Lecture III
Etymology
~ the branch of linguistics that studies the origin of words. The Eng.lang. – unique
Vocabulary
Native w-s
Borrowings
25-30%
70%
The Native element
I. Indo-European element
II. Germanic element
III. English Proper element
The Borrowed element
I. Celtic (5-6 c. A.D.)
II. Latin (1c.B.C.; 7c.A.D.; the Renaissance
per.)
III. Scandinavian (8-11c.A.D.)
IV. French (Norman-11-13c.A.D.
Parisian-Renaissance)
V. Greek (Renaissance)
VI. Italian (Renaissance & later)
VII. Spanish (Ren-ce & later)
VIII. German
IX. Oriental
X. Russian
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: summer, winter, spring (autumn<Fr.), storm, rain, ice, ground, bridge,
house, room, coal, iron, lead, cloth, hat, shirt, shoe, evil, hope, life, need, rest, ship,
sea, cheek, hand, bone, chicken;
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
I-E w-d-stock
Com. Germ. w-d-stock
son
father
hand
Sohn - Germ.
sunus - Goth.
Sunr - Dutch
Son - Swed.
Sūnus - Lithun.
Pater - Gr.
Padre - Sp.
Pater - Lat.
Pare - Fr.
Vater - G.
Hand
handus
hond hand
hand -
no Gr., Lat.
fadar - Goth.
-
Germ.
- Goth.
Iceland. u:]
- Danish
Sw.
Vader - Dutch
Features characteristic of native w-s :
1) comparatively simple morphol. str.;
2) stability;
3) high frequency value;
4) plurality of meanings;
5) a great role in w-d-formation;
6) combinative power in Phraseology
wood – (5): wooded, wooden, woodwork, woodcraft, woodcutter
10 meanings (I.R.Galperin)
heel – пятка, каблук, шпора, остаток ч-л.
(6): heel over head, to cool one’s heel, to turn to one’s heels
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.
Native w-s denote vitally important things, objects, actions. They live for centuries.
In the course of time nat.w-s fall out of the voc-ry & are substituted for borrowed ws:
niman – OE (брать)
Sc. take replaced OE→take
OE steorfan (sterben MnG) was replaced by Sc. die
now: “starve” has changed its meaning
OE heofon (небо) w. Replaced by Sc. Sky
“heaven” has narrowed its meaning.
Borrowings +
the list of BORROWINGS
the Roman invasion, the introduction of Christianity, the Danish & Norman
conquests, the British colonial expansion, technical revolution, I, II World Wars,
rapid industrialization.
The name “Britain” < Gr., Lat., but probably it stemmed from Celtic.
Especially numerous among the Celtic bor-s – place names, names of rivers, hills:
Avon, Dover, Exe, Esk, Usk, Ux originate from Celtic w-s meaning “river”, “water”.
the THAMES is a Celtic river name; LONDON < Celt. Llyn (another Celt. W-d for
“river”) + dun (“fortified hill”) – “fortress on the hill over the river”.
Arthur – благородный
Donald – гордый вождь
Evan – молодой воин
7 c.A.D. – christianization of England – a new period of Latin borrowings –
not from spoken Latin, but church Latin: mostly indicated persons, objects, ideas
associated with church & religious rituals : priest, monk, nun, candle, abbot, altar
angel, deacon, organ, pope, psalm. CHURCH & DEVIL were borrowed earlier;
SCHOOL < Lat. schola <Gr. origin.
The end of the 8 c.- the mid. of the 10 c. A.D. – Scandinavian invasions.
Duodecimal system: counting – in twelves
the marketing unit of a dozen
the measuring formula of 12 inches to a foot
the monitory equation of 12 pence to a shilling
the legal entity of a jury of 12 good men & true
1066 – the last successful invasion took place – Duke William of Normandy
(William the Conqueror) defeated the English at the battle of Hastings. At that time
there were 3 languages on the territory of England: Latin (churches, universities,
schools), Norman French (the nobility), Anglo-Saxon (common people).
A-S
Fr. (everything ~ is pleasant & exquisite)
cow
-
beef
sheep
-
mutton
swine -
pork
calf
veal
-
till the 14 c. – French – a 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.
