Includes index.

The American poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson described the English language as "the sea which receives tributaries from every region under heaven." With more than 4,000 entries, this dictionary explains the meanings and origins of terms that have entered the English lexicon from foreign tongues. Drawn from the fields of language and literature, religion, law, politics and economics, music, entertainment, and cuisine, entries include The dictionary features entries adopted from countless languages, including French (mise-en-scene), German (Sturm und Drang), Latin (quo vadis), Arabic (mujahideen), Russian (glasnost) Chinese (tao), Greek (hoi polloi) Turkish (kismet), Italian (lingua franca), and many others. Entertaining and authoritative, The Facts On File Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases is a valuable resource for students, writers, and language lovers alike.