What Language Are You Speaking?

Many words that are now common to English were borrowed from other languages. Word-borrowing occurs when a foreign word is used so often by speakers of another language that it becomes a part of native speech. Latin, of course, has contributed many, many words to the language originally spoken by natives of the British Isles.

English speakers are notorious word-borrowers. In fact, today there are more borrowed words in English than there are Anglo-Saxon ones! How many of these foreign words can you spot?

1. A small greenish nut whose word origin is Italian is p_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .

2. The Latin phrase means "and the rest": e_ c_ _ _ _ _.

3. A summary, in French, is a r_ _ _ _ _.

4. In German, a class for small children is k_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

5. In Italian, a first lady is a p_ _ _ _ d_ _ _ _.

6. Hair-washing soap from the Hindi is s_ _ _ _ _ _.

7. A rain-protection device derived from Italian is an u_ _ _ _ _ _ _.

8. The olive-tan color, k_ _ _ _, means "dusty" in Hindi.

9. A boat race named after a competition among gondoliers on the Grand Canal in Venice is a r_ _ _ _ _ _.

10. A passion for travel, in German, is w_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

11. The Italian word for a green vegetable related to cauliflower is b_ _ _ _ _ _ _.

12. A wild oxen or bison still seen in the American West comes from the Spanish, b_ _ _ _ _ _.

13. The German biscuit in the form of a knot or a stick is a p_ _ _ _ _ _.

14. The Hindi word for a roofed terrace or portico is v_ _ _ _ _ _.

15. In China and Japan, it means "great emperor." In English, it means "powerful industrialist": t_ _ _ _ _.

Nancy M. Kendall

ANSWERS

(1) pistachio; (2) et cetera; (3) resume; (4) kindergarten;

(5) prima donna; (6) shampoo; (7) umbrella; (8) khaki;

(9) regatta; (10) wanderlust;

(11) broccoli; (12) buffalo;

(13) pretzel; (14) veranda;

(15) tycoon.