2. Romanic borrowings in the English vocabulary.

a) Latin borrowings. Among words of Romanic origin borrowed from Latin during the period when the British Isles were a part of the Roman Empire, there are such words as: street, port, wall

Many Latin and Greek words came into English during the Adoption of  Christianity in the 6-th century.

These borrowings are usually called classical borrowings.  Here belong Latin words: alter, cross, dean, and Greek words: church, angel, devil, anthem. Latin and Greek borrowings appeared in English during the Middle English period due to the Great Revival of Learning. These are mostly scientific words because Latin was the language of science at the time.

Classical borrowings continue to appear in Modern English as well. Mostly they are words formed with the help of Latin and Greek morphemes. There are quite a lot of them in medicine (appendicitis), in chemistry (valency), in technique (engine, antenna), in politics (socialism, militarism), names of sciences (zoology, physics).

b)Norman-French borrowings had come into English at different times. The most important historical event which has left a lasting mark on the composition of the English lexicon is the Norman Conquest of Britain in 1066.

The flooding of the English vocabulary with Norman-French words began in the 13-th century and reached very large proportions in the century that followed.

Norman-French loans in the English vocabulary may be subdivided into two main groups: 1) early loans – 12 – 15^th centuries; 2) later loans – beginning from the 16^th century.

Early French loans were thoroughly naturalized in English and made to conform to the rules of English pronunciation. The early borrowings from French were simple short words as distinguished from later introductions.

age, air, arm, bolt, brace, breeze, brush, cage, calm

Examples of the naturalization of French words in English may be given in numbers. A few of them will suffice for illustration: a) words stressed in French on the final syllable are now stressed in English on the first syllable, e.g. capital, danger, final, mercy, probable, etc.; b) words with the long [i:] sound diphtongized into [ai], e.g. design, fine, line, lion, price; c) the long [u:] written ou has become [au], e.g. spouse.

The French dominance is particularly felt in the vocabulary of law. Most words pertaining to law are of French origin, e.g. accuse, attorney, court.

There is a predominance of French words in the vocabulary of cookery.

lunch, dinner, appetite.

Among French borrowings there are also such semantic groups of words: a) words denoting family relations: parent, cousin, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece; b) words relating to fashion: luxury, coat, lace, pleat, embroidery; c) words belonging to jewelry: topaz, emerald, pearl; d) words relating to state government: administer, empire, state, government.

There are the following semantic groups of these borrowings:

1) words relating to literature and music: belle-lettres.

2) words belonging to military affairs: corps, echelon.

4) words relating to food and cooking: ragout, cuisine.

3) words relating to buildings and furniture: entresol.

c) Italian borrowings. Cultural and trade relations between Italy and England brought many Italian words into English. The earliest Italian borrowing came into English in the 14-th century, it was the word bank from the Italian banko – “bench”. Italian was the source of many borrowed words in the English vocabulary at different periods.

In the 17-th century some geological terms were borrowed from Italian into English: volcano, granite, bronze, lava.

Here is a small selection of some of these words with their dates of entry (all dates from the Chronological English Dictionary): adagio , allegretto, andante, bravo. These words traverse the broad landscape of music, occupying numerous subcategories. A few representative examples are these: directions: agitato, grandioso, lentissimo, vivo, vivace; composition: fugue, madrigal, capriccio, concerto, fantasia, intermezzo, opera

To the other arts Italian has contributed words like fresco, tarantella, galleria, cameo and literati. Among the 20-th century Italian borrowings we can mention: gazette, incognito, autostrada, fiasco.

d) Spanish and Portuguese borrowings

Spanish has made one of the major contributions to English vocabulary. Its influence began to be felt in the 16-th century. Early borrowings from Spanish include: armada , guava, hammock, maize, negro, potato.

Some 18-th century loans from the Spanish and Portuguese languages are: adobe (1748), albino.

From these languages the English language also adopted: alligator, barricade, bravado, cannibal, canoe.

From Portuguese English also borrowed such words as: banjo, Madeira, molasses, port (wine), samba.

TAG (tree-adjoining grammar), sound-imitation, derivation, conjunction, paralanguage.

Білет 12. 1. Different classifications of borrowed words in English.