English Words Borrowed from Around the Globe Quiz

Answer: Tagalog

The word boondocks comes from the Philippines and the Tagalog language for bundock. It was a word for mountain originally, and was borrowed and used by American military occupying the country for someplace wild and far off in the distance. In the USA you also hear 'out in the boonies' somewhere for a remote location.

Answer: Dutch

Originally the Dutch used a 'jaghteschip' to zip around in and out of coves. It was used way back in the 1300s. Eventually this type of vessel was called by this name, a hunting ship literally and was anglicized to 'yacht'.

Answer: Sanskrit/Hindi

Though many may know this word from a modern day superhero, it's an ancient Sanskrit term that was used for the huge vehicle in a procession for the Hindu god Krishna and the wagon that bears the image to the Jaggenath Temple in Puri. Occasionally people would allow themselves to be run over by the vehicle in their devotion.

A priest witnessed this and told of it and the word came to be used for an overwhelming force or a powerful vehicle such as a truck. Jaggernaut means "Lord of the World".

Answer: Arabic

The Arabic translates as fast walker. The Italian use appears to be the first usage of this word when the animal was taken to zoos in Italy. The 'giraffa' spelling was found around 1590. The original word for the creature was camelopard in English and the Latin name is quite close to that.

Answer: French

The Old French word for 'here' 'hold' or 'take this' or 'tenez!' from the verb 'tenir' was used in the early days of the game. Prior to the use of rackets, it was called the 'jeu de paume' in France or game using the palm of the hand. Louis the tenth was very keen on the game. In the sixteenth century, rackets began to be used. Henry VIII loved it too.

Answer: Czech

This word was used in a Czech play called "RUR (Rossum's Universal Robots)" for forced labor by the author Karel Capek in 1920.

Answer: Malay

"To run amok" has been used since the 1660s for a crazy running frenzy. The Portuguese brought it back and it became used in English as well.

Answer: Hungarian

This word came to us via the French 'coche' from 'kocsi (szeker)' for a wagon from the city of Kocs in Hungary where it was invented in the mid-sixteenth century.

Answer: German

The German version was 'Pudel' and it apparently did come from the same origin as puddle as the dog liked to splash about. They were used as water retrievers and the French adopted them. The French called the dog the 'Caniche' which is derived from 'canard' or duck in French.

Answer: Chinese

Books have been written about ketchup but most agree that the word comes from Hokkien Chinese in the Fujian province and the word was closer to 'ke-tsiap'. The original sauce had fermented fish and other ingredients in it and it was traded into other areas such as Malaysia and Indonesia and from there via the Dutch to the English in the 1600s.

In 1812 in Philadelphia, a published recipe appeared using tomatoes. The use of tomatoes became common especially after the Civil War.