6. Development of the English Vocabulary from the 12th to the 19th centuries.

According to the estimates made by modern philologists, in the course of the thousand years – from Old English to modern times – the English vocabulary has multiplied tenfold. Perhaps, the figure would be much higher, if it were possible to count all the meanings expressed by lexical items in different historical periods.

Among the changes in the vocabulary we can distinguish losses of words or their meanings, replacements and additions. Like many other lexical changes losses were connected with events in external history: with the changing conditions of life and the obsolescence of many medieval concepts and customs. Some regulations and institutions of Old English kingdoms were cancelled or forgotten in the Middle English period. Old English were ld was a fine paid by the murderer to the family of the murdered man. The word became obsolete together with the custom. Some rituals of the heathen religion were abandoned – after the introduction of Christianity – and their names dropped out of use: Old English tiber, blōt which meant "sacrifice". In Old English there were many groups of synonyms the differentiation of which became irrelevant in Middle English. Therefore some of the synonyms fell out of use: Old English here, fierd, weord indicated an armed force, an army. The distinction between the synonyms was lost when they were all replaced by the Middle borrowings from French army, troop.

The English vocabulary suffered considerable losses when a whole stylistic stratum of words, the specific Old English vocabulary, went out of use together with the genre of old English poetry. Those were numerous poetic synonyms of ordinary neutral words, stock metaphors and traditional "kennings".

Many words current in Middle English fell out of use and became obsolete in new English: Middle English chapman ("pedlar"), romare (pilgrim to Rome"), outridere ("rider visiting the manors of a monastery"), gypoun ("short jacket").

Losses could also affect the plane of content. Though the word survived, some of its meanings became obsolete. Thus Old English ift had the meaning "price of a wife" connected with one of the early meanings of the verb yfan "give in marriage". (New English "give"). Old English sellan lost the meaning "give" which it could express in Old English alongside "sell". Old English talu meant "number, series" and "story, narrative", while its Middle English and New English descendant tale retained only the latter meanings.

Though losses proper can be illustrated by numerous examples in all periods, they played a less important role in the development of the vocabulary than replacements and additions. It has been calculated that from 80% to 85% of the Old English words went out of use in the succeeding periods. Most of these words were not simply lost. They were replaced by other words of the same or similar meanings. The replacement came as a result of the co-existence and rivalry of synonyms and the ultimate selection of one of the rivals. Thus old English clipian came to be replaced by Middle English callen (New English call); Old English niman was ousted by Middle English taken (New English take). Replacements could also occur in the sphere of content. The word was retained but its meaning was changed or was replaced by a new meaning. Thus Old English drēām meant "joy" but acquired an entirely different meaning, formerly rendered by Old English swefn. The one-to-one replacement did not increase the number of words in the vocabulary. Most replacements, however, belonged to the "split"-type: one item was replaced by two or more, or one meaning differentiated into several meanings. These changes should be classified as additions to the vocabulary.

Additions embrace a large number of vocabulary changes. The sum total of this type of change far offsets the process of obsolescence and decay. Among additions we can find pure innovations, they are entirely new words which did not take the place of any other items but were created to name new things, new ideas and new qualities: Middle English citel "town with a cathedral", duke, duchess, prince – new ranks and titles; New English bourgeois, potato, nylon.

Many additions to the vocabulary were due to the differentiation of synonyms. They co-existence of synonyms did not necessarily result in the ousting of one by the other. Both words, or even several words of close meaning, could survive with certain differences in stylistic connotations, combinability and other features: Old English nēāh, nēār, nēāra survived as Middle English neer (its Middle English synonyms were cloos and adjacent; their New English decendants and synonyms are near, close, adjacent. neighbouring).

The development of new meanings in the existing words extended the vocabulary and led to the growth of polycemy and homonymy: Old English cræft meant "science", "skill", and "strength". In Middle English and in New English craft lost the meaning "science" but acquired new meanings "group of skilled workers, guild" and "vessel".

The sources of new words are usually divided into internal and external. Internal ways of developing the vocabulary were productive in all historical periods. Word-formation and semantic changes were equally prolific in the creation of new words and new meanings. They were exceptionally productive in the periods of rapid vocabulary growth, such as the Renaissance period. The role of external sources in the extension of the English vocabulary is very considerable, perhaps far more so than in most other languages.

It is commonly acknowledged that one of the most drastic features in the English vocabulary is the change in its etymological composition. While the Old English vocabulary was almost entirely Germanic and on the whole was highly resistant to borrowings, the language of later periods absorbed foreign words by the hundred and even made use of foreign word components in word formation. As a result the proportion of Germanic words in the English language has fallen. According to the estimates the native Germanic elements constitute from 30% to 50% of the vocabulary. The other two thirds (or half) come from foreign sources, mainly Romance.

This does not mean, however, that the native element in English is insignificant or that over half of all the words are direct borrowings. The importance of the surviving native words is borne out by the fact that they belong to the most frequent layer of words, and that native components are widely used in word-building, in word-phrases and phraseological units.

It should also be realized that the foreign origin of a morpheme does not mean that every word containing this morpheme is a borrowing. When the loan-words were assimilated by the language – which happened some time after their adoption – they could yield other words through word-formation or develop new meanings on British soil. These new items are specifically English words and meanings and are, therefore, as 'native' as the Germanic heritage. For instance, the foreign root pass (from French passer) is used in numerous composite verbs ("verb-adverb combinations") like pass away, pass by, pass for, pass through; in phraseological units like pass by the name of, pass a remark, pass the ball; in derived and compound words like passer by, passing, passbook. All these words and phrases originated in the English language and cannot be treated as borrowings, though they contain the foreign component pass.

The influx of borrowings was directly dependent on the linguistic situation in the country, on the extent of bilingualism in the community, and on the position and role of the foreign language. The linguistic situation in Middle English was most favourable for strong foreign influence – first Scandinavian, then French. Foreign words were adopted in large numbers in the succeeding periods as well and their sourced became more diverse. English freely borrowed both from classical and modern sources though at no other time the immediate effect of foreign impact was as manifest as in Middle English.

The growth of the English vocabulary from internal sources – through word formation and semantic changes – can be observed in all periods of history. Internal sources of vocabulary growth may have become relatively less important in Middle English, when hundreds of foreign words (especially French) entered the language.

In the 15^th and the 16^th centuries the role of internal sources of the replenishment of the vocabulary became more important though the influx of borrowings from other languages continued. Word-formation fell into two types: word derivation and word composition.

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