on headstones, often abbreviated as "RIP"...
calques requiescat in pace - In a nutshell calques in nuce
From Spanish
- Blue-bloodNobilityNobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
calques - Moment of truth calques , which refers to the time of the final sword thrust in a bullfight.
From other languages
- GospelGospelA gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
calques GreekGreek languageGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
evangelion (good news) - HotdishHotdishHotdish is a variety of baked casserole that typically contains a starch, a meat or other protein, and a canned and/ or frozen vegetable, mixed together with canned soup. The dish is popular in Minnesota...
calques Scandinavian varmrett/varmrätt
Latin
- Latin compassio calques Greek sympathia "sympathy" (Latin: "suffering with", Greek: "suffering together")
- Latin deus ex machinaDeus ex machinaA deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object.-Linguistic considerations:...
calques Greek apo mechanēs theos" (Latin: "god out of the machine", Greek: "out of the machine, god") - Latin insectus calques Greek entomos ("insect", from words meaning "to cut into" in the respective languages)
- Latin musculus "muscle" (= "common house mouse", literally "little mouse" from mus "mouse") calques Greek mys "muscle" (= "mouse")
- Latin magnanimus calques Greek megalopsychos (from words meaning "great-souled" in the respective languages)
Romance languages
Examples of Romance language expressions calqued from foreign languages include:- French lune de miel, Catalan lluna de mel, Spanish luna de miel, Portuguese lua-de-mel, Italian luna di miele and Romanian luna de miere calque English honeymoonHoneymoon-History:One early reference to a honeymoon is in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him...
- French gratte-ciel, Catalan gratacels, Spanish rascacielos, Portuguese arranha-céus, Romanian zgârie-nori and Italian grattacielo calque English skyscraperSkyscraperA skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
- French sabot de Denver calques English Denver boot
- French jardin d'enfants, Spanish jardín de infancia and Portuguese Jardim de infância calque Garden of Infants/children, from German KindergartenKindergartenA kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
(children's garden) - Spanish baloncesto and Italian pallacanestro calque English basketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
- Italian pallavolo calques English volleyballVolleyballVolleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
French
- French courriel (contraction of courrier électronique) calques English emailEmailElectronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
(contraction of electronic mail) - French disque dur calques English hard diskHard diskA hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
- French carte mère calques English motherboardMotherboardIn personal computers, a motherboard is the central printed circuit board in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board, or, on Apple...
- French eau de vie calques Latin aqua vitaeAqua vitaeAqua vitae, or aqua vita, is an archaic name for a concentrated aqueous solution of ethanol. The term was in wide use during the Middle Ages, although its origin is undoubtedly much earlier having been used by Saint Patrick and his fellow monks to refer to both the alcohol and the waters of baptism...
- French en ligne calques English onlineONLINEONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
- French hors-ligne (literally: "out of line, off line") calques English offline
- French haute résolution calques English high resolution
- French haute tension calques English high voltageHigh voltageThe term high voltage characterizes electrical circuits in which the voltage used is the cause of particular safety concerns and insulation requirements...
- French disque compact calques English compact discCompact DiscThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
- French haute fidélité calques English hi-fi (high fidelity)
- French large bande calques English broadbandBroadbandThe term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
- French modulation de fréquence calques English frequency modulationFrequency modulationIn telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...
(FM) - French média de masse calques English mass mediaMass mediaMass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
- French seconde main calques English second hand
- French sortir du placard calques English to come out of the closetComing outComing out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
- French surhomme calques German ÜbermenschÜbermenschThe Übermensch is a concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche posited the Übermensch as a goal for humanity to set for itself in his 1883 book Thus Spoke Zarathustra ....
(Nietzsche's concept) - French souris calques English mouseMouse (computing)In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons...
(computer peripheral) - French OVNI (Objet Volant Non Identifié) calques English UFO (Unidentified Flying Object)
- In some dialects of French, the English term "weekend" becomes la fin de semaine ("the end of week"), a calque, but in some it is left untranslated as le week-end, a loanword.
