International words

As the process of borrowing is mostly connected with the appearance of new notions which the loan words serve to express, it is natural that the borrowing is seldom limited to one language. Words of identical origin that occur in several languages as a result of simultaneous or successive borrowings from one ultimate source are called international words.

The etymological sources of this vocabulary reflect the history of world culture. Expanding global contacts result in the considerable growth of international vocabulary. All languages depend on their changes upon the cultural and social matrix in which they operate and various contacts between nations are part of this matrix reflected in vocabulary.

Such words usually convey concepts which are significant in the field of communication (cf. Eng. Telephone, organization, inauguration, industry, Ukr. телефон, організація, інаугурація, індустрія). If it is a noun, it is certain to adopt, sooner or later, a new system of declension; if it is a verb, it will conjugated according to the rules of the recipient language.

International words play an especially prominent part in various terminological systems including the vocabulary of science, industry and art. Many of them are of Latin and Greek origin. Most names of science are international, e.g. philosophy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, linguistics, lexicology. There are also numerous terms of art in this group: music, theatre, drama, tragedy, comedy, artist, primadonna. The etymological sources of this vocabulary reflect the history of the world culture. Thus, for example, the mankind’s cultural debt to Italy is reflected in the great number of Italian words connected with architecture, painting and especially music that are borrowed into most European languages: allegro, andante, aria, arioso, barcarole, baritone (and others names of voices), concert, duet, opera (and others names of pieces of music), piano and many more.

It is quite natural that political terms frequently occur in the international group of borrowings: politics, policy, revolution, progress, democracy, communism, anti-militarism.

The English language also contributed a considerable number of international words to world languages. Among them the sport terms occupy a prominent position: football, volley-ball, baseball, hockey, cricket, rugby, tennis, golf, etc.

Fruits and foodstuff imported from exotic countries often transport their names too and, being simultaneously imported to many countries, become international: coffee, cocoa, chocolate, coca-cola, banana, mango, avocado, grapefruit.

The rate of change in technology, political, social and artistic life has been greatly accelerated in the 20th century and so has the rate of growth of international wordstock. A few examples of comparatively new words due to the progress of science will suffice to illustrate the importance of international vocabulary: algorithm, antenna, antibiotic, automation, bionics, cybernetics, entropy, gene, genetic code, graph, microelectronics, microminiaturisation, quant, quasars, pulsars, ribosome, etc. All these show sufficient likeness in English, French, Russian and several other languages.

The international wordstock is also growing due to the influx of exotic borrowed words like anaconda, bungalow, kraal, orang-outang, sari, etc. These come from many different sources.

At least some of the Russian words borrowed into English and many other languages and thus international should also be mentioned: balalaika, bolshevik, cosmonaut, czar, intelligentsia, Kremlin, mammoth, sambo, soviet, sputnik, steppe, vodka.

Exercise 3.In the sentences given below identify international words and state to what sphere of human activity they belong.

1. But I still lacked the confidence to try to take charge when Vadim seemed particularly out of control. 2. ‘The injection should take effect soon, love,’ he called in. and the doctor said it would make you sleepy.’ 3. The Moroccan frontier is about three miles away and clearly we are here in case the hordes of fellagha sitting on the other side think the coming referendum heralds a return home to Algeria. 4. He is a sadist and delights in the discomfort of others. 5. He didn’t even know if he was going to college. 6. I hold out a ziplock bag containing banana muffins. Becki hesitates, then accept one. 7. The horse remained amazingly calm during what looked a painful procedure. 8. But just like on a battlefield, where the sergeant knew more than the grunt, and the lieutenant more than the sergeant, and so on, the trick of gathering intelligence was to capture higher ranking officers from the other side, debrief them, and then launch a counterstrike. 9. Five dozen fiascos of oxygen he’s had all together, yesterday and to-day, the soak! 10. He came into the barracks like a tornado.

Pseudo-international words

International words should not be confused with pseudo-international words (false cognates, “translator’s false friends”) which have the same origin different semantic structures.

