9 Etymological doublets

Sometimes a word is borrowed twice from the same language. As the result, we have two different words with different spellings and meanings but historically they come back to one and the same word. Such words are called etymological doublets. In English there are some groups of them:

Latino-French doublets.

Latin English from Latin English from French

uncia inch ounce

moneta mint money

camera camera chamber

Franco-French doublets doublets borrowed from different dialects of French.

Norman Paris

canal channel

captain chieftain

catch chaise

Scandinavian-English doublets

Scandinavian English

skirt shirt

scabby shabby

There are also etymological doublets which were borrowed from the same language during different historical periods, such as French doublets: gentil - любезный, благородный, etymological doublets are: gentle - мягкий, вежливый and genteel - благородный. From the French word gallant etymological doublets are: ‘gallant - храбрый and ga’llant - галантный, внимательный. Sometimes etymological doublets are the result of borrowing different grammatical forms of the same word, e.g. the Comparative degree of Latin «super» was «superior» which was borrowed into English with the meaning «high in some quality or rank». The Superlative degree (Latin «supremus») in English «supreme» with the meaning «outstanding», «prominent». So «superior» and «supreme» are etymological doublets.

Etymological triplets (i. e. groups of three words of common root) occur rarer, but here are at least two ex­amples: “hospital” (Lat.) — “hostel” (Norm. Fr.) — “hot el” (Par. Fr.), “to capture” (Lat.) — “to catch” (Norm. Fr.) — “to chase” (Par. Fr.).

International Words

It is often the case that a word is borrowed by several languages, not just by one. Such words usually convey concepts, which are significant in the field of communication. They are called international. Many of them are of Latin and Greek origin. Most names of sciences are international (e. g. philosophy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, linguistics, lexicology). There are also numerous terms of art in this group: music, theatre, drama, tragedy, comedy, artist, primadonna, etc.; and the sports terms: football, volley-ball, baseball, hockey, cricket, rugby, tennis, golf, etc. It is quite natural that political terms frequently oc­cur in the international group of borrowings: politics, policy, revolution, progress, democracy, communism, anti-militarism. 20^th century scientific and technological advances brought a great number of new international words: atomic, antibiotic, radio, television, sputnik (a Russian borrowing). Fruits and foodstuffs imported from exotic coun­tries often transport their names too and become inter­national: coffee, cocoa, chocolate, banana, mango, avocado, grapefruit.

The similarity of such words as the English “son”, the German “Sohn” and the Russian “сын” should not lead one to the quite false conclusion that they are international words. They represent the Indo-European group of the native element in each respec­tive language and are cognates, i. e. words of the same etymological root, and not borrowings.