Seminar 2: Etymological composition of the English word-stock
Learn the basic definitions and principal concepts for the dictation or oral questioning
A loan 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.
Etymological doublets – two or more words of the same language which were derived by different routes from the same basic word.
International words – words of identical origin occurring in several languages as a result of simultaneous or successive borrowing from one ultimate source.
Translation-loans – a special kind of borrowing consisting in the adoption of a word not in the same phonemic shape it has been functioning in its own language but after undergoing the process of translation.
Semantic-loans – the development of a new meaning in an English word due to the influence of a related word in another language.
Barbarisms -- 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 (ex., chaos, adios).
Be ready to answer the following questions:
- Words of native origin and their characteristics:
1) What is the native element of the English vocabulary composed of?
2) What words belong to the Indo-European stock?
3) How can you define words of the Common Germanic stock?
4) What words are called the English element proper?
5) Why is the native element considered very important?
- Causes and ways of borrowing into English
1) What is a borrowing?
2) What conditions encourage the borrowing process?
3) How can borrowings enter the language?
- Criteria and assimilation of borrowings
1) What are the criteria of borrowings?
2) How are borrowed words assimilated?
3) What groups of loan-words are there in English?
- Special types of borrowing
1) What words are called etymological doublets?
2) What words are called international?
3) How can you define the term “translation loan”?
4) What does the term “semantic loan” denote?
Tasks and exercises
- Subdivide these words of native origin into: a) Indo-European, b) Common Germanic and c) English proper.
Daughter
Woman
Room
Land
Cow
Swine
Spring
Lady
Glad
Goose
Lord
Nose
Birch
Daisy
Heart
To stand
To answer
Sea
Always
- In the sentences given below define the italicized examples as Scandinavian, French or Latin borrowings.
1) She was wearing a long blue skirt and a white blouse.
2) Connoisseurs of the song will be familiar with the name of Anna Quentin.
3) The sun was high, the sky unclouded, the air warm with a dry fresh breeze.
4) His bandaged head was silhouetted in the light from the little window.
5) Dave raised his hand when he saw me with the dignified gesture of a patriarch greeting the appearance of an expected sign.
6) Two eyes – eyes like winter windows, glared at him with ruthless impersonality.
7) Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
3. State the origin of the following words and compare their meaning. Why are they called etymological doublets?
1) captain – chieftain, cart – chart
2) history – story, shadow – shade, superior – super
3) shirt – skirt, shriek – screech
4) corpse – corps, travel – travail
4. Divide the words listed below into: a) fully assimilated words, b) partially assimilated words, c) unassimilated words. Explain the reason for your choice in each case.
Criterion
Nice
Ballet
Wine
Take
Kindergarten
Skirt
Eau-de-Cologne
Police
Phenomenon
Coup d’etat
Romantic
Window
Skin
Czar
Regime
Port
Têt-á-têt
Genius
Pain
Rickshaw
Bishop
Low
Justice
Phoneme
Gay
Monk
Experiment
Chemistry
Chauffer
Banana
- What type of borrowings are these? Classify them according to the sphere of usage.
Democracy
Rugby
Progress
Football
Television
Grapefruit
Drama
Philosophy
Sputnik
Tragedy
Coca-cola
Medicine
Atom
Primadonna
Chocolate
Cricket
- State the origin of the following translation-loans. Give more examples.
Wonder child, first dancer, masterpiece.
7. Read the following text. Copy out the international words. State to what sphere of human activity they belong.
British Dramatists
In the past 20 years there has been a considerable increase in the number of new playwrights in Britain and this has been encouraged by the growth of new theatre companies. In 1956 the English Stage Company began productions with the object of bringing new writers into the theatre and providing training facilities for young actors, directors and designers; a large number of new dramatists emerged as a result of the company productions. Regional repertory theatres, too have helped contemporary dramatists by including new plays in their programmes. Among the dramatists whose work was first produced by the English Stage Company are John Osborne, Arnold Wesker, Edward Bonds, John Arden and David Storey. Television has been an important factor in the emergence of other dramatists who write primarily for it; both the BBC and IBA transmit a large number of single plays each year as well as drama series and serials.
(From The Promotion of the Arts in Britain)
Recommended literature
1. Antrushina G.B., Afanasyeva O.V., Morosova N.N. English Lexicology: Учеб.для студ.пед.ин-тов по спец. №2103 «Иностр.яз.». – М.: Высш. шк., 1999.
2. Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S., Knyaseva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English Lexicology. – M.: Higher School, 1979.
3. Арнольд И.В. Лексикология современного английского языка: Учеб.для ин-тов и фак.иностр.яз. – М.: Высш. шк., 1986. – На англ.яз.