A Matching Quiz on Loanwords

Poet Carl Sandburg once observed that the "English language hasn't got where it is by being pure." Over the past 1,500 years, our "magnificent bastard tongue" (to borrow John McWhorter's phrase) has picked up words from more than 300 other languages. Although most of our loanwords come from Greek and Latin (often by way of other European languages, especially French), English has enriched its word-hoard without undue regard for national origin.

Here's a quiz to test your familiarity with the diverse sources of loanwords. Match the 20 words listed below with the languages they were borrowed from. (Cultural clues should make the task a bit easier.) You'll find the answers at the end of the quiz.

For the complete quiz, go to Something Borrowed: A Matching Quiz on Loanwords.