Have you ever wondered where certain sayings or words come from? We often wonder about the origins of foreign words, and what they mean. Another fun thing that we often talk and speculate over is where certain phrases started. So of course when I was sent a review copy of the new book new book A Certain “Je Ne Sais Quoi”: The Origin of Foreign Words Used in English, I was very excited.

In the book we get the answers to a lot of these questions! The book has tons of interesting words, and tells the story of where they come from and how we came to adopt them into the English language.

Having studied French for 4 years, I already knew most of the French words and meanings. However, there were so many words from other cultures that I had no idea of. For example:

• Ketchup began life as a spicy pickled fish sauce called koechiap in seventeenth-century China.
• Honcho came from the Japanese world hancho, which means squad chief. The word was brought to the United States sometime during the 1940s by soldiers who had served in Japan.
• Dungarees comes from the Hindi word dungri, the thick cotton cloth used for sails and tents in India.

I love that the book is laid out like alphabetically, from A to Z you can easily find and look up what you have been curious about. It’s a really fun book to have around, we have been cracking it open off and on and learning new things each time. It’s a great book for people who love trivia or languages (or both)! And to whet your appetite for the book even more, here is an article from the author. Continue reading →