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Lecture 6.

ETYMOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE ENGLISH AND UKRAINIAN

VOCABULARY

1. Causes and ways of borrowings.

2. Types of borrowings.
3. Sources of borrowings.
4. Assimilation of borrowings.
The notion of “etymology” means the origin of a word, its primary meaning
and its connection with its counterparts in other languages. According to the origin
the English word-stock (vocabulary) may be subdivided into two main groups:
native elements and borrowings.
A n a t i v e w o r d is a word which belongs to the original English stock of
the old English period (up to 7th cent.).
A b o r r o w e d w o r d (or b o r r o w i n g) is a word taken from another
language and modified in phonetic shape, spelling and meaning according to
the standards of the English language. The very fact that up to 70% of the English
vocabulary is borrowings and only 30% are native is due to the specific conditions
of the English language development.

1. Causes and ways of borrowings.

The part played by borrowings in the vocabulary of a language depends

upon the history of each given language. The great number of borrowings in
English (70%) is due to the linguistic and extralinguistic causes.
E x t r a – l i n g u i s t i c causes of borrowings are political, economic and
cultural relationship between nations. English history contains innumerable
occasions for all types of such contacts. The Roman invasion, the introduction of
Christianity, the Danish and Norman conquests, and, in modern times, the
development of British colonialism and imperialism cause important changes in
the vocabulary. It is the vocabulary system of each language that is responsive to
every change in the life of the speaking community. The number and character of
borrowed words tell us of the relations between the peoples, the level of their
culture, etc. It is for this reason that borrowings are called the milestones of
history.
Purely l i n g u i s t i c causes for borrowings are still open to investigation.
Some of them are: need of new words for new phenomena, need of naming
peculiar phenomena of other countries, a tendency to accurate speech, emotional
expressiveness, need of expressing some shades of meaning, etc.
Borrowings enter the language in two ways: through oral speech (by
immediate contact between the peoples) and through written speech (by indirect
contact through books, literature). Oral borrowing took place chiefly in the early
periods of history, whereas written borrowing has become important in more
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recent times. Words borrowed orally are usually short (Lat. inch, mill, street) and
they are successfully assimilated to the English language and are usually hardly
recognizable as foreign. Written borrowings (e.g., Fr. communiqué, belles-lettres,
naiveté) preserve their spelling and some peculiarities of their sound-form.

2. Types of borrowings.

Though borrowed words undergo changes in the adopting language they

preserve some of their former peculiarities for a comparatively long period. There
are various degrees of “foreignness” (H. Marchand) which differentiate various
types of borrowings:
1) L o a n w o r d s p r o p e r (or a l i e n words) – words borrowed from
a foreign language without any change of the foreign sound and spelling. These
words are immediately recognizable as foreign. They retain their sound-form,
graphic peculiarities and grammatical characteristics. E.g., ballet, bouquet,
chauffeur, coup d’état, phenomenon, table d’hôte, vis-à-vis, etc.
2) T r a n s l a t i o n – l o a n s 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 word-for-word translation, e.g., mother-tongue
(from Lat. lingua materna), wall newspaper (from Russian), by heart (from Fr. par
coeur), a slip of the tongue (from Lat. lapsus linguae). Most of the given words are
international in character, e.g., Procrustean bed – прокрустово ложе, Sword of
Damocles – Дамоклов меч, Heel of Achilles – Ахиллесова пята. Translation-
loans are not less characteristic in phraseology: either Caesar or nothing – Lat. aut
Caesar aut nihil – или Цезарь или ничего (или пан или пропал).
3) S e m a n t i c b o r r o w i n g s is the appearance in an English word of
a new meaning due to the influence of a related word in another language. E.g.,
propaganda and reaction acquired their political meanings under the influence of
French. The word pioneer meant “explorer”, now under the influence of the
Russian word “пионер” it means “a member of the Young Pioneers’
Organization”. Deviation and bureau entered political vocabulary under the
influence of Russian (political bureau, right and left deviations).
The majority of the borrowings are remodeled according to the system of the
English language system, so it is sometimes difficult to tell an old borrowing from
a native word (e.g., cheese, street, wall, wine and other words belonging to the
earliest layer of Latin borrowings). But there are loan words, on the other hand,
that in spite of changes they have undergone, retain some peculiarities in
pronunciation, spelling and morphology.
3. Sources of borrowings.

