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Wednesday 29 August 2018

Nuts and Bolts: phraseological calques.

A calque is a word or phrase that's been inspired by one in another language.

It's not a straight borrowing, like, for instance, the word entrepreneur which English has borrowed from French (and when I say borrowed, obviously that doesn't mean that French speakers are no longer able to use it, or that we're going to give it back).

Calques come in various flavours and work in various ways. Phraseological calques are, yes, phrases inspired by those in other languages. Flea market, for instance, is a direct translation of the French marché aux puces.

The French were also there first with free verse (verse libre) and the Old Guard (Vieille Guarde).

The Romans were bound to be first in lots of things, for obvious reasons, and they inspired our Milky Way with their via lactea. In nuce has been turned into our in a nutshell.

A really good turn of phrase can go through a whole chain of languages. The Greek sōphronistēres inspired the Arabic adrāsu 'likmi, the Latin dēns sapientiae, and eventually our own wisdom teeth.

El momento de la verdad, the final thrust in a bullfight, gives us our moment of truth.

Meanwhile the French have been inspired by our own hard disk (disque dur). If we go to a French flea market, what we find there is based on our own phrase second hand (seconde main).

And, you know something? Over the course of all these centuries, I don't think that anyone faced with a phraseological calque has ever murmured cultural appropriation.

And thank all the gods for that.

Words To Use Today: well, how about second hand? The Latin secundus means coming next in order, from sequī, to follow. Hand hasn't changed as a word since Old English.




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