The Japanese contributions to the English language: An historical dictionary By Garland Cannon and Nicholas Warren (review)

202 LANGUAGE, VOLUME 75, NUMBER 1 (1999) lary of English. Only commonly known words, such as kimono, karate, and geisha went unexplained and unglossed. In fact, only 38 words could be found that were unglossed in their examples and for which one could make the claim that they are well accepted in the English word stock. These range from black belt, bullet train, gingko tree, and judo, to kudzu, ninja, tsunami, and Zen. E has performed a worthwhile service for lexicographers and scholars interested in the growth of the English vocabulary. Although the usage of the words in the examples, which are typically glossed, casts doubt on the true number of loans in the total of 778 loanwords, it is valuable for researchers of the language to have this collection of candidates for inclusion in the word stock of English. [Don R. McCreary, University of Georgia.] The Japanese contributions to the English language: An historical dictionary . By Garland Cannon and Nicholas Warren. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1996. Pp. 257. With this new dictionary, Cannon and Warren contribute an important new resource for understanding how Japanese has enriched the English word stock. The surprisingly sizable number of entries, 1,425, spanning 158 pages, is prefaced with an 89-page introduction and is followed by a substantial bibliography of 9 pages. The entries appear to be complete, with especially detailed sections on etymology which are attributed to W. The entries lack one typical dictionary feature, examples of usage from published fiction and nonfiction in English. In this historical dictionary, the definitions tend to be encyclopedic in nature; for example, 'hot tub' is defined and explained as follows: hot tub, n. (WlO 1975) Household [Poss. reborr . of (o) FURO as transi.; also poss. E compound < hot + tub, either independently or as observed in J. culture] In the U.S., a wooden tub, usu. big enough for several persons to socialize in, that is filled with hot water for recreation , often placed on a porch; a tub used for physical therapy (often with a whirlpool). —hot-tubber, -tubbing R [4] (124). The 'WlO' above refers to Webster's Tenth, and 'R', to Random House, the dictionary sources that attest to the loanword's inclusion in the English vocabulary . One may also note here that the etymology admits the possibility of the independence of this compound (rather than its borrowing), but it is included as an entry anyway since the idea of the hot tub is linked to Japan. This editorial decision is partly responsible for the larger than expected number of loanwords. A potentially useful feature of the entries is the 'degree of naturalization' (24), a number ranging from 1 to 4, seen above as '[4]' for 'hot tab', that denotes the degree of nativization of the word in the English word stock. For example, both bean curd and tofu are labeled 4, the most nativized, as are karate and black belt. Pachinko, the pinball game, and nori 'seaweed' are labeled 3, while ofuro, the Japanese bath, and ogoshi, a throwing technique in judo, are labeled 2. The least nativized words are labeled 1, represented by enka 'Japanese ballads' and Frozen Chosen, a military slang term for Korea. The reader may note that, aside from the most easily recognized terms such as karate andjudo, this four level index is subject to interpretation. The authors note that Occasional arbitrariness was inevitable' (24). The substantial introduction (89 pp.) assesses the contribution of Japanese to the English word stock in 40 semantic fields and suggests that most loans are primarily used as jargon by groups of specialists such as scientists. Many of the words are biological in nature, with dozens of names of flora and fauna. In fact, the botanical terms number 280 and the birds, fish, and other animal names number 97, equaling 377, or 26% of the total. The next two categones are martial arts words (85) and food (80), virtually all with limited usage in general English. For example, martial arts clubs in the U.S. use Japanese words in their practice routines (kata) for chopping (shuto) and throwing (ogoshi) techniques. The limited usage can also be illustrated with four food words listed as loanwords, gobo 'burdock', gohan 'boiled rice', mochi 'rice cake' , and gyoza, 'fried pork dumplings' . These words might be known to English speakers who specialize in Japanese cuisine but would be little known outside these circles. Acknowledging this constricted usage that relegates many of these loanwords to the status ofjargon, the authors state that Arabic and even Malay surpass Japanese in the number ofwords that have the highest degree of naturalization, not to mention the number of loanwords from German or the Romance languages . For high frequency words in English, the Japanese contribution is surely limited, numbering 'only from 3 to 1 5 loanwords' mentioned in history of the English language textbooks (88). However, the introduction concludes on a positive note with the information that, for loans since the 1980s, there has been a sizable influx, represented by Pac-Man, Nintendo, home video, VHS, and camcorder, to name just a few. Overall, this admirable etymological dictionary can fill a gap in lexicographers' knowledge about the considerable impact of the Japanese language upon English. [Don R. McCreary, University of Georgia.] ...