Comments on: Japanese Loan Words

By: Fukumi Takeshita

Fukumi Takeshita — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:51:28 +0000

Oh…and kudzu (the plant that grows all over the south US), is from “kuzu” (葛).

By: Fukumi Takeshita

Fukumi Takeshita — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:35:02 +0000

I’ve also always wondered about “honky-dory”. It really sounds like it could be Japanese. “Honki” (本気) means “truth” or “seriousness”. “Dori” (道理) means “way” or “street”. It seems like things that are “honky-dory” could be going in a “truthful way” (or something like that.)

I haven’t looked into it, but it seems possible. Nothing like “honkidori” is in current use in Japanese, as far as I know, but it could have been loaned in the distant past. Japanese seems to “evolve” pretty fast. I’ve met plenty of native speakers who say they have a hard time reading a newspaper or understanding some speech from just a few decades ago (e.g., as recent as WWII.)

By: Fukumi Takeshita

Fukumi Takeshita — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:23:42 +0000

“oruka” (オルカ) is a word for killer whale in Japanese (though more common is “shachi” [シャチ]). The word for dolphin is “iruka” (イルカ). Doesn’t it seem like “iruka” and “oruka” should be somehow related, and that orca is of Japanese origin? Well, it turns out that “orca” is of Latin origin.

Maybe the Japanese “oruka” and the English “orca” are both loaned from Latin. If that’s the case, then why are the Japanese “oruka” and “iruka” so similar?! I don’t think that “iruka” is from Latin. Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but it’s a head-scratcher to me.

By: christian

christian — Sat, 30 May 2009 14:06:28 +0000

I dissagree with your explanation of Geisha” it is more like “a person of culture”

and Hara kiri mean “cut the belly”.

The rest is pretty cool.
thank you for sharing.

By: David

David — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:30:04 +0000

Ikebana?

Sumi-e?

Interesting that Kimono is unchanged, Happi has been rendered as “Happy Coat”, but zori were once known here as thongs, and now as flip flops. What’s so hard about saying zori or geta?