A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi : The Origin of Foreign Words Used in English

by Chloe Rhodes

exposed (French)

  Originally used to describe a verbal or written explanation that “exposed” the reasons behind a decision, particularly in diplomatic circles, “exposé” is now used for a report that unveils the truth about an individual or organization. Modern-day exposés usually appear in tabloid newspapers; their subjects are celebrities, politicians, or public bodies, and what they expose is often a scandalous secret or discreditable fact.

  Annabelle felt betrayed, heartbroken, and a bit strapped for cash, so she decided to sell her story to the press—a lurid exposé would be the perfect revenge.

  F

  Factotum

  do everything (Latin)

  This word originally described a servant employed to do a range of different kinds of work; usually someone employed by a family to run the household. By the sixteenth century the meaning had shifted to someone who gets everywhere and knows everything, and it had the same negative connotations as the modern equivalent “busybody.” Now, though, some of the original sense of the word has returned, and we use it to describe someone who can turn his hand to anything, a jack-of-all-trades or general assistant.

  I like to keep my options open workwise. When I filled in that careers assessment form, it came back with two options: fraudster or factotum. I kept my nose clean and chose the latter.

  Fait accompli

  accomplished fact (French)

  Though French in origin, this phrase was introduced to our language by an Englishman, in a travel book about Spain. Richard Ford’s Handbook for Travellers in Spain was published in 1845 to great literary acclaim. In it he describes a previously settled fact as a “fait accompli,” and the phrase took its place in the English lexicon. It is still very commonly used to describe decisions that have been made before those affected can have any input or to situations that are irreversible.

  If there was one role that Darius Donovan hoped he’d never play it was the back end of the cow, but by the time he arrived for casting, it was already a fait accompli.

  Faux pas

  wrong step (French)

  It’s heartening to know that cultural slipups occur even in sophisticated French society. Perhaps to comfort ourselves with a reminder of this fact, English speakers have adopted the French phrase for them. A “wrong step” is the perfect way to describe such mishaps, as they usually leave us metaphorically stumbling, cheeks flushed with embarrassment and confusion, until we find our feet again. A visit abroad is the primary setting for these incidents, since social mores differ so dramatically between cultures.

  He asked me to pass the bread; I had my fork in my right hand, so I used my left, and the whole room went quiet—I still don’t know why, but somehow I’d made a terrible faux pas.

  Femme fatale

  deadly woman (French)

  The dangerously seductive female has been a figure in the popular imagination since the days of ancient folklore. Salome, Cleopatra, and even Eve have all been retrospectively labeled as such, but this term didn’t come into use in English until around 1912, when women were beginning to challenge Victorian notions of female propriety. It is now used mostly to describe sexually powerful female figures in film and literature, including spies or assassins, who use their charm and beauty to ensnare men or, more colloquially, for women who dress in an overtly seductive way.

  By day Laura-Jane was a sweet, cardigan-wearing schoolteacher, but by night she was a leather-clad femme fatale.

  Feng shui

  wind and water (Mandarin Chinese)

  “Feng shui” is the Chinese art of placing objects in patterns, such as yin and yang, compass points, and astrology, so that the flow of “chi” (“life force”), is healthy. In the English-speaking West the term most often refers to the repositioning of furniture within a house so that the environment is in line with the landscape and the movement of the earth. There are many authentic feng shui practitioners who can make these recommendations, though in recent years there has also been a proliferation of mediocre interior designers who use the word for a more generalized Chinese-style decor.

  Have you seen what my neighbor Margery has done to her garden? It’s all rock pools and bamboo shoots—very feng shui.

  Fest

  festival (German)

  The German word for “festival,” used to describe gatherings that celebrate a specific activity, has become a useful suffix in English. There are now fests of every description, from knit fests to truffle fests and chili fests. And if a music festival gets a bit slippery underfoot, we call it a mud fest. Its use became widespread in the 1970s, possibly inspired by the growing reputation of Munich’s world-famous “Oktoberfest,” a carnival of beer and bratwursts that has been running since 1810 and is attended by six million people each year.

  The frying pans are sizzling, and the tasters are at the ready—it’s time to declare the inaugural fish-stick fest officially open!

  Fiasco

  failure or bottle (Italian)

  “Fiasco” is, in fact, an Italian word used to describe a type of bottle with rope wound around the bottom, but its dual meaning of failure comes via the French phrase “faire fiasco.” Because it is a slang term, its origins are hazy, but one possibility stems from the phrase’s earliest (and very specific) use: to describe a linguistic mistake made by Italian actors working on the French stage in the eighteenth century. The now obsolete French expression “faire une bouteille,” which meant “make a mistake,” was probably then Italianized to “fare fiasco.” We still use it to mean a humiliating failure.

