Lecture III
Etymology
~ the branch of linguistics that studies the origin of words. The Eng.lang.—unique
Vocabulary
Native w-s
25-30%
The Native element
I. Indo-European element
II. Germanic element
III. English Proper element
Borrowings
70%
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 - Germ.
handus - Goth.
hond - Iceland. u:]
hand - Danish
hand - Sw.
no Gr., Lat.
fadar - Goth.
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 w-s:
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
cow
Fr. (everything ~ is pleasant & exquisite)
-
beef
sheep
-
mutton
swine -
pork
calf
veal
-
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.
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.
A loan w-d / bor-ng
Types of assimilation.
I.
Phonetic table, plate, courage, chivalry, etc. 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 1st syllable: honour, reason.
II. Grammatical ass-n
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
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 (a large building in which aircraft are kept) < Fr. (shed—укрытие)
revue (a theatrical performance consisting of songs, dances, and jokes about recent
events—вид театрального развлечения) < Fr. (обзор, обозрение)
timbre ˂ Fr. ( a № of meanings) ˃ 1 meaning (a musical term)
Generalization
terrorist (a person who uses violence, especially murder and bombing, in order to achieve
political aims) ˂ Fr. orig.: “Jacobin”,“supporters of the Jacobins in the French Revolution, who
advocated repression and violence in pursuit of the principles of democracy and equality”
move (Fr movoir) ˃ in MdE “propose”, “change one’s flat”, “mix with people” etc.
umbrella (It. “shade”) ˃ “sunshade / parasol” → + “the protection from the rain
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 assed.
(2) 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, bacillus – bacilli, crisis – crises, sanatorium – sanatoria.
c) phonetically—w. bor-ed after the 17th c. : police, machine, cartoon—the stress—
on
bourgeois, protege, boulevard, prestige, regime, camouflage —the stress + [ ᴣ ] &
[wa:]
d) graphically—are mainly of the French origin : restaurant, corps, bouquet,
ballet, cliché, ragout + booklet «Терминологический справочник»
(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! - aren’t used by all the layers of population, but by press, journalists, high level
society.
au fait, au fond, au naturel, au revoir, affair de coeur, coup d’etat, coup de
theatre, coup d’essai, coup d’oeil, coup de grace
Reasons for borrowing the w-s:1) historic development of peoples — the voc-ry
system of each lang-e is particularly responsive to every change in the life of the
speaking community;
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 ≠ bor-ns that took root due to semantic adaptation (Fr. large)
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
w-d 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.) [΄ ætəu]
sir (Fr.) > senior (L.) & sir (E.)
OE hāl > whole & hale (hale & hearty)
raid & road
screech & shriek scabby & shabby
shirt & skirt
scabby & shabby
raise & rear
captain & chieftain
channel & canal
chivalry & cavalry
chart & card
etymological triplets: hospital-hostel-hotel
chase & catch
gage & wage
chattels & cattle
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.