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Saturday, February 10, 2018

Do you know these English loan words from French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish,

Problem
Which loan words used in English come from which languages. What do they mean - and do they mean the same in other languages or are they 'false friends'.

French Words
ballet
banquette (padded bench with back agains wall, often found in restaurants)
bouquet (bunch of flowers, prettily arranged by florist)
bureau (office or desk)
chauffeur (driver)
chic (smart and elegant)
croissant (curved, crescent shape flaky pastry breakfast roll, high calorie! worldwide)
croquet (played outdoors with ball and mallets, by Alice in Wonderland, and in summer)
debonair - dress and manner or air of fashion and superiority
etiquette - originally a ticket giving dress code, now politeness following rules
(Ten French words.)

in lieu (in place of)
naive - innocent and over trusting through ignorance of the world, youth, unsophistication
niche (cut out from wall to display vase or statue, or specilaisation of business) Uk pronounciation like the French, 'neesh' but Ameicans say nitch, which makes me wince)
nom de plume (pen name)
rapprochement (coming together for business or peace, re- again + approach)
silhouette (Black outline of object / face in profile, or portrait of entire head black against white background)
suave (confident, possibly cunning)
(Another seven French words)

Italian
diva (main solo opera singer, but now often used to mean VIP or histrionic, self-important lady)
forte (forte means strong or loud; play loudly in the music book; your strength or greatest skill)
opera (literally work, but in music grand opera, a dramatic musical play, comic or tragic, with songs displaying skills and trills and thrills, with sopranos and tenors)
pianoforte (in English we talk about a piano or grand piano)
soprano
(Five Italian words.)

Portuguese Words
Port (wine)

Russian Words
sputnik (man made item in space)
troika (three part government)

Spanish words
mañana (the sign above the n turns it into nyer sound).
sombrero (large-brim hat)

LANGUAGES

Italy has a language school in Perugia, Umbria, Italy. You can take courses for a day, a weekend, a week, a year or two, for individual students and mature students, groups, and businesses.

TRAVEL
UK
https://www.ram.ac.uk/museum/exhibition/piano-gallery London, England, UK
FRANCE
PORTUGAL + BRAZIL + MADEIRA
http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/homepage
GERMANY
ITALY
RUSSIA

SPAIN

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

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