1. Borrowings into proto-West-Germanic

Borrowings from non-Germanic Indo-European (IE) into the proto-West Germanic stock which evolved via Anglo-Frisian to become Old English. It is known that these words had already been borrowed before Old English (OE) appeared as a separate language because they are used, fully integrated, in the entire West Germanic family of languages.

These fully integrated loans are mainly from Celtic and Latin, with Latin loans being the more important. There are very few (2-3) well attested non-Latin loans from this period:

proto-Celtic */ri:k-/ "king" appears in Old English as rice "kingdom". Note: the "*" means the word is a reconstruction.

Gaulish ambactos "servant" appears in Old English as ambeht "servant"

In contrast, the influence of Latin on Old English cannot be overstated. A large fraction of the population -- monks, clerics, and even some laymen must have had some competence in this international language. This does not just start in the Insular period but extends back to the continental origins of the Anglo-Saxons.

During the continental period a number of words were borrowed, most are terms of war, trade, agriculture and household. A few typical examples are:

Old English	Latin
win "wine"	← vinum (← means derived from)
ceap "goods"	← caupo
pund "pound"	← pondo
camp "battle"	← campus
casere "emperor"	← caeser

Wine and vine in English both have the same root – Latin vinum - but were borrowed at different times. What has happened is that between the two borrowings the pronunciation of the Latin changed and this is mirrored in the two loanwords.

2. Latin

Latin influence on Old English during the Insular period is divided into two periods: early settlement (450-600), and post-Christian (650+). Among early loans, during the pagan period, are:

Old English	Latin
stropp "strop"	← stroppus
forca "fork"	← furca
mxZester "master"	← magister.

Later, with the introduction of Christianity, many more words were introduced. Most of these are concerned with Christianity and its institutions.

culpe "guilt"	← culpa
abbod "abbot"
preost "priest"
mxsse "mass"

A few of these words like cirice "church", and bisceop "bishop" may have been in use before Christianisation.

Many more Latin words were borrowed in the tenth century as a result of the Benedictine reformation, and these often gave rise to doublets with earlier forms, like:

Old English	Latin	Older Form
corona "crown"	← corona.	coren
maZister "master"	← magister.	mxZester

Unlike the earlier borrowings, these Latin words were borrowed from written rather than spoken Latin. As a consequence they often retain their original form, and sometimes even their inflexional endings.

Many words with the suffix – arius were borrowed. The suffix was singled out and became one of the most productive suffixes in English. See e.g. writere – “writer”, “scribe”, fiscere – “fisherman”.

There appeared many translation-loans from Latin: e.g.

L	OE	NE
Lunx dies Martis dies Mercuri dies Jovis dies Veneris dies Solis dies	MōnandxZ TīwesdxZ WōdnesdxZ ÞunresdxZ FrīZesdxZ SunnandxZ	Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Sunday	“the day of the Moon” “the day of Tīw” “the day of Woden” “the day of Thunor” “the day of Frīga” “the day of the Sun”

Approx 3% of OE is borrowed from Latin (in modern English roughly 70% of words are borrowed!).

3. Scandinavian

While most of the loanwords from Latin are of a technical nature, or express new concepts (like Christianity), the Scandinavian loanwords that survive into Modern English are mostly everyday words. These must have been borrowed as a result of the Scandinavian settlements in the North and East of the country. However, identification of these is quite difficult because they come from North Germanic languages which are closely related.

Old English is largely known through the writings of tenth and eleventh century scribes, working in the South and West of the country. These scribes would be unlikely to use loanwords that were in use in the Scandinavian settlement area, thus of the 900 attested North Germanic loans into English, only 150 appear in Old English sources. The rest only manifest themselves in the 12th and 13th centuries in Middle English texts even though they must have been around earlier.

The words that do appear – mostly in late texts – are mainly concerned with the administrative and social systems of the Danelaw, for example:

husbonda "householder"

wxpentxc "wapentake" a subdivision of a shire

husting "court, tribunal"

utlaZa "outlaw"

4. Celtic

There are about 12 secure Celtic loans in OE; most of these are from Brythonic (P) Celtic - the dialect group spoken by the larger number of British inhabitants.

They are: binn "bin", bannoc "bit", dunn "dun, grey", broc "badger", bratt "cloak", carr "rock", luh "lake", torr "rock", cumb "deep valley".

A very small number came from Goidelic (q) Celtic, and are associated with the church (apparently borrowed from Irish missionaries):

Old English	Celtic
dry "magician"	← Old Irish drui
ancor "hermit"	← anchara
stær "story"	← stoir

Another word apparently borrowed from Irish missionaries is cros(s) which only appears in place names. The usual OE is rod.

Some place-names are of Celtic origin: e.g.

amhuin “river”	Avon, Evan
wisiZe “water”	Exe, Usk, Esk
kil “church”	Kilbrook, Killiemore
inis “island”	Innisfail
inbher “mountain”	Inverness, Inverurie
cwn “comb”	Duncombe, Batcombe, Eastcombe
loch “lake”	Loch Lomond