LECTURE 6

Borrowing in Old English

Borrowing from Latin. No language is entirely pure. The vocabulary of every language
continually adopts words from the language of other nations with whom they come into
contact. So the Germanic forefathers of the English in the course of their history acquired a
considerable number of words, especially from Latin due to more or less direct contact with this
nation. The adopted words naturally indicate the new concepts which the Germanic tribes
acquired from this contact with a higher civilization.
The first Latin words in the language were borrowed before Angles and Saxons left the
continent. The chief occupation of the Germanic tribes in the Roman Empire was war, and this
is reflected in such words as camp “battle”, weal “wall”, strǣt (<strata (via) “street”, porta “ port”,
mīl “mile”, pil “jawelin” (ხელშუბი, სატყორცნი შუბი), miltestre “courtesan “,etc.
More numerous are the words connected with trade. They are cēap “bargain”(გარიგება),
and mangian “to trade” with its derivatives mangere “monger”(გამყიდველი), mangung “trade”,
“commerce” and mangunghūs “shop”; pund “pound”, mydd “bushel” (ბუშელი - საწყაო,
რომელიც უდრის 36.4 ლიტრს), mynet “coin” and its derivatives mynetian “to mint”(ფულის
მოჭრა), “to coin”, mynetere “money-changer.
The wine trade was on of the most important branches of Roman commerce with the
Germans, hence such words in English as wīn “wine”, must “new wine”, eced “vinegar”, flasce
“bottle”. To this period belong such words as cylle “leather bottle”, sester “jar’, cyrfette “gourd”
(გოგრა, კვახის ხაპი).
The Roman mode of life and habits are reflected in such loan-words as cytel “kettle”, pyle
“pillow”, cuppe “cup”, disc “dish”, etc.
A few Latin words were borrowed by German tribes from the Britons themselves, who
had in turn acquired them from the Romans. To such words belong e.g. ceaster and wīc that
are place-names.

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 Ceaster (<Lat. castra “camp”) “town” is retained in some English place-names:
Chester, Colchester, Dorchester, Manchester, Winchester, Lancaster and many
others.

Wīc “village, town” (>MnE wick, wich) is also used in place-names such as
Warwick, Greenwich, Berwick, Humptonwick, etc.

The greatest impact of Latin upon Old English was due to that contact with the Roman
nation which began with the conversion of the English to Christianity at the end of the sixth
century (597). As the natural result of this event, many ecclesiastical terms were introduced
into English. A few words connected with Christianity, such as cerice “church” and biscop
“bishop” were borrowed earlier. But the great majority of words in Old English having to do
with the church and its rites were borrowed at this time. For instance:

abbod “abbot”(აბატი), antefne “anthem”, candel “candle”, cugele “cowl” (კაპი-

შონიანი მანტია), discipul “disciple”, mǣsse “mass”, nōn “noon”, nunne “nun”,
palma “palm”, pǣll “pale”, (woolen vestment worn by Pope), eorc “ark”, deacon
“deacon”, martyr “martyr”(წამებული, მარტვილი), mynster “minister” (მღვდე-
ლი), offrian “offer”, papa “Pope”, preost “priest”, profost “provost”(საკათედრო
ტაძრის წინამძღოლი), etc.

Some names of articles of clothing, household use, food, names of trees, plants and herbs
also penetrated into the language at this period. for instance:

cæppe “hood”, socc “sock”, seolc “silk”, cest “chest”, matt “mat” (ჭილობი, ფეხ-
საწმენდი), pipor “pepper”, senep “mustard”, popig “poppy, cisten “chestnut tree”,
ynne “onion”, plume “plum”, pise “pea” (ცერცვი, ბარდა), minte “mint”, cealc
“chalk”, copor “copper” (სპილენძი),tigele “tile” (კრამიტი, კაფელი), mūl
“mule”, drace “dragon”, pāwa “peacock”, pipe “pipe”, sacc “sack”, bēte “beet”
(ჭარხალი), lint “lentin” (ოსპი), mil “millet” (ფეტვი), rædish “radish” (ბოლო-
კი), pere “pear”, ostre” oyster”, dā “doe” (ძუ- ირემი), muscle “mussel” (ნიჟარა),
lopestre “lobster”, coc “cook”, box “box-tree”, pint (-trēow) ”pine”, aluwe “aloes”,
balsam “balsam”, lilie “lily”, mealwe “mallow” (ბალბა), finuge “fennel” (კამა),
plante “plant”, sæƀerige “savory” (ქონდარი), myrra “myrrh” (მირის ხე =
ბალზამის ხე).

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 All these words give some information about the altered way of English life in other than
religious matters.
Some important words of Latin origin connected with education which made their way
into English must also be mentioned here:

Scōl, scolu “school”, mægester “master”, grammatic “grammatic(al)”, meter

“metre”, glēsan “to gloss”, “to explain”, notere “scribe”(მწერალი, გადამწერი).

The English did not always borrow a foreign word to express a new concept. Very often
old words were used to express new things and ideas. The English did not borrow the Latin
word “deus”, as their native word “god” was a satisfactory equivalent, “Patriarch” was rendered
literally by hēahfæder “high father”, “martyr” (ტანჯული) by the native − pōwere (“one who
suffers pain”). The word “Easter” (აღდგომა) is a Germanic word originally denoting a pagan
festival in honor of the dawn-goddess. The term “scriptures” found its exact equivalent in the
English word “gewritu”, and “ēvangelium” was rendered by “gospel” (სახარება). Latin “dia-
bolus” was adopted in the form of deōfol “devil”, though fēond “fiend” was not commonly used.
After the adoption of Christianity, the Old English language borrowed from Latin very
freely; this seems to mark the initiation of the propensity (სწრაფვა) of the English to freely
incorporate foreign elements in their language.
Borrowing from Celtic. Next to the Latin influence in order of time is the influence of
Celtic upon English. The greatest influence of Celtic upon English was especially evident in
place-names and river-names. The most remarkable of them are the names of almost all the
rivers, such as the Thames, the Avon, the Ouse, the Don, the Cam. The Kingdom of Kent also
comes from Celtic word “Canti”. A number of centres in the Roman period have names with
Celtic elements. The name of London itself is of Celtic origin.

References:
1. Kraveishvili M., History of the English language. Tbilisi: Ganatleba, 1998.

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 Study Questions:

1. Discuss the reasons of borrowing words from other languages. Why did Germanic
borrowed from Latin?
2. Discuss the war terminology borrowed from Latn.
3. Discuss the words connected with trade.
4. Discuss the words connected with wine trade.
5. Discuss the words connected with the Roman mode of life and habits.
6. Discuss the words borrowed by German tribes from the Britons themselves.
7. Discuss ecclesiastical terms borrowed from Latin.
8. Discuss some names of articles of clothing, household use, food, names of trees, plants and
herbs that were borrowed from Latin.
9. Name some important words of Latin origin connected with education.
10. Discuss some cases when old words were used to express new things and ideas in Old
English.
11. What were the most remarkable borrowings from Celtic? Give examples of some river-
names and important place-names.