Spanish
Many calques found in Southwestern US Spanish, come from English:- Spanish escuela alta calques English high schoolHigh schoolHigh school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
(secundaria or escuela secundaria in Standard Spanish) - Spanish grado (de escuela) calques English grade (in school) (nota in Standard Spanish)
Also technological terms calqued from English are used throughout the Spanish-speaking world:
- Spanish rascacielos calques English skyscraperSkyscraperA skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
- Spanish tarjeta de crédito calques English credit cardCredit cardA credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
- Spanish alta tecnología calques English high technology
- Spanish disco compacto calques English compact discCompact DiscThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
- Spanish correo electrónico calques English electronic mailE-mailElectronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
- Spanish alta resolución calques English high resolution
- Spanish enlace calques English link (Internet)
- Spanish ratón calques English mouse (computer)Mouse (computing)In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons...
- Spanish nave espacial calques English spaceshipSpacecraftA spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
- Spanish en un momento dado calques Dutch op een gegeven moment (At a certain moment)
Italian
- Italian aria condizionata calques English air conditioned
- Italian fine settimana calques English week-end
- Italian ferrovia (railway) calques German Eisenbahn
Afrikaans and Dutch
- AfrikaansAfrikaansAfrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
aartappel and DutchDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
aardappel calque French pomme de terre (English potato "earth apple") - Afrikaans besigheid calques English business
- Afrikaans e-pos calques English e-mail
- Afrikaans hardeskyf and Dutch harde schijf calque English hard disk
- Afrikaans klankbaan calques English sound track
- Afrikaans kleurskuifie calques English colour slide
- Afrikaans pynappel calques English pineapple calques French pomme de pin
- Afrikaans sleutelbord calques English keyboard
- Afrikaans tuisblad calques English homepage
- Afrikaans wolkekrabber and Dutch wolkenkrabber calque German Wolkenkratzer (which itself calques English sky scraper).
German
- Fußball calques English "football", referring specifically to association football
- Teddybär calques English teddy bearTeddy bearThe teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. They are usually stuffed with soft, white cotton and have smooth and soft fur. It is an enduring form of a stuffed animal in many countries, often serving the purpose of entertaining children. In recent times, some teddy bears have become collector's items...
- Wolkenkratzer calques English skyscraperSkyscraperA skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
- Flutlicht calques English floodlight
- Datenverarbeitung calques English data processingData processingComputer data processing is any process that a computer program does to enter data and summarise, analyse or otherwise convert data into usable information. The process may be automated and run on a computer. It involves recording, analysing, sorting, summarising, calculating, disseminating and...
- Großmutter and Großvater calques French grand-mère and grand-père
- Rundreise calques French tournée
- Fernseh calques English television (from the Greek affix tele- "far" and Latin visio "sight")
Icelandic
- Icelandic rafmagn, "electricity," is a half-calqued coinage that literally means "amber power."
- raf translates the Greek root ηλεκτρον (elektron), which means "amber"
- magn, "power," is descriptive of electricity's nature but not a direct calque from the source word "electricity"
- One of the early suggestions for an Icelandic translation of helicopterHelicopterA helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
was þyrilvængja, twirling wings, a calque of the Greek helico-pteron. This was later replaced with þyrla.
Norwegian
- barnehage (kindergarten) calques German Kindergarten (Kinder "children", Garten "garden").
- hjemmeside calques English home page.
- hjerneflukt (brain drain) calques English brain drainBrain drainHuman capital flight, more commonly referred to as "brain drain", is the large-scale emigration of a large group of individuals with technical skills or knowledge. The reasons usually include two aspects which respectively come from countries and individuals...
. - idiotsikker (foolproof) calques English "foolproof".
- loppemarked (flea market) calcques English flea market and French marché aux puces ("market with fleas").
- mandag (Monday), from Old Norse mánadagr ("moon day") calques Latin dies lunae.
- overhode (head of a family, chief) calques German Oberhaupt (ober "over", Haupt "head").
- samvittighet (conscience) calques Latin (through Low GermanLow GermanLow German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...
) conscientia (com "with", scire "to know").- From sam- (co-) and vittig (today meaning "funny" but which stems from Low German, where it meant "reasonable", related to "vite" (to know) and English "wit".)
