The words ‘English’ and ‘England’ originated from the Anglo-Saxon peoples. The Anglo-Saxons were not a single individuals, and also may not have been even an official confederation originally. largely made up of Jutes from Jutland where they are still called Jutes in that area, the Engle or Angles from Angeln in Denmark, additionally called the ‘Anglii’ (Latin for Engle,) by the Roman historian Tacitus, and also the Seax, named after the formidable battling knife of the same name, that originated from Saxony Elbe-Weser region in Germany. Smaller sized number of Frisians originated from the little islands in the North Sea.There were likewise Jutes from the reduced Rhineland, and Swabians, Franks as well as Alamanni. Nonetheless the Anglian as well as Saxon tribes were the most famous. These tribes called the Anglii-Saxones by Paul The Deacon to cover a solitary ‘insular Germanic’ identity, or Saxons (after the leading people,) for short in even more modern-day times. They were an awesome set of three North Sea Germanic people. From this mix of people we get an advancement via words Engle, Angles, Anglii, – or Englisc, Anglisc which were apart of the Nerthus-Worshipping peoples discussed in Tacitus’s Germania. Anglii (the Latin version of the word Engle,) is the earliest documented type of the folk-name which generated ‘Eng’ in England. Nevertheless, the people called themselves Anglisc (Angle-ish, Anglian) as well as the national identity was thought under the heading Anglisc or Englisc, ‘English’. The people gave their name to their area, thus the Englisc offered their name to Englalond (England). Englisc was used from the time of Alfred the Great onwards to explain both in the sense of ‘Englishman’ and as indicating the English language. A mix of terms are made use of in these write-ups.
Dateline 449 to 937 AD
The duration of the intrusion of Britain by the English as well as the subsequent conquest of the land covers some 500 years. It stretches from 449 AD and the Coming of the English or ‘Adventus Saxonum,’ to the Battle of the Five Armies, or The Battle of Brunanburgh in 937 AD This battle was so crucial that it cause the Formation of England, a battle on such a range it was like something out of Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings.
Early English History Timeline 410 AD to 1066 AD.
This dateline is a recognisable duration to define the ‘Coming of the English’ and also their settlement in England. It specifies the English as an individuals.
Background and Evidence to the ‘Coming of the English’
We the English people did not enter into being here in Britain. Our tale and also our background has its beginnings throughout the North Sea, or just what is currently Southern Denmark, they, our kin (Cynn,) or Old English proceeded for numerous generations after the initial arrival of the lengthy cyul (keel,) boats carrying the first war bands of Anglo-Saxon raiders to this Island in the 3rd, 5th as well as 4th centuries AD, so presumably all-natural for us their kin to want to the North West Continent as our homeland, to the lands at the neck of the Jutland peninsula and also to the Frisian Islands, and also of Northern Germany as well as Holland– modern-day England is successfully ‘New England’, because that other, older ‘England’ throughout the North Sea was our earliest house. History of that Old England is understood from Denmark and consists of stories of King Offa I and also his wonderful sword Steadfast. Yet the sea was a natural ground for exploration too.
They were made use of to the North Sea and had ‘cyul’ (keel) boats similar to Viking long ships. They fished (hence ‘Angling,’) and also plundered along the North Sea as well as are stated to have actually reached Northern Spain. The individuals who occupied Britain were the Brythons.
Proof to Adventus Saxonem (or Saxonum).
The acquisition of land and, ultimately, political proficiency of lowland Britain by the Anglo-Saxons is a much-debated topic, and also the photo shared by such stirring terms, found even in quite sober jobs, as Anglo-Saxon invaders or ‘raids of the Saxon Pirates’ and the like, is of looting bands of savage cut-throats wandering aimlessly through the ungoverned as well as unguarded post-Roman countryside murdering and also looting at will. Tiring of this difficult life, they are then intended to work out down to ranch, transforming their swords right into ploughshares as well as elevating broods of warlike children whose fundamental hostility leads them to start the procedure all over again.
There are, however, no eyewitness accounts of an Anglo-Saxon (English,) intrusion of Britain, or a minimum of regarding I recognize of, from individuals that were there at the time. We have the writing of Gildas, that could have endured it, and the entrances in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles to pass, however these were created years after the occasions. The English Conquest is refuted or for by different individuals. Those against tend to suggest a ‘Celtic’ Britain. They recommend that the Anglo-Saxons mixed as well as melted right into the Celtic peoples. The word Celt was never ever made use of by any of this time as it was a word which was developeded in 1829, obtaining itself from a Greek word. It as well as its people are a misconception. The only people that were in any kind of way pertaining to Iberian Celts currently are the Basques from Southern France. The reality is I hesitate more ruthless. 90% of the Brython men ‘vanished’ at the assault of the Anglo-Saxons. A research study in May 2003 by UCL has actually revealed that throughout the duration of the Englisc invasions of Britain a 50-100 % adjustment in the DNA was observed. Significant archaeological adjustment happened. A distinct Germanic Y Chromosome was introduced. The people that occupied this Island at the time as well as who were the targets of the Anglo-Saxons were the Brythons Scots as well as Picts. The Anglo-Saxons called the Brythons the ‘Welsh’ which suggests ‘foreigner’ or ‘servant’ in Englisc. Some Romans would additionally have continued to be. They are hence referred to as the Romano-Brythons.
Yet as I have actually stated there is no eyewitness factual basis for such an image of defenceless Romanic-Brythons driven like sheep before the English Sea Wolves. There is strong proof of a complete and fast replacement of Brythonic (An ancient British language,) by the different Germanic tongues in the reduced lands, beginning in East Anglia and also a long the Thames valley and also spreading out rapidly North as well as West.
There is only one known account of the Englisc Conquest, from a native Romanic-Brython that may have endured that time Gildas (c. 494 or 516– c. 570) was a popular member of the Brython Christian church in Britain, whose prominent knowing and also literary style earned him the designation Gildas Sapiens (Gildas the Wise). He defines the response of the Romano-Brythons to the repeated strikes by Gildas describes the sacking of Southern Britain by the Anglo-Saxons thus:.
” For the fire … spread from sea to sea, fed by hands of our enemies in the eastern, and also did not stop, till, ruining the adjoining towns and lands, it reached the other side of the island, and dipped its vicious and red tongue in the western sea. In these attacks … all the columns were levelled with the ground by the regular strokes of the battering-ram, all the husbandmen transmitted, along with their bishops, people, as well as clergymans, whilst the sword shone, as well as the fires crackled around them on every side. Lamentable to see, in the midst of streets lay the tops of lofty towers, rolled to the ground, stones of high walls, holy changes, fragments of bodies, covered with livid embolisms of coagulated blood, appearing they had actually been squeezed with each other in a press; and also without any opportunity of being hidden, conserve in ruins of your homes, or in ravening stubborn bellies of wild beasts as well as birds; with reverence be it represented their blessed hearts, if, without a doubt, there were lots of discovered that were lugged, at that time, into the high heaven by the holy angels … some, as a result, of the miserable residue, being taken in the hills, were killed in varieties; others, constrained by starvation, came and also yielded themselves to be slaves for ever to their opponents, risking of being quickly killed, which really was the best favour that could be used them: other passed past the seas with loud lamentations instead of the voice of admonition … others, devoting the safeguard of their lives, which were in regular jeopardy, to the mountains, precipices, thickly wooded woodlands, and also to the rocks of the seas (albeit with trembling hearts), stayed still in their country.”.
It may seem troubling to some that their English roots lay in such violence as well as bloodshed. A conquered Britain. A Brythonic individuals reduced to a ‘miserable remnant’. But battle of this time as defended land not economic gain. The Anglo-Saxon people would have been utilized to eliminating adversaries even more countless and also harder compared to the Brythons. They would certainly have fought with extraordinary endurance as well as persistence and were some of the fastest marching warriors in background. They would certainly have been more identical than the varied Brythonic tribes and would have had the values and also tactics to match. The Anglo-Saxons can ‘punch over their weight.’ This kind of warfare is not to be praised, however it illustrates that ultimately, as these short articles will reveal, the land became England.
