MILLENNIUM DICTIONARY

You call that English? Well, I’m bazodee

Confused ? That’s what bazodee means, and it is a legitimate English word, as defined by the new Encarta World English Dictionary

WASHINGTON – Have you ever arrived at a dinkum Maori tangi in a jeepney feeling just a bit cack-handed? Ever felt so hungry you would go to the black stump for a bangbelly? Or have you ever felt bazodee at a toenadering?

Gloss

• dinkum - genuine
• black stump - the end of the world
• tangi - a Maori funeral
• bangbelly – a piece of fried dough
• jeepney - a jeep converted into a bus
• bazodee – confused

• cack-handed – clumsy
• toenadering – a political gathering

Organisation of lecture

1.The Anglo-Saxon Base

2. Celtic Borrowings

3. Scandinavian Borrowings

4. French Borrowings

5. Latin Borrowings

6. Greek Borrowings

7. Borrowings from other languages

The Anglo-Saxon Base

AD 449 onwards - Words brought to England by the Germanic settler tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes & Frisians), who displaced the original Celtic speaking inhabitants.

1016 onwards - Together with the Scandinavian borrowings taken in later, these form the CORE of the present day word stock.

The original Anglo- Saxon word stock reflects the pristine culture of the settlers - very basic culture: agriculture – based tribal organisation; a settled civilisation but not ‘literate’; had some iron work, etc. but little sophistication in trade, cooking, arts, etc.

Two Main Components of the Anglo-Saxon Base:

(1) The everyday ‘domestic’ component

(2) The heroic component

I. The everyday ‘Domestic’ component

BASIC words, rooted in the experience of everyday living and reflecting fundamental concepts / relations / activities / etc.

Immediately accessible and familiar, but NOT simple; on the contrary, many carry complex, tentacular associations and tend to be resonant and richly suggestive in texture:

sumor (summer) winter

morgen (n) (morning) æfen (n) (evening)

hweol (wheel) plog (plough)

mann (man) wif (wife)

cild (child) mete (meat, food)

wæter (water) hus (house)

etan (eat) drincan (drink)

slæpan (sleep) libban (live)

weorc (work) feohta (fight)

god (good); yfel (evil); lufu (love); swete (sweet); bitter.

Compare with: mercy, joy, charity, peace, compassion (all borrowings)

II. The Heroic component

Words associated with the HEROIC SYSTEM: The Germanic settlers had established, on the basis of their civilisation, an elaborate social system based on kinship and involving two distinct classes at the top.

eorls (earls) : a traditional aristocracy, typically a warrior class

ceorls (churls) : free men, who also were fighting warriors

Everything, including morality, etc. was measured in terms of the obligations of the fighting warrior to the lord. Even religion was modified by the heroic view of life (and death) e.g. valhalla (‘heaven’)

The vocabulary associated with the heroic system was almost entirely consecrated to poetry. Much of Old English poetry was characterised by alliterative verse, with a major principle of organisation being the use of several words close together in a line which all began with the same sound or letter. This led to a proliferation of words for the same objects/actions

eg sea wood - ship; relic of hammers - sword

Alliteration in Anglo-Saxon poetry

Modernised version

The original

 (from The Wanderer)

WORD BORROWINGS

1. CELTIC BORROWINGS

Pre-settlement Celtic borrowings

These took place on the continent of Europe, before the Germanic tribes settled in England.

- rice (kingdom) [bishopric]

- dun (hill, mountain) [‘down’] (as in Portsdown Road)

Celtic borrowings on-settlement

Confined to a mere handful, since the original native Celts were displaced or suppressed by the Germanic invaders.

Names of places, hills, rivers: Avon, Thames, Londinium

- dun, bard, galore

- coomb, Exe-(ter), Cam-(bridge), Devon, Kent

2. SCANDINAVIAN BORROWINGS  

Two major invasions of the Vikings : (i) from 750 to the 9th c.,

(ii) from the 9th until the beginning of the 11th c.

Three periods of Scandinavian influence

1. 750 –1016. Not too many borrowings, because the English and the Scandinavians were hostile to each other.

2. 1016 – 1050. Very much the same as above. Also, because Alfred the Great had subdued the Scandinavians and encouraged the development of English

3. 1050 – 1480. After the Norman Conquest, the English and the Scandinavians come together and interact with each other more closely. Therefore, a massive influence of the Scandinavian languages on English, in both grammar and vocabulary (over 1,800 words).

The Impact on English

Scandinavian influence on English great, but not EXPERIENCED as very dramatic. For all intents and purposes, therefore Scandinavian words may be taken as core, native-type words.

They have the same quality, texture as Anglo-Saxon words.

Examples: bag, dirt, fog, knife, flat, low, odd, ugly, want, trust, get, give, take, raise, smile, they, them, their, though. Also, the verb are (to be)

Reasons:

• The same Germanic racial, cultural and linguistic stock originally. Their language, therefore, shared common grammatical features and words. But changes had occurred in the languages during the couple of centuries of separation of the two sets of people.

• The Scandinavians came to settle, not conquer, pillage, etc. They lived alongside the Anglo-Saxons on more or less equal terms.

