Unadapted borrowing fromGermanWanderwort, fromwandern(“to wander”) +Wort(“word”).[1]Wandern is ultimately derived fromProto-Indo-European*wendʰ-(“to turn, to wind”), andWort fromProto-Indo-European*werh₁-(“to say, speak”). Theplural formsWanderworte andWanderwörter are also borrowed fromGermanWanderworte andWanderwörter.
Wanderwort (pluralWanderwörterorWanderworteorWanderworts)
- (linguistics) Aloanword that hasspread to manydifferentlanguages, often throughtrade or theadoption offoreignculturalpractices.
- Synonym:wanderword
1966, Yoël L. Arbeitman, quoting Heinz Kronasser, “Iranian ‘Scribe’, Anatolian ‘Ruler’, or Neither: A City’s Rare Chances for ‘Leadership’”, in Yoël L. Arbeitman, editor,Fucus: A Semitic/Afrasian Gathering in Remembrance of Albert Ehrman (Amsterdam Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Science; series IV; Current Issues in Linguistic Theory; 58), Amsterdam; Philadelphia, Pa.:John Benjamins Publishing Company, published1988,→ISBN,→ISSN,page77:Hittitet/dapar- "leiten, verwalten, regieren" (and also with the Glossenkeil) is connected and we are in the presence of aWanderwort that ultimately derives from the above Capp[adocian]*labar- "herrschen".
2008,Roger M[arsh] Blench, “The Problem of Pan-African roots”, inJohn D. Bengtson, editor,In Hot Pursuit of Language in Prehistory: Essays in the Four Fields of Anthropology in Honor ofHarold Crane Fleming, Amsterdam; Philadelphia, Pa.:John Benjamins Publishing Company,→ISBN,page190:[Diedrich Hermann] Westermann (1927) in his pioneering identification of "West Sudanic" common lexemes (Niger-Congo in modern terms) also identifiedWanderworte, "wander-words" that show up in widely differing language families in similar form.
2009, Patrick McConvell, “Loanwords in Gurindji, a Pama-Nyungan Language of Australia”, inMartin Haspelmath, Uri Tadmor, editors,Loanwords in the World’s Languages: A Comparative Handbook, Berlin:De Gruyter Mouton,→ISBN, section 4.4.3 (Wanderwörter),page800:Some of the vocabulary can be classed asWanderwörter – items that have diffused widely and whose ultimate source is sometimes hard to discover.[…] While 'crocodile' is an animal with exceptional properties which may lead to it being a common topic in interethnic conversations, the same reasons cannot be adduced for the other items above or many otherWanderwörter in this region, at least not given the cultural configuration of the recent past.
2015, Joshua T. Katz, “Aristotle’s Badger”, inBrooke Holmes, Klaus-Dietrich Fischer, Emilio Capettini, editors,The Frontiers of Ancient Science: Essays in Honour ofHeinrich von Staden, Berlin; Munich:De Gruyter,→ISBN,→ISSN,pages280–281:In an earlier paper, however, I suggested—without, I confess, having noticed the Slavic forms—thatασβὀς is a very old word indeed, reflecting directly*azgṷ-o-, the thematization of*azgu-, a form of theWanderwort for "mole" (cf. Greekσκάλοψ and(ἀ)σπάλαξ, Sanskritākhú- "mole-like rat," and Hittiteāšku- "mole (?)") that travels in concert with*tasku- "badger" and gets confused with it also in Galatian[…] and Basque (azkoin "badger").
2016, Patrick McConvell, “Kinship Loanwords in Indigenous Australia, before and after Colonisation”, in Felicity Meakins, Carmel O’Shannessy, editors,Loss and Renewal: Australian Languages since Colonisation (Language Contact and Bilingualism), Boston, Mass.; Berlin:De Gruyter Mouton,→ISBN,→ISSN, section 3.1 (AffinalWanderwörter):Affinal terms, designating spouses and in-laws, appear to be among the most highly borrowed kinship terms in Australia, following the worldwide trend identified by Matras […]. Some of these are notableWanderwörter 'travelling words' that are borrowed successively into languages of different groups and families across long distances […]. In the case of two such affinalWanderwörter in northern Australia, I have argued that changes in distribution and meaning which accompany diffusion tell a story of the diffusion of new marriage patterns and which kin controlled the betrothal of women, mothers-in-laws or fathers-in-laws […].
loanword that has spread to many different languages, often through trade or the adoption of foreign cultural practices
Compound ofwandern +Wort.
- IPA(key): /van.dɐr.vɔrt/,[van.dɐ.vɔːt]
Wanderwort n (strong,genitiveWanderwortesorWanderworts,pluralWanderwörterorWanderworte)
- (linguistics)Wanderwort
Declension ofWanderwort [neuter, strong]
Wanderwort on Wikipedia.Wikipedia