Why did the Anglo-Saxons Invade?
To comprehend this moment in our history, we need to understand the unclear state of the entire of what was the Western Roman Empire, or the collapse of that Western Empire. At the time, around the late 300’s to the early-mid 400’s AD, the political power of the Roman world had or was moving to the Eastern half of that Empire, as well as Constantinople, exactly what is now Istanbul in Turkey where most if not all the Administration as well as Military power of Rome had changed leaving the Western fifty percent more or less to take care of its self.
During this period of uncertainty and also chaos, entire individuals were on the action, with Eastern European peoples were moving west looking for even more land as well as putting down people as they went, thus the tribal peoples of Germania, in feedback moved further west coming into conflict with various other Germanic Tribes as well as those that were trying to maintain hold of there Roman way of life in Gaul (France,) attacked by the Franks a Germanic people and also into various other old Roman Provinces.
At this same time Northern individuals were moving right into the lands of the Angles, Saxons, Frisian’s and also into the Jutland Peninsula. These invasions were owned by the movement West of individuals from the Eastern European lands, which would in any conditions bring tribes as well as entire countries right into problem with each various other.
Therefore in the exact same period the Engle (Angles,) Seax (Saxons,) Frisian’s as well as Jutes were needing to try to find new lands, which caused little raids by war bands on the Eastern coast-line of the Province of Britannia which by the mid 400’s AD was abandoned by its Roman Mother. Such was the regularity of the attacks that a line of Saxon Shore Forts (litus Saxomincum,) was developed along the South shore of just what is currently England (and also the Northern shores of Gaul,) by the Romans in order to help resist these Germanic Sea Wolves. The fts were commanded by a Romano-Brython Count. With these North Sea people used to raiding Britain, and also under pressure themselves, it would just take a driver for the invasion to take place.
The Englisc Invade
The land was hence at risk to raids by the Scottish tribes and the Picts who were 2 various individuals from the North. When the Englisc came to Britain in the Fifth Century, they were no complete strangers to the Island. The Romans had utilized them as well as their military prowess as warriors as accessories or mercenaries if you like, which were paid and also geared up by the Roman Army during their service, after their service typically twenty 5 years, they would certainly be given land within the province they were released in and they would certainly settle as a homesteader, marrying and having youngsters, so we can state that Englisc blood has been below long before the Englisc War Bands came as invaders.
After the last departure of the Romans, the Englisc began getting here in a series of unconnected yet various expeditions. For centuries, land-hungry people had actually been constantly moving out of Scania (Scandinavia,) and Asia Westward throughout Europe; the Northern districts took the weight of the first assaults, but with the end of the fourth century it was Britain’s turn.
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There is a popular perception that words derived from Greek are long, exotic-sounding, and mostly only used in discussion of science and philosophy. It’s true that there are a lot of Greek words that fit this description. For instance, very few people would use words like otorhinolaryngology, homoousian, ataraxia, or peripeteia in casual conversation.
There are, however, a lot of really simple Greek words that people use nearly every day. Some of these words don’t sound Greek at all because they have passed through so many languages that they no longer bear any of the distinctive sounds or spellings that we normally associate with Greek words, but they are still of Greek origin.
The list
Here is a list of commonly-used words in English that don’t sound Greek, but are ultimately of Greek origin:
- The word box comes from Old English box, which comes from Late Latin buxis, which comes from earlier Latin pyxis, which comes from the Greek third-declension feminine noun πυξίς (pyxís), meaning “box.”
- The word butter comes from Old English butere, which comes from Proto-West Germanic *buterā, which comes from Latin butyrum, which comes from the Greek second-declension neuter noun βούτυρον (boútyron), a compound formed from the third-declension noun βοῦς (boûs), meaning “cow,” and the second-declension masculine noun τυρός (tyrós), meaning “cheese.” Thus, the word butter literally means “cow cheese.”
- The word chair comes from Middle English chaire, which comes from Old French chaiere, which comes from Latin cathedra, which comes from the Greek first-declension feminine noun καθέδρα (kathédra), meaning “chair.” (This same word is also the source of our word cathedral, which is a bit more obviously Greek.)
- The word church comes from the Old English word cirice, which comes from Proto-West Germanic *kirikā, which comes directly from the Greek adjective κυριακόν (kyriakón), meaning “belonging to the Lord.” This word, in turn, comes from the second-declension masculine noun κύριος (kýrios), meaning “Lord.”
ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of the Hagia Eirene, a Greek Orthodox church in İstanbul
- The word idea is derived from the Latin word idea, which is derived from the Greek first-declension feminine noun ἰδέα (idéa), meaning “form,” “shape,” “appearance,” “sort,” or “idea.” This word is, in turn, derived from the verb εἴδομαι (eídomai), meaning “to be seen” or “to appear.”
- The word idiot is derived from the Middle English word idiote, which is derived from the Old French word idiote, which is derived from the Latin word idiota, which is derived from the Greek first-declension masculine noun ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs), which originally meant “a private person” or “a person not currently involved in politics.” This word is, in turn, derived from the word ἴδιος (ídios), meaning “of one’s own.” (For more information about this one, you can read this article I originally published in November 2016.)
- The word lamp, comes from Middle English lampe, which comes from Old French lampe, which comes from the Latin word lampas, which comes from the Greek third-declension feminine noun λαμπάς (lampás), meaning “torch.”
ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of a lamp
- The word machine comes from the Latin word machina, which comes from the word μαχανά (machaná), which is the Doric Greek form of the first-declension feminine noun better known by its Attic Greek form μηχανή (mēchanḗ), meaning “machine,” “contrivance,” or “device.”
- The word olive comes from Old French olive, which comes from Latin oliva, which comes from Etruscan 𐌄𐌋𐌄𐌉𐌅𐌀 (eleiva), which comes from ἐλαίϝα (*elaíwa), the archaic form of the Greek first-declension feminine noun ἐλαία (elaía), meaning “olive.”
- The word paper comes from Anglo-Norman paper, which comes from Old French papier, which comes from Latin papyrus, which comes from the Greek second-declension masculine noun πάπυρος (pápyros), meaning “papyrus.”
- The word person comes from Anglo-Norman persoun, which comes from Latin persona, meaning “mask” or “character portrayed by an actor.” Persona is probably derived from the Etruscan word 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (phersu), meaning “mask.” 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 may, in turn, be derived from the Greek second-declension neuter noun πρόσωπον (prósōpon), meaning “face,” although this is uncertain.
ABOVE: Second-century AD Roman mosaic of tragic mask and a comedic mask. The word person comes from the Latin word persona, meaning “mask,” which may ultimately be derived from the Greek word πρόσωπον, meaning “face.”
- The word place comes from Old English plæce, which comes from Latin platea, which comes from πλατεῖα (plateîa), the nominative singular feminine form of the Greek adjective πλατύς (platýs), meaning “flat and wide.”
- The word plate comes from Old French plate, which comes from Medieval Latin plata, which comes from Vulgar Latin *platus, which comes from the Greek adjective πλατύς (platýs), meaning “flat and wide.”
- The word priest comes from Old English prēost, which comes Late Latin presbyter, which comes from the Koine Greek second-declension masculine noun πρεσβύτερος (presbýteros), which comes from Classical Attic Greek third-declension masculine noun πρέσβυς (présbys), meaning “old man.”
- The word problem is derived from Middle French probleme, which is derived from Latin problema, which is derived from the Greek third-declension neuter noun πρόβλημα (próblēma), meaning “hindrance,” “obstacle,” or “matter for discussion.”
- The word sack is derived from the Old English word sacc, which is derived from the Proto-West Germanic word *sakkuz, which is derived from the Latin word saccus, which is derived from the Greek second-declension masculine noun σάκκος (sákkos), which referred to a bag made of coarse cloth.
ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of a sack
- The word school comes from Middle English scole, which comes from Old English scōl, which comes from Latin schola, which comes from the Greek first-declension feminine noun σχολή (scholḗ). This word originally meant “leisure” or “free time,” but it later came to refer to things people did in their free time, especially discussing philosophy and listening to lectures.
- The word sock comes from the Old English word socc, which comes from the Latin word soccus, which comes from the Greek second-declension masculine noun σύκχος (sýkchos), which referred to a kind of buskin shoe worn by comic actors.
- The word squirrel comes from Anglo-Norman esquirel, which comes from Old French escurel, which comes from *scuriolus, which is the vulgar diminutive form of the Latin word sciurus, which comes from the Greek second-declension masculine noun σκίουρος (skíouros), a compound formed from the word σκιά (skiá), meaning “shadow,” and the word οὐρά (ourá), meaning “tail.” Thus, the word squirrel literally means “shadow tail.”
ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of a squirrel. The word squirrel doesn’t sound Greek at all, but it is of Greek origin.
Hello! I am an aspiring historian mainly interested in ancient Greek cultural and social history. Some of my main historical interests include ancient religion, mythology, and folklore; gender and sexuality; ethnicity; and interactions between Greek cultures and cultures they viewed as foreign. I graduated with high distinction from Indiana University Bloomington in May 2022 with a BA in history and classical studies (Ancient Greek and Latin languages), with departmental honors in history. I am currently a student in the MA program in Ancient Greek and Roman Studies at Brandeis University.
View all posts by Spencer McDaniel
Etymological Survey of the Modern English Language.
According to the origin, the word-stock may be subdivided into two main groups: one comprises the native elements; the other consists of the borrowed words.
Native Words
The term native denotes words which belong to the original English stock known from the earliest manuscripts of the Old English period. They are mostly words of Anglo-Saxon origin brought to the British Isles in the 5th century by Germanic tribes.
Linguists estimate the Anglo-Saxon stock of words as 25-30 per cent of the English vocabulary. The native word-stock includes the words of Indio-European origin and the words of Common Germanic origin. They belong to very important semantic groups.
The words of Indio-European origin (that is those having cognates in other I-E. languages) form the oldest layer. They fall into definite semantic groups:
terms of kinship: father, mother, son, daughter, brother;
words denoting the most important objects and phenomena of
nature: sun, moon, star, water, wood, hill, stone, tree;
names of animals and birds: bull, cat, crow, goose, wolf;
parts of human body: arm, eye, foot, heart;
the verbs: bear, come, sit, stand, etc;
the adjectives: hard, quick, slow, red, white.
Most numerals belong here.
The words of the Common Germanic stock, i.e. words having cognates in German, Norwegian, Dutch and other Germanic languages are more numerous. This part of the native vocabulary contains a great number of semantic groups. Examples:
the nouns are: summer, winter, storm, ice, rain, group, bridge,
house, shop, room, iron, lead, cloth, hat, shirt, shoe, care,
evil, hope, life, need, rest;
the verbs are: bake, burn, buy, drive hear, keep, learn, make, meet,
rise, see, send, shoot, etc;
the adjectives are: broad, dead, deaf, deep.
Many adverbs and pronouns belong to this layer, though small in number (25-30 per cent of the vocabulary).
The Common Germanic words and the verbs of the Common Indo-European stock form the bulk of the most frequent elements used in any style of speech. They constitute not less than 80 per cent of the most frequent words listed in E.L. Thorndike and I. Lorge`s dictionary “The Teacher`s Wordbook of 30,000 Words, N.Y.1959, p.268).
Investigation shows that the Anglo-Saxon words in Modern English must be considered very important due to the following characteristics. All of them belong to very important semantic groups. They include most of the auxiliary and modal verbs (shall, will, should, would, must, can, may, etc.), pronouns (I. he, you, his, who, whose, etc.), prepositions (in. out, on, under), numerals (one, two) and conjunctions (and, but). Notional words of native (Anglo-Saxon) origin include such groups as words denoting parts of the body, family, relations, natural phenomena and planets, animals, qualities and properties, common actions, etc.
Most of native words are polysemantic (man, head, go, etc.)
Most of them are stylistically neutral.
They possess wide lexical and grammatical valency, many of them enter a number of phraseological units.
Due to the great stability and semantic peculiarities the native words possess great word-building power.
Borrowings (Loan Words)
A borrowed (loan) word is a word adopted from another language and modified in sound form, spelling, paradigm or meaning according to the standards of English.
According to Otto Jespersen loan-words are “the milestones of philology, because in a great many instances they permit us to fix approximately the dates of linguistic changes”. But they may be termed “the milestones of general history” because they show the course of civilization and give valuable information as to the inner life of nations.
Through its history the English language came in contact with many languages and borrowed freely from them. The greatest influx of borrowings mainly came from Latin, French and Old Norse (Scandinavian). Latin was for a long time used in England as the language of learning and religion. Old Norse and French (its Norman dialect) were the languages of the conquerors: the Scandinavians invaded the British Isles and merged with the local population in the 9th, 10th and the first half of the 11th century. After the Norman Conquest in 1066 Norman French was the language of the upper classes, of official documents and school instruction from the middle of the 11th century to the end of the 14th century.
Etymologically the English vocabulary is said to have a particularly mixed character. Therefore some linguists (L.P.Smith, I.H.Bradley) consider foreign influence to be the most important factor in the history of English. Other linguists (Ch.Hockett, J.A.Sheard) and our linguists, on the contrary, point out the stability of the grammar and phonetic system of the English Language and consider it necessary to examine the volume and role and the comparative importance of native and borrowed elements in the development of the English vocabulary.
The greatest number of borrowings has come from French. Borrowed words refer to various fields of social-political, scientific and cultural life. About 41 per cent of them are scientific and technical terms.
L.P.Smith calls English «half-sister» to the Romance languages.
The number and character of borrowings depend on many factors: on the historical conditions, on the nature and length of the contacts and also on the genetic and structural proximity of languages concerned. The closer the language the deeper and more versatile is the influence. Thus, from the Scandinavian languages, which were closely related to Old Eng¬lish, some classes of words were borrowed that could not have been adopted from non-related or distantly related languages: the personal pro¬nouns: they, their, them; also same, till, though, fro (adv).
Sometimes words were borrowed to fill in gaps in the vocabulary. Thus, the English borrowed Latin, Greek, Spanish words paper, tomato, potato when these vegetables were first brought to England and because the English vocabulary lacked words for denoting these new objects.
Borrowings enter the language in two ways: through oral speech and through written speech. Oral borrowings took place chiefly in the early periods of history, in recent times, written borrowings did. Words borrowed orally (L. Street, mill, inch) are usually short and undergo more changes in the act of adoption. Written borrowings (e.g. French communi¬que, belles-letres, naivete) preserve their spelling, they are often rather long and their assimilation is a long process.
The terms «source of borrowing» and «origin of borrowing» should be distinguished. The first denotes the language from which the loan was taken into English. The second denotes the language to which the word may be traced:
E.g. paper
Words like paper, pepper, etc. are often called by specialists in the history of the language «much-travelled words» which came into English passing through several other languages and not by means of direct bor¬rowing.
Though the borrowed words always undergo changes in the proc-ess of borrowing, some of them preserve their former characteristics for a long period. This enables us to recognize them as the borrowed element. Examples are:
the initial position of the sounds [v], [d], [z] is a sign that the word is not native: vacuum (Lat), valley (FR.), volcano (Ital.), vanilla(Sp.), etc;
may be rendered by «g» and «j» gem (Lat), gemma, jewel (O. Fr.), jungle (Hindi), gesture (Lat), giant (O.Fr.), genre, gendarme (Fr.);
the initial position of the letters «x», «j» «z» is a sign that the word is a borrowed one: zeal (Lat), zero (Fr.), zinc (Gr.), xylophone (Gr.);
the combinations ph, kh, eau in the root: philology (Gr.), khaki (Indian), beau (Fr.); «ch» is pronounced [k] in words of Greek origin: echo, school, [S] in late French borrowings: machine, parachute; and [tS] in native words and early borrowings.
