11.

1 Native Words versus Loan Words

The English word-stock may be subdivided into two : the elements of native and the elements
of the borrowed.
A native word is a word which belongs to the original English stock, known from the earliest
manuscripts of the Old English period.

A loan word, borrowed word or borrowing is a word taken over from another language
and modified in phonemic shape, spelling, paradigm.

The native words consist of three groups:

the Indo-European element

the Germanic element

the English proper element (appeared in the English vocabulary in the 5th century)

By the Indo-European element are words without which no human communication would be
possible.

Among them we find terms of kinship: father, mother, son, daughter, brother;

words naming the most important objects and phenomena of nature: sun, moon, star, wind,
water, wood, hill, stone, tree;

names of animals and birds: bull, cat, crow, goose, wolf;

parts of the human body: arm, ear, eye, foot, heart,

Some of the most frequent verbs : bear, come, sit, stand

The adjectives of this group denote concrete physical properties: hard, quick, slow, red,
white. Most numerals also belong here.

words of the Common Germanic stock, i.e. have parallels in German, Norwegian, Dutch,
Icelandic. It contains a greater number of semantic groups:

parts of the human body: head, hand, arm, finger, bone;

animals: bear, fox, calf;

plants: oak, fir, grass;

natural phenomena: rain, frost;

seasons of the year: winter, spring, summer;

landscape features: sea, land;

human dwellings and furniture: house, room, bench; sea-going vessels: boat, ship.

The adjectives: green, blue, grey, white, small, thick, high, old, good;

the verbs: see, hear, speak, tell, say, answer, make, give, drink

adverbs and pronouns also belong to this layer.

the English proper element is opposed to the first two groups. They are specifically English
having no cognates in other languages. Here are some examples of English proper words: bird,
boy, girl, lord, lady, woman, daisy, always.

we distinguish loan translations and semantic loans. Loan translations are words and
expressions formed from the material already existing in the British language but according
to patterns taken from another language, by way of literal morpheme-for-morpheme or
word-for-word translation. Examples are: it goes without saying (Fr. cela va sans dire), wall
paper (Russ. ), first dancer (Ital. prima-ballerina), chain-smoker (Germ.
Kettenraucher), masterpiece (Germ. Meisterstuck), wonder child (Germ. Wunderkind)

The term semantic loan is used to denote the development in an English word of a new
meaning due to the influence of a related word in another language. It can happen when we
have two relative languages which have common words with different meanings, e.g. there
are semantic borrowings between Scandinavian and English, the meaning present for the
word gift, which in Old English had the meaning payment for a wife.

11.2 A Brief Survey of Certain Historical Facts

The Roman invasion, the introduction of Christianity, the Danish and Norman conquests, and, in
modern times, the specific features marking the development of British colonialism and
imperialism combined to cause important changes in the vocabulary.
In order to have a better understanding of the problem, it will be necessary to go through a brief
survey of certain historical facts, relating to different epochs.

The first century B.C. Europe is occupied by the Roman Empire. Their tribal languages
contain only Indo-European and Germanic elements.

After a number of wars between the Germanic tribes and the Romans they come into peaceful
contact. Trade is carried on, and the Germanic people gain knowledge of new and useful things. It
is from the Romans that they learn how to make butter and cheese and, as there are naturally no
words for these foodstuffs in their tribal languages, they use the Latin words to name them (Lat.
butyrum, caseus). It is also to the Romans that the Germanic tribes owe the knowledge of some
new fruit and vegetables, and the Latin names of these fruit and vegetables enter their
vocabularies : cherry (Lat. cerasum), pear (Lat. pirum), plum (Lat. prunus), pea (Lat. pisum),
pepper (Lat. piper).
Here are some more examples of Latin borrowings of this period: cup (Lat. cuppa), kitchen (Lat.
coquina), port (Lat. portus), wine (Lat. vinum).
It was certainly important that the Germanic tribal languages gained a considerable number of new
words and were thus enriched. What was even more significant was that all these Latin words
were destined to become the earliest group of borrowings in the future English language which
was built on the basis of the Germanic tribal languages.

