• What are foreign words?
• Types of foreign words
• Examples of foreign words
• Sentences with foreign words
• Archaisms and neologisms

We explain what foreign words are, their types, examples and use in sentences. Also, archaisms and neologisms.

Foreign words are more frequent in today's globalized world.

What are foreign words?

Foreign words or xenisms are the loans that a language makes from the words or expressions of another, either because it does not have its own terms for the referent in question, or because its speakers prefer the foreign alternative to their own for some reason.

Foreign words are very common in all languages, especially in a global context such as the one that emerged at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. However, they have always existed, as a reflection of the exchange and communication between the various cultures and civilizations, as well as the complex historical processes of colonization and syncretism that the world has witnessed.

Generally, a foreigner is recognized because it preserves part or all of its original spelling, more or less adapted to the recipient language. For that reason, in many languages ​​they are quoted or italicized, depending on the case. However, with the passage of time and continuous use, many foreign words end up incorporated into the recipient language, becoming ordinary pieces.

Types of foreign words

There are different criteria to classify foreign words in Spanish. The simplest of all is the one that distinguishes them according to the language from which they are taken: "Anglicism" for the loans from English, Germanism for those of German, Gallicism for French, Lusitanism for Portuguese, Nahuatlism for Nahuatl, Catalanism for Catalan, Italianism for Italian, etc.

The only exception to this criterion are direct borrowings from Latin, called "cultisms", since this was the language in which speeches were written and delivered during much of Western history.

The other possible criterion for classifying foreign words is based on their form, and differentiates them into three types:

• Lexical loans. They occur when the receiving language takes a piece from the dictionary of another language, with its form and content, and incorporates it as its own. In some cases, this implies the morphological deformation of the word to adapt it to the target language (for example, “scanner” in Spanish for “scanner” in English), although in other cases it may retain its shape and even its sound (for example, “jazz” in English and Spanish).
• Semantic loans. It occurs when a word that already exists in the target language is incorporated with a meaning that it did not previously have, coming from a foreign language. This is the case, for example, of the verb "remove" in Spanish, whose original meaning is "To move things or parts of a thing that are together, turning and shaking them", but to which the meaning of "erase or eliminate" is usually added. from the English "to remove”.
• Semantic tracings. This is a case similar to the previous one, in which a foreign language is used in search of a meaning, with the exception that its form is completely adapted to the target language, as in a translation. This can easily be seen in the case of "kindergarten", literal translation of "kindergarten" from German. In some cases, this type of rubbing can give rise to barbarisms, that is, deformations of the tongue (from a normative point of view).

A final classification, according to the Royal Spanish Academy, distinguishes between necessary or widely used foreign words, which are very commonly used or lack an equivalent in the target language, and those superfluous or unnecessary foreign words, which unnecessarily replace the available terms of the target language.

Examples of foreign words

The word "penalty" is a lexical loan from English.

Some simple examples of foreign words in Spanish are:

• Back up (Anglicism), to say backup or backup.
• Pick up (Anglicism), to call a truck model smaller than a truck and with its loading platform uncovered.
• E-book (anglicism, from electronic book), for books in digital format.
• Penalty (anglicism, penalty), for fouls committed in the playing area, in soccer slang.
• Pedigree (Anglicism, pedigree), for ancestry, noble ancestry or race.
• Potpourri (Gallicism, from Pot pourri), for a compilation, anthology or mix.
• Ragú (Gallicism, from ragoût), for a meat stew with potatoes and vegetables.
• Restaurant (Galicismo, restaurant), for a place where they sell prepared food.
• Salami (Italianism, from salami), for a popular type of sausage.
• Curriculum (cultism, of curriculum), for a resume or trajectory summary.
• Versus (cultism), to "face", "opposed to", "fighting against".
• Bolshevik (loan from Russian bolʼsheviki or большевики), for communist or militant of the revolutionary left.

Sentences with foreign words

Next, we will insert some of the above foreigners into a sentence, to provide necessary context:

• Did you remember to back up the project?
• The Boca versus River Plate match was defined through penalties.
• I took him to a fine restaurant and he ordered a pizza with salami and ragout sauce.
• Is the book for e-book purchase?
• Run, here come the Bolsheviks!
• That boyfriend of yours does have a pedigree.

Archaisms and neologisms

Just as there are foreign words, it can also be the case of archaisms and neologisms. We refer to:

• Archaisms. Words, forms and ancient and disappearing uses, but that survive in the language, despite the fact that the realities that they designated are no longer found, or that they have been replaced by others. For example: “iron” instead of “iron” or “vos” instead of “tú”.
• Neologisms. It refers to the exact opposite of archaisms, that is, new words, forms and uses that are incorporated into a language as it is updated or updated, in order to cope with the new realities of its speakers. For example: "scanner" for the scanner, or "download" to get files from the Internet.