4.7.3. Greek loanwords

Greek loanwords are mostly terminological. Many of them came into the English language through either Latin or French. They denote:

(1) names of most sciences, e.g.

mathematics, physics, psychiatry, botany, lexicology, etc.;

2. special terms, e.g.

synonym, antonym, homonym, metaphor, metonimy, neologism, archaism, etc.;

3. social classes, political movements, state systems e.g.

aristocracy, anarchy, democracy, etc.

There are many compounds in English and other languages that have never existed in Greek, but have been coined from Greek morphemes: telephone, telegraph, telescope, microscope, etc.

English possesses a number of Greek doublets, such as fancy and phantasy, diamond and adamant, blame and blaspheme.

4.7.4. French Loanwords

The influx of French borrowings has continued all through the NE period. In most cases, these new loanwords differ from previous French borrowings in their pronunciation and spelling. Compare the words «village» and «mirage» borrowed in ME and NE periods respectively. In the former, the stress is on the 1-st syllable, according to English accentuation, in the latter the stress is on the last syllable: [′viliʤ] [mi′rα׃ʒ]. In the word «village», the letter «g» represents the typically English sound [ʤ], in «mirage» «g» represents the characteristically French sound [ʒ].

Thus, «village» has been completely assimilated, while «mirage» has preserved its alien pronunciation.

The words liqueur [li′kjuə], coiffeur [kwα׃′fə:], bourgeois [′buəʒwα׃], chamois [′æmwα׃], chemise [i′mi:z], machine [mə′ i:n], chateau [α׃′tou], beau [bou], regime [rei′ʒi:m], trait [trei] can be easily identified as NE loanwords by their peculiarities of spelling and pronunciation.

In the words «chamois, chemise, machine, chateau» the digraph «ch» is read as [] as in Modern French. Final «s» and «t» are silent in the words chamois, bourgeois, trait as in French.

In the words beau, chateau the French trigraph –eau has preserved its French pronunciation [ou].

French loanwords of the NE period denote (1) things and notions typical of feudal culture, such as ball, ballet [′bælei], billet-doux [′bili′du:] (a love letter), intrigue [in′tri:g]; (2) words of a wider meaning, such as gazette [gə′zet], naïve [nα׃′iv], serenade [seri′neid]

4.7.5. Mixed vocabulary of New English

Mass borrowings resulted in the formation of numerous hybrids.

1. Native roots are widely used with borrowed affixes, e.g. The French prefix re-, denoting repetion of the action, combines with the English root: re-read, re-tell, re-new; The French suffix –able combines with the English root: read-able; The Greek prefix ante- combines with the English root: ante-room.

2. Borrowed roots often go together with native affixes, e.g. The French root combines with native suffixes and prefixes: merci-ful, duke-dom, false-hood, use-ful, use-less, under-value.