Etymology of the English Word-Stock - Comprehensive Notes

Etymology of the English Word-Stock

Native Element of the English Vocabulary

The English word-stock is composed of several layers that reflect the historical and cultural development of English society.
The British Isles were frequently conquered, resulting in a mixed vocabulary, a defining characteristic of the English language.
Grammar and phonetic systems are more stable and less influenced by other languages compared to the lexical system.
A native word originates from the original English stock (Anglo-Saxon origin).
Borrowed words are those taken from other languages.
Linguistic analysis reveals that the borrowed stock is larger than the native stock.
Native words constitute only about 30% of the total English vocabulary.
This percentage represents the quantity but doesn't fully convey the frequency and semantic importance of native words.

Characteristics of Native Words

Indo-European Stock:
- Forms the basis of the Germanic word-stock.
- Belongs to important semantic groups.
- High frequency value.
- Great word-forming power.
- Wide collocability.
- Many meanings.
- Stylistically neutral.
- Includes pronouns, numerals, prepositions, conjunctions, most auxiliary and modal verbs, and members of a family.
Common Germanic Language:
- Has cognates in other West Germanic languages.
- Examples: English wife, German Weib; English bride, German Braut, Gothic brubs, Old Norse brúbr; English house, German Haus, Dutch huis, Norwegian hus, Swedish hus.
Isolated Words:
- Found only in English.
- Examples: girl, bad, keep.

Languages of Borrowing

The English word-stock has borrowed from various languages, including Scandinavian, French, Latin, and Greek.

Characteristic Features of Scandinavian Borrowings

Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons belonged to the same group of peoples, and their languages had much in common.
Approximately 700 borrowings from Scandinavian into English.
- Nouns: sister, bull, cake, egg, kid, knife, skirt, dirt, window.
- Adjectives: flat, ill, happy, low, odd, ugly, wrong.
- Verbs: call, die, guess, get, give, scream.
Borrowing was primarily oral.
Contact was long and stable.
Scandinavian borrowings often didn't introduce entirely new concepts.
- Example: Scandinavian husbonda > husband, taka > takan > take (earlier niman).
Pronouns and connective words were borrowed, although this is rare.
- Examples: same, both, till, fro, though, and pronominal forms with 'th' such as they, them, their.
Scandinavian influence contributed to the development of phrasal verbs, which were not present in Old English.
Some prefixed verbs fell out of use (e.g., ofniman, beniman).
Phrasal verbs are now highly productive.
- Examples: take off, give in.

Semantic Groups of French Borrowings

Words related to government: administer, empire, state, government.
Words related to court: court, servant, guard, royal, prince.
Words related to military affairs: army, war, banner, victory, soldier, battle.
Words related to jury: justice, judge, prison, lien, advocate, petition, inquest.
Words related to religion: religion, sermon, saint.
Words related to fashion: luxury, coat, collar, lace, pleat, embroidery.
Town trades: tailor, butcher, painter. Contrast with country trades like shepherd and smith.
Words related to jewelry: topaz, emerald, ruby, pearl.
Words related to food and cooking: lunch, dinner, appetite, to roast, to stew.

Characteristic Features of Renaissance Borrowings

The earliest Italian borrowing was bank in the 14th century, from Italian banko ('bench').
Italian moneylenders sat on benches; banco rotta (broken bench) became the origin of the English word bankrupt.
In the 17th century, geological terms were borrowed: volcano, granite, bronze, lava.
Political terms: manifesto, bulletin.
Significant influence on musical terminology:
- alto, baritone, basso, tenor, falsetto, solo, duet, trio, quartet, quintet, opera, operetta, libretto, piano, violin.
20th-century borrowings: gazette, incognito, altostratus, fiasco, fascist, dilettante, grotesque, graffito, cartoon, etc.

