The Etymology of English Words
LEXICOLOGY
The term «lexicology» is of Greek origin / from «lexis» - «word» and «logos» - «science»/ . Lexicology is the part of linguistics which deals with the vocabulary and properties of words and word-groups.
The term «vocabulary» is used to denote the system of words and word-groups that the language possesses.
The term «word» denotes the main lexical unit of a language resulting from the association of a group of sounds with a meaning. It is the smallest unit of a language which can stand alone as a complete utterance.
The term «word-group» denotes a group of words which exists in the language as a ready-made unit, has the unity of meaning, the unity of syntactical function, e.g. the word-group «as loose as a goose» means «clumsy» and is used in a sentence as a predicative / He is as loose as a goose/.
Lexicology can study the development of the vocabulary, the origin of words and word-groups, their semantic relations and the development of their sound form and meaning. In this case it is called historical lexicology.
Another branch of lexicology is called descriptive and studies the vocabulary at a definite stage of its development.Special lexicology focuses on the description of the peculiarities in the vocabulary of a given language.
General L is concerned with specific features of any language and special studies a vocabulary of a given language. Contrastive compares two or more languages and reveals their similarities and disimilarities. Historical deals with evolution, changes in the vocabulary in the course of time. Sinchronic deals with the modern state of lexicology. The evolution of a vocabulary forms the object of historical lexicology or etymology (from Gr. etymon “true, real”), discussing the origin of various words, their change and development, examining the linguistic and extra-linguistic forces that modify their structure, meaning and usage. Semasiology (from Gr. semasia “signification”) is a branch of linguistics whose subject-matter is the study of word meaning and the classification of changes in the signification of words or forms, viewed as normal and vital factors of any linguistic development. It is the most relevant to polysemy and homonymy. Onomasiology is the study of the principles and regularities of the signification of things / notions by lexical and lexico-phraseological means of a given language. It has its special value in studying dialects, bearing an obvious relevance to synonymity.
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THE NATURE OF THE WORD
The word is a unit of speech which serves the purposes of human communication. Thus, the word can be defined as a unit of communication. Secondly, the word can be perceived as the total of the sounds which comprise it.
Third, the word, from the structural p.o.w, possesses several characteristics.
a) The modern approach to the word as a double-facet unit is based on distinguishing between the external and the internal structures of the word. By the external structure of the word we mean its morphological structure. For example, in the word post-impressionists the following morphemes can be distinguished: the prefixes post-, im-, the root –press-, the noun-forming suffixes -ion, -ist, and the grammatical suffix of plurality -s. All these morphemes constitute the external structure of the word post-impressionists.
The internal structure of the word or its meaning, is nowadays commonly referred to as the word's semantic structure. This is the word's main aspect. Another structural aspect of the word is its unity. The word possesses both its external (or formal) unity and semantic unity. The formal unity of the word can best be illustrated by comparing a word and a word-group comprising identical constituents. The word blackbird, which is characterized by unity, possesses a single grammatical framing: blackbirds. The first constituent black is not subject to any grammatical changes. In the word-group a blackbird each constituent can acquire grammatical forms of its own: the blackest birds I've ever seen. Other words can be inserted between the components which is impossible so far as the word is concerned as it would violate its unity: a black night bird. The same example may be used to illustrate what we mean by semantic unity. In the word-group a black bird each of the meaningful words conveys a separate concept: bird – a kind of living creature; black – a color. The word blackbird conveys only one concept: the type of bird. This is one of the main features of any word: it always conveys one concept, no matter how many component morphemes it may have in its external structure.
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The Main Lexicological Problems
Two of these have already been underlined. The problem of word-building is associated with prevailing morphological word-structures and with processes of making new words. Semantics is the study of meaning. Modern approaches to this problem are characterised by two different levels of study: syntagmatic and paradigmatic.
On the syntagmatic level, the semantic structure of the word is analysed in its linear relationships with neighbouring words in connected speech. In other words, the semantic characteristics of the word are observed, described and studied on the basis of its typical contexts.
On the paradigmatic level, the word is studied in its relationships with other words in the vocabulary system. So, a word may be studied in comparison with other words of similar meaning (e. g. work, n. — labour, n.; to refuse, v. — to reject v. — to decline, v.), of opposite meaning (e. g. busy, adj. — idle, adj.; to accept, v, — to reject, v.), of different stylistic characteristics (e. g. man, n. — chap, n. — bloke, n. — guy, n.). Consequently, the main problems of paradigmatic studies are synonymy (see Ch. 9, 10), antonymy (see Ch. 10), functional styles (see Ch. 1, 2).
The study of voc. as a system.
2 approaches: synchronically (at a given stage of development), diachronically (in the contents of the process through it grew, developed, acquired in modern form.). The opposition of the two approaches is nevertheless disputable as the vocabulary, as well as the word which is its fundamental unit, is not only what it is at this particular stage of the language development, but what it was centuries ago and has been throughout its history.