The fifth century A.D. Several of the Germanic tribes migrated across the sea now known
as the English Channel to the British Isles. There they were confronted by the Celts, the
original inhabitants of the Isles. Through their numerous contacts with the defeated Celts,
the conquerors got to know and assimilated a number of Celtic words (Modern English
bald, down, glen, druid, bard, cradle). Especially numerous among the Celtic borrowings
were place names, names of rivers, etc. The Germanic tribes occupied the land, but the
names of many parts and features of their territory remained Celtic. For instance, the
names of the rivers Avon, Exe, Esk, Usk, Ux originate from Celtic words meaning river
and water.

Some Latin words entered the Anglo-Saxon languages through Celtic, among them such widelyused words as street (Lat. strata via) and wall (Lat. vallum).

The seventh century A. D. This century was significant for the Christianisation of England.
Latin was the official language of the Christian church, and consequently the spread of
Christianity was accompanied by a new period of Latin borrowings. Also, these new Latin
borrowings were very different in meaning from the earlier ones. They mostly indicated
people, objects and ideas associated with church and religious rituals, e.g. priest (Lat.
presbyter), bishop (Lat. episcopus), monk (Lat. monachus), nun (Lat. nonna), candle (Lat.
candela).

From the end of the 8th century to the middle of the 11th century England underwent
several Scandinavian invasions which inevitably left their trace on English vocabulary. Here
are some examples of early Scandinavian borrowings: call, take, cast, die, law, husband,
window, ill, low, weak.

Some of the words of this group are easily recognisable as Scandinavian borrowings by the initial
sk- combination: sky, skill, skin, ski, skirt

1066. when the Normans under William the Conqueror defeated the English, we come to
the eventful epoch of the Norman Conquest. England became a bilingual country, and the
impact on the English vocabulary made over this two-hundred-years period is immense:
French words from the Norman dialect penetrated every aspect of social life. Here is a very
brief list of examples of Norman French borrowings:

administrative words: state, government, parliament, council, power;

legal terms: court, judge, justice, crime, prison;

military terms: army, war, soldier, officer, battle, enemy;

educational terms: pupil, lesson, library, science, pen.

terms of everyday life :table, plate, saucer, dinner, supper, river, autumn, uncle,

The Renaissance Period. In England this period was marked by significant developments
in science, art and culture and, occurred a considerable number of Latin and Greek
borrowings. In contrast to the earliest Latin borrowings (1st . ..), the Renaissance ones
were rarely concrete names.

They were mostly abstract words (major, minor, filial, moderate, intelligent, permanent, to elect, to
create).
There were naturally numerous scientific and artistic terms (datum, status, phenomenon,
philosophy, method, music).
The Renaissance was a period of extensive cultural contacts between the major European states.
New words entered the English vocabulary from other European languages. The most significant
were French borrowings. This time they came from the Parisian dialect of French and are known
as Parisian borrowings: regime, routine, police, machine, ballet, scene, technique, bourgeois.

In the 17th 18th centuries, due to the trade relations between England and other
countries, many words were borrowed from Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Russian.

English borrowed from Italian (volcano, granite, bronze, bulletin). borrowings connected with
music: alto, basso, tenor, falsetto, solo, duet, trio, quartet, opera, operetta, libretto, piano, violin.
Russian borrowings connected with trade relations: rouble, copeck, pood, sterlet, vodka, sable;
and words relating to nature, taiga, tundra, steppe
Russian borrowings, that came into English through the Russian literature of the 19th century,
moujik, duma, zemstvo, volost, ukase

borrowings from German into English denoting geological terms (cobalt, bismuth, zink, gneiss,
wolfram) and words denoting objects used in everyday life (iceberg, lobby, rucksack,
kindergarten).

In the period of the Second World War, the following words were borrowed: Luftwaffe,
Bundeswehr, gestapo, gas chamber and many others.

