"Gadget" in your language?

[ancalimon]

In Turkish the word gadget is "köj" but it is no longer used at all. The last time I heard someone use it was by a very old nomad Türk (they are called yörük) to name those locks with a key shaped like a horse shoe. I asked what köc meant and he pointed at my eyebrows (which is Kaş in Turkish and sounds very similar to Köj and said "Köj means something which is useless alone but extremely useful when it's with something. Your eyebrows are useless alone but give character to your looks and express your emotions more than your words and actions.". Then I realised that eyebrows were human gadgets.

Today the word is used for the little part you use on a bow or gun to aim:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TYls9GOL...hCQ4TF8o/s1600/nisan_alma_gez_goz_arpacik.jpg

This is called GEZ.

We also have it as a reiterative in the form of "araç gereç" meaning "tools and gadgets"

 

[Awwal12]

The most common expression in the modern Russian language is гаджет (gádzhet) ['gadʑət], I believe.

 

[Penyafort]

Catalan:

giny [ʒiɲ] (or enginy [əɲʒíɲ]) < Latin (in)genium

You may hear gàdget used by some people in some contexts but it is regarded as an unrecognized anglicism. In such cases, it is pronounced ['gaʤət].

 

[Welsh_Sion]

Welsh

Do you mean gadget like 'a device' or another word for something you don't really know what it is?

Meaning 1
teclyn (n.m.) /'teklin/
dyfais (n.f.)( < Eng. 'device') /'dəvais/

Meaning 2
bechingalw (n.m.) (< beth ydych chi'n galw? 'what do you call ... ?') /beχin'galʊ/
pethma (n.m) ( < peth ma 'thing here') /'peθma/

 

[Red Arrow]

Dutch snufje = a small new (technological) thing

But een snufje/snuifje zout = a pinch of salt

Both words come from snuffen (to snuff) and snuiven (to sniff). -je is a diminutive suffix.

 

[apmoy70]

In Greek gadget is «μικροσυσκευή» [mi.krɔ.si.sceˈvi] (fem.) --> micro-device < oblique «μικρο-» [mi.krɔ-] as first member in compounds --> small, little < Classical first member in compounds «μῑκρο-» mīkrŏ- of adj. «μῑκρός» mīkrós + fem. «συσκευή» [si.sceˈvi] (fem.) --> device, appliance, apparatus < Classical fem. «συσκευή» sŭskeu̯ḗ --> equipment, weapon, armour, luɡɡaɡe < Classical compound; prefix and preposition «σύν» sún + neut. «σκεῦος» skeû̯ŏs --> vessel, device (if IE, isolated within Greek).

However, in every-day language we prefer the Eng. «γκάτζετ» [ˈɡa.ʣ͡et] (neut. indecl.)

 

[jazyk]

I've already read gadget in Portuguese, but I think more common words are engenhoca and aparelho.

 

[Olaszinhok]

In Italian we've got a very beautiful word aggeggio, but gadget is commonly used.

 

[gburtonio]

In Italian we've got a very beautiful word aggeggio, but gadget is commonly used.

My only experience of the word 'gadget' being used in Italian is for free publicity materials (what, at least in British English, we would typically call 'freebies'), e.g. branded pens, stickers etc. I guess a freebie like this could sometimes be a gadget (in its English sense), but whenever I've seen or been given an 'Italian' gadget, it's always just been something mundane like a pen. I wonder if this same semantic shift has happened when 'gadget' has been adopted as a loan word in other languages. In Catalan, Portuguese and Greek, what can 'gadget' (when the English word is used) be used to describe?

 

[jazyk]

It's referred only to electronic thingamajigs the few times I've read it in Portuguese. I've never heard it in speech, but I've been out of Brazil for quite some time now. I haven't heard or read it in Czech yet.

 

[apmoy70]

Well in Greek it's used for mostly small electronic devices, wearable accessories e.g. a smart light bulb is a «γκάτζετ», or a smartwatch

 

[Perseas]

However, in every-day language we prefer the Eng. «γκάτζετ» [ˈɡa.ʣ͡et] (neut. indecl.)