  Brian checked the elastic on every team member’s shorts personally. He was determined there would be no repeat of last season’s wardrobe-malfunction fiasco.

  Fiesta

  festival or celebration (Spanish)

  The Spanish know how to throw a party, and with saints’ days liberally scattered throughout the Spanish calendar, there are plenty of opportunities for processions, feasts, and dances. The word is used in English primarily to describe Spanish or Latino festivals, particularly when the speaker happens to have attended one on his holidays and wants to show his friends how relaxed and Latin-spirited he is about using the local terminology.

  Graham put on his papier-mâché horse’s head and looked in the mirror. He felt dressed more for a freak show than a fiesta, but the parade was about to begin and Juan had insisted.

  Frisson

  shiver (French)

  This word evolved in French from the Late Latin “frigere” (“to be cold”), and the term applies to a sensation of fear or excitement as physically discernable as a shiver caused by a blast of cold air. Unlike a real icy shudder, though, there is always an element of pleasure in a frisson. The word arrived in English from the French in the late eighteenth century, and we still use it to describe the sort of pleasing terror elicited by a good horror story or a thrilling sexual tension.

  Sally-Anne trembled as she wrote her number on the back of her shopping list. She’d felt a definite frisson with the man in the pet-food aisle and decided it was too good an opportunity to miss.

  Froideur

  coldness (French)

  It seems somehow apt that English speakers have embraced a French word for cold superiority, given that we often view the French, or the Parisians at least, as those most likely to exhibit the trait. The word is used in both languages to describe a reserved manner or even a marked frostiness between two parties. It is particularly useful in international relations, when to say outright that there is distrust or active hatred between two countries might be diplomatically uncouth.

  There had been a palpable froideur between the two women since they knocked each other unconscious while diving for the bouquet at a mutual friend’s wedding.

  Frottage

  rubbing (French)

  The word comes from the French verb “frotter,” to “rub,” and for a while it was a psychiatric name for a sexual disorder characterized by the desire to rub up against another person without his or her consent (now
known as “frotterism”). It does have a more innocent meaning in the art world, where it refers to the technique for making brass rubbings, but these days it’s generally reserved for the kind of consensual, through-the-clothes body rubbing that we might otherwise be forced to call “dry humping.”

  Sorry I was so long with the drinks; I got waylaid by a bit of dance-floor frottage.

  Furvor

  excitement/controversy (Italian)

  In British English this word is spelled “furore.” The British stick to the Italian spelling, but both versions have the same meaning: “a sudden excited outburst,” usually by a large body of people, about something that has caused a stir. It originates from the Latin word“furor,” meaning “a raging,” but the modern usage doesn’t always imply anger, just a dramatic and clamorous reaction to an event or a decision.

  Geraldine left the school hall feeling rather ruffled; she couldn’t believe that moving the date of the summer festival had caused such a fervor.

  G

  Gamine

  impish girl or urchin (French)

  First used in French to describe street urchins or playful, waiflike children, the word was incorporated into English with this meaning in the mid-eighteenth century, when Thackeray used the term in The Paris Sketchbook. By the twentieth century its meaning had shifted, and it now refers to a sexually alluring girl or woman with a slight frame, short hair, and sweetly boyish or impish looks: Audrey Hepburn is often considered a classic example

  Jessica kept her hat firmly on despite the warmth of the room. She had told the hairdresser she wanted to go for a gamine look, but she hadn’t been prepared for the short back and sides.

  Gauche

  left or clumsy (French)

  Anyone with even the most rudimentary grasp of French will be familiar with the word for “left,” but “gauche” also has another meaning: “awkward” or “inelegant.” English speakers have adopted the latter sense of the word but use it to describe not physical but social clumsiness. The link may be a reflection of old negative superstitions about left-handedness (we get the word “sinister” from the Latin for “left”), or it may have come about as a result of the difficulties right-handers face when performing tasks with their left hand.

  Sonya fiddled with her napkin nervously; too much fancy cutlery always made her feel gauche.

  Gesundheit

  health (German/Yiddish)

  It’s a tradition across many cultures to bless people or wish them good health after they sneeze. Hebrew tradition has it that the soul of man was blown into Adam through his nostrils and might leave the same way after hearty sternutation. The term is thought to have emigrated to America with the first wave of German-speaking settlers in Pennsylvania and spread more widely from 1900 onward, when large numbers of Jewish immigrants moved to the United States.

  James held his breath and pinched his nose, the sound of a sneeze alone was embarrassing enough in an almost silent theater, but far worse were the cries of “Gesundheit!” that would echo around the auditorium.

