Foreign Element in the Old English Vocabulary
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WORD-FORMATION IN OLD ENGLISH
Word Structure
The bulk of the OE vocabularies were native words. In the course of the OE period the vocabulary grew; it was mainly replenished from native sources, by means of word-formation.
According to their morphological structure OE words (like modern words) fell into three main types:
a) simple words ("root-words") or words with a simple stem, contain- a root-morpheme and no derivational affixes, e.g. land, sinзan, (NE land, sing, good);
b) derived words consisting of one root-morpheme and one or more s, e.g. be-зinnan, weorp-unз, un-scyld-iз, ie-met-ini (NE begin, worthiness', 'innocent', meeting).
c) compound words, whose stems were made up of more than one root-morpheme, e.g. mann-cynn, norpe-weard, feower-tiene, weall-зeat, skir-3e-refa (NE mankind, northward, fourteen, wall gate, sheriff).
Ways of Word-Formation
In OE there existed a system of word-formation of a complexity similar to that of Mod E. One of the most striking examples \m the potentials of OE word-formation was the ability of a single root toappear in an abundant store of simple, derived and compound words. For instance, OE mod (NE mood) yielded about fifty words: derived words, such as mddiz, lemoded, ofermod ('proud', 'disposed', 'arrogance'), compound words mod-caru, mod-leof, mod-зepoht, zlsedmodnis ('care', loved1, 'thought', 'kindness'). OE employed two ways of word-formation: derivation and word-composition.
Word-Derivation
Derived words in OE were built with the help of affixes: prefixes and suffixes; in addition to these principal means of derivation, words were distinguished with the help of sound interchanges and word stress.
Sound Interchanges
Sound interchanges in the roots of related words were frequent, and nevertheless they were used merely as an additional feature, which helped to distinguish between words built from the same root. Sound interchanges were never used alone; they were combined with suffixation as the main word-building means and in many cases arose as a result of suffixation.
The earliest source of root-vowel interchanges employed in OE word-building was ablaut or vowel gradation, inherited from PG and IE.
Vowel gradation was used in OE as a distinctive feature between verbs and nouns and also between verbs derived from a single root. The gradation series were similar to those employed in the strong verbs:
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ridan v — rad n (i:~a:] (like Class 1 of strong verbs), NE ride, raid sin3an v — sоnз п [i~a] (like Class 3 of strong verbs), NE sing, song
sprecan v — spraece n [e~ae: ] (see Class 5 of strong verbs) beran v — bsere n — the same; NE speak, speech, bear, bearer.
Many vowel interchanges arose due to palatal mutation; the element [i/j] in the derivational suffix caused the mutation of the root-vowel; the same root without the suffix retained the original non-mutated vowel, e.g.:
a) nouns and verbs: dom — deman from the earlier *domjan (NE doom — deem);fod — fedan (NE food—feed); bat — betan and alsoitre ('remedy', 'improve', NE better);
b) adjectives and verbs: full — fyllan (NE full — fill); hal — an ('healthy' — heal), cf. Gt fultjan;
c) nouns and adjectives: long — 1епзри (NE long, length), stronз — strenЗри (NE strong — strength); brad — brxdpu (NE broad — breadth); : nouns were originally derived with the help of the suffix -in, which later replaced by -pu.
Word Stress
The role of word accentuation in OE word-building was not great. Like sound interchanges, the shifting of word stress helped to differentiate between some parts of speech being used together with other means. The verb had unaccented prefixes while the corresponding nouns had stressed prefixes, so that the position of stress served as an additional distinctive feature between them, e.g. ond-'swarian v — 'ond-n. In some nouns, however, the prefix was as unaccented as in the verbs.
Prefixation
Prefixation was a productive way of building new words in OE. Genetically, some OE prefixes go back to IE prototypes, e.g. OE , a negative prefix (the element -n- is found in negative prefixes in many IE languages, cf. Fr ne, R не, ни). Many more prefixes sprang in and OE from prepositions and adverbs, e.g. mis-, be-, ofer-. Some these prepositions and adverbs continued to be used as independent words as well.
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The most frequent, and probably the most productive, OE prefixes were: a-, be-, for-, fore-, зe-, ofer-, un- Of these only un- was common with nouns and adjectives, the rest were mainly verb prefixes.
Some prefixes, both verbal and nominal, gave a more special sense to the word and changed its meaning very considerably: e.g. iytan — on-sytan (NE get), 'perceive', weordan — for-weordan v, forwyr6 n 'become', 'perish', 'destruction', buзап— bebusan (NE bow), 'surround'. A distinct semantic group was constituted by negative prefixes un-, mis-, wan-, or- (the two latter were nominal prefixes only), e.g.: hat — unhal or wan-hal 'healthy', 'unhealthy'
Suffixation
Suffixation was by far the most productive means of word derivation in OE. Suffixes not only modified the lexical meaning of the word but also could refer it to another part of speech.
