The Browser's Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases

Frank Ledlie Moore, Mary Varchaver

Description

"Kudos (Greek), encomiums (Latin), and accolades (French) to the authors for their enlightening and amusing lexicon, a testament that English is the most cheerfully democratic and hospitable language ever cobbled together."-Richard Lederer, author of The Miracle of Language

From angst to zydeco, the ultimate guide to foreign terms and phrases

This handy, practical, and browsable A-to-Z reference tells you all you need to know to understand, pronounce, and appreciate the nearly 2,000 foreign words and phrases commonly used by speakers and writers of English. The Browser's Dictionary covers a wide variety of subject areas and includes loan-words from more than sixty languages around the world, such as:

Latin (desideratum) * the romance languages (rapprochement, macho, imbroglio) * German (gestalt) * Russian (gulag) * Hebrew (shibboleth) * Yiddish (shtick) * Persian (tambura) * Hindi (purdah) * Arabic (loofah) * Hawaiian (kanaka) * Creole French (zydeco) * and Japanese (netsuke)

In addition, each entry provides:
* A guide to pronunciation using easy-to-understand transcriptions from ordinary English
* Comprehensive literal and idiomatic definitions
* The word's source language, as well as its literal meaning


The Browser's Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases is sure to become a favorite reference for anyone with an interest in words and language.

Sujets

• Multi-Language Dictionaries
• Foreign Language study
• Dictionaries
• Lettres et linguistique
• Inglés estadounidense
• Language
• American English
• Kudos

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 15 août 2007
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780470249413
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Browser s Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases
The Browser s Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases
Mary Varchaver and Frank Ledlie Moore

John Wiley Sons, Inc.
New York Chichester Weinheim Brisbane Singapore Toronto
Copyright 2001 by Mary Varchaver and Frank Ledlie Moore. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley Sons, Inc., 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158-0012, [phone], fax [phone], e-mail: [e-mail] .
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
This title is also available in print as ISBN 0-471-38372-4. Some content that appears in the print version may not be available in this electronic edition.
For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.Wiley.com
Foreword

At last we are given a bright and sprightly dictionary that is not only useful but a joy to read. Veteran reference book compilers and editors Mary Varchaver and Frank L. Moore, who are known especially for their recently published Dictionary of the Performing Arts , have turned their talents to enlightening us on the meanings of foreign words and phrases we meet in our daily lives. This is not a dictionary of academic terms you might have been expected to learn in school. Nor is it a dictionary directed to travelers in foreign lands from which you are supposed to learn scores of terms about ordering your dinner in restaurants, or learning to get about in a train station, or arguing with concierges about the state of your hotel room or the high amount of your bill. It is, rather, a dictionary to help you elucidate what you come across every day in newspapers or hear on television. Its choice of terms and directness of style reflect the immediacy of everyday discourse. Thus it is a unique and exceptionally useful addition to the genre of special dictionaries.
What are its other features? First, it guides you to the correct pronunciation of foreign words, using transcriptions from ordinary English. Most other dictionaries of foreign words and expressions use elaborate phonetic symbols unfathomable to most persons, or, even worse, have no pronunciation guides at all.
Second, the definitions are a model of clarity, and the meanings are illustrated by hundreds of sentences. Consider these entries, given in their entirety:

afflatus (ah-FLAH-tus) [Latin: a breathing on] An inspiration; an irresistible understanding that comes into the mind as a fresh breeze. He goes at the canvas with all the afflatus of a silkworm eating its phlegmatic way across a mulberry leaf. - Time , April 13, 1998.

smorgasbord (SMOR-ges-bord) [Swedish: sandwich table] A buffet table that presents a great variety of hot and cold dishes. By extension, any situation that offers many choices. Here, in the sunny Southern Caliphate, they make up a smorgasbord of least-favored nations. - The New York Times Book Review , July 18, 1993.
Third, the entries focus on those words that an American reader will recognize as truly foreign. Thousands of words in American English have foreign sources, such as dollar or ketchup , but their meanings have become so thoroughly absorbed into our everyday language that they are no longer classified as foreign. In this Browser s Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases , the authors have stressed foreignness by choosing words that are relatively recent additions to the language. They have also included some older adopted words that have different or expanded meanings in current usage.
I learned early on in my career as an editor and writer of reference books that a really useful dictionary is one that contains the information you need, in a form you can easily use. This dictionary is, in short, a book you will want to keep at hand year in and year out. You will not be disappointed if you approach it with that expectation in mind.
Gorton Carruth, former editor in chief of Funk Wagnalls, coeditor of the Oxford American Dictionary , and editor of The New York Times Crossword Puzzle Dictionary
Acknowledgments