  Gigolo

  male escort or paid lover (French)

  In the shady world of male prostitution, the gigolo is at the respectable end of the spectrum. The term is thought to come from the French “gigolette,” which meant “dancing girl” or “female prostitute,” but in the masculine form it refers to men who are hired as either social or sexual companions for older, wealthier women. These days it describes a range of male “service” providers, from those who receive financial support from a female lover to professional escorts who accompany women to social functions. It can also describe young men who prey upon older, wealthy women.

  I can’t face going to the gala ball on my own again, Mary. I’ve decided it’s time to hire myself a gigolo.

  Glasnost

  public openness (Russian)

  In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the former Soviet Union, introduced this word as a central tenet of his government’s policy to create political transparency and allow greater freedom of speech. He hoped it would restore the Soviet Union’s reputation in the world, but in fact, glasnost revealed the repression and corruption that had characterized the Soviet regime and eventually led to its disintegration. The word is now used to describe any drive for openness by a government or organization.

  There was to be a green glasnost at Eco-Warrior House—week one was an amnesty for unrecycled coffee cups.

  Glitch

  slip up (Yiddish and German)

  The exact etymology of this word is uncertain, but it is believed to stem from the Yiddish word “glitshen” and the German “glitschen,” both around 1962, meaning to slip or slide. It is thought to have been used for the first time in English around 1962 by American astronauts to describe a spike in voltage in an electrical current. They broadened its meaning to cover other minor technical mishaps, and the rest of us have extended it still further to mean any small mishap or malfunction.

  Sorry, Simon, there’s been a bit of a glitch in tonight’s plans. I know it was meant to be a double date, but Katie just canceled on me. Still, three is the magic number!

  Gratis

  free (Latin)

  This word was incorporated into Middle English from the Latin “gratis,” which came from “gratiis,” meaning “for thanks,” hence without recompense. We still use it as a slang term for anything that is complementary or free of charge. Since around 1985 it has also been used in the field of computing to differentiate software that is free in the sense of not costing anything from software that is free in the sense of having freedom from legal restrictions.

  Come on, Ted, get a drink down you. We may as well make the most of it while they are gratis.

  Gravitas

  heaviness, seriousness (Latin)

  In ancient Rome “gravitas,” along with “pietas” (“piety”), “dignitas” (“dignity”) and “iustitia” (“justice”) made up the four cardinal virtues. It meant, as it still does today, a respectable depth of judgment and seriousness that befits a person in high office or someone in a position of responsibility. It implies the kind of moral fiber and experience that are seen as essential traits in modern-day politicians (though sadly they often fall short of our expectations) or even in actors playing weighty roles.

  Mr. Walton sighed as the auditions drew to a close. Choosing Shakespeare for the school play had seemed such a good idea, but it was proving tricky to find a twelve-year-old with the gravitas to play King Lear.

  Gung ho

  work in harmony (Mandarin Chinese)

  In Chinese the word “gung” translates as work, while “ho” means “peace” or “harmony.” It was an abbreviation of “gongye hezhoushe,” the name given in the late 1930s to the industrial cooperatives springing up in rural China. It was adopted by English speakers to mean a “can do” attitude after Lieutenant Colonel Evans Carlson of the U.S. Marine Corps, inspired by the spirit of the cooperatives, used it as a motto for his battalion. Recently it has developed negative associations and can mean overenthusiastic or needlessly aggressive.

  From his uncomfortable resting place in the ditch, George reflected that perhaps he’d been a little gung ho in his use of the whip for a first attempt at horse riding.

  Guru

  teacher (Sanskrit)

  Stemming from the Sanskrit root “gru,” which means “heavy” or “weighty,” this word for teacher has its origins in Hinduism. Its connection with spiritual wisdom ensured its passage into English through the journeys of self-discovery made on the 1960s hippie trail. In the more materialistic West, its meaning expanded to include authorities on anything from footwear to designer wallpaper, and thanks to large numbers of self-styled “gurus” with dubious qualifications, it now carries with it the faint whiff of fakery.

  Sorry, darling, I can’t do tonight. I’ve got an appointment with my waxing guru that we both know I can’t afford to miss.

  H

  Habeas corpus

  you have the
body (Latin)

  A “habeas corpus” (short for “habeas corpus ad subjciendum”—“may you have the person subjected [to interrogation]”) is a writ that commands a prison to bring an inmate to court so that a judge can ascertain whether he has been imprisoned lawfully or whether he should be released. Prisoners who believe they have been wrongfully detained file the writ, which must prove that the court that sentenced the prisoner made a legal or factual error if it is to be successful. The phrase stems from the medieval Latin used in the original writ, and the right of habeas corpus was later enshrined in the Habeas Corpus Act passed by Parliament in 1679—and in the U.S. Constitution.