Etymological calque
In linguistics, an etymological calque is a lexical item calqued from another language by replicating the etymology of the borrowed lexical item although this etymology is irrelevant for the meaning being borrowed.[1]: pp.43-45
Most calques are not etymological.[1]: p.45 For example, the English compound basketball was calqued, conventionally, into Standard Chinese as 篮球 lánqiú, which means "basketball". The lexical item 篮球 lánqiú consists of 篮 lán "basket" and 球 qiú "ball".[1]: p.45 Therefore, lánqiú is a calque. On the other hand, the English compound hotdog was etymologically calqued into Standard Chinese as 热狗 règǒu "hotdog".[1]: p.45 The Chinese lexical item 热狗 règǒu "hotdog" consists of 热 rè "hot" and 狗 gǒu "dog", and is thus an etymological calque of the English lexical item hotdog.[1]: p.45 Those making the calque (as well as Chinese speakers) are completely aware that when they eat a 热狗 règǒu "hotdog" they do not eat dog meat. Nonetheless, they chose to retain the English etymology within the Chinese neologism. Therefore, règǒu is an etymological calque.
Examples
[edit]Standard Chinese
[edit]The etymology of the English lexical item cocktail is maintained and visible within the Chinese etymological calque 鸡尾酒 jīwěijiǔ "cocktail".[1]: p.45 The Chinese lexical item 鸡尾酒 jīwěijiǔ "cocktail" means literally "chicken tail alcohol", and is thus an etymological calque of the English lexical item cocktail.[1]: p.45
Israeli Hebrew
[edit]Hemda Ben-Yehuda’s 1904 neologism אופנה ofná "fashion" is an etymological calque - deriving from אופן ófen "mode" – of the internationalism móda "fashion" (e.g. moda in Italian), which can be traced back to the Latin lexical item modus "mode".[1]: p.43
See also
[edit]References
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