Vocabulary and Borrowed Words
Tagalog vocabulary is composed mostly of words of native Austronesian origin. However it has significant Spanish loanwords. Spanish is the language that has bequeathed the most loan words to Tagalog. According to linguists, Spanish (5,000) has even surpassed Malay (3,500) in terms of loan words borrowed. About 40% of everyday (informal) Tagalog conversation is practically made up of Spanish loanwords.
Tagalog also includes loanwords from Indian (Sanskrit), Chinese (Hokkien), Japanese, Arabic, Mexican (Nahuatl) and English. Tagalog has also been significantly influenced by other Austronesian languages of the Philippines as well as Indonesia and Malaysia. In pre-hispanic times, Trade Malay was widely known and spoken throughout Southeast Asia.
Due to trade with Mexico via the Manila galleon from the 16th to the 19th centuries, many words from Nahuatl, a language spoken by Native Americans in Mexico, were introduced to Tagalog.
English has borrowed some words from Tagalog, such as abaca, barong, balisong, boondocks, jeepney, Manila hemp, pancit, ylang-ylang, and yaya, although the vast majority of these borrowed words are only used in the Philippines as part of the vocabularies of Philippine English.
| Example | Definition |
|---|---|
| boondocks | meaning "rural" or "back country," was imported by American soldiers stationed in the Philippines following the Spanish American War as a mispronounced version of the Tagalog bundok, which means "mountain." |
| cogon | a type of grass, used for thatching. This word came from the Tagalog word kugon (a species of tall grass). |
| ylang-ylang | a type of flower known for its fragrance. |
| Abaca | a type of hemp fiber made from a plant in the banana family, from abaká. |
| Manila hemp | a light brown cardboard material used for folders and paper usually made from abaca hemp. |
| Capiz | also known as window oyster, is used to make windows. |
Tagalog has contributed several words to Philippine Spanish, like barangay (from balan͠gay, meaning barrio), the abacá, cogon, palay, dalaga etc.
Read more about this topic: Tagalog Language
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