Etymology
~ the branch of linguistics that studies the origin of words. The Eng.lang.—unique
Vocabulary
Native w-s Borrowings
25-30% 70%
W-s of native origin w. Inherited From Indo-European parent language. A native w-d—a w-d which belongs to the original English stock, as known from the earliest available manuscripts of the OE period. The native w-s are subdivided by diachronic linguists into : a) those of the I-E stock (having cognates in the vocabularies of different I-E languages) & b) those of Common Germanic origin (having cognates in Germ., Goth., Swed., Norw., Iceland., Dutch, but not in Fr., Rus., Lat.).
I-E element—the oldest layer—falls into semantic groups:
a) terms of kinship: father, mother, son, daughter, sister, brother
cousin, aunt, uncle — French
b) elements of nature: sun, star, stone, hill, moon, wind, water, tree, wood;
c) animals: cat, wolf, mouse, crow, bull, cow, goose, fish;
d) parts of human body: heart, arm, ear, back, foot, nose, lip, knee, tongue;
e) basic verbs: do, eat, sleep, go, come, sit, stand, bear, know;
f) basic physical properties & colours: hard, light, quick, thin, thick, slow, cold, white, red;
g) auxilary, modal verbs: can, must, may, shall, will;
h) pronouns: personal (they—Scand.), demonstrative;
i) numerals: 1-100 (except 9)
W-s ~ belong to Germ. word-stock — more numerous.
nouns: summer, winter, spring (autumn—Fr.), storm, rain, ice, ground, bridge, house, room, coal, iron, lead, hat, shirt, shoe, evil, hope, life, need, rest, ship, sea, cheek, hand, cloth, chicken, bone;
verbs: hear, forget, follow, live, make, send, sing, shake, burn, bake, keep, meet, rise, learn, buy, drive, see;
adjectives: dead, deaf, dear, deep, heavy, sharp, soft, broad;
pronouns: all, each
I-E w-d-stock Com. Germ. w-d-stock
son father hand
Sohn - Germ. Pater - Gr. Hand - Germ.
sunus - Goth. Padre - Sp. handus - Goth.
Sunr - Dutch Pater - Lat. hond - Iceland. [u:]
Son - Swed. Pare - Fr. hand - Danish
Sūnus - Lithun. Vater - G. hand - Sw.
no Gr., Lat. fadar - Goth.
Vader - Dutch
Features characteristic of native w-s :
1) comparatively simple morphol. str.;
2) stability;
3) high frequency value;
4) plurality of meanings;
5) a great role in w-d-formation;
6) combinative power in Phraseology
wood — (5): wooded, wooden, woodwork, woodcraft, woodcutter
10 meanings (I.R.Galperin)
heel — пятка, каблук, шпора, остаток ч-л.
(6): heel over head, to cool one’s heel, to turn to one’s heels
watch — (6): to watch one’s step, to keep watch, watchful as a hawk
(1): наблюдать, следить, быть осторожным, дежурить, караулить охранять, выжидать
finger — палец, стрелка (часов), указатель (на шкале)
(6): not to move a finger, with a wet finger, to have a finger in smth. Native w-s denote vitally important things, objects, actions. They live for centuries. In the course of time nat.w-s fall out of the voc-ry & are substituted for borrowed w-s:
niman —OE (брать) Sc. take replaced OE→take
OE steorfan (sterben MnG) was replaced by Sc. die
now: “starve” has changed its meaning
OE heofon (небо) w. Replaced by Sc. sky
“heaven” has narrowed its meaning.
Borrowings
The part played by borrowings in the voc-ry of a lang-ge depends upon the history of each given lang-ge, being conditioned by direct linguistic contacts & political, economic & cultural relationships between nations. Their source, their scope & etymology depend on the specific conditions of the E. l-e development: the Roman invasion, the introduction of Christianity, the Danish & Norman conquests, the British colonial expansion, technical revolution, I, II World Wars, rapid industrialization.
The name “Britain” < Gr., Lat., but probably it stemmed from Celtic. The early inhabitants of the Br. Isles were numerous Germ. tribes (barbarians), ~ came from Europe in I c.B.C. Barbarians—primitive cattle-breeders, knew almost nothing about land cultivation. Their tribal lang-es which contained only I-E & Germ. elements gained a considerable № of new Latin w-s, taken from Romans (contacts between Romans & Germ tribes). Germ. tribes learned how to make cheese, butter, how to grow fruits & vegetables: cherry, pear, plum, pea, beet, pepper, plant + cup, mill, wine, port—all these w-s became the earliest group of borrowings in the future English lang., ~ was much later built on the basis of the Germ. tribal lang-es.
