In a message dated 11/29/2005 3:29:47 PM Eastern Standard Time, toni.theilmeier@t-online.de writes:
<< > Sheldon Brown <CaptBike@sheldonbrown.com> wrote: > Aside from the oft-abused "gruppo" I'm at a loss... > Pedal is from Italy(it's from Latin)Much of the German,French,and > English language is from Italy. > sam lingo(that's lingo from the gaelic french word not the italian > one) > pleasanton tx
I´m sorry to have to contradict you there as far as the German language is concerned.
Many of the early words came from English as of course the English more or less invented the bike industry. Words were imported along with parts and bikes, only that my forbears then went ahead and translated those English words into German, sometimes rather crudely.
The same then was true for later additions needed because of technical developments, such as "Schaltwerk" or "Umwerfer". Quite clear that these are original German words, they are rear mech and front derailleur respectively. Then you have "Schutzblech", which literally means protection sheet metal, but don´t start thinking this has come off a tank, it´s our beloved mudguard, fender, garde-boue. Funnily enough, you can also use this expression for mudguards made from plastic. Prime example of a structurally protected expression.
The original word again came from England. In the 1890s people translated it into "Kotschützer", "Kot" then meaning just mud. In the meantime, "Kot" has changed its meaning, as words do, to designate "excrement". "Kotschützer" could have become a structurally protected expression, but it hasn´t, and so has just died out.
Regards, Toni Theilmeier, Belm, Germany. >>