Inlinguistics, anetymological calque is a lexical itemcalqued from another language by replicating theetymology of the borrowed lexical item although this etymology is irrelevant for the meaning being borrowed.[1]: pp.43–45
Mostcalques arenot etymological.[1]: p.45 For example, the Englishcompoundbasketball was calqued, conventionally, intoStandard Chinese as 篮球lánqiú, which means "basketball". The lexical item 篮球lánqiú consists of 篮lán "basket" and 球qiú "ball".[1]: p.45 Therefore,lánqiú is a calque. On the other hand, the English compoundhotdog wasetymologically calqued intoStandard Chinese as 热狗règǒu "hotdog".[1]: p.45 The Chinese lexical item 热狗règǒu "hotdog" consists of 热rè "hot" and 狗gǒu "dog", and is thus an etymological calque of the English lexical itemhotdog.[1]: p.45 Those making the calque (as well as Chinese speakers) are completely aware that when they eat a 热狗règǒu "hotdog" they donot eat dog meat. Nonetheless, they chose to retain the English etymology within the Chineseneologism. Therefore,règǒu is an etymological calque.
The etymology of the English lexical itemcocktail is maintained and visible within the Chinese etymological calque 鸡尾酒jīwěijiǔ "cocktail".[1]: p.45 The Chinese lexical item 鸡尾酒jīwěijiǔ "cocktail" means literally "chicken tail alcohol", and is thus an etymological calque of the English lexical itemcocktail.[1]: p.45
Hemda Ben-Yehuda’s 1904 neologism אופנהofná "fashion" is an etymological calque - deriving from אופןófen "mode" – of the internationalismmóda "fashion" (e.g.moda inItalian), which can be traced back to the Latin lexical itemmodus "mode".[1]: p.43
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