semantic fields?

Question

Can anyone give me a word in another language whose semantic field is different from its nearest English equivalent?

Answer 1

Possibly Freund / Feminisuto

This is a tricky area and there are several different ways you can approach it.

If you are looking for a word that is etymologically close to English with a different semantic field, a good example is the German word "Freund." Psycholinguists like this one a lot.

In German "Freund" can mean "friend" - a person someone likes, loves or trusts - just as in English, but it also has a broader meaning and includes people that would be covered by other words in English instead : "peer, associate, colleague, companion." etc.

However, English speakers are more touchy about this and feel that the word "friend" is too special to apply to someone who is say, just a a peer, colleague or associate at work.

If you are looking for a loanword from one language to another where the semantic meaning has changed, a good example is the Japanese word "feminisuto." It is a borrowing from the American English word "feminist" but in Japanese means "something of a lady's man" or a "man who is attendant to women" and inclined to offer a lady his seat on a bus. Please see weblink below at "feminisuto," near the bottom of the page:

http://home.bluemarble.net/~langmin/miniatures/loanpron.htm

Answer 2

I'm not sure that this is what you mean speaking about semantic fields, but here is a couple of examples from Russian.
If you are looking for the words with similar roots, there is "sympathetic". "Симпатичный" in Russian means "nice, pleasantly-looking".
One more example, a noun. In Russian the word "город" means either a city or a town. Historically, it means any settlement surrounded by walls.

Answer 3

"Examples include "chivalry" (literally "horsemanship," related to "cavalry"), "dharma" (literally, "support"), and "taboo" [literally "under prohibition" EVT]. "

"For example, the Arabic "islām" has a generic meaning of "peaceful submission, piety". The term as loaned into English, "Islam," has a meaning strictly confined to the religion (deen) initiated by Muhammad, replacing the now deprecated term Mohammedanism."

"Semantic field" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_field