- •1. General Overview of the Old English Vocabulary
- •2. Native words
- •2) Common Germanic words,
- •1. Words belonging to the common ie layer constitute the oldest part of the
- •3. The third etymological layer of native words can be defined as specifically
- •3. Foreign Element in the Old English Vocabulary
- •3.2. Latin Loans
- •4. Word-Formation in Old English
- •1)Word Structure
- •2. Ways of Word-Formation
- •5. Stylistic Stratification of the Old English Vocabulary
LECTURE 6. OLD ENGLISH VOCABULARY
Language is first and foremost a means of
transmitting ideas and information, its
study is the branch of the study of the
signs and objects they symbolize. (...)
Language is also a form of social
behaviour.
(J. Whatmough)
AIMS:
– to identify the Celtic influence on Old Germanic, Old English, and later English;
– to explore the Latin influence on Old English;
– to figure out evidence for extensive Scandinavian
– influence during the Old English period
– to understand the processes of word-building in Old English
POINTS FOR DISCUSSION
Introduction
1. General Overview of the Old English Vocabulary
2. Native Words
3. Foreign Element in the Old English Vocabulary
Celtic Loans
Latin Loans
Scandinavian Influence
4. Word-Formation in Old English
Word Structure
Ways of Word-Formation: word-derivation, and word-composition
5. Stylistic Stratification of the Old English Vocabulary
Conclusion
Key-Terms to Know
Lexicon
etymological layer
native words
common IE words
common Germanic words
specifically Old English words
lexical invasions
loans
borrowings
word-formation
word-derivation
word-composition
LITERATURE:
Obligatory:
1
David Crystal. The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of The English Language.—
Cambridge University Press .—1994.—PP.22-27
Elly van Gelderen. A History of the English Language. – John Benjamins
Publishing Company.—Amsterdam/Philadelphia.—2006.—PP.90-99
Valery V. Mykhailenko. Paradigmatics in the Evolution of English. - Chernivtsi, -
1999. PP 116-131
T.A. Rastorguyeva. A History of English. - Moscow, 1983. - PP. 131-148
L.Verba. History of the English language. - Vinnitsa, 2004. - PP. 90-101
Additional
Аракин В. Д. История английского языка. - М., 1985. - C. 92-102
Vocabulary is the Everest (Crystal 1999:117) of a language. There is no
larger task than to look for the order among the hundreds of words which comprise
the lexicon.
The term lexicon is known in English from the early 17th century, when it
referred to a book containing a selection of a language’s words and meanings,
arranged in alphabetical order. The term itself comes from Greek lexis “word”.
To study the lexicon of Old English, accordingly, is to study all aspects of
the vocabulary of the language—how words are formed, how they have developed
over time, how they are used now, how they relate in meaning to each other.
In this lecture we will discuss the influence of different languages on
English, i.e.
Celtic, Latin, and Scandinavian, we will present etymological layers of
native OE words, and we will deal with types of word-formation in Old English.
1. General Overview of the Old English Vocabulary
The full word-stock of the OE vocabulary is not known to present-day
scholars. The historical records of English do not go so far back as this because the
oldest written texts in the English language (in Anglo-Saxon) date from about 700
and are thus removed by about three centuries from the beginnings of the language.
Despite the gaps in the accessible data, philological studies (Crystal:1994;
Gelderen:2006; Mykhailenko:1999; Rastorguyeva:1983) have given us a fairly
complete outline of the OE vocabulary as regards its etymology, word structure,
word-building and stylistic differentiation.
The OE vocabulary was almost purely Germanic; except for a small number
of borrowings, it consisted of native words inherited from PG or formed from
native roots and affixes. The importance of this purely Germanic basis is often
overlooked, largely, because of the large number of foreign words incorporated in
the vocabulary. Many studies of the English language give undue prominence to
the foreign element, thus leaving an incorrect impression of the foundation of the
language. Some foreign scholars (Smith: 1922; Bradley: 1931) assumed that the
development of English was mainly due to borrowings from foreign sources.
