Transcript ETYMOLOGY - WordPress.com

a branch of linguistics that studies
the origin of words
THE NATIVE ELEMENT:
 25-30%
 I. Indo-European element
 II. Germanic element
 III. English Proper
element
THE BORROWED ELEMENT:
70%
•
I. Celtic (5-6 c. A.D.)
•
II. Latin (1c.B.C.; 7c.A.D.; the
Renaissance per.)
•
III. Scandinavian (8-11c.A.D.)
•
IV. French (Norman-1113c.A.D.
ParisianRenaissance)
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V. Greek (Renaissance)
•
VI. Italian (Renaissance & later)
•
VII. Spanish (Ren-ce & later)
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VIII. German
•
IX. Oriental
•
X. Russian
~ I-E stock — have cognates in the vocabularies of different I-E
languages
a) terms of kinship: father, mother, son, daughter, sister, brother
cousin, aunt, uncle ˂ French;
b) elements of nature: sun, star, stone, hill, moon, wind, water, tree,
wood;
c) animals: cat, wolf, mouse, crow, bull, cow, goose, fish;
d) parts of human body: heart, arm, ear, back, foot, nose, lip, knee,
tongue;
e) basic verbs: do, eat, sleep, go, come, sit, stand, bear, know;
f) basic physical properties & colours: hard, light, quick, thin, thick,
slow, cold, white, red
blue ˂ French;
g) auxilary, modal verbs: can, must, may, shall, will;
h) pronouns: personal (they ˂ Scand.), demonstrative;
i) numerals: 1-100 (except 9 — Common Germanic)
~ Common Germanic origin — have cognates in Germ., Goth., Swed., Norw.,
Iceland., Dutch, but not in Fr., Rus., Lat.
nouns: summer, winter, spring (autumn—Fr.), storm, rain, ice,
ground, bridge, house, room, coal, iron, lead, hat, shirt, shoe, evil,
hope, life, need, rest, ship, sea, cheek, hand, cloth, chicken, bone;
verbs: hear, forget, follow, live, make, send, sing, shake, burn, bake,
keep, meet, rise, learn, buy, drive, see;
adjectives: dead, deaf, dear, deep, heavy, sharp, soft, broad;
pronouns: all, each
~The English proper element — specifically English words which have no
cognates in other languages whereas for native words of Indo-European and
Common Germanic stocks such cognates may be found:
lady, lord, boy, girl, woman, daisy
GERMANIC
INDO-EUROPEAN
P
T
K
F
ϴ
H
B
D
G
P
T
K
Features characteristic of native w-s :
1) comparatively simple morphological structure;
2) stability;
3) high frequency value;
4) plurality of meanings;
5) a great role in word-formation;
6) combinative power in Phraseology
a word taken from another language & modified in
phonemic shape, spelling, paradigm or meaning
according to the standards of a target language (English)
Source of borrowing
the language, from which the loan word was taken into English.
Origin of borrowing
the language, to which the word may be traced
paper < Fr. papier < Lat. papyrus < Gr. papyros
table < Fr. la table < Lat. tabula
s/b
o/b
Avon, Dover, Exe, Esk, Usk, Ux ˂ Celtic words meaning
“river”, “water”.
the THAMES ˂ Celt. (river name)
LONDON < Celt. Llyn (another Celtic word for “river”) + dun
(“fortified hill”) — “fortress on the hill over the river”
Arthur — благородный
Donald — гордый вождь
Evan — молодой воин
LATIN
STRATIFICATION
1-st c. B.C.
The earliest group of
borrowings: concrete
names
7-th c.A.D.
Christianization
persons, object, ideas
associated with church &
religious rituals:
priest, monk, nun, deacon,
abbot, pope, candle, altar
angel, organ, psalm.
exception:CHURCH,
DEVIL ˂1-st c. B.C.
Renaissance
mostly abstract words:
necessary
incredible
rational
testify
subdivide
magnify
interrupt
temperate
stupor
nervous
individual promote etc.
FRENCH BORROWINGS
3 languages on the territory of the British
Isles
ANGLOSAXON
cow
sheep
swine
calf
FRENCH
till the 14 c. —
a state language
beef
mutton
pork
veal
LATIN
church
universities
SCANDINAVIAN BORROWINGS
OE steorfan (sterben MnG) was replaced by Sc. die
now: “starve” has changed its meaning
OE heofon (небо) was replaced by Sc. sky
“heaven” has narrowed its meaning.
sk, sc
take get want die call hit happen husband fellow window
happy ill ugly weak wrong loose till etc.
