I

NTRODUCTION TO

L

INGUISTICS

.

L

ECTURE

7.

Enriching English Vocabulary (2)

I. Language is a system of arbitrary signs used in a society for communication. The system
undergoes change (synchronic and diachronic), also due to language contacts.

II. (Conventional) Periodization of English:

450 – 1100

Old English

1100 – 1500 Middle English

1500 – 1650 Early Modern English

1650 – 1800 Late Modern English (Authoritarian English)

1800 >

Present-day English

III. Borrowings (examples given in modern spelling)

1. Reasons for borrowing:



intralinguistic (low frequency of some words; homonymous words; shift of meaning)



extralinguistic (need-filling; prestige and snobbery)

2. Direct borrowing [source lg. > target lg.]:

palma (Latin) > palm (English); palma (Latin) > palma (Polish);

3. Indirect borrowing [source lg. > intermediate lg(s) > target lg.]:

kahveh (Turkish) > kahva (Arabic) > koffie (Dutch) > coffee (English)
jangala (Sanskrit) > jangal (Hindi) > jungle (English)
jungle (English) > Dschungel (German) > dżungla (Polish)

4. Loanwords: a word borrowed (imported) from one language to another (often with the

concept/object): budget > budżet; yacht > jacht; jazz > jazz/dżez

5. Loanshift (loan translation, calque):

omnipotens (Latin) > almighty;
akademische Freiheit (German) > academic freedom;
Ubermensch (German) > superman;
ça va sans dire (French) > it goes without saying;
teenager > nastolatek;
sky scraper > drapacz chmur.

6. Replacement: obsolete (Old English)

current word (from French)

wynnfæst

pleasure

læcedom

medicine

scyppend

creator

healdend

chief

æðeling

prince

IV. Main sources of borrowings in English:

1. Latin:

a. continental: plant, mint, beet, palm, mill, cheese, butter, kitchen, dish, market,

pound, street, school, devil, false;

b. post-continental: creed, port, castle, mount, crystal;

c. via Celtic: cross, candle, ark, chest;

d. Middle English: testament, contract, assume, delicate;

e. Early Modern English: colony, immigration, aborigines, export, function;

f. modern formations: computer, radioactive.

2. Greek (via Latin): analysis, theory, politics, democracy, drama, comedy, epic, energy, idea,
philosophy, music, catastrophe, botany.

3. Old Norse (Old Danish): fellow, husband, sister, law, window, cake, egg, bag, gift, link,
bank, sky, leg, calf, anger, skirt, hit, knife.

4. Norman French: country, river, lake, city, duke, prince, count, rule, government, deputy,
justice, crime, punish, prison, warranty, guarantee (CF), warden, guardian (CF), cattle,
chattel (CF), convey, convoy (CF).

5. Arabic (via Latin, French, Italian, Spanish): alchemy, algebra, alcohol, alkali (Arabic al-
‘the’), zenith, zero; lemon.

6. Celtic: Irish: banshee, clan, druid, glen, shamrock, whisky, galore; Welsh: flannel, gull.

7. Some other borrowings:

armada, tornado, cafeteria, fiesta, poncho, macho, poncho, tomato,
chocolate < Spanish (< Nahuatl tomatl, xocolatl);
potato < Spanish (< Carib. batata);
tuna < Spanish atun (< Arabic tun);
banana < Spanish (< West African);

tsunami < Japanese (tsu ‘port’ + nami ‘wave’);

noodle, kindergarten, lager (< German)

robot

beatnik, refusnik, netnik, webnik

nudnik < Yiddish nudne

schav ‘sorrel’ < Yiddish shtshav

baba

kind of plum cake, 1827, from Fr. baba (19c.), said by French etymology
dictionaries to be from Polish baba.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=baba&searchmode=none