8. Borrowed Element in the English Vocabulary: Celtic loans (appr. 5th – 6th centuries a.D.)

• place-names: Kent ‘coastal district’ or ‘land of the hosts or armies’, London ‘hill surrounded with water’, Carlisle (caer ‘fortified place’), Dover ‘water’, York ‘Yew-Tree Estate’ (тисове дерево) etc.;

• river-names: Thames ‘the dark one’, Avon ‘river’ etc.;

• elements: -comb ‘deep valley’ as in Batcombe, -torr ‘high rock’ as in Torcross, -llan ‘church’ as in Llandaff;

• hybrids:

Celtic + Latin: Manchester, Glouchester, Lancaster etc.;

Celtic + Germanic: Yorkshire, Canterbury ‘the fortified town of Kentish people’, Salisbury, Cornwall ‘peninsula people’, in O.E. the name Wealhas (Mod.E. Wales, Welsh) was a common noun meaning ‘strangers’ given by the newcomers to the unfamiliar Celtic tribes.

Borrowed Element in the English Vocabulary: Celtic loans

• common nouns survived in regional dialects:

bard (Gael.& Ir.) ‘poet, minstrel’, loch (Gael.& Ir.) ‘lake’, plaid (Gael.) ‘blanket’, corgi (Welsh cor ‘dwarf’ + gi/ci ‘dog’), whiskey  ‘water of life’, dunn ‘grey’, cross;

• via Romanic languages:

budget < O.Fr. bougette, bouge ‘leather bag, wallet’ < L. bulga < Gaulish *bulgā, ‘sack’; modern financial meaning (1733) is from notion of treasury minister keeping his fiscal plans in a wallet;

car < Norm.Fr. carre < L. carrum, carrus, orig. ‘two-wheeled Celtic war chariot’ < Gaulish *karros;

embassy < M.Fr. embassee < It.ambasciata < L.ambactus < Gaulish

*ambactos ‘dependant, vassal’.

9. Borrowed Element in the English Vocabulary: Scandinavian loans (8th – 11th c. A.D.)

• Total number – appr. 900 words; about 700 belong to Stand. E.

• Features:

/k/ and /g/ before e and i, e.g. give, kid, get, gift;

/sk/ in the initial position, e.g. sky, skill, score, skin, skirt;

• nouns: anger, bag, band, bank, bull, calf, cake, dirt, egg, fellow, fog, knife, leg, loan, law, neck, root, ransack, sister, wing, window;

• adjectives: awkward, flat, happy, ill, low, loose, odd, rotten, scant, sly, silver, tight, ugly, wrong;

• verbs: cast, call, clip, die, gasp, get, give, guess, raise, seem, scare, scowl, seem, smile, take, thrive, want;

• pronouns: they, their, them, themselves, though, both, same.

Borrowed Element in the English Vocabulary: Scandinavian loans (8th – 11th c. A.D.)

• Legal terms (together with military terms reflecting the relations during the Danish raids and Danish rule represent the earliest loan-words):

husband – originally ‘a house holder’, one who owns a house;

fellow – originally ‘one who lays down a fee, as a partner or shareholder’;

law – originally ‘that which is laid down’;

• Place-names:

-thorp ‘village’ as in Althorp;

-by ‘farm / town’ as in Derby, Rugby;

-toft ‘piece of land’ as in Sandtoft;

-ness ‘cape’ as in Inverness, Loch Ness;

• Forming elements:

are (pr. tense pl. to be), -s (pr. tense, 3rd p. sg)

10. Borrowed Element in the English Vocabulary: French loans

• Norman French (XI- XIII c.) – a northern dialect of French: calange, warrant, warden, reward, prisun, gaol

• Parisian French (XIII-XVI c.) – the prestige dialect:

challenge, guarantee, guardian, regard, prison, jail

Features of French loans:

• the accent on the last syllable: finance, finesse, supreme;

• ch /ʃ/, e.g. avalanche, chandelier, chauffeur, charlatan, chic;

• g before e and i /ʒ/, e.g. beige, bourgeois, camouflage, massage;

• ou /u:/: coup, rouge;

• eau /ou/ château;

• silent final consonant p, s, t: coup, debris, ragoût, trait, ballet, debut.

Borrowed Element in the English Vocabulary: French loans

Semantic groups of French borrowings:

• administration: crown, country, people, office, nation, government;

• titles and ranks of nobility: baron, duke, duchess, prince, peer,

but lord, lady, king, queen, earl, knight – native;

• jurisdiction: case, heir, poor, justice, marriage, jury, prove;

• the Church and religion: abbey, altar, Bible, grace, pray, saint;

• military terms: army, battle, escape, soldier, navy, aid;

• entertainment: dance, chase, partner, sport, tournament, cards;

• fashion: dress, lace, embroidery, garment, mitten, frock;

• food and drink: dinner, supper, appetite, spice, taste, vinegar, fruit;

• the domestic life: chair, blanket, lantern, chandelier, couch, towel;

Borrowed Element in the English Vocabulary: French loans

Words related to different aspects of the life of the upper classes and of the town life:

• forms of address (French): sir, madam, mister, mistress, master, servant;

• the names of the animals (native) vs the meat (French): cow – beef; calf – veal, swine – pork; deer – venison; sheep – mutton;

• the names of country occupations (native) vs town trades (French): miller, shepherd, shoemaker, smith – butcher, carpenter, grocer, tailor;