The Norman-French Element in the English Vocabulary
The French layer rates second to Latin in bulk. English owes one fourth of its vocabulary to French.
French borrowings penetrated into English in two ways: from the Norman dialect after the Norman Conquest and from the French literary language beginning with the 15th century. French words borrowed during the period of the 12-16th century show the Social status of Norman invaders and their supremacy in economic, cultural and political development:
a. law terms: accuse, acquit, justice, judge, treason, inquiry, prison, rent, etc.
b. military terms: army, peace, armour, battle, siege, officer, sergeant, soldier, etc.
c. religious terms: faith, false, saint, charity, clergy, parish, pray, preach, religion, sermon, service, etc.
d. words of trade and everyday affairs: barber, butcher, chair, chamber, grocer, beef, mutton, pork, pleasure, leisure, delight, etc.
e. terms of rank – duke, duchess, marquis, prince, peer, viscount, baron, etc.
f. terms of art: art, beauty, colour, image, figure, paint, garment, etc.
g. terms of architecture: arch, tower, pillar, vault, porch, column, castle, palace, mansion, etc.
These borrowings were almost fully assimilated. Later French borrowings preserved their form and pronunciation: automobile, cadet, caprice, fiancée, foyer, garage, machine, resume etc. Among them there are many barbarisms: chateau, nouveau riche, tete-a-tete, chemise, other borrowings did not influence the English language greatly.
The Russian words were brought by travellers and tradesman in the 16th century: mead, plough, sable, kibitka, droshki, troika, vodka, kvass, zar tsarina, cossak, zemstvo, duma, etc.
In the 20th century came such words as Pravda, Soviet partisan, Soviet Union, kolkhoz. The suffix nik was adopted by English: Sputnik, flopnik, udarnik, etc.
Words and expressions to the lecture
to comprise – составлять, представлять
interdependence – взаимозависимость
scope – объем
notional – знаменательный
form words – служебные слова
to embody – воплощать, включать
tangible – ощутимый
to denote – обозначать
relation – отношение
scantity – недостаток
means – способ
to consider – рассматривать
prepoition – предлог
conjunction – союз
countable – исчисляемый
to include – включать
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to estimate – исчислять, оценивать
proper names – имена собственные
inanimate – неoдушевленные
celestial bodies – небесные тела
crew – экипаж
species – именной
substantive – составлять
verbal – глагольный
isomorphism – тождество, сходство
transitivity – переходность
degrees of comparison – степени сравнения
suppletivity – супплетивизм (разнообразие корней)
possessive – притяжательный
case – падеж
superlative – превосходный
numerical – числовые
cardinal – количественный
ordinal – порядковый
common fractions – обычные дроби
to modify – определять
temporal – временной
local – местный
peculiarities – особенности
variety – разнообразие
to reduce – сократить
word stock – словарный состав
to be account for – объясняться
frequent – частый
durable – долгий
loan – заем, заимствование
borrowing – заимствование
to retain – сохранять
chemise – женская сорочка
partially – частично
tribe – племя
garment – одежда
abbrevialions – сокращения
to reign – править
supremacy – превосходство
treason – измена
to acquit – оправдать
siege – осада
charity – благотворительность
duke – герцог
duchess – герцогиня
Core – сердцевина, основа
Questions to the lecture
1. Into what big groups does English vocabulary fall considering the meaning?
2. What major classes could nouns be divided into?
3. What other semiotic subclasses do you know?
4. What is the percent of borrowed words in the English word stock?
5. How could borrowed words be classified?
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6. How could borrowings be classified as to the degree of their assimilation?
7. What elements are at the core of the English language?
8. What can you say about the Celtic elements in the English vocabulary?
9. What can you say about the Latin borrowings?
10. How did Greek words come into English?
11. What is the role of the Scandinavian element in English?
12. What can you say about the French elements?
Lecture 3
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