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Means of Lexical Enrichment from Old English to Modern English

English, as we know it today, has undergone major changes throughout history, at
different levels: phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic. Therefore,
in this essay, I intend to analyze some means of lexical enrichment in the English language,
from a diachronic perspective, starting with Old English. There are some major events that
represent a turning point in the English languages development. Getting from the runic
alphabet to our everyday slang expressions involved a huge and gradual process, which has
yet to change and develop.
The most common OE sources of vocabulary fall into two categories: internal coinage
and borrowing, though sometimes there is no clear-cut distinction between internal and
external language. If there is no attestation to indicate the ethnicity of a word, it is very hard
to see whether it is internal or external. Regarding this matter, in his book A Concise History
of the English Language, Professor Adrian Poruciuc provides some very illustrative
examples: It is difficult, for instance, to say whether all Scandinavian toponyms come from
Old Norse speakers proper; because, after a period of Anglo-Norse bilingualism, Anglo-
Saxons could also use newly acquired Old Norse loans in coining native toponyms.
Likewise, in Middle English and Modern English, similar internalizings occurred, for
example, with Latin-French affixes, which entered English as parts of borrowed words, and
then came to be used as instruments of inner-English derivation.
The prevailing internal means of lexical enrichment in OE were composition,
derivation (affixation), and formative conversion. The first one (composition) is the most
prolific (not only in English but also in all Germanic languages) and it led to the development
of both lexical derivation and grammatical inflection. In OE some compounds were created
simply by joining two words, be it two nouns (the former functioning as a modifier of the
latter): folclagu (folk-law); mannslyht (manslaughter); or a noun and an adjective (or an
adverb): widsoe (wide-sea= ocean); welwillende (well willing=benevolent). The second
process i.e. derivation had a huge impact on verbs. Some prefixes (pre-verbs) survived in
Modern English and become part of certain words (like be behindan=behind; bewepan=to
bewail; or for forbeodan=forbid; forgiefan=to forgive), while others disappeared (like ge in
gehagian=to be convenient and emphatic to-). As for the suffixes, some of them have
remained in use in Modern English, although with some shifts of meaning. For instance the
suffix en, in OE indicates the materials various things are made of: gylden= MnE golden;
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OE wyllen=MnE woolen; The same suffix was used in OE as marker of feminine, but now it
can be found only as a fossilized final part of some MnE words, such as vixen. The latter
internal means of word-formation, namely formative conversion, in OE, is far different from
MnE, mostly due to the loss of inflections (in ME). Nowadays, the meaning of such words
like love, play, stay can be deduced from context. In OE there was a simpler kind of
conversion, by which the phonetic shape of the root remained untouched, and the difference
between several parts of speech was made by markers: cumin=to come; cuma=guest;
god=good; godian=to better, to improve; witan=to know; wita=sage, councilor.
The second source of OE vocabulary is the most common evidence of inter-language
contact i.e. borrowings or loans. In OE, there are some influences from the Celts and the
Romans (warfare terminology: camp=battle, field; campus= plain, field, battlefield; trade and
social-life terms: ceap=bargain, cattle, market, purchase; ciepa mangere= monger, merchant;
mango (lat.) =dealer in slaves; church life: abbot, altar, angel, deacon, monk, temple, etc.)
though it is not until ME and MnE that borrowing becomes a capital means of lexical
enrichment. Apart from mere borrowings (words that have the same meaning in both
languages), there are also cases of loan-translation (native words of the target language
receive the meaning of words coming from abroad) and semantic shifts. This latter category is
one of the most interesting phenomena, due to its evolution. In OE, for instance, Aelfric, in
the preface to his Grammar says that he wants to translate into English a little book about the
stave-craft that is called grammatica. The coinage of these two terms proves that he was
perfectly aware of the terms original meaning: gramma=OE stoef (stave, letter); OE
bocstoef= Grm Buchstabe (letter).
The semantic shift has several side effects, such as specialization, generalization,
elevation or degradation (A. Poruciucs classification). Other linguists include under this label
of semantic shift several linguistic phenomena such as amelioration, pejoration, broadening,
(semantic) narrowing, bleaching, metaphor, and metonymy. Specialization is basically the
same thing as narrowing (both meaning being transparent). For instance OE mete=food, came
to mean meat in Late Middle English, as well as OE deor=(wild)animal came to be ME der,
and now it is dear, which refers to a certain species of wild animals. Likewise, art originally
had some very general meanings, mostly connected toskill; today, it refers just to certain
kinds of skill, chiefly in relation to aesthetic skill-the arts. The second change,
generalization, represents the exact opposite: semantic extention or broadening. The modern
English word dog, for example, derives from the earlier form dogge, which was originally a
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particularly powerful breed of dog that originated in England. The word bird derives from the
earlier word bridde, which originally referred only to young birds while still in the nest, but it
has now been semantically broadened to refer to any birds at all. An example of
