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Etymology of English Words.doc
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Etymology of English Words

  1. The etymological composition of ME.

  2. The native and borrowed elements of the EV.

  3. Classification of borrowings according to the language.

  4. Etymological doublets.

  5. International words.

Etymology (from Greek etymon "truth" + logos "learning") is a branch of linguistics that studies the origin and history of words tracing them to their earliest determinable source.

The following list provides a sample set of words that have been incorporated into English:

French: cuisine, army, elite, saute, cul-de-sac, raffle.

Latin: cup, fork, pound, vice versa.

Greek: polysemy, synonymy, chemistry, physics, phenomenon.

Native American languages: caucus, pecan, raccoon, pow-wow.

Spanish: junta, siesta, cigar.

German: rucksack, hamburger, frankfurter, seminar.

Scandinavian languages: law, saga, ski, them, they, their.

Italian: piano, soprano, confetti, spaghetti, vendetta.

South Asian languages: bungalow, jungle, sandal, thug.

Yiddish: goy, knish, schmuck.

Dutch: cruise, curl, dock, leak, pump, scum, yacht.

Chinese: mandarin, tea, serge.

Japanese: bonsai, hara-kiri, kimono, tycoon, karate, judo.

English is generally regarded as the richest of the world's languages. It owes its exceptionally large vocabulary to its ability to borrow and absorb words from outside. Atomic, cybernetics, jeans, khaki, sputnik, perestroika are just a few of the many words that have come into use during XX century. They have been taken from Italian, Hindi, Greek and Russian.

"The English language", observed Ralph Waldo Emerson, "is the sea which receives tributaries from every region under heaven." (в презентацию)

The English vocabulary has been enriched throughout its history by borrowings from foreign languages. A borrowing (a loan word) is a word taken over from another language and modified in phonemic shape, spelling, paradigm or meaning according to the standards of the English language.

The process of borrowing words from other languages has been going on for more than 1,000 years. The fact that up to 80 per cent of the English vocabulary consists of borrowed words is due to the specific conditions of the English language development.

When the Normans crossed over from France to conquer England in 1066, most of the English people spoke Old English, or Anglo-Saxon — a language of about 30,000 words. The Normans spoke a language that was a mixture of Latin and French. It took about three centuries for the languages to blend into one that is the ancestor of the English spoken today. The Normans bestowed on English words such us duchess, city, mansion, and palace. The Anglo-Saxon gave English ring and town.

Latin and Greek have been a fruitful source of vocabulary since the 16th century. The Latin word mini, its converse maxi and the Greek word micro have become popular adjectives to describe everything from bikes to fashion. Perhaps the most important influence in terms of vocabulary comes from what are called Latinate words, that is, words that are originally Latin. Latinate words are common in English: distinct, describe, transport, evidence, animal, create, act, generation, recollection, confluence, etc.

There are practically no limits to the kinds of words that are borrowed. Words are employed as symbols for every part of culture. When cultural elements are borrowed from one culture by another, the words for such cultural features often accompany the feature. Also, when a cultural feature of one society is like that of another, the word of a foreign language may be used to designate this feature in the borrowing society. In English, a material culture word rouge was borrowed from French, a social culture word republic from Latin, and a religious culture word baptize from Greek.

Such words become completely absorbed into the system, so that they are not recognized by speakers of the language as foreign. Few people realize that garage is borrowed from French, that thug comes from Hindustani, and that tomato is of Aztec origin.

However, some words and phrases have retained their original spelling, pronunciation and foreign identity, for example: rendezvous, coup, gourmet, detente (French); status quo, ego, curriculum vitae, bona fide (Latin); patio, macho (Spanish); kindergarten, blitz (German); kowtow, tea Chinese,); incognito, bravo (Italian).

We may distinguish different types of borrowing from one foreign language by another:

(1) when the two languages represent different social, economic, and political units and

(2) when the two languages are spoken by those within the same social, economic, and political unit. the borrowing of linguistic forms by one language or dialect from another when both occupy a single geographical or cultural community.

The first of these types has been usually called "cultural borrowing" while the second type has been termed "intimate borrowing".

Another principal type is between dialects of the same language. This is called "dialect borrowing" (в презентацию).

Sometimes the idea of a word rather than the word is borrowed. When we talk about life science instead of biology, it is a type of borrowing the meaning of the Greek derivative, but not the actual morpheme. This type of borrowing is rather extensive, particularly in scientific vocabulary and trade languages as, for example, in Pidgin English in the South Pacific.