5c.A.D.[΄ænəu΄dominai]—Germ. tribes (the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes; England<Angles—страна англов) migrated to the Brit. Isles, where they were confronted by the Celts, the original inhabitants of the Isles. Through their numerous contacts with the defeated Celts, the conquerors learned & assimilated a № of Celtic w-s (MdE: bald, down, glen, druid, bard, cradle). Especially numerous among the Celtic bor-s—place names, names of rivers, hills: Avon, Dover, Exe, Esk, Usk, Ux originate from Celtic w-s meaning “river”, “water”. Thus, the THAMES is a Celtic river name; LONDON < Celt. Llyn (another Celt. W-d for “river”) + dun (“fortified hill”)—“fortress on the hill over the river”.
7 c.A.D.— christianization of England—a new period of Latin borrowings—not from spoken Latin, but church Latin: mostly indicated persons, objects, ideas associated with church & religious rituals : priest, monk, nun, candle, abbot, altar angel, deacon, organ, pope, psalm. CHURCH & BISHOP were borrowed earlier; SCHOOL < Lat. schola <Gr. origin.
The end of the 8 c.- the mid. of the 10 c. A.D.—Scandinavian invasions.
1066—the last successful invasion took place—Duke William of Normandy (William the Conqueror) defeated the English at the battle of Hastings. At that time there were 3 languages on the territory of England: Latin (churches, universities, schools), Norman French (the nobility), Anglo-Saxon (common people).
A-S Fr. (everything ~ is pleasant & exquisite)
cow - beef
sheep - mutton
swine - pork
calf - veal
till the 14 c.—French—state lang-e.
the Renaissance Period—the development in science, art, culture, revival of interest in the ancient civilization of Greece & Rome & their lang-s → Lat. & Greek bor-s.
Colonial expantion → oriental w-s: Arabic, Indian. Arabic bor-s w. First translated into Latin.
German & Russian contribution to the voc-ry is very modest. Reasons: military policy of Germany & post-October Soviet government with its communist influence. Perestroyka has raised interest in Russia → Russian w-s w. involved. The first bor-ed w-s from Russia (under Ivan the Terrible): honey, linen, timber, lard, sable.
So, the etymological structure of English voc-ry m.b. introduced as:
The Native element The Borrowed element
I. Indo-European element I. Celtic (5-6 c. A.D.)
II. Germanic element II. Latin (1c.B.C.; 7c.A.D.; the Renaissance per.)
III. English Proper element III. Scandinavian (8-11c.A.D.)
IV. French (Norman-11-13c.A.D.
Parisian-Renaissance)
V. Greek (Renaissance)
VI. Italian (Renaissance & later)
VII. Spanish (Ren-ce & later)
VIII. German
IX. Oriental
X. Russian
It’s necessary to distinguish between “source of bor-ng” & “origin of bor-ng”. “Source ofbor-ng”—the lang-ge, from ~ the loan w-d w. taken into English. “Origin of bor-ng”—the lang-ge, to ~ the w-d m.b. traced
Paper < Fr. papier < Lat. papyrus < Gr. papyros; table < Fr. la table < Lat. tabula
s/b o/b
Translation loans—w-s & expressions formed from the material already existing in the British lang-ge, but according to patterns taken from another lang-ge, by way of literal morpheme-for-morpheme translation.
wall newspaper — Rus. стенная газета
chain-smoker — Germ. Kettenraucher
homesick — Germ. Heimweh
masterpiece — Germ. Meisterstüc
populist — R. народник
by heart — Fr. par coer
goes without saying — Fr. cela va sans dire
a slip of the tongue — Lat. Lapsus Lingue
Semantic loan—the development in an English w-d of a new meaning due to the influence of a related w-d in another lang-ge.
pioneer—Eng. “explorer”, “one who is among the first in new fields of activity”—under the influence of the Rus. W-d “пионер” began to mean “a member of the Young pioneers’ Organization
dream—originally: “joy & music”—the influence of Germ. “draum”(мечта) → has taken its modern meaning (cf. Rus. “дрёма”)
bloom—originally: “metal”—the influence of Germ. “blōm”(a blossom, flower) → цветущая часть растения, цвет, цветение.
bread—OE”piece”—by association with Sc. “braud” it has taken its modern meaning.
A loan w-d / bor-ng — a w-d taken from another lang-ge & modified in phonemic shape, spelling, paradigm or meaning according to the standards of the Eng. lang-ge.
I. Phonetic assimilation—substitution of native sounds for foreign ones (unknown, strange for the English ear)—has the lasting nature.
The Norman French has for a long time been fully adapted to the phonetic system of E.: table, plate, courage, chivalry. Some of the later Parisian bor-ngs still sound surprisingly French: regime, valise, matinee, cafe, ballet—phon. assim. isn’t completed. The long [e], [ε] in the end of w-s → [ei]; transfer of the stress to the 1st syllable: honour, reason.
II. Grammatical ass-n—a w-d taken from another lang-ge loses its previous grammatic. Categories & paradigms & gets new ones in accordance with grammatic norms of the target lang-ge.