The morphological structure of the word may also betray the for-eign origin of the latter: e.g. the suffix in violencello (Ital.) polysyllabic words is numerous among borrowings: government, condition, etc.
Another feature is the presence of prefixes: ab-, ad-, con-, de-, dis-, ex-, in-, per-, pre-, pro-, re-, trans- /such words often contain bound stems.
The irregular plural forms: beaux/from beau (Fr), data/from datum (Lat).
The lexical meaning of the word: pagoda (Chinese).
Assimilation of Borrowings
Assimilation of borrowings is a partial or total conformation to the phonetical, graphical or morphological standards of the receiving lan¬guage and its semantic structure.
Since the process of assimilation of borrowings includes changes in sound-form, morphological structure, grammar characteristics, meaning and usage, three types of assimilation are distinguished: phonetic, gram¬matical and lexical assimilation of borrowed words.
Phonetic assimilation comprises changes in sound form and stress. Sounds that were alien to the English language were fitted into its scheme of sounds. For instance, the long [e] in recent French bor¬rowings are rendered with the help of [ei:] cafe, communiquй, ballet; the consonant combinations pn, ps in the words pneumonia, psychology of Greek origin were simplified into [n] and [s] since pn and ps never occur in the initial position in native English words. In many words (especially borrowed from French and Latin) the accent was gradually transferred to the first syllable: honour, reason began to be stressed like father, brother.
Grammatical assimilation. As a rule, borrowed words lost their former grammatical categories and influence and acquired new grammati¬cal categories and paradigms by analogy with other English words, as for example: the Russian borrowing ‘sputnik’ acquired the paradigm sputnik, sputnik’s, sputniks, sputniks` having lost the inflections it has in the Russian language.
Lexical assimilation. When a word is taken into another language its semantic structure as a rule undergoes great changes. Polysemantic words are usually adopted only in one or two of their meanings. For ex¬ample the word ‘cargo’ which is highly polysemantic in Spanish, was bor¬rowed only in one meaning — «the goods carried in a ship». In the recipient language a borrowing sometimes acquires new meanings. E.g. the word ‘move’ in Modern English has developed the meaning of ‘propose’, ‘change one’s flat’, ‘mix with people’ and others that the corresponding French word does not possess.
There are other changes in the semantic structure of borrowed words: some meanings become more general, others more specialized, etc. For instance, the word ‘umbrella’ was borrowed in the meaning of ‘sunshade’ or ‘ parasole'(from Latin ‘ ombrella- ombra-shade’).
Among the borrowings in the English word-stock there are words that are easily recognized as foreign (such as decollete, Zeitgeist, graff to and there are others that have become so thoroughly assimilated that it is ex¬tremely difficult to distinguish them from native English words.(There words like street, city, master, river).
Unassimilated words differ from assimilated words in their pronun¬ciation, spelling, semantic structure, frequency and sphere of application. However there is no distinct borderline between the two groups. Neither are there more or less comprehensive criteria for determining the degree of assimilation. Still it is evident that the degree of assimilation depends on the length of the time the word has been used in the receiving language, on its importance and its frequency and the way of borrowing (words borrowed orally are assimilated more completely and rapidly than those adopted through writing). According to the degree of assimilation three groups of borrowings can be suggested: completely assimilated bor¬rowings, partially assimilated borrowings and unassimilated borrow¬ings or barbarisms.
The third group is not universally recognized, the argument being that barbarisms occur in speech only and not enter the language.
I. Completely assimilated words are found in all the layers of older borrowings: the first layer of Latin borrowings (cheese, street, wall, and wing); Scandinavian borrowings (fellow, gate, to call, to die, to take, to
want, happy, ill, low, wrong); early French borrowings (table, chair, finish, matter, dress, large, easy, common, to allow, to carry, to cry, to consider).
The number of completely assimilated words is many times greater than the number of partly assimilated ones. They follow all morphologi¬cal, phonetical and orthographic standards.
II. The partly (partially) assimilated words can be subdivided
into groups:
a). Borrowed words not assimilated phonetically: e.g. machine, cartoon, police (borrowed from French) keep the accent on the final syl¬lable; bourgeois, mйlange contain sounds or combinations of sounds that are not standard for the English language and do not occur in native words ([ wa:],the nasalazed [a]);
b). Borrowed words not completely assimilated graphically. This group is fairly large and variegated. These are, for instance, words bor¬rowed from French in which the final consonants are not pronounced: e.g. ballet, buffet, corps. French digraphs (ch, qu, ou, ete) may be re¬tained in spelling: bouquet, brioche.
c). Borrowed words not assimilated grammatically, for example, nouns borrowed from Latin and Greek which keep their original forms: crisis-crises, formula-formulae, phenomenon-phenomena.
d). Borrowed words not assimilated semantically because they de-note objects and notions peculiar to the country from which they come: sombrero, shah, sheik, rickchaw, sherbet, etc.
III. The so-called barbarisms are words from other languages used
by English people in conversation or in writing but not assimilated in any
way, and for which there are corresponding English equivalents, e.g.: Italian
‘ciao’ (‘good-bye’), the French ‘affiche’ for ‘placard’, ‘carte blanche’
(‘freedom of action’), ‘faux pas’ (‘false step’).
Translation Loans and Semantic Loans
Alongside loan words proper there are translation loans (or calques) and semantic loans.
Translation loans are words and expressions formed from the material already existing in the English language, but according to pat¬terns, taken from other languages, by way of literal morpheme-for-morpheme translation. One of the earliest calques in the vocabulary of the English language is ‘Gospel’ (OE god-spell-‘евангелие’ literally ‘благая весть’) which is an exact reproduction of the etymological structure of the Greek euggelion, ‘ благая весть’, borrowed into English through Latin. Other examples are: ‘mother tongue* from Latin ‘lingua materna’ (родной язык), ‘it goes without saying’ from French ‘cela va sans dire’ (само собой разумеется).
The number of translation loans from German is rather large:
‘chain-smoker’ from ‘Kettenrauchen’ (заядлый курильщик);
‘world famous’ from ‘weltberuhmt’ (всемирно известный);
‘God’s acre’ from ‘Gottesacker’ (кладбище literally божье по¬ле);
‘masterpiece’ from ‘Meisterstuk'(шедевр);
‘Swan song’ from ‘Schwanengesang’ (лебединая песня);
‘superman’ from ‘Ubermensoh’ (сверхчеловек);
‘wonder child’ from ‘Wunderkind’.
There are a few calques from the languages of American Indians: ‘pale-face’ (бледнолицый); ‘pipe of peace’ (трубка мира); ‘War¬path’ (тропа войны); ‘war-paint’ (раскраска тела перед походом).
They are mostly used figuratively.
Calques from Russian are rather numerous. They are names of things and notions reflecting Soviet reality:
‘local Soviet’ (местный совет);
‘self-criticism’ (самокритика);
‘Labour-day’ (трудодень);
‘individual peasant’ (единоличник);
‘voluntary Sunday time’ (воскресник).
The last two are considered by N.N. Amosova to be oases of explana-tory translation.
Semantic borrowing is the development of a new meaning by a word due to the influence of a related word in another language, e.g. the English word ‘pioneer` meant `первооткрыватель` /now, under the influence of the Russian word ‘пионер’ it has come to mean ‘член детской коммунистической организации’.
Semantic loans are particularly frequent in related languages. For example, the Old English ‘dwellan’ (блуждать, медлить) developed into ‘dwell` in Modern English and acquired the meaning ‘жить’ under the influence of the Old Norse ‘dwelja’ (‘жить’). The words ‘bread’ (‘кусок хлеба’ in OE), ‘dream’ (‘радость’ in OE), ‘plough’ (‘мера земли’ in OE) received their present meanings from Old Norse.
Etymological Doublets.