A number of words in English have originated from the names of people: boycott, braille, hooligan, mentor, saxophone, watt. Quite a few names of types of clothing originate from the people who invented them: bowler, cardigan, Wellingtons, mackintosh. A number of names of different kinds of cloth originate from place names: angora, denim, satin, tweed, suede. A number of other words in English come from place names: bedlam, spartan, gypsy.

There are many words that have changed their meaning in English, e.g. mind originally meant "memory", and this meaning survives in the phrases "to keep in mind", "time out of mind", etc. The word brown preserves its old meaning of "gloomy" in the phrase "in a brown study". There are instances when a word acquires a meaning opposite to its original one, e.g. nice meant "silly" some hundreds of years ago.

Thus, there are two main problems connected with the vocabulary of a language: (1) the origin of the words, (2) their development in the language.

The etymological structure of the English vocabulary consists of the native element (Indo-European and Germanic) and the borrowed elements.

By the Native Element we understand words that are not borrowed from other languages. A native word is a word that belongs to the Old English word-stock. The Native Element constitutes only up to 20-25% of the English vocabulary.

Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language. It was spoken from about a.d. 600 until about a.d. 1100, and most of its words had been part of a still earlier form of the language. Many of the common words of modern English, like home, stone, and meat are native, or Old English, words. Most of the irregular verbs in English derive from Old English (speak, swim, drive, ride, sing), as do most of the English shorter numerals (two, three, six, ten) and most of the pronouns (I, you, we, who).

Many Old English words can be traced back to Indo-European, a prehistoric language that was the common ancestor of many languages. Others came into Old English as it was becoming a separate language.

(a) Indo-European Element: since English belongs to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European group of languages, the oldest words in English are of Indo-European origin. They form part of the basic word stock of all Indo-European languages. There are several semantic groups:

  • words expressing family relations: brother, daughter, father, mother, son;

  • names of parts of the human body: foot, eye, ear, nose, tongue;

  • names of trees, birds, animals: tree, birch, cow, wolf, cat;

  • names expressing basic actions: to come, to know, to sit, to work;

  • words expressing qualities: red, quick, right, glad, sad;

  • numerals: one, two, three, ten, hundred, etc.

There are many more words of Indo-European origin in the basic stock of the English vocabulary.

(b) Common Germanic words are not to be found in other Indo-European languages but the Germanic. They constitute a very large layer of the vocabulary:

  • nouns: hand, life, sea, ship, meal, winter, ground, coal, goat;

  • adjectives: heavy, deep, free, broad, sharp, grey;

  • verbs: to buy, to drink, to find, to forget, to go, to have, to live, to make;

  • pronouns: all, each, he, self, such;

  • adverbs: again, forward, near; '

  • prepositions: after, at, by, over, under, from, for.

The rest of the English vocabulary are borrowed words, or loan words.

Some scientists point out three periods of Latin borrowings in old English:

  1. Latin-Continental borrowings,

  2. Latin-Celtic borrowings,

  3. Latin borrowings connected with the Adoption of Christianity.

To the first period belong military terms (wall, street, etc.), trade terms (pound, inch), names of containers (cup, dish), names of food (butter, cheese), words connected with building (chalk, pitch), etc. These were concrete words that were adopted in purely oral manner, and they were fully assimilated in the language. Roman influence was felt in the names of towns, e.g. Manchester, Lancaster, etc. from the Latin word caster — лагерь.

Such words as port, fountain and mountain were borrowed from Latin through Celtic.

With the Adoption of Christianity mostly religious or clerical terms were borrowed: dean, cross, alter, abbot (Latin); church, devil, priest, anthem, school, martyr (Greek).

Latin and Greek borrowings of the Middle English period are connected with the Great Revival of Learning and are mostly scientific words: formula, inertia, maximum, memorandum, veto, superior, etc. They were not fully assimilated, they retained their grammar forms.

Many words from Greek, the other major source of English words, came into English by way of French and Latin. Others were borrowed in the sixteenth century when interest in classic culture was at its height. Directly or indirectly, Greek contributed athlete, acrobat, elastic, magic, rhythm, and many others.

There are some classical borrowings in Modern English as well: anaemia, aspirin, iodin, atom, calorie, acid, valency, etc. There are words formed with the help of Latin and Greek morphemes (roots or affixes): tele, auto, etc.

Latin and Greek words are used to denote names of sciences, political and philosophic trends; these borrowings usually have academic or literary associations (per capita, dogma, drama, theory, and pseudonym).

Many other Latin words came into English through French. French is the language that had most influence on the vocabulary of English; it also influenced its spelling.

