Year: 1957
Type: article
Abstract: PHENOMENA is that proper names penetrate into the vocabulary of a language and become regular parts of it, as shown by Professor Bryant's article in the March issue of .LVames.However, widespread as this feature is, it is hardly possible to tell just how many words of such origin occur in a given language because the j argon of any homogeneous social, vocational, or age group will contain certain "name words" which are not necessarily understood or used by other groups which, in their turn, have developed cants of their own.The borderline between generally accepted usage and socially limited lingo is, therefore, often hard t•o draw when one attempts to make a survey of words derived from names.This seems to be especially true in the case of German on account of the facility of that language for absorbing new elements into its W ortschatz.Accordingly, the following description of present day standard German usage, while it endeavors to exclude specialist, out-moded, regional as well as cant terms, is not intended to furnish a complete list of words derived from names.Nevertheless, it is safe to say that the number of words mentioned below could hardly be increased substantially.Disregarding, then, absolute numerical totality, the purpose of this paper is rather to point out the basic fornls and typical modifications in and through which names can work their way into the German language.Secondly, such a survey of names in the commonly used German vocubulary may be of interest on account of the light it throws on the cultural factors which had an impact in the shaping of present day speech.As a matter of course, German shares several of the terms of this class with English, French, Spanish and other languages; in most cases, these will require brief mention only unless they were originally coined in or connected with Germany.
Source: Names
Author: Karl S. Guthke
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W1972953076