Suffixes are usually classified according to the part of speech, which they can form. In OE there were two large groups of suffixes: 'fixes of nouns and suffixes of adjectives. Noun suffixes are divided suffixes of "agent nouns" ("nomina agentis") and those of abstract nouns.
Among the suffixes of "agent nouns" there were some dead, productive suffixes: -a, as in the Masc. a-stem hunta (NE hunter), i, originally the suffix of the Present Participle, e.g. OE freond, i, has lend (NE friend, fiend, 'saviour'), -end in word-building was replaced by -ere, a suffix of IE descent, whose productivity grew the adoption of numerous Latin words with the same suffix, e.g. utre, sutere (NE scholar, 'shoemaker').2 OE agent nouns in -ere were rived from nouns and verbs: bocere, fiscere, leornere, bsecere, etc. E 'scribe', fisher, learner, baker).
The nouns in -ere were Masc; the corresponding suffix of Fern, nouns ' e was less common: bsecestre, spinnestre ('female baker', 'female uner'). The suffix -ins was used to build patronymics and to show „ descent of a person, e.g.: AEpelwulfini 'son of AEpelwulf, Centini a man coming from Kent', cyninЗ 'head of clan or tribe' — OE cynn ‘clan’.
A most important feature of OE suffixation is the growth of new suffixes from root-morphemes. The second components of compound words turned into suffixes and the wrds were accordingly transformed from compound to derived. To this group belong OE -dom, -had, -lac, -scipe, -raeden In the derivation of adjectives we find suffixes proper such as -i3, -isc, -ede, -sum, -en (from the earlier -in) and a group of morphemes of intermediate nature — between root and affix — like the noun suffixes described above. The suffixes with the element -i-, that is -isc, -is and -en (-in) were often, though not always, accompanied by mutation. Adjectives were usually derived from nouns, rarely from verb stems or other adjectives.
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Verb suffixes were few and non-productive. They can be illustrated by -s in claensian, a verb derived from the adjective clsene (E clean)and -lee in пeаlaecап 'come near, approach' and wfenlaecan, impersonal verb meaning 'the approach of evening' (R вечeрeть).
Word-Composition
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Word composition was a highly productive way of developing the vocabulary in OE. This method of word-formation was common to §U IE languages but in none of the groups has it become as widespread as in Germanic. An abundance of compound words, from poetic metaphors to scientific terms, are found in OE texts.
As in other OG languages, word-composition in OE was more productive in nominal parts of speech than in verbs.
Compound nouns contained various first components — stems nouns, adjectives and verbs; their second components were nouns. The pattern "noun plus noun" was probably the most productive type of all: OE heafod-mann 'leader' (lit. "head-man"), mann-cynn (NE mankind),
Compound adjectives were formed by joining a noun-stem to an adjective: ddm-^eorn (lit. 'eager for glory'), mod-cearii 'sorrowful'. The following adjectives are compounded of two adjective stems: wid-сйр 'widely known', fela-modii 'very brave'.
The most peculiar pattern of compound adjectives was the so-called "bahuvrihi type" — adjective plus noun-stem as the second component of an adjective. This type is exemplified by mild-heort 'merciful', stip-mod 'brave', ап-eазе 'one-eyed'; soon, however, the second component acquired an adjective suffix -ede, thus combining two methods of word-formation: composition and suffixation; cf. ап-eаЗе lit. "one eye" and an-hyrnede 'one-horned, with one horn'.
The remarkable capacity of OE for derivation and word-composition is manifested in numerous words formed with the help of several methods: un-wis-dom 'folly' — un— negative prefix, wis— adjective-stem (NE wise), dom — noun-stem turning into a suffix; peaw-faest-nes 'discipline' — peaw n 'custom', faest adj 'firm' (NE fast), -nes — suffix
Foreign Element in the Old English Vocabulary
Although borrowed words constituted only a small portion of the OE vocabulary — all in all about six hundred words, — they of great interest for linguistic and historical study. The borrowings reflect the contacts of English with other tongues resulting from diverse political, economic, social and cultural events in the early periods of British history. OE borrowings come from two sources: Celtic and Latin.
