1. Etymological survey of the English vocabulary

Etymology is the branch of linguistics that studies the origin of words. The Eng.lang.—unique

Vocabulary: Native w-s 25-30% Borrowings 70%

W-s of native origin w. Inherited From Indo-European parent language. A native w-d—a w-d which belongs to the original English stock, as known from the earliest available manuscripts of the OE period. The native w-s are subdivided by diachronic linguists into : a) those of the I-E stock (having cognates in the vocabularies of different I-E languages) & b) those of Common Germanic origin (having cognates in Germ., Goth., Swed., Norw., Dutch, but not in Fr., Rus., Lat.). English proper elem-s - are specifically eng. Ws having no cognates in other lang-s (boy, lady, lord, bird, child)

I-E element—the oldest layer—falls into semantic groups:

a) terms of kinship: father, mother, son, daughter, sister, brother (cousin, aunt, uncle — French)

b) elements of nature: sun, star, stone, hill, moon, wind, water, tree, wood;

c) animals: cat, wolf, mouse, crow, bull, cow, goose, fish;

d) parts of human body: heart, arm, ear, back, foot, nose, lip, knee, tongue;

e) basic verbs: do, eat, sleep, go, come, sit, stand, bear, know;

f) basic physical properties & colours: hard, light, quick, thin, thick, slow, cold, white, red;

g) auxilary, modal verbs: can, must, may, shall, will;

h) pronouns: personal (they—Scand.), demonstrative;

i) numerals: 1-100 (except 9)

W-s ~ belong to Germ. word-stock — more numerous. nouns: winter, ground, bridge, house, room, hat, shirt, hope, life,

verbs: hear, forget, follow, live, make, send, sing, shake, burn, bake, keep, meet, rise, learn, buy, drive, see;

adjectives: dead, deaf, dear, deep, heavy, sharp, soft, broad;

pronouns: all, each

Features characteristic of native w-s :

1) have comparatively simple morphol. str.;

2) possess stability;

3) high frequency value;

4) plurality of meanings;

5) a great role in w-d-formation;

6) combinative power in Phraseology

watch — (6): to watch one’s step, to keep watch, watchful as a hawk

(1): наблюдать, следить, быть осторожным, дежурить, караулить, охранять, выжидать

finger — палец, стрелка (часов), указатель (на шкале)

(6): not to move a finger, with a wet finger, to have a finger in smth.

Borrowing— a w-d taken from another lang-ge & modified in phonemic shape, spelling, paradigm or meaning according to the standards of the Eng. lang-ge.

The part played by borrowings in the voc-ry of a lang-ge depends upon the history of each given lang-ge : the Roman invasion, the introduction of Christianity, the Danish & Norman conquests, the British colonial expansion, technical revolution, I, II World Wars, rapid industrialization.

The early inhabitants of the Br. Isles were numerous Germ. tribes (barbarians), they gained a considerable № of new Latin w-s, taken from Romans. Germ. tribes learned how to make cheese, butter, how to grow fruits & vegetables: cherry, pear, plum, pea, beet, pepper, plant + cup, mill, wine, port—all these w-s became the earliest group of b/wings.

5c.A.D.[΄ænəu΄dominai]—Through their numerous contacts with the defeated Celts, the conquerors learned & assimilated a № of Celtic w-s—names of places, rivers: Avon, Dover, Exe, Esk, Usk, Ux. THAMES; LONDON < Celt. Llyn (another Celt. W-d for “river”) + dun (“fortified hill”)—“fortress on the hill over the river”.

7 c.A.D.— christianization of England—a new period of Latin borrowings—not from spoken Latin, but church Latin: priest, monk, nun, candle, abbot, altar, angel, deacon, organ, pope, psalm. CHURCH & BISHOP were borrowed earlier; SCHOOL < Lat. schola <Gr. origin.

The end of the 8 c.- the mid. of the 10 c. A.D.—Scandinavian invasions.

1066—the last successful invasion took place—Duke William of Normandy defeated the English. At that time there were 3 lang-s on the territory of England: Latin (churches, uni-s, schools), Norman Fr (the nobility), Anglo-Saxon (common people). Reign, crown, king, queen, parliament, Beef, mutton, pork. Till the 14 c.—French—state lang-e.

the Renaissance Period—the development in science, art, culture, revival of interest in the ancient civilization of Greece & Rome & their lang-s → Lat. & Greek bor-s. sciences, theatre (drama, actor, genre)

Colonial expantion led to oriental b/ws: sherbet, giraffe, zebra, shah

German & Russian contribution to the voc-ry is very modest. Reasons: military policy of Germany & post-October Soviet government with its communist influence. The first bor-ed w-s from Russia (under Ivan the Terrible): honey, linen, timber, sable. Later: pelmeni, perestroika, lunochod, rouble, valenki.

So, the etymological structure of English voc-ry m.b. introduced as:

The Native element The Borrowed element

I. Indo-European element I. Celtic (5-6 c. A.D.)

II. Germanic element II. Latin (1c.B.C.; 7c.A.D.; the Renaissance per.)

III. English Proper element III. Scandinavian (8-11c.A.D.)

IV. French (Norman-11-13c.A.D. Parisian-Renaissance)

V. Greek (Renaissance) VIII. German

VI. Italian (Renaissance & later) IX. Oriental

VII. Spanish (Ren-ce & later) X. Russian

The words taken from another languages were adopted. Assimilation m.b. different.

