lexicology / 32-33

32

both morphologically, phonetically and lexically.

Later on the word was borrowed again to form the Modern English word ''disk'. This time the assimilation was less complete. The word lost the ending '-lis' and developed plurality of meaning. ‘Disk’ may have the following meanings: a) thin circular plate (e.g. coin), b) round flat surface, c) round flattened part in body, plant, etc. It may be a component of the following word combinations: disk flower, floppy disk hard disk magnetic disc, sun disk etc.

Finally, still later on, the word was borrowed again to form the word 'discus' - a special term in sport (a disk that is hurled for distance as a track-and-field event). This time it attained the lowest degree of assimilation; it has a rather limited sphere of usage (a sports term).

Etymological doublets have some semantic common component due to their common etymology.

e.g. legal - loyal (from Lat 'lex' - law)

codex - code (from Lat 'codex' trunk of a tree (document formed originally from wooden tablet) decimal - dime (from Lat. 'decem'- ten)

thesaurus treasure (from Gr. 'the sauros' - treasure, collection) There are three, four and even five doublet variants. The examples of triplets are quite common, e.g. cattle - chattel - capital

fancy -fantasy phantasy

momentum - moment movement Four variants may also occur.

e.g. root - radish - radix race (people belonging to the same stock) ward - wary - ware aware (from Old English 'weard' - act of watching)

Five variants are rather rare.

e.g. hospital - hostel hotel - spital (an institution for those with

contagious diseases) - hospice (hospital supplying the physical

and emotional needs of the terminally ill) The main groups of etymological doublets arc: Scandinavian-English, Latin-French, and native.

Scandinavian-English doublets arc words which developed from a common Germanic root, e.g. skirt - shirt

screech - shriek

scabby - shabby

scatter - shatter

Very often these doublets are characterized by a regular variations of 'sk/sc' and ‘sh’

Latin - French doublets have several categories.

1. words borrowed twice: gentle - genteel, dragon - dragoon;

2. words borrowed straight from Latin and borrowed through French: abbreviate abridge, compute - count, blaspheme - blame, memory -memoir, separate - sever, secure - sure;

c) words borrowed through different dialects of French (usually through Norman French and the Parisian dialect). For example, the Latin word caballus (horse) has given cavalry through Norman French and chivalry through the Parisian dialect.

Other examples:

canal - channel (from Lat. ‘canalis' -pipe, channel)

castle chateau (from Lat. ‘castellum' - fortress, castle)

captain - chieftain (from Lat. ‘capitaneus' chief)

cattle - chattel (from Lat. 'capitalis' head)

Some etymological doublets developed from different dialects of English.

e.g. shade -shadow. dike - ditch

lake - loch

Etymological doublets may be a result of shortening.

e.g. defence -fence history story-whole hale fantasy -fancy

The last group includes miscellaneous doublets. Coming from varied sources these doublets sometimes offer some curious phenomena.

For example, banjo and mandolin are names for related musical instruments. Both come from the Greek pandoura, one through Italian and French in the form mandoline (Fr. mandoline; It. mandolino, diminutive of mandola, which is a corruption of bandora); the word banjo is a Negro corruption of bandore.

The following are the pairs of synonymous doublets:

balm balsam; gaol –jail; renew - renovate; screech - scream

3.8. International Words

International words arc words of identical origin occurring in several languages, which denote identical concepts and are similar in sound complex.