3.2. Celtic borrowings

When the Germanic tribes migrated to Britain in the 5^th century A.D. they confronted Celts and waged merciless wars with them. As a result of this the Celts were defeated and they retreated to Scotland, Cornwall, Wales and the peninsula of Brittany, which now belongs to France. The language of Celts dropped out of usage, only some words penetrated into Old English: binn (MnE bin “a receptacle for corn”, рус. ларь), dūn (MnE down “a hill”), dunn (MnE dun “grayish-brownish colour”).

The words cradle “a bed for an infant”, bannock “a round flat loaf” (рус. пресная лепёшка), glen “a narrow valley”, bard “a minstrel, a poet”, druid “a member of the priesthood among the Celts”, loch “lake” (used in Scottish dialects) and some geographical names (Kent, Dover, the rivers Esk and Avon) are also of Celtic origin.

The name of the British capital London originates from the Celtic compound noun Llyndūn meaning “a fortress on the hill over the river” (Celtic llyn, “a river” + dūn, “a fortified hill”).

3.3. Scandinavian borrowings

The period between the 8^th and the 11^th centuries was marked by several invasions of Scandinavian Vikings who founded extensive settlements in the North and North-East of Britain. In the course of nearly 300 years half of England was overrun by the invaders. Naturally, Scandinavian ways and people left an important mark on the land. As both the languages belonged to the Germanic group and were closely related the process of borrowing went very easily.

The borrowings were simple words of everyday use. The borrowed nouns are: sky, law, husband, skin, wing, anger, egg, window, fellow, gate, seat; adjectives: low, ill, ugly, weak, loose, odd, wrong, happy; verbs: cast, die, hit, lift, call, take, want. Some pronouns were borrowed: they, them, their (instead of OE hie, him, hiera), both and same and one preposition – till.

Some of the Scandinavian borrowings can be distinguished by the initial sound cluster [sk]: sky, skill, skin, skirt, ski, skull. Another distinctive feature is the sound [g] before front vowels: give, get.

Borrowing from Scandinavian continued till the middle of the 11^th century when another invasion took place in the history of English people.

3.4. French borrowings

This time the whole of the country was conquered by the Normans. After winning in the year of 1066 the battle of Hastings and defeating the English troops the duke of Normandy William, who later came to be called William the Conqueror, became King of England.

The Norman Conquest influenced the life of English people and their language more than any other event in their history. For more than two centuries England became a bilingual country. Norman French gradually began to be used in all governmental offices, in the court, in the church, in the army, at school. Much of the literature was written in French, translated from French, or strongly influenced by French models. All the key positions in government were held by the Normans and those Anglo-Saxon lords who stayed alive after the conquest had to adjust themselves to the French ways of life if they wanted to remain part of the ruling class.

English came to be used only in the speech of poor townsfolk, craftsmen and peasants. But, nevertheless, the poor people formed the majority of the population and in the 13^th and 14^th centuries the practice of English was re-established and French began to be gradually ousted from schools, courts of justice, governmental institutions and everyday communication. But the English language was replenished by a great number of French words.

All French borrowings of the Norman dialect can be arranged according to several semantic groups:

1. administrative words: state, government, parliament, chancellor, council, power, country, county, nation, people;

2. legal terms: court, judge, justice, jury, crime, prison, to accuse, to plead, damage, fraud, slander, attorney, solicitor;

3. military terms: army, war, soldier, officer, enemy, battle, peace, regiment, retreat, victory, defence, sergeant, lieutenant, captain,general;

4. educational terms: pupil, lesson, library, science, pen, pencil;

5. titles and words denoting some feudal relations: duke, duchess, baron, baroness, count, countess, prince, princess, sir, madam, peasant, servant, manor;

6. religious terms: religion, clergy, parish, prayer, sermon, abbey, saint, vice, virtue, parson, chapel;

7. art and crafts: art, colour, ornament, temple, palace, chamber, architecture, literature, prose, story, volume, chapter, poet, choir, design, tower, arch, aisle, butcher, carpenter, tailor, painter;

8. medical terms: medicine, malady, poison, diet;

9. terms of kinship: aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, cousin;

10. numerous words denoting objects and notions of everyday life: table, chair, plate, saucer, money, market, leisure, pleasure, journey, dinner, supper, dress, costume, luxury, comfort, jewels, river, autumn, large, clear, to use, to turn, to catch, to cry, to cover, to boil, to fry, to dance and lots of others.

Norman French ceased to be used in Britain in the second half of the 14^th century, though already in the 13^th century it was only an official language used in governmental institutions but not in everyday communication.

Borrowings from French of the later period, after the 14^th century, came already from another dialect – Parisian French. Especially numerous was the flow of French borrowings in the second half of the 17^th, first half of the 18^th centuries. Unlike Norman French words, Parisian French borrowings were the result of cultural ties, political and trade relations. The characteristic feature of loan words of this period is the preservation of French spelling, pronunciation, stress on the final syllable: memoir, bourgeois, camouflage, regime, police, mirage, bomb, marine, ballet, corps, grotesque, machine, technique, campaign, routine, etc.