But an examination of actual usage shows how important the native words
are, and they are still at the core of the language. They stand for fundamental
2
things dealing with everyday objects and things. The native stock includes modal
verbs, most verbs of the strong conjugation, pronouns, most numerals, prepositions
and conjunctions.
2. Native words
It has been customary to subdivide the native OE words into a number of
etymological layers. The three main layers in the native OE words are:
1) common IE words,
2) Common Germanic words,
3) specifically OE words.
1. Words belonging to the common ie layer constitute the oldest part of the
OE vocabulary. They go back to the days of the IE parent-language before its
extension over the wide territories of Europe and Asia and before the appearance
of the Germanic group.
Among these words we find names of some natural phenomena, plants and
animals, agricultural terms, names of parts of the human body, terms of kinship,
etc.; verbs belonging to this layer denote the basic activities of man; adjectives
indicate the most essential qualities; this layer includes personal and demonstrative
pronouns and most numerals. Well-known examples of such words are terms of
kinship:
father (OE foeder); German—Vater; Greek—pater; Lat.—pater;
brother (OE broþor); German—Bruder ;Russian—брат; Ukrainian—брат;
Lat. – frater;
mother(OE modor); German—Mutter; Russian—мать; Ukrainian—мати;
Lat.—mater; Greek—meter;
daughter (OE dohtor); German—Tochter; Russian—дочь; Ukrainian—дочка;
Greek—thygater;
son (OE sunu) German—Sohn; Russian—сын; Ukrainian—син; Sanskrit—
sunu;
names for everyday objects and things and natural phenomena:
moon—(OE mona); German—Mond; Greek—mene;
night—(OE niht); German—Nacht; Russian—ночь; Ukrainian—ніч; Lat.—
nox;
Sanskrit—nakt;
tree (OE treo, treow); Russian—дерево; Ukrainian—дерево; Greek—drus-oak;
Sanskrit—dru forest;
water (OE woeter); German—Wasser; Russian—вода; Ukrainian—вода; Greek
— hydoe; Lat.—unda;
In the Indo-European stock we also find such English words as: bull, crow, cat,
fish, hare, hound, goose, mouse, wolf.
Here belong also quite a number of verbs: to bear, to come, to know, to lie, to
mow, to sit, to sow, to stand, to work, to tear, etc. (Амосова:1956).
Adjectives belonging to this part of the vocabulary may be illustrated by such
as:
3
hard, light, quick, right, red, slow, raw, thin, white.
Most numerals in some Indo-European languages are of the same origin.
2. Words of common Germanic stock, i. e. words having their parallels in
German, Gothic, Norwegian, Dutch, Icelandic, do not occur outside the group.
These words constitute an important distinctive mark of the Germanic languages at
the lexical level. This layer is certainly smaller than the layer of common IE words.
The ratio between specifically Germanic and common IE words in the Germanic
languages was estimated by 19th c. scholars as 1:2; since then it has been
discovered that many more Germanic words have parallels outside the group and
should be regarded as common IE (Rastorguyeva 1983:132).
Common Germanic words originated in the common period of Germanic
history, i.e. in PG when the Teutonic tribes lived close together. Semantically these
words are connected with nature, with the sea and everyday life. Old English
examples of this layer are given together with parallels from other Old Germanic
languages.
Words of Common Germanic Stock
OE OHG Gt O Icel NE
hand hant handus hợnd hand
sand sant — sandr sand
eorþe erda airþa jợrð earth
singan singan siggwan singva sing
findan findan finþan finna find
grēne gruoni — grǽn green
steorfan sterban — — starve
scrēap scâf — — sheep
fox fuhs — — fox
macian mahhon — — make
hūs hûs hus hús house
drincan trinkan drigkan drekka drink
land lant land land land
sǽ sēo saiws sǽr sea
wisdōm wístuom — vísdómr wisdom