reborrowings

Reborrowings are lexical items that have entered a language after having already been borrowed by that language from another source, undergoing a second loan into a different language. The phenomenon can involve a word moving through a chain of languages, with each step subject to phonological and semantic adaptation. Reborrowings thus reflect layered contact among speech communities and diffusion through intermediary languages.

Two common patterns are indirect reborrowing, where a term is borrowed into one language from an intermediary language rather than directly from the original source, and back-reborrowing, where the original source language re-imports a form from the language that borrowed it, sometimes with modifications. A third pattern is reborrowing within related languages, where a term spreads through geographic or social networks and is relexicalized in related varieties.

Phonology and morphology: reborrowed words typically adjust to the recipient language's sound system, and spelling or inflection may be adapted to fit local conventions. Semantics: the sense of a term may broaden, narrow, or shift in connotation during transmission. Sociolinguistic factors such as prestige, technology, and standardization influence whether a word is borrowed again and how it changes.

Distinguishing reborrowings from first loans or calques requires historical documentation of sources, dates, and sound correspondences across languages. Reborrowings illuminate paths of contact, trade routes, and cultural influence, and are a common feature of language contact networks in regions with long-standing linguistic interaction.