Germanism (linguistics)

A Germanism is a loan word or other loan element borrowed from German for use in some other language.

Technology and engineering have also provided Germanisms, as in the English bremsstrahlung (a form of electromagnetic radiation), or the French schnorchel (literally, "submarine snorkel," a type of air-intake device for submarine engines).

In Afrikaans, a colloquial term for ethnic Germans is aberjetze, from German aber jetzt! ("come on, now!"), possibly due to the frequent use of that phrase by German farmers or overseers in exhorting their workers.

Albanian has many loan words brought back from Germany by migrant workers. Krikëll for "beer mug," for example, is borrowed from the Austrian German term Krügel. The German word Schalter has been borrowed in both its meanings ("(office) counter" and "(electric) switch") as Albanian shalter.

In the early 20th century, German film directors participated in the creation of the Egyptian cinema and usually concluded their work with the word fertig (done). Their local staff kept that word in the form ferkish and soon used it in other contexts.

In connection with the football World Cup, the German team is called farik el Mannschaft, with the German Mannschaft meaning team – wherein farik is already the Arabic term for "team" and is supplemented by the article el. When at the football World Cup of 2006 the German team lost to Italy, a saying went el Mannschaft khessret! ("The Mannschaft lost!")

In Sudan, the German word Kollege (colleague) acquired a very unusual importance. There it means straw, which was bound to a bundle for drying. The background to this important change is that colleagues are seen in the context of staying closely together.

In Bassa, a tribal language in Cameroon, the word for "train station" is banop from the German Bahnhof, which recalls the Germans building the first railway in their former colony.

Beginning in the 14th and more so since the 15th cent. in towns there were always German merchants, and eventually also Jews, who also spoke a German dialect. Major towns received from the king/duke privileges known as the "Magdeburg Law". This show words such as čynš (чынш) from German Zins for "(economic) interest", handal (гандаль) from German Handel for "trade" and štempel (штэмпэль) from German Stempel for "rubber stamp". Other examples are hiešeft (гешэфт) from German Geschäft for "business" and falšavać (фальшаваць) from German fälschen for "counterfeiting". Some Germanisms were borrowed from Polish, which increased its influence in the 17th and 18th cent.: achviara - (Opfer) - victim; chvalia: (Welle) - wave; kštałt (Gestalt: form, shape); gvałt (Gewalt: violence); pliac (Platz): city square, place; košt and kaštavać (Kosten): cost; krama (Kram): shop; jarmarka (Jahrmarkt : annual fair, or simply fair or market; kirmaša: (Kirmes) - tradefair or funfair; paliac (Palast or Palatz): palace; hrošy (Groschen - coins): money; kierunak (possibly from German regieren which earlier meant: to lead )- direction; kieravać (to lead or to drive a car; hatunak (Gattung) - type, sort; rachunak (Rechnung): bill, check; šacunak (Schätzung): appreciation; šliah (Schlag): way, road, (from schlagen: to beat, as in the "beaten path"; šmat (Schmatt - (Vienna German) tips (to waiters) - now meaning: a lot, much; šmatki: (probably Yiddish šmotes: rags) - rags, cheap clothes; karol (from Karl= Charlemagne): king; vinšavać (wünschen) - to wish someone something); rynak: (Ring) - market; possibly also "rada" (Rat - council, advise) and the verb paraić (pa- is a prefix) - to council, to advise; but almost certainly "ratuša" - (Rathaus): town hall. And varta: Wert - worth. Almost all Germanisms can also be found in the Ukrainian language, since they share origin in the language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, sometimes called Old Belarusan. After the Russian conquest many Russian words of German origin penetrated into Belarusan, e.g. aficer - (Offizier) - officer in the military.

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