SEMINAR 1. ETYMOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY.

SYNCHRONIC PERSPECTIVE

Н 1. Native English vocabulary

Ю 2. The process of borrowing. Assimilation. Types of assimilation

In linguistics, borrowing (also known as lexical borrowing) is the process by which a

word from one language is adapted for use in another. The word that is borrowed is called a
borrowing, or a loanword.  More than 120 other languages have served as sources for the
contemporary vocabulary of English. Present-day English is also a major donor language.

Assimilation is a process of adjusting (приспособлення). The term Assimilation in

Etymology is used to denote a partial or total conformation of a borrowed word to the the
receiving language (язык-реципиент).

There are three main types of Assimilation:

1. Phonetic Assimilation – the adjusting of the phonetic structure of a borrowed word to

the phonetical system of the recipient language. Loan words not assimilated phonetically
retain their foreign pronunciation like most of the French borrowings of the latest time, e.g.
police, machine, ballet;

2. Grammatical Assimilation – a conformation of a borrowed word to the

morphological standards of the receiving language. Grammatically assimilated loan words
acquire English grammatical categories and paradigms, e.g. to count-counted-counting, sputnik-
sputniks. Loan words not assimilated grammatically retain their foreign grammatical forms like
some nouns borrowed from Latin which keep their original plural, e.g. phenomenon – phenomena.

3. Lexical Assimilation – a conformation of a borrowed word to the lexico-semantic

system of the receiving language. It means that a borrowed word may participate in word
building and develop its semantic structure, e.g. sputnik – to out sputniks, sputnikists. Foreign
polysemantic words become monosemantic in the receiving language but a borrowed word may
develop a new meaning in the receiving language, e.g. palate (the roof of the mouth) has developed a
new meaning in English = taste, inclination and interest; and the new derivatives – palatable (tasty) and etc.

Types of Assimilation

According to the degree of Assimilation, borrowings are subdivided into:

1. completely/fully assimilated words. They correspond to all phonetic,

morphological and semantic laws of English and do not felt as borrowings. They are found in
all the layers of older borrowings (Latin, Scandinavian, French). Many of them belong to the
native word stock of English (cheese, street – Latin; husband, to die, to take–Scandinavian; table–French).
2. partially assimilated borrowed words. They’ve retained:

foreign pronunciation (vase, restaurant)

foreign morphological characteristics (datum – data)

 they are not assimilated semantically denoting notion of foreign cultures, nature,
customs (steppe, taiga, sombrero). These are foreign realies which have no corresponding
equivalents in English.

3. barbarisms (unassimilated borrowed words). These are foreign words used by

English people in oral speech or in writing but not assimilated in any way. They usually have
corresponding English equivalents, e.g. “Chao” (Italian), “adio”.

3. Borrowings in Modern English (When talking about borrowings speak about their
sources and types of assimilation. Don’t forget to use and explain examples.)
i. Celtic Borrowings in English Н

ii. Latin Borrowings in English Ю completely/fully assimilated words, partially assimilated

Latin, being the language of the Roman Empire, had already influenced the language of
the Germanic tribes even before they set foot in Britain. Latin loanwords reflected the superior
material culture of the Roman Empire, which had spread across Europe: street, wall, candle,
chalk, inch, pound, port, camp.
Latin was also the language of Christianity, and St Augustine arrived in Britain in AD
597 to christianise the nation. Terms in religion were borrowed: pope, bishop, monk, nun, cleric,
demon. Christianity also brought with it learning: circul, not (note), paper, scol (school).
Language scholars have been able to fix the precise years at which certain words
entered the English vocabulary. Among these the Oxford English dictionary lists: genius (1513), area
(1538), vacuum (1550), virus (1599), series (1611), apparatus (1628), complex (1652), maximum and minimum
(1663), nucleus (1704), propaganda (1718), auditorium (1727), ultimatum (1731), insomnia (1758), prospectus
(1771) and so on.
One great motivation for the borrowings was the change in social order, where scientific
and philosophical empiricism was beginning to be valued. Many of the new words are
academic in nature therefore: formula, inertia, incubate, momentum, molecule, premium, vaccinate,
vacuum. This resulted in the distinction between learned and popular vocabulary in English.

