OLD ENGLISH VOCABULARY
Aims:
· be able to account for the influence of different languages, mainly Celtic, Latin and Scandinavian on Old English;
· examine the results of all the borrowings;
· investigate external and internal changes within the Old English Vocabulary
Plan
1. General Overview of the Old English Vocabulary.
2. Foreign Element in the Old English Vocabulary.
2.1. Celtic Loans.
2.2. Latin Loans.
2.3.Scandinavian Influence
3. Word-Formation in Old English.
3.1. Word Structure.
3.2. Ways of Word-Formation.
4. Stylistic Stratification of the Old English Vocabulary
Obligatory:
David Crystal. The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of The English Language.— Cambridge University Press.—1994.—PP.22-27
L.Verba. History of the English language. - Vinnitsa, 2004. - PP. 90-101
Иванова И. П. Практикум по истории английского языка [Текст]: учеб. пособие / И. П. Иванова, Л. П. Чахоян, Т. М. Беляева. - 3-е изд., перераб. - СПб.: Авалон; СПб.: Азбука-классика, 2005. – С. 48–81.
Additional
Аракин В. Д. История английского языка. - М., 1985. - C. 92-102
T.A. Rastorguyeva. A History of English. - Moscow, 1983. - PP. 131-148
Elly van Gelderen. A History of the English Language. – John Benjamins Publishing Company.—Amsterdam/Philadelphia.—2006. —PP.90-99
Threshold Level
Exercises
I. True or False:
Write “T” for true and “F” for false beside each of the following statements
1. The full extent of the Old English Vocabulary is not known to present-day scholars.
2. Modern estimates of the total vocabulary of Old English range from about 30 thousand words to almost one hundred thousand (B. Smirnitskiy).
3. The Old English Vocabulary was almost Indo-European.
4. Native words of Old English Vocabulary cannot be subdivided into etymological layers.
5. The three main layers in the Old English native words are: common Indo-European words, common Germanic words, common Celtic words.
6. Words belonging to the common Indo-European layer constitute the oldest part of the Old English Vocabulary.
7. The common Germanic layer includes words which are shared by most Indo-European languages.
8. The common Germanic words are the words that can be found in all the Germanic languages.
9. The third etymological layer consists of many Old English compounds.
10. The borrowings reflect the contacts of English with other languages.
11. The Celtic languages influence English in three phases (E. van Gelderen).
12. The first phase involves loans into Germanic (and other languages) on the continent.
13. The second phase covers adoptions into Old English after the introduction of printing.
14. The third phase involves the influence of the Celtic languages after the Old English period.
15. Celtic borrowings are found in place-names and proper-names.
16. Latin influenced the Old English alphabet, the growth of writing and literature.
17. The spread of education led to the less use of Latin: teaching was conducted in Latin, etc.
18. One change that sets Old English apart from Old Norse is palatalization.
19. Some Scandinavian loans are still heard in place-names.
20. Scandinavian affected the Old English Grammar: the appearance of the third person plural: they, them and their is due to Scandinavian contact.
II. Multiple Choice:
Select the best response for each of the following questions\ statements
1. Celtic element can be distinguished in river names:
a) Thames;
b) Teutons;
c) Nile;
d) Wellington.
2. Regarding the first phase (E. Gelderen), there is a great
deal of archeological evidence of Celtic presence in…
a) America;
b) Asia;
c) Africa;
d) Europe.
3. Celtic borrowings were brought by the … missionaries from Latin in the
6th – 7th c. A.D.
a) Celtic;
b) Irish;
c) Latin;
d) Roman.
4. Native Old English words are characterized by …
a) parts of the body;
b) most numerals;
c) domestic life;
d) developed polysemy.
5. The majority of pronouns and numerals of the Old English Vocabulary
have sprung mainly from … source:
a) Indo-European;
b) Common Germanic;
c) Germanic;
d) Gothic.
6. The ratio between specifically Germanic and common Indo-European
words is estimated by the 19th c scholars as:
a) 1:2;
b) 2:1;
c) 2:0,5;
d) 1:2,5.
7. Common Germanic words originated in the common period of Germanic
history, i.e. in:
a) Proto-Germanic;
b) Indo-European;
c) Latin;
d) Romance.
8. The words of the third etymological layer do not occur in other Germanic
languages, except …
a) Gothic;
b) Greek;
c) Old English;
d) Latin.
9. Place-names such as … incorporate Latin stem:
a) Manchester, Winchester, Lancaster;
b) London, Kent, Dover;
c) Lowestoft, Eastoft, Sandtoft;
d) Avon, Don, Exe.
10.The word “caster” existed in Old English, but then it was … to “chester”
a) mutated;
b) doubled;
c) palatalized;
d) fronted.
11. It is important to note that Old English and Old Scandinavian languages
have many basic words in …:
a) common;
b) specific;
c) separate;
d) borrowed.
12.Place-names such as … incorporate the Scandinavian element
a) Don, Exe, Usk;
b) Derby, Rugby, Grimsby;
c) Rhine, Danube, Armagmac;
d) Avon, Kent, Wye.
13.The following … borrowings denote articles of trade and agricultural
products:
a) vinum, pondo, cāseus;
b) binn, crag, rice;
c) flat, ill, low;
d) anger, sky, skin.
14.… borrowed in the seventh century when the people of England were converted
to Christianity
a) Later Celtic loans;
b) Later Latin loans;
c) Later German loans;
d) Later Greek loans.
15. After the introduction of … many monastic schools were set up in Britain
a) printing;
b) Christianity;
c) Renaissance;
d) Reformation.
16.The spread of education led to the wider use of …
a) French;
b) Celtic;
c) English;
d) Latin.
17.Borrowings connected with education and learning are such:
a) apostolos, diabolos, monachos;
b) piper, pondo, man3ere;
c) magister, versuo, scholāris;
d) weall, strata via, millia passuum.
18.Morphological structure of Old English words consisted of … types
a) four;
b) three;
c) two;
d) five.
19.Old English employed two ways of word-formation:
a) derivation and word-composition;
b) sound interchange and word-stress;
c) prefixation and suffixation;
d) word-formation and word composition.
20.Modern philologists subdivide Old English words into three stylistically
distinct groups:
a) native, borrowed, neutral;
b) derived, compound, specific;
c) principal, distinct, learned;
d) neutral, learned, poetic.
III. Matching:
Match each of the following linguistic terms with the correct meaning:
| A. Compound B. Dictionary C. Etymology D. Loan E. Prefixes F. Reformation G. Suffixes H. Synonym I. Thesaurus J. Vocabulary | 1) affixes which follow the root; 2) a list of explanations of words, esp. unusual ones, at the end of a book; 3) a combination of two or more words that functions as a single word and has its special meaning; 4) the study of the origins, history, and changing meanings of words; 5) words known, learnt, used; a list of words, usually in alphabetical order and with explanations of their meanings, less complete than a dictionary; 6) the religious movement in Europe in the 16th century leading to the establishment of the Protestant churches; 7) is a word that has the same meaning, or almost the same meaning, as another word; 8) a book of words that are put in groups together according to connections between their meanings rather than in alphabetic list; 9) affixes which precede the root; 10) a word or phrase which has been borrowed by one language from another; |
Intermediate Level