Learn English – Are there any examples of cross-language redundancy (e.g. “kielbasa sausage”)

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I am amused by expressions that combine the same word in two different languages, for example:

  • Kielbasa sausage: kielbasa is Polish for sausage.
  • Chorizo sausage: chorizo is Spanish for sausage.
  • Queso cheese: queso is Spanish for cheese.
  • Carne asada steak: carne asada is Spanish for grilled meat, therefore you could just say grilled steak instead.

This phenomenon is not limited to English. In Spanish you often find not only redundancy but also contradiction:

  • bluyín: transliteration of blue jeans. A pair of blue jeans is called un bluyín.

    • bluyín azul: blue blue jeans .
    • bluyín negro: black blue jeans (black jeans).
    • bluyín blanco: white blue jeans (white jeans).

  • bistec: transliteration of beef steak.

    • bistec de res: beef beef steak.
    • bistec de cerdo: pork beef steak (pork chop).
    • and my favorite, bistec de pollo: chicken beef steak.

Do you have any other examples that include at least one English word?

Best Answer

Such redundancy is rather common in place names, especially when the English usage takes the name from another language and adds its own word for the feature ("river", "hill", "mountain", etc.) See this list or this long list of tautological place names, including, e.g.

  • Paraguay River ("Great River River")
  • River Avon / River Tyne ("River River")
  • Dal Lake / Lake Chad / Lake Tahoe ("Lake Lake")
  • Bredon Hill ("Hill Hill Hill")
  • Summit Peak / Pinnacle Peak (several places with these names)
  • Torpenhow Hill (which is fictional, though Torpenhow exists, and while not exactly meaning "Hill Hill Hill", does mean "Head-peak hillock" or "rising-peak hill" or similar)
  • Faroe Island ("Sheep island island")
  • La Brea Tar Pits ("The Tar Tar Pits")
  • Jiayuguan Pass ("Jiayu Pass Pass")
  • Milky Way Galaxy ("Milky Way Milky Way" — this is actually a fault with the word "Galaxy"!)
  • Timor Leste / East Timor ("East East", but this is actually the eastern half of the easternmost island there).

(I've only picked some representative examples; it's a very long list.)

So it would be more interesting to look for examples that aren't place names.

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