In
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
, semantic loan is a process (or an instance or result) of borrowing
semantic meaning (rather than
lexical item
In lexicography, a lexical item is a single word, a part of a word, or a chain of words (catena (linguistics), catena) that forms the basic elements of a language's lexicon (≈ vocabulary). Examples are ''cat'', ''traffic light'', ''take ca ...
s) from another
language
Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
. It is very similar to the formation of
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. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...
s, excepting that in this case the complete word in the borrowing language already exists; the change is that its meaning is
extended to include another meaning that is already possessed by its counterpart in the lending language. Semantic loans are often grouped roughly together with calques and
loanword
A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...
s under the phrase ''borrowing''.
Semantic loans often occur when two languages are in close contact, and they take various forms. The source and target word may be
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.
Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
s, which may or may not share any contemporary meaning in common; they may be an existing loan translation or parallel construction (compound of corresponding words); or they may be unrelated words that share an existing meaning.
Examples
A typical example is the French word , which means "
mouse
A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...
" (the animal). After the English word ''mouse'' acquired the additional sense of "
computer mouse
A computer mouse (plural mice; also mouses) is a hand-held pointing device that detects Plane (mathematics), two-dimensional motion relative to a surface. This motion is typically translated into the motion of the Cursor (user interface)#Po ...
", when French speakers began speaking of computer mice, they did so by extending the meaning of their own word by analogy with how English speakers had extended the meaning of . (Had French speakers started using the word ''mouse'', that would have been a borrowing; had they created a new lexeme out of multiple French morphemes, as with for "
hard disk
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...
", that would have been a calque.)
Another example, in this case propelled by speakers of the source language, is the English word ''already''. The
Yiddish
Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
word for the literal senses of "already" is , which is also used as a tag to express impatience. Yiddish speakers who also spoke English began using the English word ''already'' to express this additional sense in English, and this usage came to be adopted in the larger English-speaking community (as in ''Enough already'' or ''Would you hurry up already?'') This sense of ''already'' is therefore a semantic borrowing of that sense of .
Some examples arise from
reborrowing. For example, English ''pioneer'' was borrowed from
Middle French
Middle French () is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the mid-14th to the early 17th centuries. It is a period of transition during which:
* the French language became clearly distinguished from the other co ...
in the sense of "digger, foot soldier, pedestrian", then acquired the sense of "early colonist, innovator" in English, which was reborrowed into French, adding to the senses of the word .
Typical semantic loans also include the German . The English verb "to realise" has more than one meaning: it means both "to make something happen/come true" and "to become aware of something". The
German verb originally only meant the former: to make something real. However, German later borrowed the other meaning of "to realise" from English, and today, according to
Duden
The Duden () is a dictionary of the Standard High German language, first published by Konrad Duden in 1880, and later by Bibliographisches Institut GmbH, which was merged into Cornelsen Verlag in 2022.
The Duden is updated regularly with ...
,
[''Duden – das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache'', 2000] ''realisieren'' also means "to become aware of something" (this meaning is still considered by many to be an
Anglicism
An anglicism is a word or construction borrowed from English by another language. Due to the global dominance of English in the 20th and 21st centuries, many English terms have become widespread in other languages. Technology-related English ...
). The word itself already existed before the borrowing took place; the only thing borrowed was this second meaning. (Compare this with a calque, such as ''
antibody
An antibody (Ab) or immunoglobulin (Ig) is a large, Y-shaped protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize antigens such as pathogenic bacteria, bacteria and viruses, includin ...
'', from the German , where the word "antibody" did not exist in English before it was borrowed.)
A similar example is the German verb , which meant only to draw something across, before it took on the additional borrowed meaning of its literal English translation ''overdraw'' in the financial sense.
Note that the first halves of the terms are cognate (/over), but the second halves are not (/draw).
Semantic loans may be adopted by many different languages, as
omputer''mouse'' has been. As another example, each of
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
,
Russian ,
Polish ,
Finnish ,
Chinese , and
Vietnamese originally meant "star" in the astronomical sense but have acquired from English the
sememe
A sememe (; ) is a semantic language unit of meaning, analogous to a morpheme. The concept is relevant in structural semiotics.
A seme is a proposed unit of transmitted or intended meaning; it is atomic or indivisible. A sememe can be the meaning ...
"star", as in a famous entertainer.
In this case the words are unrelated (save for the Russian and Polish words), but share a base meaning, here extended metaphorically.
See also
*
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. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...
*
List of calques
*
Semantics
Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...
*
Semantic change
Semantic change (also semantic shift, semantic progression, semantic development, or semantic drift) is a form of language change regarding the evolution of word usage—usually to the point that the modern meaning is radically different from ...
*
Phono-semantic matching
Phono-semantic matching (PSM) is the incorporation of a word into one language from another, often creating a neologism, where the word's non-native quality is hidden by replacing it with phonetically and semantically similar words or roots f ...
*
Polysemy
Polysemy ( or ; ) is the capacity for a Sign (semiotics), sign (e.g. a symbol, morpheme, word, or phrase) to have multiple related meanings. For example, a word can have several word senses. Polysemy is distinct from ''monosemy'', where a word h ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Semantic Loan
Semantics
Evolution of language