Duodecimal system: counting — in twelves
the marketing unit of a dozen
the measuring formula of 12 inches to a foot
the monitory equation of 12 pence to a shilling
the legal entity of a jury of 12 good men & true
THEATRE: tragedy comedy drama farce epic lyric author theme act
scene poem poet period prologue episode epilogue part phrase dialogue
SCIENCE: subjects, their terms
SPORTS: gymnastics athlete acrobat stadium Olympic trophy
NAMES: Helen Irene Sophia Catherine Cora Margaret Alexander
Peter Nickolas Eugene George Philip Theodor
DOUBLE CONSONANTS ph [f], ps [s], pn [n], ch [k], rh [r], rrh [r] th
DIPHTHONGS: oe ae eu
PREFIXES: a- amphi- anti- auto- dia- epi- hyper- hypo- neo- parapoly- pro- proto- pseudo- mono- di- tri- tetra- penta- hexa- hepta- octodeka- hecata- kiloNOUNS AS PREFIXES: hydro- aero- pyro- bio- geo-
the XVI c. Ivan the Terrible:
tsar, tsarina,, tsarevitch, icon, doukhobors, troika, shuba,
beluga, sterlet, etc.
sovietisms
russian borrowings of the Soviet epoch that represent the
words of strongly expressed social & political content
soviet, the Supreme Council of the USSR, regional soviet,
bolshevik, Leninism, self-criticism, sundying (воскресник),
kulak, trotzkyite, collective farm, producers’ cooperative,
house of culture, people’s actorconsumers’ cooperative,
pioneers’ palace, etc.
TRANSLATION LOAN
wall newspaper — Rus. стенная газета
chain-smoker — Germ. Kettenraucher
homesick
— Germ. Heimweh
masterpiece — Germ. Meisterstüc
populist
— R. народник
by heart
— Fr. par coer
goes without saying — Fr. cela va sans dire
a slip of the tongue — Lat. Lapsus Lingue
SEMANTIC LOAN
pioneer— orig. “explorer”, “one who is among the first in new
fields of activity”— under the influence of the Rus. Word “пионер”
began to mean “a member of the Young pioneers’ Organization”
dream—orig. “joy & music”— under the influence of Germ.
“draum”(мечта) → has taken its modern meaning (cf. Rus.
“дрёма”)
bloom—orig. “metal”— underthe influence of Germ. “blōm”(a
blossom, flower) → having flowers
bread—OE “piece”— by association with Sc. “braud” it has taken
its modern meaning.
a partial or total conformation to the
phonetical, graphical and morphological
standards of the receiving (target) language
and its semantic system.
TYPES OF
ASSIMILATION
PHONETICAL
GRAMMATICAL
SEMANTIC
Phonetical assimilation
The long [e], [ε] in the end of w-s → [ei]; transfer of the stress
to the 1st syllable: honour, reason.
Grammatical assimilation
Rus. “степь”: 6 cases → E. Sg. steppe, steppe’s; Pl. steppes,
steppes’
2 forms of plurality: vacuum—vacua, vacuums
virtuoso (It.)—virtuosi, virtuosos
Semantic assimilation
Specialization
sport < OFr (pleasure, entertainments in general) → ME in this
character, but gradually acquired the additional meaning of outdoor
games & exercises, & in this new meaning was borrowed into many
European languages & became international.
сargo < Sp. (highly polysemantic) > 1 meaning (goods carried in a
ship)
timbre ˂ Fr. ( a № of meanings) ˃ 1 meaning (a musical term)
hangar (a large building in which aircraft are kept) < Fr. (shed)
revue (a theatrical performance consisting of songs, dances, and jokes
about recent events) < Fr. (обзор, обозрение)
Generalization
terrorist (a person who uses violence, especially murder and bombing, in
order to achieve political aims) ˂ Fr. orig.: “Jacobin”,“supporters of the
Jacobins in the French Revolution, who advocated repression and
violence in pursuit of the principles of democracy and equality”
move (Fr movoir) ˃ in MdE “propose”, “change one’s flat”, “mix with
people” etc.
umbrella (It. “shade”) ˃ “sunshade / parasol” → + “the protection
from the rain”
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sur(o)under (Fr. “overflow”) ˃ E. “rounder” was associated
by mistake with “round”→ “ to surround” was interpreted
as “ enclose on all sides, encircle”
estandard (OFr. “a flag, banner”˂ Lat. “to spread”) ˃E.