Spanish borrowings denoting trade terms: cargo, embargo;

names of dances and musical instruments: tango, rumba, habanera, guitar;

names of fruit and vegetables: banana, ananas, apricot, tomato, potato, tobacco, cocoa,
etc.

The historical survey above is far from complete. Its aim is just to give a very general idea of the
ways in which English vocabulary developed and of the major events through which it acquired its
vast modern resources.

11.3. Assimilation of Loan Words. Barbarisms.

When words migrate from one language into another they adjust themselves to their new
environment they are assimilated. It is difficult to believe that such words as dinner, cat, take, cup
are not English by origin. Others, well assimilated, still bear traces of their foreign background.
Distance and development, are identified as borrowings by their French suffixes, skin and sky by
the Scandinavian initial sk, police and regime by the French stress on the last syllable.
Borrowed words are adjusted in the three main areas :

the phonetic

the grammatical

and the semantic

The phonetic adaptation is shown by comparing Norman French borrowings to later ones.
They were fully adapted to the phonetic system of the English language: table, plate,
courage and bear no phonetic traces of their French origin.

Some of the later (Parisian) borrowings, sound surprisingly French: regime, valise, matinee, cafe,
ballet. In these cases phonetic adaptation is not completed.

Grammatical adaptation consists in a complete change of the former paradigm of the

borrowed word. The English Renaissance borrowings as datum (pl. data), phenomenon (pl.
phenomena), criterion (pl. criteria) whereas earlier Latin borrowings such as cup, plum,
street, wall were fully adapted to the grammatical system of the language long ago.

By semantic adaptation is meant adjustment to the system of meanings of the vocabulary.

The process of borrowing is generally caused by the necessity to fill a gap in the vocabulary
or by a chance. But sometimes a word may be borrowed blindly. Quite a number of such
accidental borrowings are forgotten. But there are others that manage to take root by the
process of semantic adaptation.

The adjective large, was borrowed from French in the meaning of wide. It wasnt wanted,
because it coincided with the English adjective wide. Yet, large managed to establish itself very
firmly in the English vocabulary by semantic adjustment. It entered another synonymic group with
the general meaning of big in size.

The degree of assimilation of borrowings depends upon the length of period during which
the word has been used in the receiving language.

borrowings are subdivided into:

completely assimilated,

partly assimilated

non-assimilated (barbarisms).

Completely assimilated loan words are found in all the layers of older borrowings.

Latin borrowings, cheese, street, wall or wine.

Scandinavian loan words husband, fellow, gate, root, wing, call, die, take, want, happy, ill, low, odd
and wrong.
French words table, chair, face, figure, finish.
They follow all morphological, phonetic and orthographic standards
They take an active part in word-formation.

Partially assimilated loan words can be subdivided :

Loan words not assimilated semantically, because they denote objects and notions peculiar to
the country from which they come: pilaw (Persian), sherbet (Arabian); rupee (India),
Loan words not assimilated grammatically, nouns borrowed from Latin or Greek which keep
their original plural forms: crisis crises; phenomenon phenomena; datum data;
Loan words not assimilated phonetically. The French words keep the accent on the final
syllable: machine, cartoon, police.

Some of the Italian and Spanish borrowings: confetti, incognito, macaroni, opera, sonata,
soprano and tomato, potato, tobacco.

Loan words not assimilated graphically. There are, words borrowed from French that keep a
diacritic mark: caf, clich.

In Greek borrowings y can be spelled in the middle of the word (symbol, synonym);

ph denotes the sound [f] (phoneme, morpheme);

ch denotes the sound [k] (character, chaos);

ps denotes the sound [s] (psychology, psychiatrist

Non-assimilated loan words or barbarisms are words from other languages used by
English people in conversation or in writing but not assimilated in any way, and for which
there are corresponding English equivalents. The examples are the

Italian addio and ciao (for good-bye)

the French affiche (for placard) and tte--tte (a private conversation between two people),
the Italian dolce vita (a life of luxury),
the Latin ad libitum (according to pleasure)

11.4 Etymological Doublets

Words originating from the same etymological source, but differing in phonemic shape and in
meaning are called etymological doublets.
The words shirt and skirt etymologically descend from the same root. Shirt is a native word, and
skirt is a Scandinavian borrowing. Their phonemic shape is different, and there is a certain
resemblance which reflects their common origin. Their meanings are also different but easily
associated: they both denote articles of clothing.
Etymological doublets may also consist of a shortened word and the one from which it was
derived: history story, fantasy fancy, fanatic fan, defence fence, shadow shade.