Grateful acknowledgment is made to our agents and friends Nicholas Smith and Andrea Pedolsky, who provided the impetus for this project, and to the fine editors at Wiley Sons: Chip Rossetti, Mark Steven Long, and Jim Gullickson. Special thanks also to Gorton Carruth, Yola Coffeen, Andr Varchaver, and Nicholas Varchaver for their help and encouragement. Without the invaluable assistance of Gabi Moore, this dictionary would not have seen the light of day.
Dedicated to the memory of Frank Ledlie Moore.
How to Use This Dictionary

1. The entry word or phrase appears in boldface.
2. Pronunciation appears next in italics in parentheses, with the stressed syllables in uppercase type. In some cases where the original pronunciation of the foreign word differs from that of modern or standard English, both pronunciations are given.
3. The etymology and/or language origin of the words appears in brackets.
4. The definition follows.
5. Cross-references appearing within or at the end of the entries are in SMALL CAPITAL letters.
Pronunciation Guide
ah the sound of (a) in father. ay the sound of (a) in day, ace. eh the sound of (e) in met, edge . eye the sound of (i) in ice, write. ih the sound of (i) in it, give. oh the sound of (o) in go, over . ow the sound of (o) in cow, now. uh the sound of (u) in but, up . zh the sound of (s) in vision, treasure .
Foreign Sounds
au as in German auf , Latin laude , Spanish gaucho: the sound of (ou) in out. eu as in French deux , German sch n: the sound of (e) in get or let , pronounced with the lips rounded or pursed. kh as in German ach or Scottish loch: made by pronouncing a strong, aspirated (h) with the tongue in position for (k), as in keel or cool. as in French rue , German ber: the sound of (e) in feet , pronounced with the lips rounded or pursed. nh Indicates the heavy nasalization of a preceding vowel. (The symbols n and h are not pronounced.) Nasalization means that more of the sound comes through the nose than through the mouth. Thus: anh heavily nasalized sound of the (a) in father , as in French piquant (pee-KANH) or nuance (n -ANHS). enh heavily nasalized sound of the (a) in cat , as in French vin (venh) or point (point). onh heavily nasalized sound of the (o) in order , as in French tontine (tonh-TEEN) or marron (mah-RONH).
Note: In some words, such as the German verboten (fehr-BOH-tn) , no vowel appears in the unstressed syllable because the (tn) is closest in sound to the entire syllable. Many languages do not use stress in the manner of English. In some transliterations of Japanese words that have high and low tones rather than accents, we have chosen to indicate a syllable that the Japanese pronounce with a low tone, as if it were a stressed syllable.
Contents

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z
A

bas (ah BAH) [French] Down with, as in bas le roi: down with the king. The opposite is VIVE .

abbatoir (ah-bah-TWAHR) [French] A slaughterhouse.

abb (ah-BAY) [French, from Latin] An abbott. In France, a title given to a priest or member of the clergy.

abogado (ah-boh-GAH-doh) [Spanish] An advocate; an attorney; a lawyer.

ab origine (ahb oh-RIH-jeh-neh) [Latin] From the beginning. Not the same as the single word ABORIGINE .

aborigine (ah-boh-RIH-jeh-nee) [Latin] One of the original people (of a country). The Maoris are the aborigines of New Zealand.

ab ovo (ahb OH-voh) [Latin: from (the) egg] From the very beginning.

abrazo (ah-BRAH-soh) [Spanish] An embrace; a hug.

abri (ah-BREE) [French, from Latin] A shelter; a place of refuge.

absinthe (AB-sinth) [French, from Latin and Greek] A green, bitter, licorice-flavored liqueur distilled from wormwood and other aromatics; like OUZO , it turns milky white when water is added. Because of its extremely high alcohol content (70 percent to 80 percent) and toxicity, it has been banned in most countries.

a capella (ah kah-PEL-ah) [Italian: in chapel] A musical term describing choral music that has no instrumental accompaniment.

accabl (ah-kah-BLAY) [French] Overwhelmed; physically or mentally overcome by fatigue or sorrow; crushed.

accolade (ah-koh-LAID) [French: around the neck] Originally, the embrace around the neck by which the king bestowed knighthood, later the touch of a sword on the shoulder. Recently, any award, honor, or praise. The highest accolade honored two officers killed in the line of duty

accouchement (ah-koosh-MANH) [French, from accoucher: to give birth, to be delivered] Childbirth; confinement; lying-in.

achtung (AHKH-toong) [German] Watch out! Attention! Pay attention.

acme (AK-mee) [Greek: point, edge] The highest point; the greatest achievement.

actualit s (ahk-tyoo-ah-lee-TAY) [French] Current or recent events; the news of the moment; a newsreel.

adagio (ah-DAH-zhyoh) [Italian, from ad agio: at ease] In music, slowly. A slow piece of music or dance. In ballet, the slow, sustained movements of