Incorporating articles into nouns when borrowing

[pne]

Amy's word for "sock" is, roughly, "asha"—which, I think, comes from "a sock".

Reminds me a bit of the way some pidgins incorporate what used to be a definite article or an adjective right into the noun when borrowing, e.g. lanmè < la mer or Bondyé < bon Dieu (Haitian Creole < French).

A similar effect involving the boundary between words is seen in the English words "adder" (the snake), which is now "an adder" but used to be "a nadder" (compare German "(Ringel)natter").

Comments

[remi-jakovlevic.livejournal.com]

some cases of fusion/incorporation (≠ an adder< a nadder):
Russian лафет < germ. Lafette (or swed. lavett) < French l' affût ("gun carriage")
French lierre < old fr. le iere ("ivy")

Maltese

[pne.livejournal.com]

Those examples remind of Maltese: ilma "water" < Arabic al-ma' "water (def.)", or the other way around, l-ittra "the letter" > Sicilian littra (standard Italian lettera, I believe).

Re: Maltese

[emilyzilch.livejournal.com]

Also happened in Sudanese Arabic - al-alme "water".

[mendel.livejournal.com]

Also "a napron" from MFr naperon -> "an apron", sometime in the 16th c.

[node-ue.livejournal.com]

"zwaso" -> bird (vini pou franse "[le]s oiseaux" ki siyifi "zwaso yo")
"ozetazini" -> united states (vini pou franse "aux etats-unis" ki siyifi "a zetazini")

[pne.livejournal.com]

Mèsi!

[ubykhlives.livejournal.com]

A similar effect involving the boundary between words is seen in the English words "adder" (the snake), which is now "an adder" but used to be "a nadder" (compare German "(Ringel)natter").

Interesting! (I should have known that...)

The opposite effect has already happened with "newt" (from "an ewt", ultimately cognate with "eft", which is still found occasionally in modern English), and is currently in the process of happening with the ghastly phenomenon found with the word "another" (viz. "that's a whole nother story").

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Reminds me a bit of the way some pidgins incorporate what used to be a definite article or an adjective right into the noun when borrowing, e.g. lanmè < la mer or Bondyé < bon Dieu (Haitian Creole < French).

Herrgott allein weisst warum.

[pleiades829.livejournal.com]

Interesting stuff. I can't wait until my girls actually start speaking so I can do the same kind of linguistic analysis.

[tisoi.livejournal.com]

Some Tagalog-speakers say lamesa (Spanish la mesa; the table) while others simply say mesa. Most people use the former (including me), from my experience.