ETYMOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE
ENGLISH
WORD-STOCK.
1. The origin of English words
2. What can be borrowed?
3. Classification of borrowings
according to the degree of
assimilation
According to their origin
English words may be
subdivided into two main sets.
The elements of one are native
words, the elements of the
other are borrowed words.
A native word is a word which
belongs to the original English
word stock, as known from the
earliest available manuscripts of
the Old English period.
A borrowed word or a borrowing
is a word taken over from
another language and modified
in phonemic shape, spelling,
paradigm or meaning according
to the standards of the English
language.
WHAT CAN BE BORROWED?
Only words or some other
elements of the language as
well?
If so what are these elements?
Translation loans (e.g., wall-
newspaper стенгазета).
Semantic loans
(e.g., Eng. Pioneer, meaning
explorer, one who is among the
first, under the influence of Russ.
Пионер got the meaning “a
member of Pioneer’s
Organization»).
Classification of borrowings according to the
degree of assimilation
. Completely assimilated loan words from Lat.: cheese,
I
wine; from Scand.: fellow, gate, want; from Fr.: chair, face.
II. Partially assimilated loan words:
a. loanwords not assimilated semantically, e.g. sombrero, shah
b. loanwords not assimilated grammatically, e.g. bacillus :: bacilli;
c. loanwords not assimilated phonetically, e.g. macaroni, bourgeois
d. loanwords not assimilated graphically, e.g. bouquet, café.
III. Unassimilated loan words or barbarisms e.g. coup
d’Etat, addio
4. Etymological Doublets and
Triplets.
Etymological doublets are words that
consist of a native word and a borrowed
one / shrew, n. (E) – screw, n. (Sc.)/
originating from the same etymological
source, but different in phonemic shape
and meaning.
Etymological triplets are groups of three
words of common root, e.g. hospital (Lat.)
– hostel (N. Fr.) – hotel (Par. Fr.).
Words of the Indo-European
origin.
kinship terms, e.g. father, mother, son, daughter, brother,
words naming the most important objects and phenomena of
nature, e.g. sun, moon, star, wind, water, wood, hill, stone;
names of animals and plants, e.g. goose, wolf, cow, tree, corn;
words denoting parts of the human body, e.g. ear, tooth, eye, foot,
heart, lip;
words naming concrete physical properties and qualities (including
some adjectives denoting colour), e.g. hard, quick, slow, red, white,
new;
numerals from one to a hundred, e.g. one, two, twenty, eight)
pronouns' (personal, demonstrative, interrogative), e.g. / \nu he, my,
that, who;
some of the most frequent verbs, e.g. bear, do, be, sit, stand others.
Words of Common Germanic
origin.
nouns denoting parts of the human body, e.g. head, arm, finger,
nouns denoting periods of time, e.g. summer, winter, time, week,
words naming natural phenomena, e.g. storm, rain, flood, ice, ground,
sea, earth;
words denoting artefacts and materials, e.g. bridge, house, shaft room,
coal, iron, lead, cloth;
words naming different kinds of garment, e.g. hat, shirt, shoe,
words denoting abstract notions, e.g. care, evil, hope, life, need,
names of animals, birds and plants, e.g. sheep, horse, fox, crow, oak,
grass;
various notional verbs, e.g. bake, burn, buy, drive, hear, keep, learn,
make, meet, rise, see, send, shoot;
adjectives, denoting colours, size and other properties, e.g. broad
dead, deaf deep, grey, blue;
adverbs, e.g. down, out, before.
English words proper are
characterized by:
a wide range of lexical and grammatical
valency and high frequent value;
a developed polysemy ;
a great word-building power ( exp-es p.
104)
Borrowed Words
• through oral speech
• through written
speech
Direct
Indirect
ASSIMILATION OF BORROWINGS
is used to denote a partial or total
conformation to the phonetical, graphical
and morphological standards of the
English language and its semantic system.
REFERENCES
И.B. Зыкова Практический курс
английской лексикологии, -М.:
Издательский центр «Академия», 2007,
стр. 103 -109
