I was reading in Spanish today and came across the word "lustro." Looking it up in a Spanish to English dictionary, the definition was given as "lustrum; five-year period." I had never in my life heard the word "lustrum" in English, so now I have learned two new words: the Spanish one and the English one. Does this ever happen to you guys?
I can't say I have had this happen, probably because my vocabulary in my L2s is insufficient to find them. I suspect this mainly will happen with very low frequency vocabulary of a foreign derivation, especially from Greek and Latin. Interestingly, one of the two literary excerpts in English in the Wiktionary entry for lustrum is from Edgar Allen Poe.
Just came across one yesterday in Russian, фиакр whose English version is fiacre (originally from the French), not a word I was at all familiar with. fiacre, French coach for hire, named for the Hôtel Saint-Fiacre, in Paris, where it was introduced in the 1640s. The first fiacres were boxlike, four-wheeled, open, hooded vehicles that were drawn by three horses and were designed to navigate the muddy Parisian streets. In 1794 about 800 were in use in Paris, and by the 19th century there were more than 1,500. The 19th-century fiacre resembled the carriages for hire used in England and the United States that were known as hackneys. (from Encylopaedia Britannica)
Way too often. Usually, I'm looking up a work in google translate, and the english definition will be a single word, of which I don't know. Also, often there will be a word that I recognize, and would understand if it was in context, but can't figure out isolated. For example, I was reacquainted with "acquiesce" the other day. I know, my english vocab sucks.
Today I learned that a "raster" is one of the horizontal and vertical "lines" on old-style television sets (the French word is "une trame"). I had heard of "raster graphics" (in contrast to "vector graphics") before, but was unaware that "raster" had a meaning as a noun, too.
shaitan - exceptionally ugly creatures, either male or female, capable of assuming human form clochard - a french male homeless person living in the streets, only taking care to get enough money for food & vast quantities of cheap wine from begging tarry - to remain or stay, as in a place
