Seminar № 2 Genetic composition of Modern English vocabulary

1. Foreign elements in Modern English. Borrowings in English vocabulary.

2. Classification of borrowings.

a) classification of borrowings according to the borrowing aspect.

b) classification of borrowings according to the degree of assimilation.

c) classification of borrowings according to the language from which it was borrowed.

3. Etymological doublets, hybrids.

4. International words.

Literature: [3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 26, 28-30, 34, 36, 37, 46, 47, 52]

Exercises

Ex.1 Mind the following Latin roots. Give words containing these roots:

audio, centum, circus, civilis, lingua, porto, scribe, scriptum, specto, video, visus, vita

Ex.2 Give modern English equivalents of the following abbreviations of Latin origin:

A.D., a.m., d, e.g., etc, i.e., lb, op.cit., p.a., p.m., s, v.v.

Ex.3 From the extract below pick out Latin and Greek borrowings:

He had been put through an immense variety of paces, and had answered volumes of head-breaking questions. Orthography, etymology, syntax and prosody, biography, astronomy, geography and general cosmography, the science of compound proportion, algebra, land-surveying and levelling, vocal music, and drawing from models, were all at the ends of his ten chilled fingers.

Ex.4 In the sentences below find the examples of Scandinavian borrowings. How can they be identified?

1. He went on to say that he was sorry to hear that I had been ill. 2. She was wearing a long blue skirt and a white blouse. 3. Two eyes – eyes like winter windows, glared at him with ruthless impersonality. 4. The sun was high, the sky unclouded, the air warm with a dry fresh breeze. 5. If Eastin were right, Wainwright reasoned, the presence of the husband could tie in with Wainwright’s own theory of an outside accomplice. 6. It’s not such a bad thing to be unsure sometimes. It takes us away from rigid thinking.

Ex.5 Explain the etymology of the following words. Write them out in three columns: a) fully assimilated words; b) partially assimilated words; c) unassimilated words. Explain the reasons for your choice in each case:

pen, hors d’oeuvre, ballet, beet, butter, skin, take, cup, police, distance, monk, garage, phenomenon, wine, large, justice, lesson, criterion, nice, coup d’etat, sequence, gay, port, river, loose, autumn, low, uncle, law, convenient, lunar, experiment, skirt, bishop, regime, eau-de-Cologne.

Ex.6 Compare the meaning of the following etymological doublets. State their origin and translate into Ukrainian:

eatable-edible, naked-nude, nine-noon, bench-bank, name-noun, ward-guard, hale-hail, shabby-scabby, cathedral-chair, chief-chef, hostel-hotel, suit-suite, inch-ounce, canal-channel, card-chart.

Ex.7 From the list below pick up international words, words which have partial equivalents in Ukrainian and false friends of translator:

test, address, objective, pilot, novel, scholar, expertise, coupe, concern, control, object, figure, collection, data, negative, complement, specialization, selection, anonymous, intelligence, decade, faculty, notation, model, license, problem, regular, routine, formalism, concrete, process, minister, journal, expression, order, category, academic, presentation, final, technique