- tenåring (teen, teenager), is from Swedish tonåring, which calques English teenager.
Macedonian
- Macedonian ракопис (rakopis) calques Latin-derived 'manuscript' and 'handwriting':
- Mac. root рака (raka) = Lat. manus = 'hand'
- Mac. root пис- (pis-) = Lat. scribo = 'to write'
- Macedonian правопис (pravopis) calques Greek-derived 'orthography':
- Mac. root право (pravo) = Gr. ορθός (orthos) = 'correct';
- Mac. root пис- (pis-) = Gr. γράφειν (graphein) = 'to write'
- Macedonian православие (pravoslavie) calques Greek-derived 'orthodoxy':
- Mac. root право (pravo) = Gr. ορθός (orthos) = 'correct';
- Mac. root славие (slavie) = Gr. δοξα (doxa) = 'glorification'
In more recent times, the Macedonian language has calqued new words from other prestige languages
Prestige dialect
In sociolinguistics, prestige describes the level of respect accorded to a language or dialect as compared to that of other languages or dialects in a speech community. The concept of prestige in sociolinguistics is closely related to that of prestige or class within a society...
including German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
- Macedonian натчовек (natčovek) = calques German-derived 'overman' (ÜbermenschÜbermenschThe Übermensch is a concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche posited the Übermensch as a goal for humanity to set for itself in his 1883 book Thus Spoke Zarathustra ....
)- Mac. root над- (nad-) = Ger. über = 'over'
- Mac. root човек (čovek, man) = Ger. mensch = 'people'
- Macedonian облакодер (oblakoder) = calques English skyscraper:
- Mac. root облак (oblak, cloud)
- Mac. root дере (dere, to flay)
- Macedonian клучен збор (klučen zbor) = calques English keyword:
- Mac. root клуч (kluč, key)
- Mac. root збор (zbor, word)
Some words were originally calqued into Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and then absorbed into Macedonian, considering the close relatedness of the two languages. Therefore, many of these calques can also be considered Russianism
Russianism
Russianism, Russism, or Russicism is an influence of Russian language on other languages. In particular, Russianisms are Russian or russified words, expressions, or grammar constructs used in Slavic languages, languages of CIS states and languages of the Russian Federation.However, the scope of the...
s.
Russian
The poet Aleksandr PushkinAleksandr Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was a Russian author of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature....
(1799–1837) was perhaps the most influential among the Russian literary figures who would transform the modern Russian language and vastly expand its ability to handle abstract and scientific concepts by importing the sophisticated vocabulary of Western intellectuals.
Although some Western vocabulary entered the language as loanwords – e.g., Italian salvietta, "napkin," was simply Russified in sound and spelling to салфетка (salfetka) – Pushkin and those he influenced most often preferred to render foreign borrowings into Russian by calquing. Compound words were broken down to their component roots, which were then translated piece-by-piece to their Slavic equivalents. But not all of the coinages caught on and became permanent additions to the lexicon; for example, любомудрие (ljubomudrie) was promoted by 19th-century Russian intellectuals as a calque of "philosophy," but the word eventually fell out of fashion, and modern Russian instead uses the loanword философия (filosofija).
- Russian любомудрие (ljubomudrie) calqued Greek-derived 'philosophy':
- Russ. root любить (ljubit' ) = Gr. φιλεῖν (filein) = 'to love';
- Russ. root мудрость (mudrost' ) = Gr. σοφία (sofia) = 'wisdom'
- Russian зависимость (zavisimost' ) calques Latin-derived 'dependence':
- Russ. root за (za) = Lat. de = 'down from'
- Russ. root висеть (viset' ) = Lat. pendere = 'to hang; to dangle'
- Russian совпадение (sovpadenije) calques Latin-derived 'coincidence':
- Russ. prefix со- (so) = Lat. co- = 'in; with; together'
- Russ. prefix в- (v) = Lat. in- = 'in; into'
- Russ. root падеть (padet' ) = Lat. cidere = 'to fall'
- Russian полуостров (poluostrov) calques German Halbinsel, both meaning 'peninsula':
- Russ. root полу- (polu-) = Ger. halb = 'half; semi-'
- Russ. root остров (ostrov) = Ger. Insel = 'island'
- Russian детский сад (detskij sad) calques German Kindergarten, both literally suggesting 'children's garden'
Greek
- Διαδίκτυο from English Internet
- Ποδόσφαιρο from English "football", referring specifically to association football
- Τηλεόραση from Television
Irish
- uisce beathaUisce BeathaUisce beatha is the name for whiskey in the Irish language. The word "whiskey" itself is simply an anglicized version of this phrase, stemming from a mispronunciation of the word uisce. This may in turn have influenced the Modern Irish word fuisce...
