Etymological structure of english vocabulary

1. Etymology as a branch of linguistics. Some basic assumptions

Etymology is a branch of linguistics investigating the origin and development of separate words and morphemes.

The vocabulary in comparison with grammar and phonetic system is the most changeable and flexible part of any language. It is in the constant process of changing: some words are ousted by others, some words develop new meanings, the words that were formerly frequently used drop out of usage, new words appear.

The vocabulary is the product of several epochs and its development is closely connected with the history of people. English vocabulary at present is one of the richest in the world. According to its origin it can be divided into two large parts: native words and borrowed words.

The native element in the vocabulary of English comprises words of Anglo-Saxon origin brought to the British Isles in the 5-th century A.D. by the Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Here also belong words that were coined later on the basis of these Anglo-Saxon words by means of various processes operative in English.

The borrowed element consists of words taken over from other languages and modified in phonemic shape, spelling, grammatical paradigm and meaning according to the standards of English.

Speaking of borrowed words in the language we should distinguish between the terms “source of borrowing” and “origin of borrowing”. The first term is applied to the language from which the loan word was taken into English. The second refers to the language to which the word may be traced.

If we take the word paper as an example, we shall find out that it was borrowed from French. In its turn, the French word papier was borrowed from Latin. Before that the Latin word papyrus had come to Latin from Greek, where it had the form papyros. So, defining its etymology, we should say that the English noun paper is a French borrowing of Greek origin. In the same way the English noun table is a French borrowing of Latin origin, the noun school is a Latin borrowing of Greek origin.

2. Native words in English

All native words in English can be subdivided in three main groups: Indo-European, Common Germanic and English proper.

2.1. By the Indo-European group of words we understand words containing roots common to all Indo-European languages (Slavonic, Romanic, Germanic, Celtic, Baltic, Iranian, and some others).

Cf.: brother – Bruder (German) – broder (Sweedish) – frater (Latin) – брат

Words of Indo-European origin in English include words denoting elementary notions without which no human communication would be possible. We may present them as belonging to the following semantic groups:

1. terms of kinship – father, mother, son, daughter, bother;

2. parts of the human body: arm, ear, eye, foot, heart, lip, nose;

3. names of animals, birds and plants: bull, cow, swine, goose, wolf, cat, crow, tree, birch, corn;

4. words denoting some important phenomena of nature: sun, moon, star, wind, water, wood, hill, stone;

5. times of day: day, night;

6. numerals from 1 to a 100;

7. adjectives denoting concrete physical properties: hard, quick, slow, red, new;

8. some most frequently used verbs: be, stand, sit, come, eat, know.

2.2. By the Germanic group of words we understand words having parallels in all the Germanic languages (English, German, Norwegian, Dutch, Icelandic, Sweedish, Danish and others).

This group comprises nouns denoting:

1. seasons: summer, winter, spring;

2. natural phenomena: storm, rain, ice, frost;

3. human dwellings and furniture: house, room, bench;

4. parts of the human body: hand, ankle, head, finger, bone;

5. animals and plants: bear, fox, calf, oak, fir, grass;

6. some adjectives: broad, dead, dear, grey, blue, green, white, little, soft, thick, high, old, good;

7. some verbs: bake, burn, buy, drink, give, hear, keep, learn, make, rise, say, speak, see, send, sing, shoot.

Together with words of Indo-European origin these Germanic words form the bulk of the most frequent elements used in any style of speech. They constitute no less than 80 % of the 500 most frequent words listed by E.L.Thorndike and I.Lorge in “The Teacher’s Word-Book of 30,000 Words” (N.Y., 1944).

2.3. The English Proper group consists of words which appeared on the British soil after the 5^th century A.D. and which have no cognates in other languages. Britain before that time was inhabited by different Celtic tribes which in the 1^st century B.C. were conquered by Roman troops which stayed on the British Isles till the beginning of the 5^th century. So, if we go back as far as that, we can say that no England existed at that time. Most of Europe was occupied by the Roman Empire. Britain was also part of the Roman Empire up to the beginning of the 5^th century when Roman troops were called away to defend Rome. Then, in the year 449, the Germanic tribe of Jutes, joined later by Saxons and Angles, began to invade the British Isles and establish their settlements there. It was the beginning of the future English nation and its language.

So, words considered to be English Proper, are purely English coinages having no cognates in other languages. Thus, in Old English there were such compound nouns as hlāford, hlāf-diğe, wīfman, dæğes-eağe which gave Modern English words lord, lady, woman, and daisy. Also to English Proper belong the words bird, boy, girl, always.

The history of some of these words is rather interesting: hlāford in Old English meant “keeper of bread”, nowadays lord means “a nobleman of high rank”, girl (in Old English gerle, girle) first meant “a male child”, then “a child of either sex”, then “a female child”, now the meaning is very wide and the word can be used to denote women of all ages (cf. Sally was a good old girl).