Exercises

I. Consider your answers to the following.

1. How can you account for the fact that English vo­cabulary contains such an immense number of words of foreign origin?

2. What is the earliest group of English borrowings? Date it.

3. What Celtic borrowings are there in English? Date them.

4. Which words were introduced into English vocab­ulary during the period of Christianization?

5. What are the characteristic features of Scandina­vian borrowings?

6. When and under what circumstances did England become a bi-lingual country? What imprint features were left in English vocabulary by this period?

7. What are the characteristic features of words bor­rowed into English during the Renaissance?

8. What suffixes and prefixes can help you to recog­nize words of Latin and French origin?

9. What is meant by the native element of English vocabulary?

II. Subdivide all the following words of native origin into: a) Indo-european, b) Germanic, c) English proper.

Daughter, woman, room, land, cow, moon, sea, red, spring, three, I, lady, always, goose, bear, fox, lord, tree, nose, birch, grey, old, glad, daisy, heart, hand, night, to eat, to see, to make.

III. Read the following jokes. Explain the etymology of the italicized words. If necessary consult a dictionary.¹

1. He dropped around to the girl's house and as he ran up the steps he was confronted by her little brother.

"Hi, Billy."

"Hi," said the brat.

"Is your sister expecting me?"

"Yeah."

"How do you know that?" "She's gone out."

2. A man was at a theatre. He was sitting behind two women whose continuous chatter became more than he could bear. Leaning forward, he tapped one of them on the shoulder.

"Pardon me, madam," he said, "but I can't hear." "You are not supposed to — this is a private conver­sation," she hit back.

3. Sonny: Father, what do they make asphalt roads of?

Father: That makes a thousand question you've asked today. Do give me a little peace. What do you think would happen if I had asked my father so many questions?

¹ Skeat W. A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the J^glish Language. Oxford, 1961; Weckley E. An Etymological dictionary of Modern English. V. I—II. No 4, 19.

Sonny: You might have learnt how to answer some °f mine.

IV. Identify the period of the following Latin borrowings; point out the structural and semantic peculiarities of the words from each period.

Wall, cheese, intelligent, candle, major, moderate, priest, school, street, cherry, music, phenomenon, nun, kitchen, plum, pear, pepper, datum, cup, status, wine, philosophy, method.

V. In the following sentences find examples of Latin bor- rowings; identify the period of borrowings.

1. The garden here consisted of a long smooth lawn with two rows of cherry trees planted in the grass. 2. They set to pork-pies, cold potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, cold bacon, ham, crabs, cheese, butter, gooseber­ry-tarts, cherry-tarts, bread, more sausages and yet again pork-pies. 3. Instead of commendation, all we got was a tirade about the condition of the mackintosh sheets which Matron had said were a disgrace both to the hospital and the nursing profession. 4. A cold wind knifing through downtown streets penetrated the thin coat she had on. 5. The substance of my life is a private conversation with myself which to turn into a dialogue would be equivalent to self-destruction. 6. It was the money, of course; money which did strange things to human beings, making them greedy, panicked, at times sub-human. 7. On the morning of burial — taking no chances — an archbishop, a bishop and a monsignor concelebrated a Mass of the Resurrection. A full choir intoned responses to prayers with reassuring volume. Within the cathedral which was filled, a section near the altar had been reserved for Rosselli relatives and friends. 8. The room was full of young men, all talking at once and drinking cups of tea. 9.1 made way to the kitchen and tried the kitchen door which gave on to the fire-escape. 10. "Lewis, dear," Edwina said, "could you interrupt your speech and pour more wine?" 11. All Anna's life worked to schedule; like a nun, she would have been lost without her watch.

VI* Study the map of Great Britain and write out the names of the cities and towns ending in: a) caster (Ches­ter),¹ b) wick, thorpe, by.²

VII* Study the map of Great Britain and find the names of places, rivers and hills of Celtic origin.

VIII- In the sentences given below find the examples of Scandinavian borrowings. How can the Scandinavian bor­rowings be identified?

1. He went on to say that he was sorry to hear that I had been ill. 2. She was wearing a long blue skirt and a white blouse. 3. Two eyes — eyes like winter windows, glared at him with ruthless impersonality. 4. The sun was high, the sky unclouded, the air warm with a dry fresh breeze. 5. If Eastin were right, Wainwright rea- soned, the presence of the husband could tie in with Wainwright's own theory of an outside accomplice. 6. It's not such a bad thing to be unsure sometimes. It takes us away from rigid thinking.

IX. Read the following jokes and identify the Scandina­vian borrowings.

l."Very sorry, Mr. Brown, but the coffee is ex­hausted," the landlady announced.

"Not at all surprised," came back Mr. Brown. "I've seen it growing weaker and weaker every morning."

2. Small boy: I say, dad, teacher said this morn- ing that the law of gravity kept us on the earth. Is that right?

¹ caster (Chester) < Lat. "military-camp"

² wick, thorpe, by < Sc. "place"

Father: Yes, my boy, that's correct. Small boy: Well, how did we get on before the law was passed?

3. "I want a man to do odd jobs about the house, run errands, one who never answers back and is always ready to do my bidding," explained a lady to an appli­cant for a post in the household.

"You're looking for a husband, ma'am, not a ser­vant," said the seeker for work.

X. Copy out the examples of Norman and Parisian borrow- ings from the following passage. Describe the structural peculiarities of these words.

1. It was while they were having coffee that a wait­ress brought a message to their table. 2.1 knew nothing about the film world and imagined it to be a continuous ferment of personal intrigue. 3. The masseur and ma-jordomo quietly disappeared. Replacing them like one more character emerging on stage was a chef, a pale, worried pencil of a man. 4. A limousine and chauffeur, available at any time from the bank's pool of cars, were perquisites of the executive vice-president's job, and Alex enjoyed them. 5. He would have dinner quickly and then get down to work. But as he opened the door he smelt Eau-de-Cologne and there was Ruth in a chair by the grate. 6. His bandaged head was silhouetted in the light from the little window. 7. "I don't see the mat­ter," said Steven, helping himself to more mayonnaise. 8. Apart from being an unforgivable break of etiquette, you only make yourself extremely ridiculous. 9. How­ever, this John Davenant evidently knew more about the army and commerce than either of them. 10. At last I began to want my breakfast. I began walking in the di­rection of Madge's hotel and set down en route at a cafe not far from the Opera.

XI. Read the following extract. Which of the italicized borrowings came from Latin and which from French?

Connoisseurs of the song will be familiar with the name of Anna Quentin, distinguished blues singer and

versatile vocalist. Miss Quentin's admirers, who have been regretting her recent retirement from the lime­light, will hear with mixed feelings the report that she is bound to Hollywood. Miss Quentin, leaving for a short stay in Paris, refused either to confirm or to deny a rumour that she had signed a long-term contract for work in America.

XII. 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.

13. Think of 10—15 examples of Russian borrowings in English and English borrowings in Russian.

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