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Video: How the names of trademarks became common nouns in Russian: Scuba, thermos, etc
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Linguists believe that a new word can be considered "stuck" in any language if derivatives are created from it. From this point of view, modern “xerl” or even “xeranut” pearls, which can be heard in any office, make the word derived from the name of the company “Xerox Corporation” a full-fledged member of the Russian language. In fact, it is more correct to call copiers "copiers", but after a couple of decades, perhaps, they will forget about it, just like about the phrase "vacuum container", because to say "thermos" is much more convenient and faster.
Scuba
In America, self-contained breathing apparatus for diving are called "scuba" - from the English abbreviation for the phrase "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus". And the name of the trade mark "Aqua Lung", which produces these very devices, was once invented and patented by Jacques Yves Cousteau. It comes from Latin-English roots. aqua - "water" and lung - "light". Today the right to manufacture them has been bought out by the American company "Aqua Lung International", and the word "scuba" is spread only in the territory of the former USSR and, possibly, migrates around the world together with our compatriots.
Aspirin and heroin
Both names were registered trademarks and belonged to the German pharmaceutical company Bayer. Two such different medicines were registered at the end of the 19th century and were sold in pharmacies. Acetylsalicylic acid - as an antipyretic and pain reliever, and diacetyl morphine was considered an excellent soothing for coughs. The name "heroin", by the way, is derived from the German heroisch - "heroic", "impressive in its power." Only in 1924, when it was proved that the side effect of the "sedative" is the strongest addiction, the drug was banned in many countries. Bayer lost the right to exclusively manufacture aspirin after the First World War, but in some languages the word stuck with acetylsalicylic acid tablets.
Gramophone
American Emil Berliner in 1887 patented a revolutionary invention for its time - new carriers of audio information on flat discs and a device for reading them - "Gramophone". The brand really made a splash in the market, as it far exceeded the previous version - wax discs and a phonograph.
Voice recorder and tape recorder
Today, the Dictaphone brand is officially recognized in the United States as one of the oldest, because a trading company with this name was created back in 1907 and, having survived several mergers, has successfully survived to this day. The devices that it produces have already been modified several times, however, their main function has not changed for more than a hundred years. But the name of the first tape recorder, developed in the 1930s by the engineers of the German company AEG, became a household name much later.
Jacuzzi
The Jacuzzi company was founded in 1915 and initially was engaged in the production of … aircraft. Seven brothers created the trademark. Immigrants from Italy gave their joint brainchild their surname Dzhakutsi. However, the business ended in failure - one of the planes crashed, and then the company switched to the production of hydraulic pumps. A few years later, Candido Jacuzzi came up with attaching their products to the bathtub for a hydromassage effect, when his five-year-old son needed constant procedures, because the boy suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. These are the winding paths that the word now denotes a bubble bath.
Jeep
The origin story of this word is not very clear. It is believed to have existed in English when Fiat Chrysler Automobiles decided to take it as the name for its new brand cars. However, now it is definitely entrenched in SUVs that are "not afraid of dirt." One of the versions of the appearance of this word even goes back to animation; in the 30s, the drawn animal Eugene Jeep was popular in America, after which the soldiers allegedly called cars that could go everywhere.
Sneakers
The American company U. S. Rubber back in 1916. At the same time, the Keds trademark was registered. Today this brand belongs to the Stride Rite Corporation, but the word has long become a household name. Interestingly, in Poland any sneakers are usually called "adidas", so similar incidents happen in many languages.
Thermos
A vessel capable of storing liquids and gases with minimal exchange of heat with the external environment was invented by the English scientist Sir James Dewar in 1892. In memory of him, by the way, in laboratories these devices are still called "Dewar vessels". But among the people another name has taken root, formed from the trademark of the German company Thermos GmbH. In principle, this is understandable, because it was the first to master the industrial production of vacuum containers for mass use back in 1904, and for some time it had no competitors in this market.
In our language there are quite a few words that "in a past life" were something else, for example, the names of famous personalities: Lovelace, Maecenas, Silhouette and other surnames of famous people who have lost the capital letter, becoming common nouns.
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