Exercises

Exercise 1. Rearrange the following words according to their origin.

1. Cattle, cow, horse, ox, pig, sheep, cat, goat.

2. Meat, beef, calf, mutton, veal.

3. Baker, butcher, fisherman, painter, shoemaker, tailor, weaver.

4. Baron, count, lady, lord, duke, madam, sir, monsieur.

Exercise 2. Comment on the etymology of the following words. Define the approximate period of their borrowing.

Balalaika, beluga, borshch, Boyar, carp, Cheka, Cossack, droshky, duma, Hetman, hopak, knout, koumiss, kulak, Kremlin, kvass, makhorka, muzhik, nihilist, pogrom, pood, rouble sable, samovar, sarafan, seech, sewruga, sputnik, steppe, sterlet, soviet, taiga, tsar, tundra, ukase, verst, vodka, voivode, zemstvo.

Exercise 3. Comment on the etymology of the following groups of words.

1. Canoe, chocolate, cigar, cocoa, comrade, maize, mango, negro, tomato, vanilla;

2. cobalt, leitmotiv, nickel, rucksack, swan-song, waltz; zinc;

3. ass, clan, Tory, whisky;

d) banana, port, vcranda(h), zebra; e) deck, rabbit, skipper, yacht;

6. divan, khaki, kiosk, margarine, rice;

7. mazurka; h) polka;

i) silk, tea;

j) caftan, coffee.

Exercise 4. Explain the etymology of the following words.

Sputnik, kindergarten, opera, piano, potato, tomato, droshky, czar, violin, coffee, cocoa, colonel, alarm, cargo, blitzkrieg, steppe, komsomol, banana, balalaika.

Exercise 5. Read the following text. Identify the etymology of as many words as you can.

The Roman Occupation

For some reason the Romans neglected to overrun the country with fire and sword, though they had both of these; in fact after the Conquest they did not mingle with the Britons at all but lived a semi-detached life in villas. They occupied their time for two or three hundred years in building Roman roads and having Roman Baths, this was called the Roman Occupation, and gave rise to the memorable Roman law, 'He who baths first baths fast', which was a good thing and still is. The Roman roads ran absolutely straight in all the directions and all led to Rome. The Romans also built towns wherever they were wanted, and, in addition, a wall between England and Scotland to keep out the savage Picts and Scots.

(From 1066 and All That by C. W. Sellar, R. J. Yeatman)

Exercise 6. Mind the following Latin roots. Give words containing these roots.

Audio – слухати; porto – носити, доставляти;

centum – сто; scribe, scriptum – писати, написаний;

circus – круг; specto – дивитися;

civilis – цивільний, громадський, video – бачити, зір;

державний; visus- видіння;

lingua – мова, мовлення vita – життя.

Exercise 7. Give modern English equivalents of the following abbreviations of Latin origin.

A.D. (Anno Domini), a.m. (ante meridiem), d (dinarius), e.g. (exempli gratia), etc. (et cetera), i.e. (id est), lb (librae), op.cit. (opus citatum), p.a. (per anum), p.m. (post meridiem), s (solidi), v.v. (Wee versa).

Exercise 8. Arrange the following Latin borrowings in groups according to the period of their borrowing.

Altar, angel, animal, ass, beet, bishop, butter, camp, candle, cap, chalk, cross, cup, devil, dish, fork, genius, inch, index, item, junior, kettle, kitchen, linen, marble, maximum, mile, mill, minimum, monk, mule, oil, palm, pea, peach, pear, pearl, pepper, pine, plant, plum, port, pound, priest, school, senior, series, spade, stratum, street, tiger, veto, wall, wine.

Exercise 9. Arrange the following names of geographical places into two groups according to their origin (Celtic and Latin).

Aberdeen, Avon, Chester, Concaster, Dover, Dunbar, Dundee, Gloucester, Kent, Lancaster, Lincoln, Manchester, Trent, Thames, Worcester, Winchester, Leicester.

Exercise 10. Mind the following Greek roots. Supply words containing these roots. Illustrate the meaning of these words by the examples of your own.