People often joke about “chai tea” and “naan bread” being tautological but this isn’t actually how borrowing works. Chai doesn’t mean tea and naan doesn’t mean bread in English. We already have words for those so we borrowed chai & naan to refer to specific types of tea and bread
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Of course if you’re a speaker of a language in which chai means tea and naan means bread, the English phrases chai tea and naan bread probably sound amusing. But once a word is borrowed into a new language it becomes a new word with a new meaning. It takes on a life of its own
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This happens with words borrowed from English as well. “Viking” (baikingu) means “buffet” in Japanese, “parking” means car park in French, “mobbing” means “bullying” in German, “smoking” is a tuxedo in French, and “evergreen” refers to a classic song in several European languages
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Another fun fact is that “chai” and “tea” actually derive from the same word! Chinese 茶 (cha) became “chai” in languages that got their tea via land routes, and “tea/te” in languages that got their tea via sea routes. Some dialects of British English also use “cha” for tea
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Tl;dr words that are borrowed into new languages evolve and change from their source language. This can happen in all languages and isn’t specific to English! The etymology of words for tea is a great example of how the pronunciation and meaning of loanwords can evolve over time
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Just thought I’d add an addendum that I’m not saying people shouldn’t enjoy making fun of these kind of tautological borrowings, especially if you speak both languages! Mocking the coloniser is valid. I just wanted to share some info about the linguistics of borrowing
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I had no idea so many people would read this, I would’ve edited it better otherwise.
I’m now going to bow out because the notifications are too much but thanks everyone for this discussion!Näytä tämä ketju
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What about in "A Clockwork Orange" where Alex offers the truancy officer "Cup of the ole chai, sir?" It may one day be synonymous
right right?Kiitos. Käytämme tätä aikajanasi parantamiseen. KumoaKumoa
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Okay. But you do say "earl grey" and not "earl grey tea". Because the tea is implied. Similarly when you say "chai", it's implied. Chai is spices, tea and milk. Even the "latte" is redundant. "Chai or Chai without milk" sounds more right to me. (Just my opinion)
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Like.... Why can you refer to a cup of earl grey tea as "earl grey"? But cannot refer to "chai tea" as just "chai"?
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yes, but where is the "bread" necessary if I'm ordering a Naan?pic.twitter.com/ihi2s4Ct1t
Kiitos. Käytämme tätä aikajanasi parantamiseen. KumoaKumoa
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