Chapter 2 main features of the function of etymological lexis in english and ukrainian

2.1 Classification of the etymological lexis in the English language

As a matter of fact, three languages contributed a great number of words to the English word-stock, they are: Greek, Latin and French. Together they account for much greater number of borrowings than all other languages put together.

Latin borrowings can be subdivided into 4 layers:

1. Early Latin loans when the Germanic tribes, of which the Angles and Saxons formed part, had been in contact with Roman civilization and had adopted several Latin words. These words are typical of the early Roman commercial penetration.

2. In the 6th and 7th cent. due to Christianity – altar, chapter, candle, cross, feast, disciple, creed, etc.

3. The Renaissance and the Norman Conquest in 1066. Many scholars began to translate classical literature into English and as they couldn’t find English word for translation, they took Latin word and transformed it in accordance with the rules. In addition to a great number of Latin words that came into English through French, there are many words taken directly from Latin without change.

4. After the Renaissance up to the present – abstract and scientific words adopted exclusively through writing.

Early Latin loans	6th and 7th century	The Renaissance and the Norman Conquest in 1066	After the Renaissance up to the present
wine (Lat. vinum), disc (discus), pepper (piper), cup (cuppa), kettle (catillus), etc.	To this period belong the names of many articles of foreign production which were brought into England by Romans – marble, chalk, linen,etc.	genius, nucleus, formula, item, maximum, minimum, superior, inferior, prior, senior, junior, etc.	A great many Latin abbreviations usually have English equivalents – e.g. (exempli gratia) – for example, i.e. (id est) – that is to say, etc. (et cetera) – and so on, v.v. (vice versa) – the opposite, a.m. (ante meridiem).

Greek borrowings go back to an early period. In the 7th cent.with the introduction of Christianity such words as church, abbot, episcope, bishop, angel, etc. were borrowed. At the time of Renaissance the borrowing of Greek words began on a large scale. These are mostly bookish borrowings, scientific and technical terms of international currency. Here are some loan-words which linguists owe to Greek: antonym, dialect, etymology, homonym, hyperbole, idiom, lexicology, metaphor, neologism, synonym, polysemy, etc. There are numerous English compounds coined from Greek roots.

The names	Scientific appellation	English compounds coined from Greek roots
Quite a number of proper names are Greek in origin, e.g., George, Helen, Sophie, Peter, Nicholas, etc.	psychoanalysis, psychiatry, physics, philosophy, rhythm, scheme, philology, dialogue, problem, comedy, tragedy, episode, democracy	autos – self, chroma – colour, logos – discourse, phone – voice, telos – at a distance, etc. (autograph, phonograph, telegraph, telephone, telescope).

French borrowings came into English at different times. The Norman Conquest in 1066 resulted in the fact that the important places in the government, at court and in the church were filled by French speaking adherents of the conquerors. It was spoken by the upper classes of English society.

French loans in the English vocabulary may be subdivided into two main groups:

1. Early loans – 12-15th century;

2. Later loans – beginning from the 16th cent.

Early loans	Later loans	Cookery
The early borrowings from French were simple short words: age, arm, cage, car, case, cause, chain, chance, court, crime, etc. The French dominance is particularly felt in the vocabulary of law. E.g., accuse, court, fee, guile, judge, justice, penalty, priviledge.	Many of the terms relating to military matters were adopted from the language of the conquerors: arms, admiral, armour, battle, dragoon, navy, sergeant, soldier, troops, vessel, etc.	There is a predominance of French words in the vocabulary of cookery, such as: boil, jelly, fry, pastry, roast, sauce, soup.

Recent borrowings from French are frequent enough, and often these words carry a French appearance, but their number is far less than the number of borrowings direct from Latin.

Also we can classify the borrowings according to the degree of assimilation. The term “assimilation of borrowings” is used to denote a partial or total conformation to the phonetic, graphical and morphological standards of the receiving language and its semantic system.

The degree of assimilation depends upon the length of period during which the word has been used in the receiving language, upon its importance for communication purpose and its frequency. Oral borrowings due to personal contacts are assimilated more completely and more rapidly than literary borrowings, i.e. borrowings through written speech.

A classification of borrowings according to the degree of assimilation can be very general. There may be suggested three groups of borrowings: completely assimilated, partially assimilated and unassimilated borrowings or barbarisms.

1) Completely assimilated borrowings are found in all the layers of older borrowings. They may belong to the first layer of Latin borrowings, Scandinavian borrowings, French words.

Completely assimilated borrowings follow all morphological, phonetical and orthographic standards. Being very frequent and stylistically neutral, they may occur as dominant words in synonymic groups, they take an active part in word-formation. Such borrowings are indistinguishable phonetically. It’s impossible to say judging by the sound of the words sport and start whether they are borrowed or native.

2) Partially assimilated borrowings can be subdivided into subgroups depending on the aspect that remains unaltered, according to whether the word retains features of spelling, pronunciation, morphology or meaning that are not English. They are:

1. borrowingsot assimilated semantically because they denote objects and notions peculiar to the country from which they come. They may denote foreign clothing, foreign titles and professions, foreign currency;

2. borrowings not assimilated grammatically, e.g. Latin or Greek borrowings which keep their original plural forms;

3. borrowings not completely assimilated phonetically. French words borrowed after 1650 are good examples. Some of them keep the accent on the final syllable (machine, cartoon, police), others, alongside with peculiar stress, contain sounds or combination of sounds that are not standard for English: /ჳ/ – bourgeois regime, sabotage, /wa:/ – memoir. The whole phonetic make-up of the word may be different from the rest of the vocabulary.

4. borrowings not completely assimilated graphically, e.g. French borrowings in which the final consonant is not pronounced; some may keep a diacritic mark.

3) Unassimilated borrowings or barbarisms are words from other languages used by English people in conversation or in writing but not assimilated in any way, and for which are corresponding English equivalents.

Completely assimilated borrowings	Partially assimilated borrowings	Unassimilated borrowings
Latin borrowings (cheese, street, wall, wine), Scandinavian borrowings (husband, fellow, gate, die, take, want, happy, ill, low, wrong), French words (table, chair, face, figure, finish).	Foreign clothing (mantilla, sombrero), foreign titles and professions (rajah, sheik, toreador), foreign currency (krone, rupee, rouble, zloty); (phenomenon – phenomena, criterion – criteria, crisis – crises); Italian and Spanish borrowings – opera, macaroni, tomato, potato, tobacco; French borrowings :ballet, buffet, café, cliché.	Italian “addio, ciao” – good-bye, French “affiche” – placard, “coup d’Etat” – a sudden seizure of state power by a small group.