SEMINAR 1.

ETYMOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE ENGLISH

VOCABULARY. SYNCHRONIC PERSPECTIVE

Н 1. Native English vocabulary

Ю 2. The process of borrowing. Assimilation. Types of assimilation
3. Borrowings in Modern English (When talking about borrowings speak about
their sources and types of assimilation. Don’t forget to use and explain examples.)
i. Celtic Borrowings in English Н
ii. Latin Borrowings in English Ю
iii. Scandinavian Borrowings in English Н
iv. Greek Borrowings in English Ю
v. French Borrowings in English Н

Task I. Ю
Find and explain the origin of the following words.

I, English, entertain, wish, house, apple, two, wolf, fast, quick, drink, fly, kiss, live,
eye, desire, from, to, too, root, at.

Task II.
Group the following words according to their origin.
Н
Machine, mule, chocolate, telephone, wigwam, kangaroo, chauffeur, beauty,
umbrella, school, grotto, lottery, opera, sonata, sonnet, mikado, hara-kiri, karate,
soprano, opal, orange, punch, sapphire, manifest, violin, banana, bravado, canibal,
aga, bey, caftan, coffee, canoe, hammock, hurricane, sombrero, samurai, shogun,
bonsai, tobacco, tank, guitar, hacienda, sputnik, auto-da-fe, port (wine), verandah,
cobra, bismuth, jungle, pyjamas, cobalt, quartz, zinc, stanza, incognito, macaroni,
influenza, fiasco, nickel, waltz, kindergarten, leitmotif, borsch, rucksack, poodle,
homeopathy, maize, mosquito, mulatto, potato, hamburger, lager, reef, deck, hoy,
Ю
commandeer, springbok, baobab, landscape, roster, coach, tokay, goulash, hussar,
mazurka, polka, sugar, jute, candy, shampoo, loot, guru, curry, geisha, kimono,
kamikaze, zaitech, emir, harem, khalif, sofa, sheikh, assassin, azimuth, sherbert,
zero, cruise, easel, horde, uhlan, kiosk, yoghurt, shish kebab, bazaar, caravan,
turban, bamboo, ketchup, sago, tea, tycoon, kung fu, glasnost, intelligentsia,
madeira, perestroika, samovar, troika, piazza, portico, solo, cocoa, corral,
desperado, embargo, schnaps, sauerkraut, kapellmeister, yacht, rupee, khaki.
Task II. Н
Give adjectives of Latin origin corresponding to the following nouns.

Tooth, sun, youth, death, eye, star, sea, nose, town, sight.

Task II. Ю
Analyse the following words from the point of view of the type and degree of
assimilation. State which words are:
a) completely assimilated; b) partially assimilated; c) non-assimilated.

Cheese, street, wall, wine, formulae, husband, fellow, gate, root, addio, ciao, wing,
call, take, die, want, coup d’état, happy, ill, low, old, wrong, bourgeois, prestige,
memoir, table, face, chair, figure, finish, matter, ad libitum, animal, article,
incognito, macaroni, soprano, tobacco, kapellmeister, ballet, buffet, corps, bouquet,
brioche, Auto-da-fe, nucleus, chauffeur, nota bene, shaman, souvenir, spaghetti, à
la carte, boulevard, torero, ad hoc, à la mode, têt-à-têt, déjà vu.

Task III. Н
Study the origin and the difference in formation and in meaning of these doublets.

shirt-skirt, chief-chef, secure-sure, carton-cartoon, ward-guard, disaster-asterisk,

cow-beef, canary-canine, adult-adolescent, alimony-alimentary, suit-suite, legal-
loyal, major-mayor, pauper-poor, of-off, shade-shadow, mister-master.

Task IV.
The following are loan translations (calques). Find their origin. What do they
mean in English? How and when are they used?
Ю
Adam’s apple, masterpiece, brainwashing, that goes without saying, pineapple,
foreword, superego,
Н
devil’s advocate, moment of truth, underground movement, lose face, flea market,
forget-me-not.

Resources:
1. Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка.
Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, pp.44 – 77.
2. M. A. K. Halliday and Colin Yallop. Lexicology. A Short Introduction. Chapter 2.3. pp. 33 –
42.
3. Зыкова И.В. A Practical Course in English Lexicology. Part V. pp.103 – 109.
4. Сунцова Н.Л., Такумбстова Л.М. Лексикология английского языка. Chapter 6. pp.118 –
132.
5. ‘Words about Words’. Part II. Sources of the English vocabulary. pp.17 – 39.
6. Anatoly Liberman. An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology
7. Online Etymology Dictionary: http://www.etymonline.com/
8. Online dictionaries to help you find etymologically related words: http://wordinfo.info/ and
http://www.lexvo.com/