Rus. “спутник”: 6 cases → E. Sg.sputnic, sputnic’s; Pl.sputnics, sputnics’
2 forms of plurality: vacuum—vacua, vacuums
virtuoso (It.)—virtuosi, virtuosos
III. Semantic ass-n—adjustment to the system of meanings of the voc-ry.
A loan w-d never brings into the receiving lang-ge the whole of its semantic structure if it is polysemantic in the original lang-e. The bor-ed variants are for the most part changed & specialized in the new system.
sport < Ofr (pleasure, entertainments in general) → ME in this character, but gradually acquired the additional mean. Of outdoor games & exercises, & in this new mean. w. bor-ed into many European lang-s & became international.
сargo < Sp. (highly polysemantic) > 1 mean. (груз на корабле)
Specialization is primarily due to the fact that the receiving system has at its disposal w-s for the older notions, & it is only the new notion that needs a new name:
hangar (постройка для самолётов) < Fr. (укрытие)
revue (вид театрального развлечения) < Fr. (обзор, обозрение)
According to the degree of assimilation we distinguish:
1) completely assimilated loan w-s
2) partially assimilated loan w-s
3) non-assimilated (barbarisms)
(1) follow all morphological, phonetical, orthographical standards of English. Their phonetical characteristics don’t reveal their nature: sport & start—by the sound you can’t say what is native & what is bor-ed—phonetically indistinguished.
~older bor-ngs : the earliest Lat. bor-s, Scandinavian, French.
~ very frequent, stylistically neutral, may occur as dominant w-s in synonymic groups; take an active part in w-d-formation; are morphologically analysable, therefore they supply the E. voc-ry both with free forms & bound forms, as affixes are easily separated in series of loan w-s that contain them; e.g., Fr. –age, -ance, -ess, -fy, -ment provide material to produce hybrids: shortage, goddess, speechify & etc.
Free forms + native aff : painful, painfully, pained, painless
pain < Fr. peine < Lat. poena < Gr. poine (penalty)
The № of completely ass-ed w-s is many times greater than the № of partially ass-ed.
(2) aren’t ass-ed:
a) semantically—denote objects, notions specific to the country from ~ they are taken : sari, sombrero, shah, rajah, sheik, bei, toreador, sherbet (arab.), pelmeni, valenki, raviolli, domino.
b) grammatically—retain their original grammatical forms : phenomenon – phenomena, bacillus – bacilli, crisis – crises, sanatorium – sanatoria.
c) phonetically—w. bor-ed after the 17th c. : police, machine, cartoon—the stress—on
bourgeois, protege, boulevard, prestige, regime—the stress + [ ] & [wa:]
d) graphically—are mainly of the French origin : restaurant, corps, bouquet, ballet, cliche.
(3) aren’t ass-ed in any way & possess the correspondent Eng. equivalents : ciao, addio, Führer, Wehrmacht, bons vivant [bo:η vivaη] – прожигатель жизни, Lat.Vita brevis est
unass-ed french w-s are called gallicisms. Their № in E. is approximately 2239, but every day new w-s enter the lang-e : Cherchez la femme, hors d’euvre [ֽo: ΄də:v], Ce la
- aren’t used by all the layers of population, but by press, journalists, high level society.
Reasons for borrowing the w-s:
1) historic development of peoples—the voc-ry system of each lang-e is particularly responsive to every change in the life of the speaking community;
2) to fill a gap in voc-ry—there were no w-s, denoting new objects, notions;
3) a new w-d represents the same concept in some new aspect, supplies a new shade of meaning or a different emotional colouring → enlarges groups of synonyms & enriches the expressive resources of the voc-ry: Lat. cordial + nat. friendly, Fr. desire + nat. wish, Lat. admire, Fr. adore + nat. like, love.
accidental bor-gs ≠ bor-ns that took root due to semantic adaptation (Fr. large)
Etymological doublets — 2/> w-s of the same lang-e, derived from the same basic w-d by different ways & differing to a certain degree in form , meaning & current usage.
discus (L.) gave rise to disc & dish, castella (L.)—castle & chateau(Fr.)[΄ ætəu]
sir (Fr.) > senior (L.) & sir (E.) OE hāl > whole & hale (hale & hearty)
raid & road shirt & skirt screech & shriek scabby & shabby
etymological triplets: hospital-hostel-hotel
International w-s—w-s of identical origin that occur in several lang-es as a result of simultaneous or successive bor-gs from one ultimate source. The w-d is bor-ed by several lang-es, not by one. These w-s are especially important in terminology of politics (persona non grata), art (sonata), industry, science (amper, Volt); comparatively new w-s : computer, genetic code, algorythm, mikrofield, byonics, antenna. There are some international w-s long ago firmly established in the lang-e : time, minute, second, opera, professor, club, sport, bar, jazz, cowboy.
Russian w-s : tsar, tsarina, intelligentsia, decembrist, Kremlin, lunochod, steppe, sambo, rouble, perestroyka, glasnost, soviet.
International w-s—the latest products of civilization.