It’s not so much unusual for neologisms that are adopted from another language to have a very concrete meaning, which is far more specific than the word as used in the original language. A more or less random example is the term factoring as used in business Dutch, with that very particular meaning explained in the Wikipedia article. Yet in English that term can also be used in reference to an algebraic operation. I just came upon an interesting and quite visual example in a much more common word: sombrero, the word for “hat” which in Spanish is just as its English equivalent quite generic.
[Read more…] about An interesting illustration of semantic specificity and cultural dominance