Exercise 4. Translate the following sentences into Ukrainian paying attention to pseudo-international words.

1. “All right, from that perspective, I can buy it. We’ll call social services”. 2. These then are the three men who will have principal control over us during the coming weeks. 3. “I think this could be my salvation from a lunatic asylum which is the alternative if I have to go on publishing wheelbarrow”. 4. We returned to Sully and the two prisoners were paraded in front of Captain Glasser in his office. 5. That left two pages on four-year-old Tika, who’d been shot on a dog bed, and one paragraph on five-month-old ViVi, who’d been suffocated in her crib. 6. Liz laughed, intrigued by the prospect. 7. Phil rattled off a geographic profile of the Harringtons’ known activities and organizations. 8. I wondered what we left behind – a watch or two, a few cents photograph or a magazine and some ammunition. 9. “The only thing he didn’t like was the wine list”. 10. Selfishness runs in the family, Liz thought drily.

ETYMOLOGICAL DOUBLETS

The words shirt and skirt are of the same root. Shirt is a native word, and skirt is a Scandinavian borrowing. Their phonemic shape is different and yet there is a certain resemblance which reflects their common origin. Their meanings are also different but easily associated. They both denote articles of clothing.

Such words as these two originating from the same etymological source, but differing in phonetic shape and meaning are called etymological doublets.

They may enter the vocabulary by different roots. Some of these pairs (like shirt and skirt) consist of a native word and a borrowed one. Others are represented by two borrowings from different languages which are historically originated from the same root: canal (Latin) – channel (French), captain (Latin) – chieftan (French).

Still others were borrowed from the same language twice in different periods of time: travel (Norman. Fr.) – travail (Parisian Fr.), cavalry (Norman. Fr.) – chivalry (Parisian Fr.).

A doublet may also consist of a shortened word and the one from which it was derived: history – story, fanatic – fan, shadow – shade.

Etymological hybrids are words whose elements are derived from different languages, e.g. eatable (native root + Romanic suffix), distrust (native root + Romanic prefix), beautiful (Romanic root + native suffix), etc.

Etymological triplets are groups of three words of common origin: hospital (lat) – hostel (Norm. Fr.) – hotel (Par. Fr.), to capture (Lat.) – to catch (Norm. Fr.) – to chase (Par. Fr.).

Exercise 5. Compare the meaning of the following etymological doublets or triplets. State their origin.

major – mayor, captain – chieftan, shirt – skirt, shriek – screech, canal – channel, corpus – corpse – corps, dike – ditch, travel – travail, shrew – screw, cart – chart, shadow – shade, naked – nude, lapel – label, ward – guard, hale – hail, shabby – scabby, pauper – poor, vast – waste, wine – vine, zealous – jealously, basis – base, deacon – dean, papyrus – paper, chief – chef, hospital – hostel – hotel, saloon – salon, suit – suite, camp – campus, street – stratum, catch – chase, cavalry – chivalry, dragon – dragoon – drake, plan – plane – plain, gentle – genteel – gentile, stack – stake – steak.

TRANSLATION–LOANS

The term “loan word” is equivalent to borrowing. By translation – loans we indicate borrowings which are not taken into the vocabulary of another language more or less in the same phonemic shape in which they have been functioning in their own language, but undergo the process of translation. They are only compound words, because they can be subjected to such an operation when each stem is being translated separately: e. g. 5 year-plan (from Russian пятилетка), first dancer (from Italian prima-ballerina), collective farm (from Russian колхоз), wonder child (from German wunderkind), etc.

Exercise 6. Translate the following translation-loans into Ukrainian.

Fatherland, fellow-traveller, first dancer, lightning way, milky way, local colouring, the moment of truth, mother tongue, pen name, self-criticism, Sisyphean labour, a slip of the tongue, a slip of the pen, swan song, sword of Damocles, thing-in-itself, word combination, world-famous.