Foreign influences on Old English

Old English had only main two sources of borrowing – Latin and Celtic

languages. By the end of the Old English period many new words were also taken

from the language of the Danes.

Celtic chiefly gave place names:

Place Names: Thames, Kent, York, Avon, Dover, Cumberland.

Loan Words: binn 'basket, crib,'crag, cumb'valley,'torr

'projecting rock,' dun'dark-colored,' etc.

Latin borrowings may be classified into three layers:

I. The Period of Continental Borrowing. (First to fifth centuries A.D. Around

fifty words came into the language through Germanic contact with Rome before

the invasion and settlement of Britain.).

a. War: camp(L. campus) 'battle,'pil(L. pilum)

'javelin,' straet (L. strata) 'road,' mil (L. milia) 'mile;'

b. Trade: ceap(L. caupo) 'bargain,'pund(L. pondo)

'pound,' win (L. vinum) 'wine,'

c. Domestic Life: cuppe(L. cuppa) 'cup,'disc(L.

discus) 'dish,' cycene (L. coquina) 'kitchen,'

d. Foods: ciese(L. caseus) 'cheese,'butere(L. butyrum)

'butter,' pipor (L. piper) 'pepper,'

e. Other: mul'mule,'pipe'pipe,'cirice'church.'

II. The Period of Celtic Transmission. (Latin words held over from the Roman

occupation of Britain which ended in 410A.D. Almost nothing remains outside a

few elements found in place names: ceaster(L. castra 'walled encampment') found

in names such as Dorchester, Winchester, Manchester, Lancaster, and wic(L.

vicum) 'village,' found in Greenwich, etc.

III. The Period of the Christianizing of Britain. (Seventh to tenth centuries

A.D. Examples below are given in modern form since most of these words have

altered only slightly in form.)

a. Religion: abbot, alms, altar, angel, anthem, candle,

collect, creed, deacon, demon, disciple, hymn, martyr,

mass, nun, offer, organ, palm, pope, priest, prime,

prophet, psalm, relic, rule, sabbath, temple, tunic.

b. Domestic Life: cap, sock, silk, purple, chest, sack.

c. Foods: lentil, pear, oyster, lobster, mussel, millet.

d. Plants: coriander, cucumber, fennel, ginger,

periwinkle, pine, aloes, balsam, cedar, cypress, fig,

savory, plant.

e. Learning: school, master, Latin, verse, meter, circe,

history, paper, title, grammatical, accent, brief (vb).

f. Other: ever, cancer, paralysis, plaster, place,

sponge, elephant, scorpion, camel, tiger, giant, talent.

Scandinavian borrowings occurred in mid-ninth to mid-eleventh centuries.

The initial influence was in the Danelaw, or the northern and eastern areas of

England settled by the Danes. Examples below are in modern form.)

a. Nouns: band, bank, birth, booth, bull, calf (of leg),

dirt, egg, fellow, freckle, guess, kid, leg, race,

root, scab, score, scrap, seat, sister, skill, skin,

skirt, sky, steak, trust, window.

b. Adjectives: awkward, flat, ill, loose, low, meek,

muggy, odd, rotten, rugged, sly, tattered, tight, weak.

c. Verbs: bait, call, cast, clip, cow, crave, crawl, die,

droop, gasp, get, give, glitter, lift, raise, rake.