was wrongly associated with “to stand” → “standard”
acquired the meaning of “smth. stable, officially accepted”
mousseron (OFr.) → “mushroom”: the 2 familiar elements
used to approximate the foreign sounds (“mush”= “soft
pulp”) have nth. to do with the item itself
DEGREES OF
ASSIMILATION
COMPLETELY
ASSIMILATED
PARTLY
ASSIMILATED
NONASSIMILATED
(BARBARISMS)
~ older borrowings : the earliest Latin borrowings, Scandinavian,
French;
~ follow all morphological, phonetical, orthographical standards of
English. Their phonetical characteristics don’t reveal their nature:
cf. sport & start;
~ very frequent, stylistically neutral, may occur as dominant words
in synonymic groups; take an active part in word-formation
aren’t assimilated:
a) semantically — denote objects, notions specific to the country from ~ they
are taken : sari Khan shah rajah sheik bei minoret harem dervish
toreador sombrero sherbet (arab.) pelmeni valenki raviolli domino
b) grammatically — retain their original grammatical forms : phenomenon –
phenomena, bacillus – bacilli, crisis – crises, sanatorium – sanatoria.
c) phonetically — borrowed after the 17th c. : police, machine, cartoon
the stress — on the last syllable
bourgeois, protege, boulevard, prestige, regime, camouflage — the stress +
[ᴣ ] & [wa:]
d) graphically—are mainly of the French origin : restaurant, corps, bouquet,
ballet, cliché ragout
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ciao, addio, Führer, Wehrmacht, bon vivant [bo:η vi′vaη] –
прожигатель жизни, Vita brevis est ˂ Lat, ad libitum – at
pleasure (Lat)
gallicisms — unassimilated French words (approximately
2239).
by press, journalists, high level society
chauffeur, prestige, Cherchez la femme, Ce la vi!
hors d’oeuvre [ ̗o: ΄də:v],
au fait, au fond, au naturel, au revoir, affair de coeur, coup
d’etat, coup de theatre, coup d’essai, coup d’oeil, coup de
grace
1) historic development of peoples — the vocabulary system of
each language is particularly responsive to every change in
the life of the speaking community;
2) to fill a gap in vocabulary — there were no words, denoting
new objects, notions;
3) a new word represents the same concept in some new aspect,
supplies a new shade of meaning or a different emotional
colouring → enlarges groups of synonyms & enriches the
expressive resources of the vocabulary: Lat. cordial + nat.
friendly, Fr. desire + nat. wish, Lat. admire, Fr. adore + nat.
like, love.
nat. + able (Lat.) = readable, eatable, likable, answerable
un + E. +able = unbearable, unbelievable, unsayable
bor. + nat. = painful, violins, noiseless, fruitless, bicycles
(Lat.bi- + Gr. cycle + s)
aircraft =Gr. + nat.
blackguard = nat. + Fr.
dislike = Rom. + nat.
moneyless, courtly, gentleman = Fr. + nat.
woman-servant, blackguard = nat. + Fr.
violinist = It. + Gr.
2 or more words of the same language,
derived from the same basic word by
different ways & differing to a certain
degree in form, meaning & current usage
discus (L.) > disc & dish, castella (L.) — castle & chateau(Fr.)
[΄ʃætəu]
sir (Fr.) > senior (L.) & sir (E.)
OE hāl > whole & hale
(hale & hearty)
raid & road
shirt & skirt
screech & shriek
scabby & shabby
raise & rear
chase & catch
captain & chieftain channel & canal
gage & wage
chivalry & cavalry chart & card
chattels & cattle
Etymological triplets
hospital – hostel – hotel
train –trace – trail
words of identical origin that occur in
several languages as a result of
simultaneous or successive borrowings
from one ultimate source.
POLITICS: persona non grata, imperialism, class, antagonism,
system, consolidation, etc.
ART: sonata, music, melody, opera, ballet etc.
ECONOMY: economic, basis, exploitation, industry, tractor, machine,
collective, credit, etc.
SCIENCE: subjects, terms, measures amper, Volt, Watt, kilometer, etc.
comparatively new words : computer, genetic code, algorythm,
mikrofield, byonics, antenna, etc.
There are some international w-s long ago firmly established
in the lang-e :
time, minute, second, opera, professor, club, sport, bar, jazz, cowboy,
etc.
RUSSIAN WORDS: tsar, tsarina, intelligentsia, decembrist, Kremlin,
lunochod, steppe, sambo, rouble, perestroyka, glasnost, soviet, etc.
English & American words—universally
employed on every continent
baby-sitter bar bridge (the game) boyfriend best seller
bikini bulldozer bus beefsteak cafeteria cocktail flirt
gangster hamburger hot dog ice cream jazz jeep kleenex
party racket sandwich scooter shorts sex appeal striptease
steak taxi whisky weekend, O’KAY