I. Phonetic assimilation—substitution of native sounds for foreign ones (unknown, strange for the English ear)—has the lasting nature.

The Norman French has for a long time been fully adapted to the phonetic system of E.: table, plate, courage, chivalry. Some of the later Parisian bor-ngs still sound surprisingly French: regime, valise, matinee, cafe, ballet—phon. assim. isn’t completed. The long [e], [ε] in the end of w-s → [ei]; transfer of the stress to the 1^st syllable: honour, reason.

II. Grammatical ass-n—a w-d taken from another lang-ge loses its previous grammatic. Categories & paradigms & gets new ones in accordance with grammatic norms of the target lang-ge.

Rus. “спутник”: 6 cases → E. Sg.sputnic, sputnic’s; Pl.sputnics, sputnics’

2 forms of plurality: vacuum—vacua, vacuums virtuoso (It.)—virtuosi, virtuosos

III. Semantic ass-n—adjustment to the system of meanings of the voc-ry.

A loan w-d never brings into the receiving lang-ge the whole of its semantic structure if it is polysemantic in the original lang-e. The bor-ed variants are for the most part changed & specialized in the new system.

sport < Ofr (pleasure, entertainments in general) → ME in this character, but gradually acquired the additional mean. Of outdoor games & exercises, & in this new mean. w. bor-ed into many European lang-s & became international.

сargo < Sp. (highly polysemantic) > 1 mean. (груз на корабле)

Specialization is primarily due to the fact that the receiving system has at its disposal w-s for the older notions, & it is only the new notion that needs a new name: hangar (постройка для самолётов) < Fr. (укрытие)

revue (вид театрального развлечения) < Fr. (обзор, обозрение)

According to the degree of assimilation we distinguish:

1) completely assimilated loan w-s

2) partially assimilated loan w-s

3) non-assimilated (barbarisms)

(1) follow all morphological, phonetical, orthographical standards of English. Their phonetical characteristics don’t reveal their nature: sport & start—by the sound you can’t say what is native & what is bor-ed—phonetically indistinguished.

~older bor-ngs : the earliest Lat. bor-s, Scandinavian, French.

~ very frequent, stylistically neutral, may occur as dominant w-s in synonymic groups; take an active part in w-d-formation; are morphologically analysable, therefore they supply the E. voc-ry both with free forms & bound forms, as affixes are easily separated in series of loan w-s that contain them; e.g., Fr. –age, -ance, -ess, -fy, -ment provide material to produce hybrids: shortage, goddess, speechify & etc.

Free forms + native aff : painful, painfully, pained, painless

pain < Fr. peine < Lat. poena < Gr. poine (penalty)

The № of completely ass-ed w-s is many times greater than the № of partially ass-ed.

(2) partially: aren’t ass-ed:

a) semantically—denote objects, notions specific to the country from ~ they are taken : sari, sombrero, shah, rajah, sheik, bei, toreador, sherbet (arab.), pelmeni, valenki, raviolli, domino.

b) grammatically—retain their original grammatical forms : phenomenon – phenomena, sanatorium – sanatoria.

c) phonetically—w. bor-ed after the 17^th c. : police, machine, bourgeois, protege, boulevard, prestige, regime

d) graphically—are mainly of the French origin : restaurant, corps, bouquet, ballet, cliche.

(3) aren’t ass-ed in any way & possess the correspondent Eng. equivalents : ciao, addio, Führer, Wehrmacht, bons vivant [bo:η vivaη] – прожигатель жизни, Lat.Vita brevis est

unass-ed french w-s are called gallicisms. Their № in E. is approximately 2239, but every day new w-s enter the lang-e : Cherchez la femme, hors d’euvre [ֽo: ΄də:v], Ce la vi - used by press, journalists, high level society.

Reasons for borrowing:

1) historic development of people;

2) to fill a gap in voc-ry—there were no w-s, denoting new objects, notions;

3) a new w-d represents the same concept in some new aspect, supplies a new shade of meaning or a different emotional colouring → enlarges groups of synonyms & enriches the expressive resources of the voc-ry: Lat. cordial + nat. friendly, Fr. desire + nat. wish, Lat. admire, Fr. adore + nat. like, love.

accidental bor-gs ≠ b/wns that took root due to semantic adaptation (Fr. large)

Etymological doublets — 2/> w-s of the same lang-e, derived from the same basic w-d by different ways & differing to a certain degree in form , meaning & current usage. discus (L.) gave rise to disc & dish, sir (Fr.) > senior (L.) & sir (E.) raid & road shirt & skirt screech & shriek scabby & shabby

etymological triplets: hospital-hostel-hotel

International w-s—w-s of identical origin that occur in several lang-es as a result of simultaneous or successive bor-gs from one ultimate source. The w-d is bor-ed by several lang-es. These w-s are especially important in terminology of politics (persona non grata), art (sonata), industry, science (amper, Volt); comparatively new w-s : computer, genetic code, algorythm, mikrofield, byonics, antenna. There are some international w-s long ago firmly established in the lang-e: time, minute, second, opera, professor, club, sport, bar, jazz, cowboy.