Etymological doublets are two or more words of the same lan¬guage which were derived by different routes from the same basic word, but differing in meaning and phonemic shape. For example, the word ‘fact’ (‘факт, действительность’) and ‘feat’ (‘подвиг’) are derived from the same Latin word ‘facere’ (‘делать’) but ‘fact’ was borrowed directly from Latin and ‘feat’ was borrowed through French.
In modern English there are doublets of Latin, Germanic and na¬tive origin. Many Latin doublets are due to the different routes by which they entered the English vocabulary: some of the words are di¬rect borrowings; others came into English through Parisian French or Norman French.
For example, the words ‘major’, ‘pauper’, senior’ are direct bor¬rowings from Latin, while their doublets ‘mayor’ (‘майор’), ‘poor’ (‘бедный’), ‘.sir’ (‘сэр’) came from French.
The words ‘chase’ (‘гнаться, преследовать’), ‘chieftain’ (‘вождь/клана’), ‘guard’ (‘охрана/стража’) were borrowed into Mid¬dle English from Parisian French, and their doublets ‘catch’ (‘поймать’), ‘captain’ (‘капитан’), ‘ward’ (‘палата/больничная’) came from Norman French.
The doublets ‘shirt’ (‘рубашка’) — ‘skirt’ (‘юбка’), ‘shrew’ (‘сварливая женщина’) — ‘screw’ (‘винт, шуруп’), ‘schriek’ (‘вопить, кричать’) — ‘screech’ (‘пронзительно кричать’) are of Germanic ori¬gin. The first word of the pair comes down from Old English whereas the second one is a Scandinavian borrowing.
Examples of native doublets are ‘shadow’ (‘тень’) and ‘shade! Both are derived from the same Old English word ‘sceadu’. ‘Shade’ is developed from the Nominative case, ‘sceadu’ is derived from oblique ease ‘sceadwe’. The words ‘drag’ and ‘draw’ both come from Old English ‘dragan’ (‘тащить’)
Etymological doublets also arise as a result of shortening when both the shortened form and the full form of the word are used:
‘defense’ — ‘защита’ — ‘fence’ — »забор’;
‘history’ — ‘история’ — ‘story’ — ‘рассказ’.
Examples of ETYMOLOGICAL TRIPLETS (i.e. groups of three words of common root) are few in number:
hospital (Lat.) — hostel (Norm.Fr.) — hotel (Par.. Fr.);
to capture (Lat.) — to catch (Norm. Fr.) — to chase (Par. Fr.).
Morphemic Borrowings
True borrowings should be distinguished from words made up of morphemes borrowed from Latin and Greek:
E.g. telephone< tele (‘far off) and phone (‘sound’).
The peculiar character of the words of this type lies in the fact that they are produced by a word-building process operative in the English language, while the material used for this formation is bor¬rowed from «another language)).
The word phonograph was coined in 1877 by Edison from the Greek morphemes phone (‘sound’)+grapho (‘write*).
Morphemic borrowings are mostly scientific and technical terms and international in character, the latter fact makes it difficult to deter¬mine whether the word was really coined within the vocabulary of English or not.
International Words
Borrowings or loans are seldom limited to one language. «Words of identical origin that occur in several languages as a result of simulta¬neous or successive borrowings from one ultimate source are called INTERNATIONAL WORDS». (I. V. Arnold).
Such words usually convey notions which are significant in the field of communication. Most of them are of Latin and Greek origin.
Most scientists have international names; e.g. physics, chemistry, biol-ogy, linguistics, etc.
Modern means of communication expand global contacts which result in the considerable growth of international vocabulary.
International words play a very prominent part in various spheres of terminology, such as vocabulary of science, art, industry, etc. The great number of Italian words, connected with architecture, painting and music were borrowed into all the European languages and became international: arioso, baritone, allegro, concert, opera, etc.
Examples of new or comparatively new words due to the progress of science illustrate the importance of international vocabulary: bion¬ics, genetic code, site, database, etc.
The international word-stock has also grown due to the influx of exotic borrowed words like bungalow, pundit, sari, kraal, etc.
The English language has also contributed a considerable number of international words to all the world languages. Among them the sports terms: football, hockey, rugby, tennis, golf, etc.
International words should not be mixed with words of the com¬mon Indo-European stock that also comprise a sort of common fund of the European languages. Thus, one should not make a false conclusion that the English ‘son’, the German ‘Sohn’ and the Russian ‘сын’ are international words due to their outward similarity. They represent the Indo-European element in each of the three languages and they are COGNATES, i.e. words of the same etymological root and not borrowings.
Practical
Etymological Survey of the Modern English Language
Exercise 1.
State the etymology of the given words. Write them out in three columns: a) completely assimilated borrowings; b) partially assimilated borrowings; c) unassimilated borrowings or barbarisms.
Torchère, wall, maharani, á la mode, datum, perestroika, gate, têtê-á- têtê, want, chalet, ad hoc, sheikh, parlando, nuclkeus, parquet, matter, bagel, á la carte, kettle, chauffeur, formula, pari-mutuel, shaman, finish, corps, alcazar, commedia dell’arte, money, souvenir, bacillus, pas de deux, ill, spahi, stratum, nota bene, spaghetti, ménage á trios, odd, memoir, parenthesis, hibakusha, padrona, incognito, thesis, coup de maitre, tzatziki, sabotage, ad libitum, stimulus, Soyuz, alameda, street, boulevard, criterion, déjà vu, torero, yin, Übermensch, macaroni, tzigane, sensu lato, hypothesis, bagh, pousada, shiatsu, shapka.
Exercise 2.
Write out international words from the given sentences:
1. He gave a false address to the police. 2. I’ve seen so many good films lately. 3. Do you take sugar in your coffee? 4. Do you play tennis? 5. Arrange the words in alphabetical order. 6. Charlotte Bronte wrote under the pseudonym of Currer Bell. 7. He worked in radio for nearly 40 years. 8. Many people feel that their interests are not represented by mainstream politics. 9. We’ve visited the open-air theatre in London’s Regents Park. 10. I’m worried about my son’s lack of progress in English. 11. The government has promised to introduce reforms of the tax system. 12. He went on to study medicine at Edinburgh University.
Exercise 3.
Give the “false cognates” (false friends) in the Russian language to the given English words. State the difference in their meanings.
Model: argument
The false cognate of the word argument is Russian аргумент. The word argument means “an angry disagreement between people”, whereas the word аргумент has the meaning “reasoning”.
Baton, order, to reclaim, delicate, intelligent, artist, sympathetic, fabric, capital, to pretend, romance.
Video
Melvyn Bragg travels through England and abroad to tell the story of the English language.
Chapter 3 the etymology of english words.1 are all english words really english?
As a matter of fact, they are — if we regard them in the light of present-day English. If, however, their origins are looked into, the picture may seem somewhat bewildering. A person who does not know English but knows French (Italian, Latin, Spanish) is certain to recognize a great number of familiar-looking words when skipping through an English book.
It is true that English vocabulary, which is one of the most extensive amongst the world’s languages contains an immense number of words of foreign origin, Explanations for this should be sought in the history of the language which is closely connected with the history of the nation speaking the language. In order to have a better understanding of the problem, it will be necessary to go through a brief survey of certain historical facts, relating to different epochs.
* * *
The first century В. С. Most of the territory now known to us as Europe is occupied by the Roman Empire. Among the inhabitants of the continent are Germanic tribes, «barbarians» as the arrogant Romans call them. Theirs is really a rather primitive stage of development, especially if compared with the high civilization and refinement of Rome. They are primitive cattle-breeders and know almost nothing about land cultivation. Their tribal languages contain only Indo-Europe-an and Germanic elements. The latter fact is of some importance for the purposes of our survey.