Reasons for Borrowing

Spanish borrowings entered English mainly through the American variant of Spanish.
- Trade terms: cargo, embargo.
- Names of dances and musical instruments: tango, rumba, habanera, guitar.
- Names of vegetables and fruit: tomato, potato, tobacco, cocoa, banana, ananas, apricot.
- Ethnic customs: parade, matador.

Ways of Borrowing

Approximately 800 words borrowed from German into English.
Geological terms with classical roots: cobalt, bismuth, zink, quarts, gneiss, wolfram.
Everyday objects: iceberg, lobby, rucksack, Kindergarten.
Second World War terms: Volkssturm, Luftwaffe, SS-man, Bundeswehr, gestapo, gas chamber.
Post-Second World War terms: Berufsverbot, Volkswagen.

Stages of Assimilation

Constant contacts between England and Russia led to mutual borrowing.
- Early borrowings related to trade: rouble, copeck, pood, sterlet, vodka, sable.
- Words related to nature: taiga, tundra, steppe.
Russian borrowings through 19th-century literature:
- Narodnik, moujik, duma, zemstvo, volost, ukase.
- Words formed in Russian with Latin roots: nihilist, intelligenzia, Decembrist.

Influence on Language System

Etymological doublets: Two words derived from the same basic word through different routes.
- Differ in sound and meaning.
- Example: shirt and skirt (Germanic origin, but skirt borrowed from Scandinavian, so the initial sk wasn't palatalized).
- Some doublets developed within English itself: Old English sceadu developed into shade, but its indirect case sceadwa resulted in Modern English shadow.
- Many etymological doublets are pairs where one word was borrowed directly from Latin and the other from French: camera - chamber.

Assignments

Assignment 1: Classify these native words into Indo-European and Common Germanic groups.
- Indo-European: summer, shall, will, I, mother, bridge, stand, arm, moon, shoot, by, tree, me, goose, car, drive, heart, one, eye, ice, be, white.
- Common Germanic: stone, under, coal, skirt, foot, bull, hope, sun, life.
Assignment 2: Which words do not belong to the native stock?
- a) fowl, goose, hen, chicken, duck, turkey;
  - turkey, chicken
- b) fruit, apricot, orange, water-melon, banana, grapes, cherry, pear, melonfig, lemon, mango, apple, plum;
  - fruit, apricot, orange, water-melon, banana, grapes, cherry, pear, melonfig, lemon, mango, apple, plum
- c) cattle, sheep, lamb, boar, bull, mule, donkey, ox, ass, mare, goat, horse, cow, cat, rabbit, deer, hog, dog.
  - cattle, sheep, lamb, boar, bull, mule, donkey, ox, ass, mare, goat, horse, cow, cat, rabbit, deer, hog, dog
Assignment 3: Match translation borrowings with the original phrases.
1. that is - c. id est
2. loan translation - d. Lehnübersetzung
3. flea market - b. marché aux puces
4. lose face - a. diu liǎn
Assignment 4: Find 9 Celtic words.
- nut, bin, rat, cart, strawberry, cradle, to go, to carry, budget, to reduce,
  to stop, career, crocodile, present, window, car, man, bard, sky, standard,
  fun, joke, flannel, whisky, tea, slogan, money, reel, needle, mackintosh, to
  take, to kick, summer, inch.
- bin, cart, car, bard, fun, joke, flannel, whisky, slogan
Assignment 5: Are these words synonyms?
- donkey - burro (Spanish)
  - yes
- beginning - début
  - yes
- bridegroom - fiancé
  - yes
- family - mafia (Italian)
  - no
Assignment 6: Build up pairs of etymological doublets.
- scabby - shell
- nay - no
- ward - guard
- off - of
- route - rout
- salon - saloon
- thorough - through
- shirt - skirt
- disc - dish
- major - mayor
- screw - shrow
- chart - cart
- chivalry - cavalry
- sir - sire
- legal - loyal
- hotel - hospital
- channel - canal
- shadow - shade
- jail - gaol
- poor - pauper
- artist - artiste