Informal vocabulary.
Informal vocab-y is used in one's immediate circle: family, relatives or friends. Inf style is free-and-easy, familiar and unpretentious. Inf words and word-groups are traditionally divided into 3 types: colloquial, slang and dialect words and word-groups.
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C olloquialisms are used by everybody, and their sphere of communication is comparatively wide, at least of literary colloquial words. These are inf words that are used in everyday conversational speech both by cultivated and uneducated people of all age groups. Inf words appear in dialogues in which they realistically reflect the speech of modern people.
Pal and chum -friend; girl, when used coll-lly, denotes a woman of any age; bite and snack stand for meal; hi, hello are inf greetings. A number of shortenings are found among words of this type. pram, exam, fridge, flu, prop, movie.Verbs with post-positional adverbs are also numerous among coll-s: put up, put over, make up, make out, turn in. Literary coll-l words are to be distinguished from familiar coll-l and low coll-l. The borderline is not always clearly marked. familiar coll-l used mostly by the young and the semi-educated. Low coll-l- uncultivated speech.
Slang-lang-ge of a highly coll-l style, considered as below the level of standard educated speech, and consisting either of new words or of current words employed in some special sense. Each slang is rooted in a joke, but not in a kind or amusing joke. This is the criterion for distinguishing slang from coll-s: most slang words are metaphors often with a coarse, mocking, cynical colouring. used by the young and uneducated. (mug-face,dogs-feet, blinkers-eyes) Gene ral slang includes words that are not specific for any social or professional group, whereas spec ial slang is peculiar for some such group: teenager slang, university slang, public school slang, Air Force siang, football slang, sea slang, and so on.
Dialect-a variety of a language which prevails in a district, with local peculiarities of vocabulary, pronunciation and phrase. So dialects are regional forms of English. brass -money;to lake-to play; nivver –never, summat-something; nowt-nothing; mich-much;тип -must; ay- yes.
Western and Southern. Every group has 4 or 5dialects.
Cockney - Southern dialect (London). It exists in 2 levels: as spoken by educated and uneducated people. Features of Cockney dialect Interchange between [W] and [V]: [vel] - [wel] - well
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The voiceless and voiced dental spirants: [O] - [f] fing - thing; [ ] - [v] faver - father.
Formal Style
10. Learned words.
They are associated with printed pages.
Sphere of usage; they are used by educated and highly educated people.
They are subdivided into:
Scientific prose - identified by their dry flavour: comprise, compile, homogeneous.
Officialese - words of the official, bueurocratic language. They should be avoided in speech: to assist - to help, to proceed - to go, approximately - about.
Literary words - described as refined, they are used in descriptive passages of fiction. They are represented by the words of Roman languages and though fully adopted to English phonetic system still sound foreign: solitude, sentiment, fascination, cordial, allusive.
Modes of poetic diction - they are lofty, high-flown, archaic, coloured, used only in poetry: alas, constancy - верность, duth - do.
Archaic and Obsolete Words
rchaisms, obsolete words and historisms, their general characteristics.
Obsolete words - are no longer in use, especially out of use for at least a century. Archaic words - are current in earlier times, but rare in present usage. Historisms - are words denoting objects and phenomena, which are thing of the past and no longer exist.
Features:
They stand close to the learned words (modes of poetic dictions)
Archaisms are associated with printed pages.
They are moribund, are out of circulation, rejected by living lang. and are not used in conversational situations.
They are met in historical novels and poetry. They are used to create a particular period of time.
Sometimes archaic words may undergo a sudden reveal: kin used to be archaic word.
E.g.: thou - you, thy - your, nay -no, aye- yes.
Professional Terminology
Term, as traditionally understood, is a word or a word-group which is specifically employed by a particular branch of science, technology, trade or the arts to convey a concept peculiar to this particular activity.
So, bilingual, interdental, labialization, palatalization, glottal stop, descending scale are terms of theoretical phonetics.
Features of term:
Terms are deprived of emotional colouring.
They are not for general use, they are used by narrow circle of people.
They are built up according to the rules of word building.
Terms are borrowed from other languages.
Problems of terminology.
1.Whether term loses its terminological status when it comes into common usage or not. Most scholars think that it's quite natural that a great number of terms pass into general usage. E.g.: measles, electricity.
2.Synonymy and polisemy in terminology. Some scholars consider the term to have no synonyms and to be monosemantic. It sounds reasonable but in reality terms do possess synonyms and many terms are polysemantic. E.g.: to dress-перевязывать рану (medical), готовить землю к посеву (agricultural), выстраивать в шеренгу (military). Basic Vocabulary
These words are stylistically neutral, and, in this respect, opposed to formal and informal words described above. Their stylistic neutrality makes it possible to use them in all kinds of situations, both formal and informal, in verbal and written communication. professional terminology is used mostly by representatives of the professions; dialects are regional; slang is favoured mostly by the young and the uneducated. Not so basic vocabulary. These words are used every day, everywhere and by everybody, regardless of profession, occupation, educational level, age group or geographical location. These are words without which no human communication would be possible as they denote objects and phenomena of everyday importance (e. g. house, bread, summer, winter, child, mother, green, difficult, to go, to stand, etc.).
