pedz@lemmy.ca 4 weeks ago
This is interesting as a language quirk. Alien can just mean “different” in English. It doesn’t need to come from space. But English also has extraterrestrial.
As a non native speaker, I had to pause and wonder a bit about “alien”.
LodeMike@lemmy.today 4 weeks ago
Every language is like this. Any given word can mean multiple things.
pedz@lemmy.ca 4 weeks ago
AFAIK there’s no equivalent word for alien in French. The concept is different. Everything coming from space is automatically extraterrestrial. If it’s coming from earth, it’s just a strange/different species or a different form of life. The vagueness of alien doesn’t translate well in French, unless we use the word ‘alien’.
Malgas@beehaw.org 4 weeks ago
Which is ironic, because while the modern French word was borrowed from English, the English word is from Old French.