iii. Scandinavian Borrowings in English Н

iv. Greek Borrowings in English Ю partially assimilated borrowed words

The revival of Greek learning at the beginning of the 16th opened up a new source which
enriched the English vocabulary. Greek words made inward into English stock and it contained
a number of Greek words such as geography, theology, and logic. Before the Renaissance,
English had acquired such Greek words as academy, atom, Bible, harmony, tragedy, and theatre.
The contribution of Greek to English vocabulary consists chiefly in scientific and
technical terms. Names of almost all sciences have come from Greek such as anthropology,
biology, botany, chemistry, physics. Words relating to medical science are psychology, neurology.
Some technical terms have been made by putting together two Greek words - telegram,
telegraph, telephone, cinematograph.
 Sometimes hybrids have been formed by adding Greek suffixes and prefixes to English
words. The Greek prefixes anti- and hyper- have been very common as anti-Indian, anti-English,
hyper-sensitive. The Greek prefixes a- and suffix -logy are added to a number of words as amoral,
apolitical, sociology, numerology.
Though a great number of words of Greek stock are related to scientific, technical and
non-technical terms, words have also been borrowed from time to time. Example of such
Greek words borrowed from Latin and French are fancy, ideas, pathos.
There are also a few Greek words like kudos, hybrid which has acquired a general
currency. Some of the Greek words adopted in the long span of time are :
16th century: alphabet, drama, theory
17th century: dogma, clinic, museum
18th century: Bathos, Philander
19th century: phase aerobot, agnostic.

v. French Borrowings in English Н

Task I. Ю
Find and explain the origin of the following words.

I, - 12c., a shortening of Old English ic, from Proto-Germanic *ek. Reduced to i by mid-12c. It began
to be capitalized mid-13c. to mark it as a distinct word and avoid misreading in handwritten manuscripts.
English, - noun use of Old English adjective Englisc, "of or pertaining (стосуватись) to the Angles,"
from Engle (plural) "the Angles," the name of one of the Germanic groups that overran the island 5c.,
supposedly so-called because Angul, the land they inhabited, was shaped like a fish hook
entertain, -
late 15c., "to keep up, maintain, to keep (someone) in a certain frame of mind," from
Middle French entretenir from entre- "among" (from Latin inter) + tenir "to hold" (from Latin tenere).
wish, -Old English wyscan "to wish, cherish a desire," from Proto-Germanic *wunsk- (from
PIE(Proto-Indo-European) root *wen- (1) "to desire, strive for
house, - Old English hus "dwelling, shelter, from Proto-Germanic *hūsan
apple, - Old English æppel "apple; any kind of fruit," from Proto-Germanic *ap(a)
two, - "1 more than one, " Old English twa "two," fem. and neuter form of twegen "two" (see twain),
from Proto-Germanic *twa
wolf, - Old English wulf "wolf, wolfish person, devil," from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz
fast, - Old English fæst "firmly fixed, strong, fortified," probably from Proto-Germanic *fastu- "firm,
fast"
quick, -
Old English cwic "living, alive, animate," and figuratively, of mental qualities, "rapid, ready,"
from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz
drink, - Old English drincan "to swallow water or other fluid," from Proto-Germanic *drenkanan
fly, - "to soar through air; Old English fleogan "to fly, take flight, rise into the air" from Proto-
Germanic *fleugan "to fly"
kiss, - Old English cyssan "to touch with the lips" from Proto-Germanic *kussjan
live, - Middle English, from Old English lifian (Anglian), libban (West Saxon) "to be, be alive, have
life; from Proto-Germanic *libejanan
eye, -c. 1200, from Old English ege (Mercian), eage (West Saxon) "eye; region around the eye;
apperture, hole," from Proto-Germanic *augon
 desire, - c. 1300, " an emotion directed toward attainment or possession of an object," from Old
French desir
from, - Old English fram, from Proto-Germanic *fra "forward, away from"
to, - Old English to "in the direction of, for the purpose of, ," from West Germanic *to
too, - "in addition; in excess," a variant of to (prep.) originally used when the wordwas stressed in
pronunciation. In Old English, the preposition (go to town) leveled with the adverb (the door slammed to).
Most of the adverbial uses of to since have become obsolete or archaic except the senses "in addition,
besides" (Old English), "more than enough" (c. 1300). As this often fell at the end of a phrase (tired and
hungry too), it retained stress and the spelling -oo became regular from 16c.
root, - "underground part of a plant," late Old English rot, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old
Norse rot "root," figuratively "cause, origin," from Proto-Germanic *wrot.
at. - Old English æt, from Proto-Germanic *at, from PIE root *ad- "to, near, at.".