Greek borrowings
THEATRE: tragedy comedy drama farce epic lyric author theme act scene poem
poet period prologue episode epilogue part phrase dialogue
SCIENCE: subjects, their terms
SPORTS: gymnastics athlete acrobat stadium Olympic trophy
NAMES: Helen Irene Sophia Catherine Cora Margaret Alexander Peter Nickolas
Eugene George Philip Theodor
DOUBLE CONSONANTS ph [f], ps [s], pn [n], ch [k], rh [r], rrh [r] th
DIPHTHONGS: oe ae eu
PREFIXES: a- amphi- anti- auto- dia- epi- hyper- hypo- neo- para- poly- proproto- pseudo- mono- di- tri- tetra- penta- hexa- hepta- octo- deka- hecata- kiloNOUNS AS PREFIXES: hydro- aero- pyro- bio- geoColonial expantion → oriental w-s: Arabic, Indian. Arabic bor-s w. First
translated into Latin.
German & Russian contribution to the voc-ry is very modest. Reasons:
military policy of Germany & post-October Soviet government with its communist
influence. Perestroyka has raised interest in Russia → Russian w-s w. involved. The
first bor-ed w-s from Russia (under Ivan the Terrible): tsar, tsarina, tsarevitch, icon,
doukhobors, troika, sable, shuba, beluga, sterlet, etc.
Sovietisms – russian borrowings of the Soviet epoch that represent the words of
strongly expressed social & political content
soviet, the Supreme Council of the USSR, regional soviet, bolshevik, Leninism,
self-criticism, sundying (воскресник), kulak, trotzkyite, collective farm,
producers’ cooperative, house of culture, people’s actorconsumers’ cooperative,
pioneers’ palace, etc.
“Source of bor-ng” – the lang-ge, from ~ the loan w-d w. taken into English.
“Origin of bor-ng” – the lang-ge, to ~ the w-d m.b. traced
Paper < Fr. papier < Lat. papyrus < Gr. papyros; table < Fr. la table < Lat. tabula
s/b
o/b
Translation loans
wall newspaper — Rus. стенная газета
chain-smoker — Germ. Kettenraucher
homesick — Germ. Heimweh
masterpiece — Germ. Meisterstüc
populist — R. народник
by heart — Fr. par coer
goes without saying — Fr. cela va sans dire
a slip of the tongue — Lat. Lapsus Lingue
Semantic loan
pioneer – Eng. “explorer”, “one who is among the first in new fields of
activity” – under the influence of the Rus. W-d “пионер” began to mean “a member
of the Young pioneers’ Organization
dream – originally: “joy & music” – the influence of Germ. “draum”(мечта)
→ has taken its modern meaning (cf. Rus. “дрёма”)
bloom – originally: “metal” – the influence of Germ. “blōm”(a blossom,
flower) → цветущая часть растения, цвет, цветение.
bread – OE”piece” – by association with Sc. “braud” it has taken its modern
meaning.
Etymological hybrids
nat. + able (Lat.) = readable, eatable, likable, answerable
un + E. +able = unbearable, unbelievable, unsayable
bor. + nat. = painful, violins, noiseless, fruitless, bicycles (Lat.bi- + Gr. cycle + s)
aircraft =Gr. + nat.
blackguard = nat. + Fr.
dislike = Rom. + nat.
moneyless, courtly, gentleman = Fr. + nat.
woman-servant, blackguard = nat. + Fr.
violinist = It. + Gr.
Etymological doublets – 2/> w-s of the same lang-e, derived from the same basic wd by different ways & differing to a certain degree in form, meaning & current usage.
discus (L.) gave rise to disc & dish, castella (L.) – castle & chateau(Fr.) [΄ʃætəu]
sir (Fr.) > senior (L.) & sir (E.)
OE hāl > whole & hale (hale & hearty)
raid & road
shirt & skirt
scabby & shabby
captain & chieftain
chivalry & cavalry
screech & shriek scabby & shabby
raise & rear
channel & canal
chart & card
chase & catch
gage & wage
chattels & cattle
etymological triplets: hospital-hostel-hotel
train-trace-trail
International w-s
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.
English & American words – universally employed on every continent
baby-sitter bar bridge (the game) boyfriend best seller
bikini bulldozer bus beefsteak cafeteria cocktail flirt
gangster hamburger hot dog ice cream jazz jeep Kleenex
party racket sandwich scooter shorts sex appeal striptease
steak taxi whisky weekend, O’KAY
Russian w-s: tsar, tsarina, intelligentsia, decembrist, Kremlin, lunochod, steppe,
sambo, rouble, perestroyka, glasnost, soviet.