Borrowings from Celtic
There are very few Celtic loan-words in the OE vocabulary, for there must have been little -intermixture between the Germanic settlers and the Celtic in Britain. Though in some parts of the island the Celts population was not exterminated during the WG invasion, linguistic evidence of Celtic influence is meager. Obviously there was little that the newcomers could learn from the subjugated Celts. Abundant borrowing from Celtic is to be found only in place-names. The OE kingdoms Kent, Deira and Bernicia derive their names from the names of Celtic tribes. The name of York, the Downs and perhaps London has been traced to Celtic sources (Celtic dun meant 'hill'). Various Celtic designations of 'river' and 'water' were understood by the Germanic invaders as proper names: Ouse, Exe, Esk, Usk, Awn, Evan go back to Celtic amhuin 'river', uisge 'water'; Thames, Stour, Dover also come from Celtic. Some elements frequently occurring in Celtic place-names can help to identify them: -comb 'deep valley' inBatcombe, Duncombe, Winchcombe^-torr 'high rock' in Ton, Torcross; -Han 'church' in Llan-daff, Llanelly; -pill 'creek' in Pylle, Huntspill.
Outside of place-names Celtic borrowings in OE were very few: no more than a dozen. Examples of common nouns are: OE binn (NE bin 'crib'), cradol (NE cradle), bratt 'cloak', dun (NE dun 'dark coloured'), dun 'hill', cross (NE cross), probably through Celtic from the L crux. A few words must have entered OE from Celtic due to the activities of Irish missionaries in spreading Christianity, e.g. OE ancor 'hermit', dry 'magician', cursian (NE curse). In later ages some of the Celtic borrowings have died out or have survived only in dialects, e.g. loch dial, 'lake', coomb dial, 'vallev'.
Latin Influence on the Old English Vocabulary
The role of the Latin language in Medieval Britain is clearly manifest; it was determined by such historical events as the Roman occupation of Britain, the influence of the Roman civilization and the introduction of Christianity. It is no wonder that the Latin language exerted considerable influence on different aspects of English: the OE alphabet, the growth of writing and literature. The impact of Latin the OE vocabulary enables us to see the spheres of Roman influence the life in Britain.
Early OE borrowings from Latin indicate the new things and concepts, which the Teutons had learnt from the Romans; as seen from examples below they pertain to war, trade, agriculture, building and home life.
Words connected with trade indicate general concepts, of measurements and articles of trade unknown to the Teutons before they came into contact with Rome: OE ceapian, dap, ceapman and mansion, тапъипъ, man^ere ('to trade', 'deal', 'trader', 'to trade', ‘trading', 'trader') came from the Latin names for 'merchant' — caupo and mango.
Roman contribution to building can be perceived in words like OE lie, tiiele, coper (NE chalk, tile, copper). A group of words relating in domestic life is exemplified by OE cytel, disc, cuppe, pyle (NE kettle, cup, pillow),.
Borrowings pertaining to military affairs are OE mil (NE mile) am L millia passuum, which meant a thousand steps made to measure the distance; OE weall (NE wall) from L vallum, a wall of fortifications erected in the Roman provinces; OE street from Latin strata via, — a "paved road" (these "paved roads" were laid to connect Roman military camps and colonies in Britain; the meaning of the word changed when houses began to be built along these roads, hence NE street); to this group of words belong also OE pit 'javelin', OE pytt (NE pile, pit).
Among the Latin loan-words adopted in Britain were some place-names or components of place-names used by the Celts. L castra m the shape caster, ceaster 'camp' formed OE place-names which survive today as Chester, Dorchester, Lancaster and the like (some of them with the first element coming from Celtic); Lcolonia 'settlement for retired soldiers' is found in Colchester and in the Latin-Celtic hybrid Lincoln; L vicus 'village' appears in Norwich, Woolwich, L portus — in Bridport and Devonport). Place-names made of Latin and Germanic components are: Portsmouth, Greenport, Greenwich and many others.
It should be noted that the distinction of two layers of early Latin borrowings is problematic, for it is next to impossible to assign precise dates to events so far back in history. Nevertheless, it seems more reasonable to assume that the earlier, continental layer of loan words was more numerous than the layer made in Britain.
The third period of Latin influence on the OE vocabulary began with the introduction of Christianity in the late 6th с and lasted to the end of OE.
Numerous Latin words which found their way into the English language during these five hundred years clearly fall into two main groups: (1) words pertaining to religion, (2) words connected with learning. The rest are miscellaneous words denoting various objects and concepts, which the English learned from Latin books and from closer acquaintance with Roman culture. The total number of Latin loan-words in OE exceeds five hundred, this third layer accounting for over four hundred words.
Other modern descendants of this group are: accent, grammar, meter, gloss, notary, decline. A great variety of miscellaneous borrowings came from Latin probably because they indicated new objects and new ideas, introduced into English life together with their Latin names by those who had faircommand of Latin: monks, priests, school-masters. Some of these scholarly words became part of everyday vocabulary. They belong to different semantic spheres: names of trees and plants — elm, lily, plant, pine; names of illnesses and words pertaining to medical treatment —, fancer, fever, paralysis, plaster; names of animals — camel, elephant,
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