Where do English words come Where do English words come Where do English words come Where do English words come fromfrom? Part II? Part II31 October 2007

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Historical development of the English Historical development of the English language(OE, ME, EModE, ModE)Celtic background (1st inhabitants?)Development from Anglo-Saxon to Development from Anglo-Saxon to Modern English

Native English vocabularyNative English vocabularyNative English vocabularyNative English vocabulary

These are words that arrived with the These are words that arrived with the Germanic invaders and are still used in Modern English.Some are grammatical words, such as be, g , be, in, that, while others are lexical words: father love namefather, love, name.Nucleus – central mass; common words of the language

Native English Native English vocabularyvocabularyNative English Native English vocabularyvocabularyAnglo-Saxon words are generally short and Anglo-Saxon words are generally short and

concrete; e.g. parts of the body: arm (OE earm) bone(bān)parts of the body: arm (OE earm), bone(bān),chest (OE cest), ear (ēare), eye(ēage), foot (fōt), hand (hand), heart (heorte);( ), ( );The natural landscape: field, hedge, hill, land, meadow,wood;, ;Domestic life: door, floor, home, house;The calendar: day, month, moon, sun, year;The calendar: day, month, moon, sun, year;

Native English vocabularyNative English vocabularyNative English vocabularyNative English vocabularyAnimals: cow dog fish goat hen sheep Animals: cow, dog, fish, goat, hen, sheep, swine;C dj ti bl k d k d l Common adjectives: black, dark, good, long, white, wide;Common verbs: become, do, eat, fly, go, help, kiss, live, love, say, see, dell, send, think;

The influence of Celtic on EnglishThe influence of Celtic on EnglishThe influence of Celtic on EnglishThe influence of Celtic on EnglishThe conditions of cultural contact between the Celts and the invading were such that the Celtic language could not have any serious impact on Old English. Only a handful of Celtic words were borrowed at the time, and just a few have survived into modern EnglishEnglish.Town names, river names, some geographical terms in southern and eastern England.Later on a few more Celtic words were introduced from Irish Later on, a few more Celtic words were introduced from Irish Gaelic in the 17th century: brogue, galore, shamrock, tory; and later on: banshee, blarney, colleen.

Celtic influenceCeltic influenceCeltic influenceCeltic influence

From Scottish Gaelic come: clan loch bog From Scottish Gaelic come: clan,loch, bog, slogan, whisky.All in all, there are appr. two dozen loanwords of Celtic origin in English g gtoday.

The process of borrowingThe process of borrowingThe process of borrowingThe process of borrowingWhen speakers imitate a word from a foreign language, and adapt it in sound or grammar to their native language, the process is called borrowing, and the word thus borrowed is called loanword or a borrowing. Terms inappropriate, because receiving languages never return the borrowed wordsborrowed words.Unlike other languages, English seems to have welcomed borrowings throughout its history. It is estimated that over 120 languages from all over the world have been sources of present-day English vocabulary.The history of a loanword may be quite complex, e.g. chess was borrowed into English from Middle French in the 14th century. The French word came from Arabic, which had earlier borrowed it from Persian shah “king”: so, direct or immediate source is French, but its ultimate source is Persian so, direct or immediate source is French, but its ultimate source is Persian (as far back as we can trace it).

Latin words in EnglishLatin words in EnglishLatin words in EnglishLatin words in EnglishLatin has been a major influence on English Latin has been a major influence on English from the Germanic period up to modern times.E l i i l E b Early contacts in continental Europe, but not so many borrowings;In England, early borrowings: military domain, commerce, agriculture:

Latin words in EnglishLatin words in EnglishLatin words in EnglishLatin words in EnglishThese borrowings are:ese bo ow gs a e:Clothing (belt), buildings and settlements (wall, ceaster“city”,street);Mili d l l i i i d li i Military and legal institutions, commerce and religion: mass, monk, minster (monastery);Other: ancor, butter, chalk, cheese, dish, mile, pepper, pound, , , , , , , p pp , p ,sack...Some early borrowings were acquired from British Celts: e g candle chest master port psalm tileCelts: e.g. candle, chest, master, port, psalm, tile.Approx. 500 Latin words borrowed in the entire OE period.

Latin borrowingsLatin borrowingsLatin borrowingsLatin borrowingsIn ME, borrowing from Latin continues, some via French, some gdirectly.In this period mostly: professional or technical terms; terms from religion, law and literature.E.g. Client, conviction, library, scribe, simile, dissolve, equal, medicine.Simultaneous borrowing from Latin and French led to a highly distinctive feature of modern English vocabulary: set of three items (triplets), all expressing the same notion, but differing in style or meaning:E.g. kingly, royal, regal; rise, mount, ascend; ask, question, interrogate; fast, fi h l d t dfirm, secure; holy, sacred, consecrated.1 is colloquial, 2 is more literary, 3 is more learned.

Latin borrowingsLatin borrowingsLatin borrowingsLatin borrowings

Borrowing continued into the Modern Borrowing continued into the Modern English period, both from Latin and from Greek via Latin.Many borrowings in EModE: abdomen, y g bdo e , area, editor, graduate, imitate, medium, notorious peninsula superintendentnotorious, peninsula, superintendent...

Scandinavian borrowingsScandinavian borrowingsScandinavian borrowingsScandinavian borrowingsViking raids from AD 787 and next 200 years.g yIn Danelaw, Danish settlers used their own placenames: e.g. Ending in –by, scand. word for ‘farm, town’: (Derby), -thorpe, ‘village’ (Althorpe), -thwaite, ‘clearing’ (Braithwaite), -toft, ‘homestead’ (E f )(Eastoft).Also, great Scandinavian influence in personal names.Other words from Scandinavian: get, give from Scandinavian forms, pronouns they, them, their; the replacement of sidon by are; the spread of the third person singular –s ending in the present tense in other verbs.S f th t d i d E li h i t th Some of the commonest words in modern English came into the language at this time.Many words with initial sk are of Scandinavian origin: scorch, score, scrape scrub skill skin skirt sky Window came from scand vindaugascrape, scrub, skill, skin, skirt, sky. Window came from scand. vindauga.Borrowing continued in Modern English period: muggy, rug, scud, ski, geyser,rune, saga, ombudsman.