generalization is the word business, which originally meant the state of being busy,
careworn, or anxious, and was broadened to encompass all kinds of work or occupations.
Today, computers users utilize a mouse and bookmark Internet addresses. These new
meanings did not replace earlier ones but extended the range of application for the
words mouse and bookmark.
Elevation or amelioration: A possible example of amelioration during ME might be
the word dizzy. In OE it meant foolish, but by ME its primary meaning was suffering from
vertigo. A more significant change undergoes the OE chiht> ME knyght> MnE knight, who
initially meant boy, servant. Sometimes amelioration involves weakening of an originally
strongly negative meaning: so, annoy is from Late Latin inodiare to make loathsome, in
turn from the Latin phrase mihi in odio est it is hateful to me.
Likewise, terribly and awfully have weakened to become alternatives for very. Geoffrey
Hughes associates this type of amelioration with the popular press, and labels it verbicide,
citing tragedy which can now, in journalistic usage, be applied to an earthquake killing
thousands or to a missed goal in football.(1988)
Degradation or pejoration, the reverse process of elevation, can be seen in examples
such as silly- The ME sely meant happy, blissful, blessed,fortunate, as it did in Old
English (slig). The original meaning was followed by a succession of narrower ones,
including spiritually blessed, pious, holy, good, innocent, harmless. By the late 1500s, the
word's use declined to its present-day meaning of 'lacking good sense, empty-headed,
senseless, foolish,' as in 'This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard' (1595, Shakespeare, A
Midsummer Night's Dream)."
Bleaching or weakening is the loss or reduction of meaning in a word as a result
of semantic change. The German linguist Georg von der Gabelentz claims that there are two
possibilities in respect to the semantic bleaching: either the old word is made to vanish
without a trace by the new, or it carries on but in a more or less vestigial existence-retires
from public life. "We regard have got (to) as idiomatic, because the element got is fixed, and
because it derives its meaning from the combination as a whole (often shortened as gotta).
Yet, the meaning of got is bleached (i.e. has lost its original meaning), and does not carry the
meaningpossess (Aarts 2011).
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Other means of semantic shifts are metaphor and metonymy.
In I. A. Richards terms, a metaphor expresses the unfamiliar (the tenor) in terms of the
familiar (the vehicle). The semantic change of grasp seize" to understand, thus can be seen
as such a leap across semantic domains, from the physical domain (seizing) to the mental
domain (comprehension). Frequently mentioned examples of metaphoric extensions involve
expressions for to kill: dispose of, do someone in, liquidate, terminate, take care of,
eliminate and others." (Campbell 2004) Two well-known examples of semantic shift have
remained popular since the Vietnam War, when hawk came to be used frequently for
supporters of the war and dove for its opponents, extending the meaning of these words from
the combative nature of hawks and the symbolically peaceful role of doves. The last linguistic
process to be analyzed in this essay, metonymy, is a figure of speech in which one word or
phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated (such as "crown" for
"royalty"). Many standard items of vocabulary are metonymic. A red-letter day is important,
like the feast days marked in red on church calendars. On the level of slang, a redneck is a
stereotypical member of the white rural working class in the Southern U.S., originally a
reference to necks sunburned from working in the fields."(Eble 1992)
A new
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and prolific means of language enrichment has proved to be the one related to
political corectness i.e. the euphemism. This is a quite rich and ever-changing category.
In primitive societies, euphemism appeared as replacements for taboo words and names
belonging to religion and superstition. The sacred animal called ursus (lat.) came to be known
as the Brown One; For the devil for instance, the Christian taboos produced words like Old
Nick and dickens. Nowadays, euphemisms are mostly used to substitute words that could
be politically incorrect (regarding matters of race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.). For
instance: Mr. Prince: Well see you when you get back from image enhancement camp.
Martin Prince: Spare me your euphemisms! Its fat camp, for Daddys chubby little secret!
(Kamp Krusty, The Simpsons, 1992)
As aforementioned, the vocabulary of every language is subject to rapid and ongoing
change. Apart from the political-correctness factor, which imposes new terms, the
technological progress automatically determines the linguistic one (every time, there are more
and more appliances and devices which must be given a name, be it created ad hoc or
borrowed from a different language). Although there are words which appear at a certain
point in history and do not stay for long (do not make it to the level of becoming dictionary

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New refers to the denomination of euphemism, not to the concept in itself.
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entries), the flux of language is worth to be analyzed in order to understand both the changes
that have led to the English language as we know it today and to get an idea of what it might
become.




Bibliography:
Adrian Poruciuc, A Concise History of the English Language. Demiurg, 2004
David Crystal, How Language Works. Overlook, 2006
David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University
Press, 2003
C. M. Millward and Mary Hayes, A Biography of the English Language, 3rd ed. Wadsworth,
2011
Sol Steinmetz, Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meanings. Random House,
2008