Now comes an event which brings an important change. After a number of wars between the Germanic tribes and the Romans these two opposing peoples come into peaceful contact. Trade is carried on, and the Germanic people gain knowledge of new and useful things. The first among them are new things to eat. It has been mentioned that Germanic cattle-breeding was on a primitive scale. Its only products known to the Germanic tribes were meat and milk. It is from the Romans that they learn how to make butter and cheese and, as there are naturally no words for these foodstuffs in their tribal languages, they are to use the Latin words to name them (Lat. butyrum, caseus). It is also to the Romans that the Germanic tribes owe the knowledge of some new fruits and vegetables of which they had no idea before, and the Latin names of these fruits and vegetables enter their vocabularies reflecting this new knowledge: cherry (Lat. cerasum), pear (Lat. pirum), plum (Lat. prunus), pea (Lat. pisum), beet (Lat. beta), pepper (Lat. piper). It is interesting to note that the word plant is also a Latin borrowing2 of this period (Lat. planta).
Here are some more examples of Latin borrowings of this period: cup (Lat. cuppa), kitchen (Lat. coquina), mill (Lat. molina), port (Lat. portus), wine (Lat. vinum).
The fact that all these borrowings occurred is in itself significant. It was certainly important that the Germanic tribal languages gained a considerable number of new words and were thus enriched. What was even more significant was that all these Latin words were destined to become the earliest group of borrowings in the future English language which was — much later — built on the basis of the Germanic tribal languages. Which brings us to another epoch, much closer to the English language as we know it, both in geographical and chronological terms.
The fifth century A. D. Several of the Germanic tribes (the most numerous amongst them being the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes) migrated across the sea now known as the English Channel to the British Isles. There they were confronted by the Celts, the original inhabitants of the Isles. The Celts desperately defended their lands against the invaders, but they were no match for the military-minded Teutons and gradually yielded most of their territory. They retreated to the North and South-West (modern Scotland, Wales and Cornwall). Through their numerous contacts with the defeated Celts, the conquerors got to know and assimilated a number of Celtic words (Mod. E. bald, down, glen, druid, bard, cradle). Especially numerous among the Celtic borrowings were place names, names of rivers, hills, etc. The Germanic tribes occupied the land, but the names of many parts and features of their territory remained Celtic. For instance, the names of the rivers Avon, Exe, Esk, Usk, Ux originate from Celtic words meaning «river» and «water».
Ironically, even the name of the English capital originates from Celtic Llyn + dun in which llyn is another Celtic word for «river» and dun stands for «a fortified hill», the meaning of the whole being «fortress on the hill over the river».
Some Latin words entered the Anglo-Saxon languages through Celtic, among them such widely-used words as street (Lat. strata via) and wall (Lat. vallum).
The seventh century A. D. This century was significant for the christianization of England. Latin was the official language of the Christian church, and consequently the spread of Christianity was accompanied by a new period of Latin borrowings. These no longer came from spoken Latin as they did eight centuries earlier, but from church Latin. Also, these new Latin borrowings were very different in meaning from the earlier ones. They mostly indicated persons, objects and ideas associated with church and religious rituals. E. g. priest (Lat. presbyter), bishop (Lat. episcopus), monk (Lat. monachus), nun (Lat. nonna), candle (Lat. candela).
Additionally, in a class of their own were educational terms. It was quite natural that these were also Latin borrowings, for the first schools in England were church schools, and the first teachers priests and monks. So, the very word school is a Latin borrowing (Lat. schola, of Greek origin) and so are such words as scholar (Lat. scholars(-is) and magister (Lat. magister).
From the end of the 8th c. to the middle of the 11th с. England underwent several Scandinavian invasions which inevitably left their trace on English vocabulary. Here are some examples of early Scandinavian borrowings: call, v., take, v., cast, v., die, v., law, n., husband, n. (< Sc. hus + bondi, i. e. «inhabitant of the house»), window n. (< Sc. vindauga, i. e. «the eye of the wind»), ill, adj., loose, adj., low, adj., weak, adj.
Some of the words of this group are easily recognizable as Scandinavian borrowings by the initial skcombination. E. g. sky, skill, skin, ski, skirt.
Certain English words changed their meanings under the influence of Scandinavian words of the same root. So, the O. E. bread which meant «piece» acquired its modern meaning by association with the Scandinavian braud. The О. Е. dream which meant «joy» assimilated the meaning of the Scandinavian draumr (cf. with the Germ. Traum «dream» and the R. дрёма).
1066. With the famous Battle of Hastings, when the English were defeated by the Normans under William the Conqueror, we come to the eventful epoch of the Norman Conquest. The epoch can well be called eventful not only in national, social, political and human terms, but also in linguistic terms. England became a bilingual country, and the impact on the English vocabulary made over this two-hundred-years period is immense: French words from the Norman dialect penetrated every aspect of social life. Here is a very brief list of examples of Norman French borrowings.
Administrative words: state, government, parliament, council, power.
Legal terms: court, judge, justice, crime, prison.
Military terms: army, war, soldier, officer, battle, enemy.
Educational terms: pupil, lesson, library, science, pen, pencil.
Everyday life was not unaffected by the powerful influence of French words. Numerous terms of everyday life were also borrowed from French in this period: e. g. table, plate, saucer, dinner, supper, river, autumn, uncle, etc.
The Renaissance Period. In England, as in all European countries, this period was marked by significant developments in science, art and culture and, also, by a revival of interest in the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome and their languages. Hence, there occurred a considerable number of Latin and Greek borrowings. In contrast to the earliest Latin borrowings (1st c. B. C.), the Renaissance ones were rarely concrete names. They were mostly abstract words (e. g. major, minor, filial, moderate, intelligent, permanent, to elect, to create). There were naturally numerous scientific and artistic terms (datum, status, phenomenon, philosophy, method, music).1 The same is true of Greek Renaissance borrowings (e. g. atom, cycle, ethics, esthete).
The Renaissance was a period of extensive cultural contacts between the major European states. Therefore, it was only natural that new words also entered the English vocabulary from other European languages. The most significant once more were French borrowings. This time they came from the Parisian dialect of French and are known as Parisian borrowings. Examples: regime, routine, police, machine, ballet, matinee, scene, technique, bourgeois, etc. (One should note that these words of French origin sound and «look» very different from their Norman predecessors. We shall return to this question later (see Ch. 4).)
Italian also contributed a considerable number of words to English, e. g. piano, violin, opera, alarm, colonel.
* * *
There are certain structural features which enable us to identify some words as borrowings and even to determine the source language. We have already established that the initial sk usually indicates Scandinavian origin. You can also recognize words of Latin and French origin by certain suffixes, prefixes or endings. The two tables below will help you in this.
The historical survey above is far from complete. Its aim is just to give a very general idea of the ways in which English vocabulary developed and of the major events through which it acquired its vast modern resources.
I. Latin Affixes
|
Nouns |
The suffix -ion |
communion, legion, opinion, session, union, etc. |
|
The suffix -tion |
relation, revolution, starvation, temptation, unification, etc. |
|
|
Verbs |
The suffix -ate [eit] |
appreciate, create, congratulate, etc. |
|
The suffix -ute [ju:t] |
attribute, contribute, constitute, distribute, etc. |
|
|
The remnant suffix -ct |
act, conduct, collect, connect, etc. |
|
|
The remnant suffix -d(e) |
applaud, divide, exclude, include, etc. |
|
|
The prefix dis- |
disable, distract, disown, disagree, etc. |
|
|
Adjectives |
The suffix -able |
detestable, curable, etc. |
|
The suffix -ate [it] |
accurate, desperate, graduate, etc. |
|
|
The suffix -ant |
arrogant, constant, important, etc. |
|
|
The suffix -enf |
absent, convenient, decent, evident, etc. |
|
|
The suffix -or |
s major, minor, junior, senior, etc. |
|
|
The suffix -al с |
т cordial, final, fraternal, maternal, etc. |
|
|
The suffix -ar |
lunar, solar, familiar, etc. |
II. French Affixes
|
Nouns |
The suffix -ance |
arrogance, endurance, hindrance, etc. |
|
The suffix -erace |
consequence, intelligence, patience, etc. |
|
|
The suffix -merit |
appointment, development, experiment, etc. |
|
|
The suffix -age |
courage, marriage, passage, village, etc. |
|
|
The suffix -ess |
tigress, lioness, actress, adventuress, etc. |
|
|
Adjectives |
The suffix -ous |
curious, dangerous, joyous, serious, etc. |
|
Verbs |
The prefix en- |
enable, endear, enact, enfold, enslave, etc. |
Notes. 1. The tables represent only the most typical and frequent structural elements of Latin and French borrowings.
