Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R
It depends on the circumstances. If you're taking a word from a language that's not used a whole lot any more in everyday conversation (Latin, say) and indigenizing its meaning, that's one thing. But if you're taking a word from a language that's still widely in use in certain parts of the world, then how that word is used by speakers of that language is what's most important, imo. That's what I mean by "respecting how they choose to use it".
We English-speakers don't take "déjà vu" from the French and do whatever we want with it. That's because the French language is still alive and well and using "déjà vu" itself. So English-speakers understand "déjà vu" the same way the French do.
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Actually, there are many cases where the english meaning differs substantially from the original meaning of a loanword.
For instance, in English, Sombrero means a festive mexican wide brimmed hat, in Spanish it's just a generic hat. Entrée in English means a main course, in French, it's the course preceding the main course (IE appetizer). Baguette in English means a long french style bread, in French it also refers to any long thin object, for instance a magic wand is a "baguette magique". In english Portmanteau means two words being joined together. In French it's a type of coathanger. En English mousse is a type of foamy desert, in French, it's any type of foam.
It's not unusual for loanwords to differ from their original, or to refer to a specific subset when the original refered to a generic category.