Foreign Element in the Old English Vocabulary
Although borrowed words constituted only a small portion of the OE vocabulary — all in all about six hundred words, — they of great interest for linguistic and historical study. The borrowings reflect the contacts of English with other tongues resulting from diverse political, economic, social and cultural events in the early periods of British history. OE borrowings come from two sources: Celtic and Latin.
Borrowings from Celtic
There are very few Celtic loan-words in the OE vocabulary, for there must have been little -intermixture between the Germanic settlers and the Celtic in Britain. Though in some parts of the island the Celts population was not exterminated during the WG invasion, linguistic evidence of Celtic influence is meager. Obviously there was little that the newcomers could learn from the subjugated Celts. Abundant borrowing from Celtic is to be found only in place-names. The OE kingdoms Kent, Deira and Bernicia derive their names from the names of Celtic tribes. The name of York, the Downs and perhaps London has been traced to Celtic sources (Celtic dun meant 'hill'). Various Celtic designations of 'river' and 'water' were understood by the Germanic invaders as proper names: Ouse, Exe, Esk, Usk, Awn, Evan go back to Celtic amhuin 'river', uisge 'water'; Thames, Stour, Dover also come from Celtic. Some elements frequently occurring in Celtic place-names can help to identify them: -comb 'deep valley' inBatcombe, Duncombe, Winchcombe^-torr 'high rock' in Ton, Torcross; -Han 'church' in Llan-daff, Llanelly; -pill 'creek' in Pylle, Huntspill.
Outside of place-names Celtic borrowings in OE were very few: no more than a dozen. Examples of common nouns are: OE binn (NE bin 'crib'), cradol (NE cradle), bratt 'cloak', dun (NE dun 'dark coloured'), dun 'hill', cross (NE cross), probably through Celtic from the L crux. A few words must have entered OE from Celtic due to the activities of Irish missionaries in spreading Christianity, e.g. OE ancor 'hermit', dry 'magician', cursian (NE curse). In later ages some of the Celtic borrowings have died out or have survived only in dialects, e.g. loch dial, 'lake', coomb dial, 'vallev'.
Latin Influence on the Old English Vocabulary
The role of the Latin language in Medieval Britain is clearly manifest; it was determined by such historical events as the Roman occupation of Britain, the influence of the Roman civilization and the introduction of Christianity. It is no wonder that the Latin language exerted considerable influence on different aspects of English: the OE alphabet, the growth of writing and literature. The impact of Latin the OE vocabulary enables us to see the spheres of Roman influence the life in Britain.
Early OE borrowings from Latin indicate the new things and concepts, which the Teutons had learnt from the Romans; as seen from examples below they pertain to war, trade, agriculture, building and home life.
Words connected with trade indicate general concepts, of measurements and articles of trade unknown to the Teutons before they came into contact with Rome: OE ceapian, dap, ceapman and mansion, тапъипъ, man^ere ('to trade', 'deal', 'trader', 'to trade', ‘trading', 'trader') came from the Latin names for 'merchant' — caupo and mango.
Roman contribution to building can be perceived in words like OE lie, tiiele, coper (NE chalk, tile, copper). A group of words relating in domestic life is exemplified by OE cytel, disc, cuppe, pyle (NE kettle, cup, pillow),.
Borrowings pertaining to military affairs are OE mil (NE mile) am L millia passuum, which meant a thousand steps made to measure the distance; OE weall (NE wall) from L vallum, a wall of fortifications erected in the Roman provinces; OE street from Latin strata via, — a "paved road" (these "paved roads" were laid to connect Roman military camps and colonies in Britain; the meaning of the word changed when houses began to be built along these roads, hence NE street); to this group of words belong also OE pit 'javelin', OE pytt (NE pile, pit).
Among the Latin loan-words adopted in Britain were some place-names or components of place-names used by the Celts. L castra m the shape caster, ceaster 'camp' formed OE place-names which survive today as Chester, Dorchester, Lancaster and the like (some of them with the first element coming from Celtic); Lcolonia 'settlement for retired soldiers' is found in Colchester and in the Latin-Celtic hybrid Lincoln; L vicus 'village' appears in Norwich, Woolwich, L portus — in Bridport and Devonport). Place-names made of Latin and Germanic components are: Portsmouth, Greenport, Greenwich and many others.
It should be noted that the distinction of two layers of early Latin borrowings is problematic, for it is next to impossible to assign precise dates to events so far back in history. Nevertheless, it seems more reasonable to assume that the earlier, continental layer of loan words was more numerous than the layer made in Britain.
The third period of Latin influence on the OE vocabulary began with the introduction of Christianity in the late 6th с and lasted to the end of OE.
Numerous Latin words which found their way into the English language during these five hundred years clearly fall into two main groups: (1) words pertaining to religion, (2) words connected with learning. The rest are miscellaneous words denoting various objects and concepts, which the English learned from Latin books and from closer acquaintance with Roman culture. The total number of Latin loan-words in OE exceeds five hundred, this third layer accounting for over four hundred words.
Other modern descendants of this group are: accent, grammar, meter, gloss, notary, decline. A great variety of miscellaneous borrowings came from Latin probably because they indicated new objects and new ideas, introduced into English life together with their Latin names by those who had fair command of Latin: monks, priests, school-masters. Some of these scholarly words became part of everyday vocabulary. They belong to different semantic spheres: names of trees and plants — elm, lily, plant, pine; names of illnesses and words pertaining to medical treatment —, fancer, fever, paralysis, plaster; names of animals — camel, elephant,