2. Though all the affixes represented in the tables are Latin or French borrowings, some of the examples given in the third column are later formations derived from native roots and borrowed affixes (e. g. eatable, lovable).
3. By remnant suffixes are meant the ones that are only Partially preserved in the structure of the word (e. g. Lat. -ct < Lat. -ctus).
It seems advisable to sum up what has been said in a table.
The Etymological Structure of English Vocabulary
|
The native element1 |
The borrowed element |
|
I. Indo-European element II. Germanic element III. English Proper element (no earlier than 5th c. A. D.) |
I. Celtic (5th — 6th c. A. D.) II. Latin 1st group: 1st c. B. C. 2nd group: 7th c. A. D. 3rd group: the Renaissance period III. Scandinavian (8th — 11th c. A. D.) IV. French 1. Norman borrowings: 11th—13th c. A. D. 2. Parisian borrowings (Renaissance) V. Greek (Renaissance) VI. Italian (Renaissance and later) VII. Spanish (Renaissance and later) VIII. German IX. Indian X. Russian And some other groups |
The table requires some explanation. Firstly, it should be pointed out that not only does the second column contain more groups, but it also implies a greater quantity of words. Modern scholars estimate the percentage of borrowed words in the English vocabulary at 65—70 per cent which is an exceptionally high figure: one would certainly expect the native element to prevail. This anomaly is explained by the country’s eventful history and by its many international contacts.
On a straight vocabulary count, considering the high percentage of borrowed words, one would have to classify English as a language of international origin or, at least, a Romance one (as French and Latin words obviously prevail). But here another factor comes into play, the relative frequency of occurrence of words, and it is under this heading that the native Anglo-Saxon heritage comes into its own. The native element in English comprises a large number of high-frequency words like the articles, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, auxiliaries and, also, words denoting everyday objects and ideas (e. g. house, child, water, go, come, eat, good, bad, etc.).
Furthermore, the grammatical structure is essentially Germanic having remained unaffected by foreign influence.
It is probably of some interest to mention that at various times purists have tried to purge the English language of foreign words, replacing them with Anglo-Saxon ones. One slogan created by these linguistic nationalists was: «Avoid Latin derivatives; use brief, terse Anglo-Saxon monosyllables». The irony is that the only Anglo-Saxon word in the entire slogan is «Anglo-Saxon». [31]
Now let us turn to the first column of the table representing the native element, the original stock of the English vocabulary. The column consists of three groups, only the third being dated: the words of this group appeared in the English vocabulary in the 5th c. or later, that is, after the Germanic tribes migrated to the British Isles. As to the Indo-European and Germanic groups, they are so old that they cannot be dated. It was mentioned in the historical survey opening this chapter that the tribal languages of the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes, by the time of their migration, contained only words of Indo-European and Germanic roots plus a certain number of the earliest Latin borrowings.
By the Indo-European element are meant words of roots common to all or most languages of the Indo-European group. English words of this group denote elementary concepts without which no human communication would be possible. The following groups can be identified.1
I. Family relations: father, mother, brother, son, daughter.
II. Parts of the human body: foot (cf. R. пядь), nose, lip, heart.
III. Animals: cow, swine, goose.
IV. Plants: tree, birch (cf. R. береза}, corn (cf. R. зерно).
V. Time of day: day, night.
VI. Heavenly bodies: sun, moon, star.
VII. Numerous adjectives: red (cf. Ukr. рудий, R. рыжий), new, glad (cf. R. гладкий), sad, (cf. R. сыт). VIII. The numerals from one to a hundred.
IX. Pronouns — personal (except they which is a Scandinavian borrowing); demonstrative.
X. Numerous verbs: be (cf. R. быть), stand (cf. R. стоять), sit (cf. R. сидеть), eat (cf. R. есть), know (cf. R. знать, знаю).
The Germanic element represents words of roots common to all or most Germanic languages. Some of the main groups of Germanic words are the same as in the Indo-European element.
I. Parts of the human body: head, hand, arm, finger, bone.
II. Animals: bear, fox, calf.
III. Plants: oak, fir, grass.
IV. Natural phenomena: rain, frost.
V. Seasons of the year: winter, spring, summer.1
VI. Landscape features: sea, land.
VII. Human dwellings and furniture: house, room, bench.
VIII. Sea-going vessels: boat, ship.
IX. Adjectives: green, blue, grey, white, small, thick, high, old, good.
X. Verbs: see, hear, speak, tell, say, answer, make, give, drink.
* * *
It has been mentioned that the English proper element is, in certain respects, opposed to the first two groups. Not only can it be approximately dated, but these words have another distinctive feature: they are specifically English having no cognates2 in other languages whereas for Indo-European and Germanic words such cognates can always be found, as, for instance, for the following words of the Indo-European group.
Star: Germ. Stern, Lat. stella, Gr. aster.
Sad: Germ. satt, Lat. satis, R. сыт, Snscr. sa-.
Stand: Germ. stehen, Lat. stare, R. стоять, Snscr. stha-.
Here are some examples of English proper words. These words stand quite alone in the vocabulary system of Indo-European languages: bird, boy, girl, lord, lady, woman, daisy, always.
Of course, one might remark that Russian vocabulary also has the words лорд, леди, бой (in the meaning of «native servant»). The explanation is simple: these words have been borrowed by Russian from English and therefore are not cognates of their English counterparts.
It should be taken into consideration that the English proper element also contains all the later formations, that is, words which were made after the 5th century according to English word-building patterns (see Ch. 5, 6) both from native and borrowed morphemes. For instance, the adjective ‘beautiful’ built from the French borrowed root and the native suffix belongs to the English proper element. It is natural, that the quantity of such words is immense.
Exercises
I. Consider your answers to the following.
1. How can you account for the fact that English vocabulary contains such an immense number of words of foreign origin?
2. What is the earliest group of English borrowings? Date it.
3. What Celtic borrowings are there in English? Date them.
4. Which words were introduced into English vocabulary during the period of Christianization?
5. What are the characteristic features of Scandinavian borrowings?
6. When and under what circumstances did England become a bilingual country? What imprint features were left in English vocabulary by this period?
7. What are the characteristic features of words borrowed into English during the Renaissance?
8. What suffixes and prefixes can help you to recognize words of Latin and French origin?
9. What is meant by the native element of English vocabulary?
II. Subdivide all the following words of native origin into:
a) Indo-european, b) Germanic, c) English proper.
Daughter, woman, room, land, cow, moon, sea, red, spring, three, I, lady, always, goose, bear, fox, lord, tree, nose, birch, grey, old, glad, daisy, heart, hand, night» to eat, to see, to make.
III. Read the following jokes. Explain the etymology of the italicized words. If necessary consult a dictionary.1
1. He dropped around to the girl’s house and as he ran up the steps he was confronted by her little brother.
«Hi, Billy.»
«Hi,» said the brat.
«Is your sister expecting me?»
«Yeah.»
«How do you know that?»
«She’s gone out.»
2. A man was at a theatre. He was sitting behind two women whose continuous chatter became more than he could bear. Leaning forward, he tapped one of them on the shoulder.
«Pardon me, madam,» he said, «but I can’t hear».
«You are not supposed to — this is a private conversation,» she hit back.
3. Sonny: Father, what do they make asphalt roads of?
Father: That makes a thousand question you’ve asked today. Do give me a little peace. What do you think would happen if I had asked my father so many questions?
Sonny: You might have learnt how to answer some of mine.
IV. Identify the period of the following Latin borrowings; point out the structural and semantic peculiarities of the words from each period.
