Name: ___OANA MOTOHOI ___________________
Final Exam in the History of the English Language
1. Translate into Modern English the following excerpt from “The Peterborough Chronicle”:
Þa Þe king S.(tephene) to Englel.(and) com, Þa macod he his gadering æt Oxeneford and Þar he nam Þe
b.(iscop) Roger of Sereberi, and Alex. b.(iscop) of Lincol, and te canceler Roger, hise neves, and dide ælle
in prisum, til hi iafen up here castles. Þa the suikes under-gæton ðæt he milde man was, and softe, and god,
and na justice ne dide, Þa dide/n/ hi alle wunder. Hi hadden him manred maked and athes suoren, ac hi nan
treuthe ne heolden: alle he wæron for-sworen and here treothes for-leoren; for ævric rice man his castles
makede and agænes him heolden, and fylden Þe land ful of castles. Hi suencten suyðe Þe uurecce men of Þe
land mid castel-weorces.
2. Libr ‘weigh’, ‘balance’ is the source of the abbreviation lb. for ‘pound’. This element is not to
be confused with two others, libr ‘book’ and liber ‘free’. For each of the following words,
decide which of these three elements appears:
a. library
c. equilibrate
e. deliberate
b. liberty
d. Librium
f. liberal
3. Many words used in English are derived from other languages. Look at the pairs of words
below and try to guess which languages they originated from. Choose from the following and
write them next to the correct pair of words. (Not all the languages in the box will be used.)
Afrikaans
Eskimo
Hawaiian
Japanese
Spanish
Arabic
Finnish
Hindi/Indian languages Norwegian
Swedish
Chinese
French
Hungarian
Persian
Tibetan
Czech
German
Icelandic
Portuguese
Turkish
Dutch
Greek
Italian
Russian
Welsh
1. igloo, kayak Eskimo
2.
coach,
paprika
Hungarian
3. cobra, marmalade
Portugese
4. polo, yak Tibetan
5.
commando,
trek
Afrikaans
6. cruise, yacht Dutch
7. bungalow, shampoo
Hindi
8. cosy, ski Norwegian
9. corgi, flannel Welsh
10. algebra, mattress
Arabic
11. avalanche, envelope
French
12.
caravan,
sofa
Persian
13. mammoth, vodka
Russian
14. pistol, robot Czech
15. balcony, lottery
Italian
16.
coffee,
yoghurt
Turkish
17. ketchup, tea Chinese
18. chorus, theory Greek
19. mosquito, sherry
Spanish
20.
judo,
tycoon
Japanese
Name: ___OANA MOTOHOI ___________________
1. When king Stephen landed in England he held his council at Oxford and there he arrested Roger,
bishop of Salisbury, and his 'nephews," Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, and the chancellor Roger. He
put them all in prison until they surrendered their castles. When the traitors saw that Stephen was a
mild, kindly, and easy-going man who inflicted no punishment, then they committed all manner of
horrible crimes. They had done him homage and sworn oaths of fealty to him, but not one of their
oaths were hold. They were all forsworn and their oaths broken. For every great man built him castles
and held them against the king; and they filled the whole land with these castles. They sorely
burdened the unhappy people of the country with forced labour on the castles.
2. a. library -> from libr(book)
b. liberty -> from liber(free)
c. equilibrate -> from libr(weigh)
d. Librium -> from liber(free)
e. deliberate -> from libr(weigh) (=> “entirely” (de-) + -liberare, altered (probably by influence of
liberare "to free, liberate") from librare "to balance, make level," from libra "pair of scales, a
balance”
f. liberal -> from liber(free)