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Quiz about Foreigners in the English Language
Quiz about Foreigners in the English Language

Foreigners in the English Language Quiz


No language can do without the benefit of 'free import' of new words from its neighbours. Especially not a world-language like English. Just see if you can 'identify' these foreigners in disguise.

A multiple-choice quiz by chrissie_26. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
chrissie_26
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
51,736
Updated
Jul 23 22
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
5147
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Hint: c + 6 letters + w.- What English word for a type of salad derives from : a. Dutch kool (=cabbage ) b. Dutch sla (=salad)?

Answer: (Written in one or in two words.)
Question 2 of 10
2. Hint: b + 3 letters + o.- What term for an attractive but rather stupid (and esp. promiscuous ) young woman derives from the Italian word for baby: bambino ?

Answer: (One Word)
Question 3 of 10
3. Hint: d + 3 letters + e.- What tennis-term derives from the French word for 'two' ?

Answer: (One Word)
Question 4 of 10
4. Hint: n + 4 letters + r.- What name for a delicious drink derives from the Greek name of the favourite drink of the Gods on Mt Olympus ?

Answer: (One Word)
Question 5 of 10
5. Hint: h + 3 letters + s p + 3 letters + s .- What phrase used by jugglers and prestidigitators has ,possibly incorrectly and also possibly maliciously, been explained as a mangled form of the priest's phrase (during Holy Mass): 'Hoc est corpus' ?

Answer: (Two Words)
Question 6 of 10
6. Hint b + 6 letters + o. - The South-American vaquero or cowherd derives from Spanish vaca (cow).What is the American English term (denoting a cowboy )that derives from it ?

Answer: (One Word)
Question 7 of 10
7. Hint: a + 7 letters + y. - An amaranth is a never fading flower (from Greek anthos =flower). What term in literature for a 'collection of chosen pieces' also derives from that same Greek word 'anthos' ?

Answer: (One Word)
Question 8 of 10
8. Hint: M + 7 letters + a. - From the Greek nesos for island there developed such words as Polynesia (group of many islands) and Micronesia (group of very small islands). What is the similarly derived word that stands for 'group of black or dark islands ' ?

Answer: (One Word)
Question 9 of 10
9. Hint : A + 6 letters + s. What group of islands got its name from a combination of 'ante' or 'anti' (in front of ) and Portuguese ilha for island?

Answer: (One Word)
Question 10 of 10
10. Hint : c + 6 letters + c. - What religious term literally means 'spread across the whole world' and derives from, among other words, Greek kata and Greek holos.

Answer: (One Word)

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Hint: c + 6 letters + w.- What English word for a type of salad derives from : a. Dutch kool (=cabbage ) b. Dutch sla (=salad)?

Answer: coleslaw

Dutch kool is also related to English kale.
2. Hint: b + 3 letters + o.- What term for an attractive but rather stupid (and esp. promiscuous ) young woman derives from the Italian word for baby: bambino ?

Answer: bimbo

Bimbo is a shortened form for bambino in Italian.
3. Hint: d + 3 letters + e.- What tennis-term derives from the French word for 'two' ?

Answer: deuce

French deux derives from Latin duo and kitchen-Latin deus.- 'Love' as a tennisterm is said to derive from 'l'oeuf' (the egg): the shape of a medieval 'o' (?) .
4. Hint: n + 4 letters + r.- What name for a delicious drink derives from the Greek name of the favourite drink of the Gods on Mt Olympus ?

Answer: nectar

The favourite food was called: ambrosia. Both were made on a honey basis.It was that specific type of food and drink that made the gods immortal.
5. Hint: h + 3 letters + s p + 3 letters + s .- What phrase used by jugglers and prestidigitators has ,possibly incorrectly and also possibly maliciously, been explained as a mangled form of the priest's phrase (during Holy Mass): 'Hoc est corpus' ?

Answer: hocus pocus

The complete phrase is 'Hoc est corpus meum'.-'This is my body'.
Oxford English Dictionary quotes Tillotson a 17th century Archbischop of Canterbury as the source for this supposed "popular etymology". Whether this development was "innocent ignorance" or "offensive ridicule" is hard to know. Magic formulas were often born from mangled Church Latin. As Tillotson was not a great friend of Catholics he may on purpose have promoted this etymology. But whether anything irreverent was originally meant is very dubious. The
use of "hocus pocus" as reference to juggling appears for the first time in writing in 17th century. An explanation of the phrase as deriving from Italian "O che poco" "Oh how little" has not been documented. Other etymologists have suggested another Latin phrasing as the source of this strange word. "Hax pax max Deus adimax" is said to have been a pseudo-Latin magical formula coined by vagrant students already in sixteenth century. By the way also "hoax" has been
explained as a contraction of "hocus".
6. Hint b + 6 letters + o. - The South-American vaquero or cowherd derives from Spanish vaca (cow).What is the American English term (denoting a cowboy )that derives from it ?

Answer: buckaroo

7. Hint: a + 7 letters + y. - An amaranth is a never fading flower (from Greek anthos =flower). What term in literature for a 'collection of chosen pieces' also derives from that same Greek word 'anthos' ?

Answer: anthology

Latin has: florilegium. Something like 'hand-picked flowers'..
8. Hint: M + 7 letters + a. - From the Greek nesos for island there developed such words as Polynesia (group of many islands) and Micronesia (group of very small islands). What is the similarly derived word that stands for 'group of black or dark islands ' ?

Answer: Melanesia

Other words that have the melas = black link. Melancholy. - Melanin.
9. Hint : A + 6 letters + s. What group of islands got its name from a combination of 'ante' or 'anti' (in front of ) and Portuguese ilha for island?

Answer: Antilles

Ante : to be understood as ' lying before a continent '.
10. Hint : c + 6 letters + c. - What religious term literally means 'spread across the whole world' and derives from, among other words, Greek kata and Greek holos.

Answer: catholic

The word holos means whole. Katholikos= universal; spread all over the world.
Source: Author chrissie_26

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