Hence the derivative "γκατζετάκιας". (The eager buyer of gadgets).

 

[Olaszinhok]

My only experience of the word 'gadget' being used in Italian is for free publicity materials (what, at least in British English, we would typically call 'freebies'), e.g. branded pens, stickers etc.

The word gadget can have two different meanings in Italian:
gadget in Vocabolario - Treccani

 

[Encolpius]

I would like to ask someone here what exactly a gadget is. I mean how important it is for a gadget to be useful. So is it just a device or a useful device?

 

[mannoushka]

A good old Persian term for a gadget is ‘abzaar’. There is also the neologism ‘afzaar-e’, a variation of the same, to refer either to electronic devices used along with a computer or, in a more general way, to any tool specifically designed and built for a particular purpose.
I must say, though the Persian gadget is not applicable to eyebrows, I can’t help finding the analogy delightful.

 

[AndrasBP]

In Hungarian, the word 'gadget' is not used at all and is largely unknown.
The most popular Hungarian word for a "small mechanical or electronic device" is kütyü /'kycy/.
Its origin is probably onomatopoeic, related to the verb 'ketyeg', describing the ticking sound of a clock or watch.

 

[ancalimon]

I forgot to add that it also could be related with:
gerek: the root for "need", "demand" "requirement"

Also the (probably Arabic) loanword in Turkish icat (invention) sounds very similar to gadget.

 

[Włoskipolak 72]

In polish we can use ''gadżet,'' or typically polish words''urządzenie '' , '' przyrząd '' ( small mechanical or electronic device )
,'' bajer '' ( luxury gadget ) , or ''drobiazg'' ( a small thing ).

 

[Włoskipolak 72]

In polish we can use ''gadżet,'' or typically polish words''urządzenie '' , '' przyrząd '' ( small mechanical or electronic device )
,'' bajer '' ( luxury gadget ) , or ''drobiazg'' ( a small thing ).

urządzenie (uʒɔnʣɛɲɛ) , przyrząd (pʃɨʒɔnt) , drobiazg (drɔbjask)

The Etymology of the word gadget
Although there are several theories about the etymology of the term gadget the most popular goes back to the years 1884-1885, when the French company that was responsible for the founding of the Statue of Liberty, “Gaget, Gauthier & Cia,” decided to sell miniature replicas of the monument to finance the project.

There is another theory that says, in the field of navigation, which ensures that it comes from the Francophone terms gâchette (a lock mechanism), or gagé ( for a tool). In any case, the term began to use and became popular in Anglo-Saxon countries in the 1980s.

 

[wildan1]

In any case, the term began to use and became popular in Anglo-Saxon countries in the 1980s.

I don't know what "Anglo-Saxon" country you refer to (that was a tribe on Great Britain from the 5th Century to the Middle Ages--there are extinct as a tribe--no living "Anglo-Saxons" anywhere today), but common use of gadget goes way back to earlier days than the 1980s, at least in the U.S.

While EN gadget is said to derive from the French gâchette, the English term became a popular loan word back into French -- « un gadget », starting in the 1950s-1960s, to designate a trinket or superfluous feature on a machine, automobile or computer (or computer program).

GADGET n. m. -- v. 1946 ; mot ang. arg. mar. (1866 ; p.-ê. du fr. gâchette appliqué à des mécanismes, ou fr. dial. gagée
« outil ». Dispositif, objet amusant et nouveau, parfois dénué d'utilité --> bidule, bricole, truc.

(Le Petit Robert, éd. 2000).

 

[Włoskipolak 72]

I don't know what "Anglo-Saxon" country you refer to (that was a tribe on Great Britain from the 5th Century to the Middle Ages--there are extinct as a tribe--no living "Anglo-Saxons" anywhere today), but common use of gadget goes way back to earlier days than the 1980s, at least in the U.S.

While EN gadget is said to derive from the French gâchette, the English term became a popular loan word back into French -- « un gadget », starting in the 1950s-1960s, to designate a trinket or superfluous feature on a machine, automobile or computer (or computer program).

(Le Petit Robert, éd. 2000).

Probably the word gadget became more '' popular '' in the 1980s , as it was before in some countries , areas ?