Wanderwort
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A ' ( , sometimes pluralized as ', usually capitalized following German practice) is a word that has spread as a loanword among numerous languages and cultures, especially those that are far away from one another. As such, are a curiosity in historical linguistics and sociolinguistics within a wider study of language contact. At a sufficient time depth, it can be very difficult to establish in which language or language family a originated and into which it was borrowed.
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, Wanderwort is referenced by 28 other articles, and connects out to Arabic, Italian and Japanese.
It is catalogued under topics including Etymology, German words and phrases and Historical linguistics.
Its subject is documented across 20 Wikipedia language editions.
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Encyclopedic overview
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A ' ( , sometimes pluralized as ', usually capitalized following German practice) is a word that has spread as a loanword among numerous languages and cultures, especially those that are far away from one another. As such, are a curiosity in historical linguistics and sociolinguistics within a wider study of language contact. At a sufficient time depth, it can be very difficult to establish in which language or language family a originated and into which it was borrowed.
Frequently, they are spread through trade networks, sometimes to describe a previously unfamiliar plant, animal or food.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Wanderwort” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.