Etymological triplets (i.e. groups of three words of common root) occur rarer, but here are
some examples:

appreciate appraise apprize;

astound astonish stun;
kennel channel canal,
hospital hostel hotel;
to capture to catch to chase.

11.5 International Words

Words of identical origin that occur in several languages as a result of simultaneous or successive
borrowings from one ultimate source are called international words.
International words play an especially prominent part in various terminological systems including
the vocabulary of science, industry and art. The etymological sources of this vocabulary reflect the
history of world culture.

a great number of Latin words and expressions, used nowadays by intelligent people in
literature and literary speech, are considered international: de facto (in reality, actually), et
alii (and others), et cetera (and so forth), nota bene (used to call attention to something
important), per capita (per unit of population), sui generis (unique, peculiar)

Latin words are also used nowadays in science and medicine by biologists, physicians, doctors
and pharmacists. Latin medical terms continue to play the central function in the development of
world medicine.
In the domain of chemistry, international terms occupy a rather important place. The words that
denote chemical elements are international: aluminum, gallium, lithium, magnesium, selenium,
titanium

Greek is also a very important source for international vocabulary. Words of this origin are
special terms: philanthropy, agronomy, oligarchy,

A distinct semantic group of Greek international words pertains to theatre, literature and rhetoric:
comedy, climax, critic, dialogue, drama, epilogue, episode, prologue, rhythm, scene, theatre

A great contribution to the international word stock comes from English. A large number of
English words are to be found in the vocabulary pertaining to clothes: pullover, sweater,
nylon, tweed,

Cinema and different forms of entertainment are also a source of many international words of
English origin: film, club, cocktail, jazz.

We find numerous English words in the field of sport: football, out, match, tennis, hockey, cricket,
rugby, golf.

The mankinds cultural debt to Italy is reflected in great number of Italian words connected
with architecture, painting and especially music that were borrowed into most European
languages: allegro, andante, aria, baritone, concert, crescendo, duet, forte, fortissimo,
lento, melody, opera, piano, pianissimo, tempo, tone and many more.

French influence mainly pertains to diplomatic relations, social life, art and fashions.
Examples of diplomatic terms are attach, communiqu, dossier,

The words: ball, cortege, caf, coquette, hotel, picnic, restaurant refer to social life.
Ballet, ensemble, essay, genre relate to art.
Fashions in dress and food are illustrated by words like blouse, corsage, champagne, menu, soup,
etc.

Some of the Russian words borrowed into English and many other languages and thus
international should also be mentioned: balalaika, Bolshevik, cosmonaut, intelligentsia,
sputnik, steppe, vodka.

International words of Arab origin, such as arsenal, alcohol or almanac are used in current
speech by the great majority of population.

Fruit and foodstuffs imported from exotic countries often transport their names too and,
being simultaneously imported to many countries, become international: coffee, cocoa,
chocolate, banana, mango, avocado, grapefruit

Causes of appearance of international words

-New words appear due to the progress of science and the spread of international
vocabulary in all directions: antibiotic, acoustics, battery, cybernetics, detector, diagram,
gene, genetic code, gravitation, microelectronics

Due to the revolution in science, technology and social life, many new professions appear
in the world. Some of them became international:

president (in a firm), programmer, image-maker, manager, stylist, security, barman

The invention of computer causes the appearance of new international words. These
words penetrate in our everyday live and are used by the greater part of the population:

internet, CD-ROM, monitor, display, file, printer, disk, scanner, mouse, cursor, click