The term “s o u r c e o f b o r r o w i n g” is applied to the language from

which the loan word was taken. It should be distinguished from the term “o r i g i
n o f b o r r o w i n g” which refers to the language to which the word may be
traced. Thus, the word paper < Fr. papier < Lat. papyrus < Gr. papyros has French
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as its source of borrowing and Greek as its origin; the word table < Fr. table < Lat.
tabula has French source and is Latin by origin. It should be remembered that
whereas the immediate source of borrowing is as a rule known, the actual origin of
the word may be rather doubtful. The immediate source of borrowing is naturally
of greater importance for language students because it reveals the extralinguistic
factors responsible for the act of borrowing.
As a matter of fact, three languages contributed a great number of words to
the English word-stock, they are: Greek, Latin and French. Together they account
for much greater number of borrowings than all other languages put together.
L a t i n borrowings can be subdivided into 4 layers:
1) Early Latin loans when the Germanic tribes, of which the Angles and
Saxons formed part, had been in contact with Roman civilization and had
adopted several Latin words. These words are typical of the early Roman
commercial penetration. E.g., wine (Lat. vinum), disc (discus), pepper
(piper), cup (cuppa), kettle (catillus), etc.
2) In the 6th and 7th cent. due to Christianity – altar, chapter, candle, cross,
feast, disciple, creed, etc. To this period belong the names of many
articles of foreign production which were brought into England by
Romans – marble, chalk, linen, etc.
3) The Renaissance and the Norman Conquest in 1066. Many scholars
began to translate classical literature into English and as they couldn’t
find English word for translation, they took Latin word and transformed
it in accordance with the rules. In addition to a great number of Latin
words that came into English through French, there are many words
taken directly from Latin without change, e.g., genius, nucleus, formula,
item, maximum, minimum, superior, inferior, prior, senior, junior, etc.
4) After the Renaissance up to the present – abstract and scientific words
adopted exclusively through writing. A great many Latin abbreviations
usually have English equivalents – e.g. (exempli gratia) – for example,
i.e. (id est) – that is to say, etc. (et cetera) – and so on, v.v. (vice versa) –
the opposite, a.m. (ante meridiem).
G r e e k borrowings go back to an early period. In the 7 th cent. with the
introduction of Christianity such words as church, abbot, episcope, bishop, angel,
etc. were borrowed. At the time of Renaissance the borrowing of Greek words
began on a large scale. These are mostly bookish borrowings, scientific and
technical terms of international currency: psychoanalysis, psychiatry, physics,
philosophy, rhythm, scheme, philology, dialogue, problem, comedy, tragedy,
episode, democracy. Quite a number of proper names are Greek in origin, e.g.,
George, Helen, Sophie, Peter, Nicholas, etc. Here are some loan-words which
linguists owe to Greek: antonym, dialect, etymology, homonym, hyperbole, idiom,
lexicology, metaphor, neologism, synonym, polysemy, etc.
There are numerous English compounds coined from Greek roots: autos –
self, chroma – colour, logos – discourse, phone – voice, telos – at a distance, etc.
(autograph, phonograph, telegraph, telephone, telescope).
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F r e n c h b o r r o w i n g s came into English at different times. The
Norman Conquest in 1066 resulted in the fact that the important places in the
government, at court and in the church were filled by French speaking adherents of
the conquerors. It was spoken by the upper classes of English society.
French loans in the English vocabulary may be subdivided into two main
groups:
a) early loans – 12-15th century;
b) later loans – beginning from the 16th cent.
The early borrowings from French were simple short words: age, arm, cage,
car, case, cause, chain, chance, court, crime, etc. The French dominance is
particularly felt in the vocabulary of law. E.g., accuse, court, fee, guile, judge,
justice, penalty, priviledge.
Many of the terms relating to military matters were adopted from the
language of the conquerors: arms, admiral, armour, battle, dragoon, navy,
sergeant, soldier, troops, vessel, etc.
There is a predominance of French words in the vocabulary of cookery, such
as: boil, jelly, fry, pastry, roast, sauce, soup.
Recent borrowings from French are frequent enough, and often these words
carry a French appearance, but their number is far less than the number of
borrowings direct from Latin.
4. Assimilation of borrowings.

The term “a s s i m i l a t i o n o f b o r r o w i n g s” is used to denote a

partial or total conformation to the phonetic, graphical and morphological
standards of the receiving language and its semantic system.
The degree of assimilation depends upon the length of period during which
the word has been used in the receiving language, upon its importance for
communication purpose and its frequency. Oral borrowings due to personal
contacts are assimilated more completely and more rapidly than literary
borrowings, i.e. borrowings through written speech.
A classification of borrowings according to the degree of assimilation can be
very general. There may be suggested three groups of borrowings: completely
assimilated, partially assimilated and unassimilated borrowings or barbarisms.
1) C o m p l e t e l y assimilated borrowings are found in all the layers of
older borrowings. They may belong to the first layer of Latin borrowings (cheese,
street, wall, wine), Scandinavian borrowings (husband, fellow, gate, die, take,
want, happy, ill, low, wrong), French words (table, chair, face, figure, finish).
Completely assimilated borrowings follow all morphological, phonetical and
orthographic standards. Being very frequent and stylistically neutral, they may
occur as dominant words in synonymic groups, they take an active part in word-
formation. Such borrowings are indistinguishable phonetically. It’s impossible to
say judging by the sound of the words sport and start whether they are borrowed
or native. In fact start is native derived from ME sterten, whereas sport is a
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shortening of “disport” which came from OFr “desporter” – to amuse oneself, to
carry oneself away from one’s work.
2) P a r t i a l l y assimilated borrowings can be subdivided into subgroups
depending on the aspect that remains unaltered, according to whether the word
retains features of spelling, pronunciation, morphology or meaning that are not
English. They are:
a) borrowings ot assimilated semantically because they denote objects and
notions peculiar to the country from which they come. They may denote
foreign clothing (mantilla, sombrero), foreign titles and professions
(rajah, sheik, toreador), foreign currency (krone, rupee, rouble, zloty);
b) borrowings not assimilated grammatically, e.g. Latin or Greek
borrowings which keep their original plural forms (phenomenon –
phenomena, criterion – criteria, crisis – crises);
c) borrowings not completely assimilated phonetically. French words
borrowed after 1650 are good examples. Some of them keep the accent
on the final syllable (machine, cartoon, police), others, alongside with
peculiar stress, contain sounds or combination of sounds that are not
standard for English: /ჳ/ – bourgeois regime, sabotage, /wa:/ – memoir.
The whole phonetic make-up of the word may be different from the rest
of the vocabulary, e.g. Italian and Spanish borrowings – opera,
macaroni, tomato, potato, tobacco.
d) borrowings not completely assimilated graphically, e.g. French
borrowings in which the final consonant is not pronounced (ballet,
buffet); some may keep a diacritic mark (café, cliché).
3) Unassimilated borrowings 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 are corresponding English equivalents, e.g. Italian “addio,
ciao” – good-bye, French “affiche” – placard, “coup d’Etat” – a sudden seizure of
state power by a small group.