13.Особенности лексической системы древнеанглийского языка

The O.E. vocabulary was almost purely Germanic accept for a small number of borrowings. It consisted of native words, inherited of P.G. or formed of native root or affixes.

Native words

Native words can be subdivided into a number of etymological layers coming from different historical periods: 3 main layers in the native O.E. words are: common in the European words, common Germ. Words; specifically O.E. words. Words belonging to the common European layer constitute the oldest part of the English vocabulary. They go back to the days of the Indo-European parent languages. They wore inherited by Proto-Germanic and past to the Germanic languages of various subgroups including English. Among these words we find of some natural phenomena, plants & animals, agriculture terms, names of part of the human body, terms of kinship, etc.

Verbs belonging to this layer denote the basic activities of man. Adj. indicate the most essential qualities. This layer includes personal & demonstrative pronouns & most numerals.

O.E. N.E.

eolh elk-лось

modor mother

mere sea

sunu sun

mõna moon

dõn do

Some words of this oldest layer are not shared by all groups of the Indo-European family but are found only in certain areas. The common germ.layer includes words which are shared by most Germ. Languages. But don’t occur outside the group. This layer is certainly small than the layer of commonly European words. Semantically this words are сonnected with nature, sea, everyday life.

O.E. N.E.

hand hand

eorpe earth

sand sand

findan find

screap shap

macian make

The 3rd etymological layer of native words can be defined as specifically old E that is words which do not occur other Germanic or non-germ. languages. These words are feminine.

O.E. N.E.

clipian call

brid bird

31. Verbs

Many makers of the grammatical forms of the verbs were reduced, leveled and lost in M.E. Number distinctions were not only preserved in M.E. but even became more consistent and regular but towards the end of the period they were neutralized in most positions. The differences in the forms of tended was preserved in the verb paradigm through all historical periods. As before past tense was shown with the help of dental suffix in weak verbs and with the help of the rute vowel interchange in the strong verbs. The system of verbals in O.E. consisted of the infinitive & 2 participles. The main trend of their evolution in M.E. can be defined as gradual loss of most features and growth of verbal features. The infinitive lost its inflected form (so called dative case) in Early M.E. The preposition to which was placed in O.E. before the inflected infinitive to show direction or purpose lost its prepositional force and changed into a formal sign of the infinitive. The distinction between 2 participles were preserved in M.E. Participle 1 had an active meaning and expressed a process or quality simultaneous with the events described by the predicate of the sentence. Participle 2 had an active or passive meaning depending on the transitivity of the verb & expressed a preceding action or its result in the subsicuent situation.

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