Task II.
Group the following words according to their origin.
Н
Machine, mule, chocolate, telephone, wigwam, kangaroo, chauffeur, beauty, umbrella,
school, grotto, lottery, opera, sonata, sonnet, mikado, hara-kiri, karate, soprano, opal, orange,
punch, sapphire, manifest, violin, banana, bravado, canibal, aga, bey, caftan, coffee, canoe,
hammock, hurricane, sombrero, samurai, shogun, bonsai, tobacco, tank, guitar, hacienda,
sputnik, auto-da-fe, port (wine), verandah, cobra, bismuth, jungle, pyjamas, cobalt, quartz,
zinc, stanza, incognito, macaroni, influenza, fiasco, nickel, waltz, kindergarten, leitmotif,
borsch, rucksack, poodle, homeopathy, maize, mosquito, mulatto, potato, hamburger, lager,
reef, deck, hoy,
Ю
commandeer, from Dutch (especially Afrikaans) kommandeeren "to command" (for military service),
from French commander "to order"
springbok, Dutch антелопа
baobab, Medieval Latin bahobab (1590s), apparently from a central African language.
landscape, from Dutch landschap
roster, Dutch rooster "table, list," список,
coach, Middle French coche
tokay, perhaps Slavic, from tok "current," (напій)
goulash, Hungarian gulyáshús,
hussar, "light-cavalryman," 1530s, from German Husar
mazurka, , from Russian mazurka, from Polish mazurek
polka, from French polka, German Polka, probably from Czech polka,
sugar, Old French sucre
jute, from Bengali jhuto, джут
candy, Old French çucre candi
shampoo, Anglo-Indian shampoo, from Hindi champo
loot, Hindi lut, трофей
guru, , from Hindi guru
curry, from Anglo-French curreier
geisha, from Japanese,
kimono, Japanese
kamikaze, Japanese
zaitech, Japanese money management”),
emir, Arabic amir "commander"
harem, Turkish harem, from Arabic
khalif, Arabic
sofa, Turkish
sheikh, Arabic
assassin, Arabic
azimuth, Old French azimut, from Arabic as-sumut "the ways,"
sherbert, from Turkish
zero, from French zéro
cruise, from Dutch kruisen
easel, from Middle Dutch esel, мольберт
horde, from West Turkic
uhlan, from German Uhlan, ," from Turkish oghlan
kiosk, from French kiosque (17c.), which from Turkish koshk,
yoghurt, a mispronunciation of Turkish yogurt,
shish kebab, Armenian from Turkish
bazaar, from Persian
caravan, Middle French
turban, Middle French, from Turkish
bamboo, Dutch
ketchup, from Malay to Chinese
sago, via Portuguese and Dutch from Malay (Austronesian) starch made of the piths of palms,
tea, from Portuguese
tycoon, om Japanese taikun "great lord or prince,"
kung fu, from dialectal Chinese
glasnost, from Russian
intelligentsia, from Russian
madeira, group of volcanic islands off the northwest coast of Africa, from Portuguese
perestroika, from Russian
samovar, from Russian
troika, from Russian
piazza, from Italian
portico, from Italian ганок
solo, Italian
cocoa, from Spanish cacao "the cocoa bean,"
corral, " from Spanish загін
desperado, mock-Spanish
embargo, from Spanish
 schnaps, German
sauerkraut, German
kapellmeister, German
yacht, Middle Low German
rupee, Hindi, Urdu
khaki. Urdu from Persian