The Etymology of English Words
The first century В . С. Most of the territory now, known to us as Europe is occupied by the Roman Empire. Among the inhabitants of the continent are Germanic tribes. By etymology of words is understood their origin. After a number of wars between the Germanic tribes and the Romans these two opposing peoples come into peaceful contact. Trade is carried on, and the Germanic people gain knowledge of new and useful things. The first among them are new things to eat. It has been mentioned that Germanic cattle-breeding was on a primitive scale. Its only products known to the Germanic tribes were meat and milk. It is also to the Romans that the Germanic tribes owe the knowledge of some new fruits and vegetables of which they had no idea before, and the Latin names of these fruits and vegetables enter their vocabularies reflecting this new knowledge: cherry (Lat. cerasum), pear (Lat. pirum), plum (Lat. prunus), pea (Lat. pisum), beet (Lat. beta), pepper (Lat. piper). It is interesting to note that the word plant is also a Latin borrowing1 of this period (Lat. planta).
By a borrowing or loan-word we mean a word which came into the vocabulary of one language from another and was assimilated by the new language
The fifth century A. D. The Celts borrowings. Especially numerous among the Celtic borrowings were place names, names of rivers. Some Latin words entered the Anglo-Saxon languages through Celtic, among them such widely-used words as street (Lat. strata via) and wall (Lat. vallum).
The seventh century A. D. This century was significant for the Christianisation of England. Latin was the official language of the Christian church, and consequently the spread of Christianity was accompanied by a new period of Latin borrowings. E. g. priest (Lai. presbyter), bishop (Lai. episcopus), monk (Lat. monachus), nun (Lai. nonna), candle (Lai. candela). Latin borrowings, for the first schools in England were church schools. So, the very word school is a Latin borrowing (Lat. schola, of Greek origin) and so are such words as scholar (Lai. scholar(-is) and magister (Lat. ma-gister).
From the end of the 8th c. to the middle of the 11th c. England underwent several Scandinavian invasions which inevitably left their trace on English vocabulary. Here are some examples of early Scandinavian borrowings: call, v., take, v., cast, v., die, v., law
1066. French words from the Norman dialect penetrated every aspect of social life. Here is a very brief list of examples of Norman French borrowings.
Administrative words: state, government, parliament, council, power.
Legal terms: court, judge, justice, crime, prison.
Military terms: army, war, soldier, officer, battle, enemy.
Educational terms: pupil, lesson, library, science, pen, pencil.
Numerous terms of everyday life were also borrowed from French in this period: e. g. table, plate, saucer, dinner, supper, river, autumn, uncle, etc.
The Renaissance Period. In England, as in all European countries, this period was marked by significant developments in science, art and culture. They were mostly abstract words (e. g. major, minor, filial, moderate, intelligent, permanent, to elect, to create)
By the Indo-European element are meant words of roots common to all or most languages of the Indo-European group
I.Family relations: father, mother, brother, son,daughter. II. Parts of the human body: foot (cf. R. пядь ), nose, lip, heart. Animals: cow, swine, goose. 3 Plants: tree, birch (cf. R. береза ), corn (cf.R. зерно ). V. Time of day: day, night. VI. Heavenly bodies: sun, moon, star. VII. Numerous adjectives: red (cf. Ukr. рудий , R. рыжий ), new, glad (cf. R. гладкий ), sad (cf. R. сыт ). VIII. The numerals from one to a hundred. IX. Pronouns — personal (except they which is a Scandinavian borrowing); demonstrative. X. Numerous verbs: be (cf. R. быть ), stand (cf. R. стоять ), sit (cf. R. сидеть ), eat (cf. R. есть ), know (cf. R. знать ,
The Germanic element represents words of roots common to all or most Germanic languages. I. Parts of the human body: head, hand, arm, finger, bone. II. Animals: bear, fox, calf. 3 Plants: oak, fir, grass. 4 Natural phenomena: rain, frost. V. Seasons of the year: winter, spring, summer.1 VI. Landscape features: sea, land. VII. Human dwellings and furniture: house, room,bench. VIII. Sea-going vessels: boat, ship. IX. Adjectives: green, blue, grey, white, small, thick, high, old, good.
X. Verbs: see, hear, speak, tell, say, answer, make, give, drink.
Reasons of borrowings:
To fill a gap in vocabulary when it is lacked for some new objects and notions. (Latin “plum, butter”)
To represent the same concept in some new aspect, to supply a new shade of meaning or emotional coloring and thus to enlarge group of synonyms.
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