4. The old english vocabulary

The exact number of the Old English words is not known. Written records of the Old English period that have been preserved obviously include only part of the words. A large part of the Old English vocabulary may not have been recorded at all or have been lost. It is supposed that Old English had about 30.000 words, but this figure does not represent the total number of words in the Old English language.

The OE vocabulary can be divided into native words and borrowings.

4.1 Native Words. The bulk of Old English vocabulary was made up of native words. The oldest part of the vocabulary goes back to the West Germanic dialects. Borrowings make a small part of the vocabulary.

Native words in Old English go back to different stages in the development of the Germanic languages on the continent and later in Britain. They include:

4.1.1 Common Indo-European Words This is the oldest and biggest part of the Old English vocabulary. The words of this layer refer to different semantic spheres and denote the most important notions and things of every day life (brōþor (brother), heorte (heart), sittan (sit), twā (two) and others).

4.1.2. Specifically Germanic words. This is a large layer as well. The words of this group go back to the Common Germanic Period when the ancient Germanic tribes had broken away from other Indo-European tribes and formed an independent linguistic group. They also denote the most important objects and notions referring to the sea, nature, everyday life, colours, measures, etc. (hand, dēop/deep/, sinʒan /sing/).

4.1.3. West Germanic words. They have parallels only in the West Germanic languages, sometimes only in one of them. They are, evidently, of later origin, going back to the differentiation of Common Germanic and isolation of certain linguistic sub-groups within it (ʒrēat /great/, scēap /sheep/, macian /make/).

4.1.4. Specifically OE words. They do not occur in any other known languages. They are not numerous (brid /bird/, wimman /woman/, scīr-ʒe-rēfa /sheriff/).

4.2. Borrowings. Borrowings make a very small portion of the Old English word-stock. The number of Latin loan-words did not exceed 600. Besides, there were several words borrowed from Celtic. The majority of loans were adopted into Old English language through personal intercourse, due to the close contacts of the peoples speaking different languages. Some of them entered the language through writing. Most loan-words became widely used shortly after their adoption since they denoted things of everyday life or other important notions: therefore they were relatively quickly assimilated by the language.

1. Latin Borrowings.

There are three chronological layers of Latin words in Old English.

The earliest layer. The adoption of Latin words had begun long before the first Germanic tribes came to Britain. A considerable number of Latin words was borrowed already in Late Common Germanic. About 50 of these words must have existed in the dialects of the ancestors of English when they came to Britain. They make the earliest layer of the Latin element in the OE word-stock. Here belong words connected with trade (L. pondō – OE pund (pound), L. uncia – OE ynce (inch)), names of articles dealt with in trade (L. vīnum – OE wīn (wine), L. piper – OE pipor (pepper), L. prunus – OE plūme (plum)), names of household articles (L. catillus – OE cytel (kettle), L. discus - OE disc (dish), L. cuppa – OE cuppe (cup)).

To the Latin words of the second period we can refer a very small group of words that came into English through the dialects of the Celtic tribes inhabiting Britain. These are mostly names of Roman settlements and defensive works left by the Romans during their occupation of Britain (L. strāta – OE stræt (street), L. vallum – OE weal (wall), L. castra – OE ceaster (a military camp) – survived in: Lancaster, Leichester, Manchester, Worcester, Winchester; L. portus – OE port (port) – survived in: Bridport, Devonport, Portsmouth).

The third layer of Latin words entered the OE language in the 6^th and 7^th centuries when the population of Britain was converted to Christianity. It was natural that numerous Latin words (about 500) connected with religion and learning were adopted into OE (many of these words were of Greek origin). E.g. L. antíphōna – OE antefn (anthem), L. episcopus – OE biscop (bishop), L. clēricus – OE cleric (clerk), L. schola – OE scōl (school), L. magister – OE maʒister (master).

Latin influence is also seen in the so-called “translation loan-words”, i.e. new words made of the material of the native language on the pattern of the source words. E.g. the names of the days of the week: L. Lunae dies (the day of the Moon) – OE Mōnandæʒ (Monday), L. Mercuri dies (the day of Mercurius) – OE Wōdnesdæʒ (Wednesday) – Wōden was a Teutonic god corresponding to Mercurius, L. Solīs dies – OE Sunnandæʒ (Sunday), etc.

Among Latin borrowings there were a considerable number of derivatives formed with the suffix –arius ,denoting the doer of the action. In the course of time this suffix was singled out and came to be used in building new derivatives. In English it became one of the most productive suffixes. E.g. L. tolōnārius (tax-gatherer) – OE tolnere, L. scholāris – OE scōlere. New derivatives in OE are: fiscere (fisher), leornere (people), wrītere (writer).

4.2.2 Celtic borrowings. The Celtic element in OE is very small. The borrowed words do not exceed a dozen.

E.g. OE cumb (a small valley) – in Duncombe, Batcombe, Eastcombe, etc.

Gael. loch (lake) – as part of a proper name Loch Lomond.

Phonetics