2. Sources of synonymy

There are several sources of synonymy. One of them is borrowing. It is considered to be the main reason for the appearance of new words. 0. Jespersen and many others used to stress that English is peculiarly rich in synonyms because the wars between ancient tribes (Britons, Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans) influenced their speech. Besides, British scholars studied Greek and Latin and for centuries used Latin as a medium for communication on scholarly topics.

The pecu­liar feature of synonymy in English is the contrast between simple native words, which are sty­listically neutral, literary words borrowed from French and learned words of Greco-Latin origin. It can be illustrated by the following:

Native English words – borrowed from French – borrowed from Latin

to ask – to question – to interrogate

to gather -to assemble – to collect

to end – to finish – to complete

empty-devoid-vacuous

to teach-to guide-to instruct

belly-stomach-abdomen

When a borrowed word appeared some change both in the new one and in the semantic structure of existing words began. Sometimes a process called synonymic differentiation can be observed. E.g. in the 13^th century soil was borrowed from French with the meaning “ a strip of land”. But there were native words: land and folde. Later folde diappeared, soil changed its meaning.

Many words come from dialects or variants, especially from American English: candy(Am.) - sweets. There are also synonyms that originate in other dialects, for instance, lass, lassie or charm - glamour (from Scottish).

But borrowing is not the only way. Synonyms are also created by means of all word-forming according to productive models. New words may be formed by 1) affixation. 2) compounding, 3) conversion, 4)shortening, 5)polysemy, 6) formation of phrasal verbs .

There is a way when a noun with a verbal stem is combined with a verb of generic meaning (have(give), take, get, make) into a set expression which differs from the simple verb in aspect or emphasis: e.g. to laugh - to give a laugh; to sigh - to give a sigh; to walk - to take awalk; to smoke - to have a smoke, to love - to fall.

One more source of synonymy is the so-called euphemism.

3. Euphemisms

In all languages there are words which people avoid in their speech or notions they avoid to mention. Earlier names of ritual objects or animals were forbidden to be mentioned because the name was regarded as an equivalent of what was named. The object itself or the word, which shoud not be used is taboo. Words that substitute for such “forbidden” word are called euphemisms. Euphemism (Greek euphemismos from eu ‘well’ and pheme ‘speak’) is the substitution of words of mild or vague connotations for expressions which seem unpleasant or for some other reasons unmentionable.

With peoples of developed culture euphemism is dictated by social usage, moral tact and etiquette. E.g. queer -mad, deceased - dead. The denotational meaning of drunk and merry may be the same. The euphemistic expression merry coincides in denotation with the word it substitutes, but the connotations of the latter fade out and so the utterance on the whole is less offensive. The substitution is accounted for by the speaker’s tendency to be considerate. The effect is achieved because the periphrastic expression is not so harsh, sometimes jocular and usually motivated according to some sec­ondary feature of the notion: poor- underprivileged; naked - in one’s birthday suit; pregnant - in the family way. Very often a learned word which sounds less familiar is therefore less offensive, as in drunkenness- intoxication; sweat - perspiration.