On several occasions, over the last month, I've heard people on court shows seeking redress for finances they've disbursed to assorted degenerates in their family. Many used a word in a way I would not consider normal.

John says he gave his brother Jim $400. "I borrowed Jim $400 and he didn't pay me back."

Obviously it is Jim who "borrowed" the money, which John "loaned" to him. I would have thought it an error except at least four different people used "borrow" that way on three separate occasions.

Is this just ignorance or a local usage?

It's quite a common confusion. It's certainly a non standard usage but I've heard it many times. I had a colleague who used borrow and lend the wrong way round consistently. I used to drive him as crazy with my replies as he drove me with his usage. Conversations of the form

"Can you borrow me a pencil?"
"Certainly, who shall I borrow it from?"

and

"Can I lend your pencil?"
"That depends who you want to lend it to."

were frequently exchanged in our corner of the office.

quote:

"Can you borrow me a pencil?"
"Certainly, who shall I borrow it from?"

and

"Can I lend your pencil?"
"That depends who you want to lend it to."

There's some crossed wiring in there.

It's a regional variant found in the Northern area west of the Great Lakes, according to MWDEU.

It's quite a common confusion.

Probably because the Old English verb from which borrow is descended, borgian meant both to borrow and to lend (A-H *bhergh- 'hide, protect' link whence also bury, bargain, Bosworth-Toller link).

This is a common enough linguistic occurrence in the semantics of verbs and nouns of reciprocity in Indo-European and other languages. Cf. Sanskrit gam 'to go', Latin venio 'come', Greek βαινω bainō 'come', English come, etc.

German "borgen" means both "borrow" and "lend".

quote:

Probably because the Old English verb from which borrow is descended, borgian meant both to borrow and to lend

That's interesting because those words are opposites really. I can't say I've heard "borrow" used to mean "lend." Perhaps it's a regionalism?

This sort of expression, with many verbs, is fairly common in the South and Southwest of the USA. "That'll learn you a thang or two about regionalisms!"

I've seen the expression used in several regional dialects in the UK, too.

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
That's interesting because those words are opposites really. I can't say I've heard "borrow" used to mean "lend." Perhaps it's a regionalism?

I don't hear it often, but I have heard it. Using borrow for lend was one of the usages my high school teachers used to rail against. A guy at work used to say things like "Borry me a dollar" all the time. He was from South Dakota.