W ord formation in oe

D erivation Word composition (noun, adj-s)

prefixation (verbs, nouns, adj-s) suffixation (noun, adj-s)

The remarkable feature of the OE word – formation was appearance of numerous words formed with the help of several methods:

● un – wis – dom “folly”

un – negative prefix

wis – adj. – stem (wise)

dom – noun – stem turning in to a suffix.

ME vocabulary & E N E vocabulary

From OE to modern times the English vocabulary has changed greatly. The changes were as follows: 1) losses of words; 2) losses of the meanings; 3) replacements; 4) additions.

Losses were due to the external history events: with the changing conditions of life & the obsolence of many medieval concepts & customs.

● Daneƺeld (the tax paid to the Scandinavians);

● werƺeld (a fine paid by the murderer to the family of the murdered man);

● The specific OE poetic vocabulary went out use together with the genre of OE poetry.

Even if the words survived some their meaning became obsolete.

● ƺift (OE) = price of the wife

sellan (OE) = give, sell

talu = number, series, story

From 80 to 85% of OE words were replaced by other words of the same or similar meaning. It was the result of the co-existence & rivalry of synonyms.

● OE clipian > ME callen > NE call

niman > taken > take

ea river

bord table

Sometimes the replacement occured only in the meaning.

● OE dream = joy

OE cniht = boy, servant > ME knight

clerec = clergyman > ME clerk = student > NE secretary in the office.

Additions embraced a great number of vocabulary changes.

New words were created to name new things, ideas, qualities, customs.

● ME citee (town with a cathedral)

duke, duchesse, prynce (new ranks) NE potato, nylon

The development of new meanings in the existing words extended the vocabulary & led to the growth of ‘polysemy & homonymy.

● OE cræft (science, skill, strength) > ME, NE (group of skilled workers giuld vessel).

The souces of new words can be divided into internal & external.

Internal ways included word – formation & semantic changes creating new words & their meanings.

External forces influenced English far more than other languages. While the OE vocabulary was almost Germanic, the Md E vocabulary had only 1/3 Germanic words; the other two thirds came from foreign souces, mainly Romance. But the native element in English is significant because when loan words were assimilated by the languages they could produce new words through word-formation or develop new meanings on British soil. These new items were specifically English words not borrowings.

● French: “passer” > Eng. root “pass” ⇨new words: pass by, pass away, pass through phraseological units: pass the ball, pass a remark.

The linguistic situation in ME was favourable for strong foreing influence: first Scandinavian then French. Later English freely borrowed from classical & modern sources.