ГОС_1 / Lexicology / Lecture3 / Etymological doublets

Etymological doublets & international words in English.

Among borrowed words in English, we find – international words – words, which come from the same source & are found in many different lang-ges at a given period of time. They express notions, belonging to science, technology, culture politics & everyday life.

e.g. motor (Latin), kimano (Japan), coffee (Turkey) & etc.

Many international words were constructed from Latin & Greek elements nowadays: telephone, television, aerodrom, etc. Such words are called pseudo classical words. International words that come from English are: football, out, club, tweed etc. International words of Russian origin in English are: tsar, rouble, vodka, sputnik etc.

Etymological doublets are 2 or more words of the same lang-ge, derived originally from the same route, but having entered the vocabulary at different periods of time, or from different sources. They are different in form & often different in meaning, forex: (Fr)

prize ← Pris → price

↓

to praise

Among groups of etymological doublets, the most important are:

1. doublets from different lang-ges:

• English & Scandinavian, respectively: shirt (E), skirt (Sc), shabby (E), skabby(Sc);

• English & Latin: eatably (E.) – edible (L.), nakid (En.) – nude (L.);

• English & French: word (En.) – verb (Fr.);

• Latin & French: senior (L.) – sir (Fr.), canal – channel; captain – chietton.

doublets from different periods of the same lang-ge:

• Norman French: card, corpse. Perisian French – chart, corps;

• Earlier Latin (camp) – Later Latin (campus).

3. doublets from different changes within English itself:

• Loss of initial syllable: history – story; example –sample; accute – cute; adventure- venture;

• Vowel interchange: shade – shed, mode – mood, snob – snub.

Etymological thriplets occur very rare in the lang-ge: (L.) hospital, (N-Fr) hostel, (Perisian-Fr) hotel, (L) to capture, (N-Fr) to catch, (Per-Fr) to chase.

Hybrids or morphological borrowings – these are derivatives or compound words, which consist of morphemes, originating from different lang-ges.

e.g. violinist (Italian+Greek), unmistakable (E.+E.+Sc.+Fr), blameless (Fr.+E.)