GERMAN WORDS ID ENGLISH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12194, 18 December 1917, Page 10

GERMAN WORDS ID ENGLISH.

BLACK LIST PREPARED. (Bv W. G. WILLIAMS.) Attentive readers may remeanhc-r that during thv? early stages of this present coniuet there came tu light through the German Press an authoritative, list, of joieign terms declared contraband for ■-ho uuraiaon of the war. Probably the UKufrerenoe of English folk tc> hue point'.-; in philology ha-s prevented anything in the nature of reprisals on the Anglo-Saxon side of this dispute; and, even as a by-product, a word-war must appear to the Briton to be kneath the dignity of a. world-war. His country's medieval schoolmen, in their sanguinary _ philological feuds, ought to have uled the germ of woid-consciousness out of the nation. However, a mitjilr.r list of Teutonic loan-word;, could easily be. mustered. Sappose, then, an examination to bo authorised of •a-Il such enemy hostages held fast between the covers "of English dictionaries. First, to remind sons of gold-seekers of s. claim sometimes made ori behalf of Genu any, that if not ov<c-r she is a t any rate under all, we have from modern Germany the following mining terms; —" Sinter," " nickel,'' "cobalt," " blende," _ " bismuth,]] " gneiss. 11 " splegefeison,' 1 '' teldsnnr/ "wacke," " gangue." " " trappe," fjiiartr.," " mis-picke!," "'matte.," "wolframPassing, however, irom the realm ot minerals awl tne baser metals, one finds little scope for re tributary "strafe'' in the sphere. of common utilities. If a " landau " can be called a utility, it. is one with a, restricted appeal -/and th P , same remark applies to that antique vehicle known a.s a " herlin " ; " hessian is German by reference only. " Meerschaum, a.nd possibly "'ftfc M (nfnfr) might be con- ' ifnod* to tte limbo of inutilities, to.rether with the cult ot " yodelling. ( There remain the school . sv?teir. <]; "kindergarten," the electrical 0 ,K, the cattle-fodder known as " mangold or "*'m angel wui-kcl," and tW lincW; liable " zigzag." The ' hinterlands mentioned in cable s seem 10.1. tier liabilities than assets. FOOD AND DRINK. From a nation which has turned pun-P-ter to coin the proverb that. /' Der' "Mensch ist was or isst " —"Man is what he eats"—-more loan-words relative to the table might have been expected for loyal philologists to carp art than " zwieback." " delicatessen," " kohlrabi," and the title of a solitary . fish, " sehnapper." It is hard to understand why this native of. Austoralu- .

sioa seas, in older usage " sna-pper," i has, through some process the opposite of 'spoiling simplification, later gone over to the enemy. A Hobson's Bay fisherman who spoke literally of u ec:hnapper 1 would hp suspected of hay ing nn alcoholic impediment in his speech. , But all civilised beings oat tn French. More competition hus obtained in the department <,-f drink- ' ables. sr.. when a Recti on ' of Central Europe could -employ as_ a ? formula of greeting nn expression meaning '' How's iho heerr" instead of that; tiresome inquiry after one s ! elusive and inscrutable health. Here * we encounter "carouse,'' "kummel. * " hock." the breast-milk of the 1 .Rhine, " schnapps," seizor 1 and 1 severs!i other -".oiViploxions and eom- ' plications of liquors; since '' lager in;iy he iranslat-ed ''military camp.' ' lager beer ea n scarcely fail con- ■ vev some, idea of the potentialities of ' HiL'h Dutch courage. WARLIKE TERMS. Though the invention of gunpowder was assuredly Englifh, vet the tact of its subsequent- earliest application by a prc-Nietzschean .snpeiman to war-| fare in the interests <► t a Middle Euio- j jx-an State j> emphasised by the muster of words from that source relating to the arbitrament of arms. The command "Halt!" and " f.jgleman' testify to the former wide distribution of German mercenaries throughout the arm : e« of Europe. Otht terms are " howitzer (hauhitze), '' bulwark " and " hluuderhuss " ('corruption of donderhlas, Low German for thunder£run). " Hussar "is of hostile origin aho though Hungarian. Nautical" termi include ''hunting." from tlm German "hunt," particoloured. "'Yacht,' winch replaced an older synonym, " chase, ' applied to the leading boat in a- race, and hence to n tvpo of small, fast sailing vessel, is little move than a re-spelling of German "jaizd'' (ehnse). That?nenace to navigation the " berg. ' though doubtless rarely suspected, sails undo l " equally false colours, for ithas. no trace of an Anglo-Saxon dei scent ; it is, in fact, another of these | waifs and strays from lh« Ten toman j shoreI "WORDS Oh' TEL SAVOR. Suocr-patriots might vindicate their i nil-red principles by sending to ibe I chemist's any exotic er insufficiently I naturalsed canines answering to the I de«eri?>tion of " dachshund,' 1 or j j "poodle." As for the Pomeranian,, he. *is a downright schweinhnnd Anglicised, s-~eond cousin to a condemned s:iusage of the largest, calibre, and his life stands on a. tickle pemr." Among more disreputable debts to Gormania. Hieb and Low, ' spieler. '• loafer," "'swindler.'' " plunder " " nv- sinerise." and. last hnt not lea-~,t. the almighty '• dollar '' eomr.rise a set i hard to match for ill savor. Colonial nlace-names include:—Ade Iside EVdelheid). Heidelberg. Elsternwiek town), Altona, Carl=ruhe. T.eichardt, and others of lesser moment. Brunswick is an adaptation of the genuine German Brauschweig These unhappy communities should, of course. all consider themselves nominally exterminated. Finally, to danc out of Teutonia's deht. a plebiscite of pood citizens eoul.' be trusted for the choice of substitutes in pine "f tie- undesirable immigrant?, ''waltz-" and 'schot-j tkehe."