calques Latin aqua vitaeAqua vitaeAqua vitae, or aqua vita, is an archaic name for a concentrated aqueous solution of ethanol. The term was in wide use during the Middle Ages, although its origin is undoubtedly much earlier having been used by Saint Patrick and his fellow monks to refer to both the alcohol and the waters of baptism...
– The English word whiskey is actually derived from this phrase
Finnish
Since Finnish, a Uralic languageUralic languages
The Uralic languages constitute a language family of some three dozen languages spoken by approximately 25 million people. The healthiest Uralic languages in terms of the number of native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Mari and Udmurt...
, differs radically in pronunciation and orthography from Indo-European languages, most loans adopted in Finnish either are calques or soon become such as foreign words are translated into Finnish. Examples include:
- from Greek: sarvikuono (rhinoceros, from Greek "rinokeros"),
- from Latin: viisaudenhammas (wisdom tooth, from Latin "dens sapientiae"),
- from English: jalkapallo (English "football", specifically referring to association football),
- from English: koripallo (English "basketball"),
- from English: kovalevy (English "hard disk"),
- from French: kirpputori (flea market, French "marché aux puces"),
- from German: lastentarha (German "Kindergarten"),
- from German: panssarivaunu (German "Panzerwagen"),
- from Swedish: pesukarhu (raccoon, from Swedish "tvättbjörn" and ultimately German "Waschbär"),
- from Swedish: moottoritie (highway, from Swedish "motorväg" and ultimately German "autobahn"),
- from Chinese: aivopesu (brainwash, from Chinese "xi nao"),
- from Spanish: siniverinen (blue-blooded, from Spanish "de sangre azul")
Modern Hebrew
When Jews make aliyahAliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
to Israel, they sometimes change their name to a Hebrew calque. For instance, Imi Lichtenfield, founder of the martial art Krav Maga
Krav Maga
Krav Maga is a noncompetitive eclectic self-defense system developed in Europe that involves striking techniques, wrestling and grappling. Krav Maga is known for its focus on real-world situations and extremely efficient, brutal counter-attacks...
, became Imi Sde-Or. Both last names mean "light field".
- mesilat barzel (railway) from German Eisenbahn
- iton (newspaper) from German and Yiddish zeitung
- tappuach adamah (potato) from French pomme-de-terre
- gan yeladim from German Kindergarten
- kaduregel (כדורגל) (football, specifically association football) from English football
According to linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann
Ghil'ad Zuckermann
Ghil'ad Zuckermann is an Israeli-Italian-British-Australian linguist, expert of language revival, contact linguistics, lexicology and the study of language, culture and identity...
, the more contributing languages have a structurally identical expression, the more likely it is to be calqued into the target language. In Israeli (his term for "Modern Hebrew") one uses má nishmà, lit. "what's heard?", with the meaning of "what's up?". Zuckermann argues that this is a calque not only of the Yiddish expression vos hert zikh (usually pronounced v(o)sérts´kh), lit. "what's heard?", meaning "what's up?", but also of the parallel expressions in Polish, Russian and Romanian. Whereas most revivalists were native Yiddish-speakers, many first speakers of Modern Hebrew spoke Russian and Polish too. So a Polish speaker in the 1930s might have used má nishmà not (only) due to Yiddish vos hert zikh but rather (also) due to Polish co sLychac. A Russian Jew might have used ma nishma due to chto slyshno and a Romanian Israeli would echo ce se aude. According to Zuckermann, such multi-sourced calquing is a manifestation of the Congruence principle.