Wall, cheese, intelligent, candle, major, moderate, priest, school, street, cherry, music, phenomenon, nun, kitchen, plum, pear, pepper, datum, cup, status, wine, philosophy, method.
V. In the following sentences find examples of Latin borrowings; identify the period of borrowings.
1. The garden here consisted of a long smooth lawn with two rows of cherry trees planted in the grass. 2. They set to pork-pies, cold potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, cold bacon, ham, crabs, cheese, butter, gooseberry-tarts, cherry-tarts, bread, more sausages and yet again pork-pies. 3. Instead of commendation, all we got was a tirade about the condition of the mackintosh sheets which Matron had said were a disgrace both to the hospital and the nursing profession. 4. A cold wind knifing through downtown streets penetrated the thin coat she had on. 5. The substance of my life is a private conversation with myself which to turn into a dialogue would be equivalent to self-destruction. 6. It was the money, of course; money which did strange things to human beings, making them greedy, panicked, at times sub-human. 7. On the morning of burial — taking no chances — an archbishop, a bishop and a monsignor concelebrated a Mass of the Resurrection. A full choir intoned responses to prayers with reassuring volume. Within the cathedral which was filled, a section near the altar had been reserved for Rosselli relatives and friends. 8. The room was full of young men, all talking at once and drinking cups of tea. 9. I made way to the kitchen and tried the kitchen door which gave on to the fire-escape. 10. «Lewis, dear,» Edwina said, «could you interrupt your speech and pour more wine?» 11. All Anna’s life worked to schedule; like a nun, she would have been lost without her watch.
VI. Study the map of Great Britain and write out the games of the cities and towns ending in: a) caster (chester)1 b) wick, thorpe, by.2
VII. Study the map of Great Britain and find the names of places, rivers and hills of Celtic origin.
VIII. In the sentences given below find the examples of Scandinavian borrowings. How can the Scandinavian borrowings be identified?
1. He went on to say that he was sorry to hear that I had been ill. 2. She was wearing a long blue skirt and a white blouse. 3. Two eyes — eyes like winter windows, glared at him with ruthless impersonality. 4. The sun was high, the sky unclouded, the air warm with a dry fresh breeze. 5. If Eastin were right, Wainwright reasoned, the presence of the husband could tie in with Wainwright’s own theory of an outside accomplice. 6. It’s not such a bad thing to be unsure sometimes. It takes us away from rigid thinking.
IX. Read the following jokes and identify the Scandinavian borrowings.
1. «Very sorry, Mr. Brown, but the coffee is exhausted,» the landlady announced.
«Not at all surprised,» came back Mr. Brown. «I’ve seen it growing weaker and weaker every morning.»
2. Small boy: I say, dad, teacher said this morning that the law of gravity kept us on the earth. Is that right?
Father: Yes, my boy, that’s correct.
Small boy: Well, how did we get on before the law was passed?
3. «I want a man to do odd jobs about the house, run errands, one who never answers back and is always ready to do my bidding,» explained a lady to an applicant for a post in the household.
«You’re looking for a husband, ma’am, not a servant,» said the seeker for work.
X. Copy out the examples of Norman and Parisian borrowings from the following passage. Describe the structural peculiarities of these words.
1. It was while they were having coffee that a waitress brought a message to their table. 2.1 knew nothing about the film world and imagined it to be a continuous ferment of personal intrigue. 3. The masseur and majordomo quietly disappeared. Replacing them like or; a more character emerging on stage was a chef, a pale, worried pencil of a man. 4. A limousine and chauffeur, available at any time from the bank’s pool of cars, were perquisites of the executive vice-president’s job, and Alex enjoyed them. 5. He would have dinner quickly and then get down to work. But as he opened the door he smelt Eau-de-Cologne and there was Ruth in a chair b;/ the grate. 6. His bandaged head was silhouetted in the light from the little window. 7. «I don’t see the matter,» said Steven, helping himself to more mayonnaise. 8. Apart from being an unforgivable break of etiquette, you only make yourself extremely ridiculous. 9. However, this John Davenant evidently knew more about the army and commerce than either of them. 10. At last I began to want my breakfast. I began walking in the direction of Madge’s hotel and set down en route at a cafe’ not far from the Opera.
XI. Read the following extract. Which of the italicized borrowings came from Latin and which from French?
Connoisseurs of the song will be familiar with the name of Anna Quentin, distinguished blues singer and versatile vocalist. Miss Quentin’s admirers, who have been regretting her recent retirement from the limelight, will hear with mixed feelings the report that she is bound to Hollywood. Miss Quentin, leaving for a short stay in Paris, refused either to confirm or to deny a rumour that she had signed a long-term contract for work in America.
XII. Explain the etymology of the following words.
Sputnik, kindergarten, opera, piano, potato, tomato, droshky, czar, violin, coffee, cocoa, colonel, alarm, cargo, blitzkrieg, steppe, komsomol, banana, balalaika.
XIII. Think of 10—15 examples of Russian borrowings in English and English borrowings in Russian.
XIV. Read the following text. Identify the etymology of as many words as you can.
The Roman Occupation
For some reason the Romans neglected to overrun the country with fire and sword, though they had both of these; in fact after the Conquest they did not mingle with the Britons at all but lived a semi-detached life in villas. They occupied their time for two or three hundred years in building Roman roads and having Roman Baths, this was called the Roman Occupation, and gave rise to the memorable Roman law, ‘He who baths first baths fast’, which was a good thing and still is. The Roman roads ran absolutely straight in all the directions and all led to Rome. The Romans also built towns wherever they were wanted, and, in addition, a wall between England and Scotland to keep out the savage Picts and Scots.
(From 1066 and All That by C. W. Sellar, R. J. Yeatman)
Today I found out how ‘Earth’ came to be called so. Firstly, it’s important to understand that nearly every language has its own name for the planet. It’s called ‘terra’ in Portuguese, ‘dünya’ in Turkish and ‘aarde’ in Dutch, just to name a few with their own etymology. However, the common thread in all languages is that they were all derived from the same meaning in their origins, which is ‘ ground’ or ‘soil’.
The modern English word and name for our planet ‘Earth’, is said to go back at least 1,000 years. Just as the English language evolved from ‘Anglo-Saxon’ (English-German) with the migration of certain Germanic tribes from the continent to Britain in the fifth century A.D, the word ‘Earth’ came from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘erda’ and it’s germanic equivalent ‘erde’ which means ground or soil. In Old English, the word became ‘eor(th)e’ or ‘ertha ‘. There is speculation that the origins of the word may be from an Indo-European language base ‘er’ which produced more modern adaptations of the word used in languages today. What is certain though is of all the Planet’s names, Earth is the only one in our solar system that does not come from Greco-Roman mythology. All of the other planets were named after Greek and Roman gods and goddesses.
Bonus Facts:
- Translations of the Bible into English was one of the earliest recorded use of the name Earth – ” God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. “(Genesis 1:10)
- Earth is the only planet in the Solar System with plate tectonics. The outer crust of the Earth is broken up into regions known as tectonic plates. These are floating on top of the magma interior of the Earth and can move against one another. When two plates collide, one plate can go underneath another.
- Earth doesn’t take 24 hours to rotate on its axis. It takes 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds to completely rotate around its axis; If you add up that little motion from the Sun that we see because the Earth is orbiting around it, as well as the rotation on its axis, you get a total of 24 hours.
- Everyone knows that the Earth has 1 Moon. But did you know there are 2 additional asteroids locked into a co-orbital orbits with Earth? They’re called 3753 Cruithne and 2002 AA29. The first doesn’t actually orbit the Earth, but has a synchronized orbit with our planet, that makes it look like it’s following the Earth in orbit, but it’s actually following its own, distinct path around the Sun. The 2002 AA29 travels in a horseshoe orbit around the Earth that brings it close to the planet every 95 years.
- Earth is gradually slowing down. Every few years, an extra second is added to make up for lost time. In other words, millions of years ago, a day on Earth would have been only 20 hours long. It is believed that, in another million years time, a day on Earth will be 27 hours long.
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