Greek loanwordsGreek loanwordsGreek loanwordsGreek loanwordsAs a classical language, Greek provided English with a considerable g g p gnumber of technical terms in all branches of human knowledge.Some Greek words were borrowed via Latin, and French, some were derived from Greek and Latin elements, while others were

k di l f G ktaken directly from Greek.Via Latin: allegory, anaesthesia, chaos, dilemma, enthusiasm, history, metaphor, paradox...Via French: centre, character, democracy, harmony, machine...Directly: acronym, autocracy, telegram...

French borrowingsFrench borrowingsFrench borrowingsFrench borrowingsBorrowing from French has occurred ever since the o ow g o e c as occu e eve s ce t e Middle Ages. After the Norman Conquest it increased noticeably. By the end of the 13th century some 10 000 French words the end of the 13th century some 10,000 French words had come into English.Mostly from fields such as: law, administration, medicine,

f hi d lifarts, fashion, everyday life.Government, administration, attorney, chancellor,court, crime... Abbot, clergy, preach... Prince, duke, viscount, baron... c e... bbot, c e gy, p e c ... ce, d e, sco t, b o ... Army, captain, corporal, lieutenant, sergeant, soldier...

French borrowingsFrench borrowingsFrench borrowingsFrench borrowingsDuring the ME period, some words were During the ME period, some words were borrowed from Norman French, others from Central French.Nearly a half of French borrowings was adopted in this period.M f th b i d li t d d th t Many of the borrowings duplicated words that already existed, so OE words disappeared, e.g. leod-people, wlitig-beautiful, stow-place. Hundreds leod people, wlitig beautiful, stow place. Hundreds of OE words disappeared in this way, but in some cases both words survive: e.g. Doom-j d t h t di l h ijudgment, hearty-cordial, house-mansion.

French borrowingsFrench borrowingsFrench borrowingsFrench borrowingsIn ModE period borrowing continued, but not on the In ModE period borrowing continued, but not on the same scale.There are cases like: gentle, genteel, jaunty – Fr. Gentil; chief, chef.The pronunciation of ch tells us that chamber, champion, chance are from ME times while chauffeur chevron chance are from ME times, while chauffeur, chevron, chiffon from ModE period.French borrowings since the 17th century are less g ycompletely adapted than older loans: e.g. amateur, boulevard, ensemble, liaison, massage…

German and Dutch loansGerman and Dutch loansGerman and Dutch loansGerman and Dutch loansFrom the Middle Ages on, commercial relationships have existed g pbetween Flemish/Dutch and English speaking peoples. In these contacts, English borrowed from Dutch and other forms of Low German.B f D h i i f i D h ib d Because of Dutch eminence in seafaring, Dutch contributed many nautical terms to English: bowline, buoy, commodore, cruise, deck, skipper, smuggle, yacht.Some loanwords came to English via American Dutch settlers: Some loanwords came to English via American Dutch settlers: coleslaw, cookie, cranberry, waffle.

Borrowings from other Romance Borrowings from other Romance languageslanguages

Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.p gSpanish and Portuguese from 16th cent. onwards, mostly from the New World: e.g. alligator, avocado, barracuda, canoe, chocolate, cockroach, domino, mosquito, potato, tobacco, tomato, vanilla…Italian has had a particular significance for musical vocabulary, and other arts.Borrowing from Italian started in the 16th century: e.g. allegro, opera, piano, solo, sonata, soprano… Later on, balcony, balloon, carnival, ghetto, lagoon, malaria, regatta, studio, torso, umbrella, volcano…

Loanwords from other sourcesLoanwords from other sourcesLoanwords from other sourcesLoanwords from other sourcesEast: Arabic words in ME period, science and commerce: e.g. admiral, East: Arabic words in ME period, science and commerce: e.g. admiral, amber, camphor, cipher, cotton, orange, syrup, zenith.

The Arabic definite article al is retained in one form or another in: l h l h l l b l i h lk li l i h li i alchemy, alcohol, algebra, algorithm, alkali, almanac, azimuth, elixir,

hazard.Borrowing from Arabic has continued up to modern times, g p ,sometimes via Italian or French, including the following terms: assassin, calibre, carat, garble, giraffe, hashish, lemon, magazine, sherbet.Oth S iti l H b kibb t h ll l j h bbi Other Semitic languages: Hebrew: kibbutz, amen, hallelujah, rabbi, sabbath…Persian: caravan, bazaar, shah, shawl…via Latin or French: azure, musk, paradise, scarlet, tiger.

Loanwords from other sourcesLoanwords from other sourcesLoanwords from other sourcesLoanwords from other sourcesFrom the Indian subcontinent English has borrowed a From the Indian subcontinent, English has borrowed a few words from Sanskrit (avatar, karma, mahatma, yoga), some from Tamil (curry), a number from Hindi/Urdu ( y)(bangle, dungaree, jungle, pajamas, shampoo).From Native American languages have come: moccassin, toboggan, tomahawk, skunk.

TodayTodayTodayTodayEnglish still borrows from other languages of the world.g s st bo ows o ot e a guages o t e wo .But: 1. the frequency of borrowing is considerably reduced; 2. English starts to borrow from less and less known languagesknown languages.French is still the largest supplier of words to English, probably because of the geographical proximity.Spanish in American English.