Task II. Н
Give adjectives of Latin origin corresponding to the following nouns.

Tooth, sun, youth, death, eye, star, sea, nose, town, sight.

Task II. Ю
Analyse the following words from the point of view of the type and degree of
assimilation. State which words are:
a) completely assimilated; Cheese, street, wall, wine, husband, fellow (хлопець),
gate, root, wing, call, take, die, want, happy, ill, low, old, wrong, table, face, chair, figure,
finish, matter, animal, article,

b) partially assimilated; formulae, bourgeois, prestige, memoir, incognito,

macaroni, soprano, tobacco, ballet, buffet, corps, bouquet, brioche (булочка), Auto-da-fe
(релігійна церемонія), nucleus, chauffeur, shaman, souvenir, spaghetti, boulevard, torero,

c) non-assimilated.
addio, ciao, coup d’état (повстання), ad libitum ('at pleasure'), kapellmeister, nota bene,
à la carte ("ordered by separate items") ad hoc( спеціально для цього випадку), à la
mode, têt-à-têt, déjà vu.

Task III. Н
Study the origin and the difference in formation and in meaning of these doublets.

shirt-skirt, chief-chef, secure-sure, carton-cartoon, ward-guard, disaster-asterisk, cow-

beef, canary-canine, adult-adolescent, alimony-alimentary, suit-suite, legal-loyal, major-
mayor, pauper-poor, of-off, shade-shadow, mister-master.

Task IV.
The following are loan translations (calques). Find their origin. What do they mean in
English? How and when are they used?
Ю
Adam’s apple (кадик), - corresponding to Latin pomum Adami, perhaps an inexact translation of
Hebrew tappuah haadam, literally "man's swelling," - known as the neck triangle
 masterpiece, - loan-translation of Dutch meesterstuk "work by which a craftsman attains the rank of
master"
brainwashing, - "attempt to alter or control the thoughts and beliefs of another person against his will
by psychological techniques," 1950, a literal translation of Chinese xi nao.
that goes without saying, - a translation of the French proverb Cela va sans dire
pineapple, - referred to as "ananas" (which means "excellent fruit" in Tupi), pine-cone emerged 1690s
to replace pineapple
foreword, German Vorwort "preface," "introduction to a literary work,"
superego, "that part of the psyche which controls the impulses of the id," 1924, as a translation of
German über-Ich;
Н
devil’s advocate, moment of truth, underground movement, lose face, flea market,
forget-me-not.

Resources:
1. Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. Chapter 3
and Chapter 4, pp.44 – 77.
2. M. A. K. Halliday and Colin Yallop. Lexicology. A Short Introduction. Chapter 2.3. pp. 33 – 42.
3. Зыкова И.В. A Practical Course in English Lexicology. Part V. pp.103 – 109.
4. Сунцова Н.Л., Такумбстова Л.М. Лексикология английского языка. Chapter 6. pp.118 – 132.
5. ‘Words about Words’. Part II. Sources of the English vocabulary. pp.17 – 39.
6. Anatoly Liberman. An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology
7. Online Etymology Dictionary: http://www.etymonline.com/
8. Online dictionaries to help you find etymologically related words: http://wordinfo.info/ and
http://www.lexvo.com/