After the Norman invasion in 1066, English was neglected by the Latin-writing and French-speaking authorities. Northern French became the official language in England. And for the next three hundred years, French was the language of the ruling classes in England. During this period, thousands of new words came into English, many of them relating to upper class pursuits: baron, attorney, luxury.

There are several semantic groups of French borrowings:

  • government terms: to govern, to administer, assembly, record, parliament;

  • words connected with feudalism: peasant, servant, control, money, rent, subsidy;

  • military terms: assault, battle, soldier, army, siege, defence, lieutenant;

  • words connected with jury: bill, defendant, plaintiff, judge, fine;

  • words connected with art, amusement, fashion, food: dance, pleasure, lace, pleat, supper, appetite, beauty, figure, etc.

During the seventeenth century there was a change in the character of the borrowed words. From French, English has taken lots of words to do with cooking, the arts, and a more sophisticated lifestyle in general (chic, prestige, leisure, repertoire, resume, cartoon, critique, cuisine, chauffeur, questionnaire, coup, elite, avant-garde, bidet, detente, entourage).

In addition to independent words, English borrowed from Greek, Latin, and French a number of word parts for use as affixes and roots, for example prefixes like поп-, de-, anti- that may appear in hundreds of different words.

English has continued to borrow words from French right down to the present, with the result that over a third of modern English vocabulary derives from French.

Scandinavian Borrowings are connected with the Scandinavian Conquest of the British Isles, which took place at the end of the 8th century. Scandinavians belonged to the same group of peoples as Englishmen and the two languages were similar.

The impact of Old Norwegian on the English language is hard to evaluate. Nine hundred words — for example, take, leg, hit, skin, same — are of Scandinavian origin. There are probably hundreds more we cannot account for definitely, and in the old territory of the Danelaw in Northern England words like beck (stream) and garth (yard) survive in regional use. Words beginning with sk like sky are Norse (the Danes — also called Norsemen — conquered northern France, and finally England).

In many cases Scandinavian borrowings stood alongside their English equivalents. The Scandinavian skirt originally meant the same as the English shirt. The Norse deyja (to die) joined its Anglo-Saxon synonym, the English steorfa (which ends up as starve). Other synonyms include: wish and want, craft and skill, rear and raise.

However, many words were borrowed into English, e.g. cake, egg, kid, window, ill, happy, ugly, to call, to give, to get, etc. Pronouns and pronominal forms were also borrowed from Scandinavian: same, both, though, they, them, their.

In the modern period, English has borrowed from every important language in the world

Over 120 languages are on record as sources of the English vocabulary. From Japanese come karate, judo, hara-kiri, kimono, and tycoon; from Arabic, algebra, algorithm, fakir, giraffe, sultan, harem, mattress; from Turkish, yogurt, kiosk, tulip; from Farsi, caravan, shawl, bazaar, sherbet; from Eskimo, kayak, igloo, anorak; from Yiddish, goy, knish, latke, schmuck; from Hindi, thug, punch, shampoo; from Amerindian languages, toboggan, wigwam, Chicago, Missouri, opossum. From Italian come words connected with music and the plastic arts, such as piano, alto, incognito, bravo, ballerina, as well as motto, casino, mafia, artichoke, etc. German expressions in English have been coined either by tourists bringing back words for new things they saw or by philosophers or historians describing German concepts or experiences (kindergarten, blitz, hamburger, pretzel, delicatessen, poodle, waltz, seminar). The borrowings from other languages usually relate to things, which English speakers experienced for the first time abroad (Portuguese: marmalade, cobra; Spanish: junta, siesta, patio, mosquito, comrade, tornado, banana, guitar, marijuana, vigilante; Dutch: dock, leak, pump, yacht, easel, cruise, cole slaw, smuggle, gin, cookie, boom; Finnish: sauna; Russian: bistro, szar, balalaika, tundra, robot).

Although borrowing has been a very rich source of new words in English, it is noteworthy that loan words are least common among the most frequently used vocabulary items.

Most of the borrowed words at once undergo the process of assimilation. Assimilation of borrowed words is their adaptation to the system of the receiving language in pronunciation, in grammar and in spelling. There are completely assimilated borrowings that correspond to all the standards of the language (travel, sport, street), partially assimilated words (taiga, phenomena, police) and unassimilated words (coup d'état, tête-à-tête, ennui, éclat).

Borrowed words can be classified according to the aspect which is borrowed. We can subdivide all borrowings into the following groups:

  • phonetic borrowings (table, chair, people);

  • translation loans (Gospel, pipe of peace, masterpiece);

  • semantic borrowings (pioneer);

  • morphemic borrowings (beautiful, uncomfortable).

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