• Under the Norman French, particularly, the two different groups fashioned a common life together as subjects.
• For these reasons, the impact on the word stock was often not simply in terms of borrowings but in other ways too.
• Examples:

(a) The English word displaces the cognate Scandinavian word: fisk - fish gayte - goat

(b) The Scandinavian word displaces the cognate English word: egg - eyren

(c) Both remain, but with somewhat different meanings: skirt - shirt skiff - ship scrub - shrub

(d) The English word remains, but takes on the Scandinavian meaning dream (originally ‘joy’, ‘mirth’, ‘music’, ‘revelry’)

(e) English words that were becoming obsolete were given a new lease of life dale, barn

3. FRENCH BORROWINGS

1066. The impact of the Norman Conquest

 Three-fold division of labour among languages

1. LATIN: Lang. of learning and Church

2. FRENCH: Lang. of prestige, administration and polite social intercourse of society/civilisation. Develops into Anglo-Norman FR.

3. ENGLISH: Low level lang. of menials, in backwoods

Centripetal force towards French

- Dominance and prestige of French

- Norman French introduced a radically new social system: new institutions, relationships and practices, and a massive change of outlook, a fundamentally different view of reality.

- France on the verge of a great cultural renaissance, the emergence of a very sophisticated, elegant, graceful, courtly kind of culture, based on elaborated hierarchy, rank.

- Fundamentally different in quality, texture, spirit from the old heroic type of culture.

- Therefore, LOSS of Old English heroic word stock, while the words that were retained from there were reinterpreted according to the new spirit of the times.

eg King, queen, earl

- MASSIVE ALTERATION of the nature of the English word stock which now loses its fundamental all-encompassing Germanic character for the FIRST time and begins to become the mixed language it is today.

 Three periods of French borrowings

I.1066-1250: height of Norman power

The language of the King’s court, the nobles’ castles, the courts of law in which Norman French was the language of honour, chivalry and justice - reflecting the dominance of the Normans in powerful institutions such as the royal court and the church.

1263: Mathew of Westminster: ‘Whoever was unable to speak French was considered a vile and contemptible person by the common people.’

The impulse continues for a while but during this first period there was only a trickle of French borrowings, since English continues be used, largely in its own, low-level arenas.

II. 1250 – 1400: English–French bilingualism

The trickle of French borrowings becomes a FLOOD as historical circumstances lead English to establish itself in arenas earlier almost exclusively occupied by French.

1204 – Fall of Normandy leading to greater autonomy for England once the dynastic link with Normandy had been broken.

RESULT: THE REVIVAL OF ENGLISH (late 14th c.)

The Norman French rulers in England (the Capetian dynasty) find themselves saddled with a socially inferior variety of French, as Parisian French (the lang. of the Angevian dynasty, now in power) becomes the prestigious language in France. – Decide to be English first and last.

1385 - Richard Pentrich: ‘in all the grammar schools of England, children have abandoned French and construe and learn in English.’

 Borrowings of the first two periods

These reflect the very different society, views of reality, modes of experience, etc. introduced by French.

 Rank: OE: king, queen, earl

FR: count, countess, sire, madame, duke, marquis,

dauphin, viscount, baron, chevalier, servant, master

Administration, etc.: Parliament (cf. OE witagenemot)

Chancellor, government, country, crown

 Finance: treasure, wage, poverty

 Law: attorney, plaintiff, larceny, fraud, jury, verdict

 War: battle, army, castle, tower, siege, banner

 Religion: miracle, charity, saint, pardon

 Morality, emotions, etc.: virtue, vice, gentle, patience, courage, mercy, courtesy, pity

 Recreation: falcon, covert, scent, chase, quarry

 Art, fashion, etc.: apparel, costume, gown, art, beauty, colour, image, design, cushion, tapestry

 Cuisine: stew, grill, roast, . . . (cf. OE: bake, carve)

English: boar, calf, cow, deer, ox, sheep, swine

French: bacon, mutton, pork, veal, venison

 Household Relationships: OE: father, mother, brother, sister (Scandinavian form of cognate OE sweoster)

FR: uncle, aunt, nephew, cousin

 III. 1400 – (STILL GOING ON)

French borrowings of this period very different from those of the first two in quality, texture, use.

- The borrowings of the first two periods tend to be more elegant, sophisticated, etc.; but not too far away from the core.

Several quite nativised.

 dance, April, native, fine, line vs. machine, élite,

punish, finish vs. finesse

- The borrowings of the third period quite alien, exotic, distant from the core, with attention being explicitly called to their sophisticated, well-bred, cultivated, even arty ‘French’ texture

 ballet, tableau, statuesque, cliché, motif, format, trousseau, lingerie, souffle, hors d’oevre, rouge, etiquette

- By the 16th, & esp. the 17th C. England was establishing itself as a modern nation state, economically viable, self- confident, powerful. No longer needed French words - for special effects.

4. LATIN BORROWINGS

Pre-settlement Latin borrowings

These were Latin words borrowed before the Germanic tribes arrived in Britain. Generally reflected the superior material culture of the Roman Empire, which had spread across Europe:

 street, wall, candle, chalk, inch, pound, port, camp

 Latin borrowings on-settlement

Strangely, the native Celts gave the Germanic settlers several Latin (‘vulgar Latin’) words which they had developed when they were ruled by the Romans:

 sign, pearl, anchor, oil , chest, pear, lettuce

 Latin borrowings on the arrival of Christianity

AD  597. Christianity arrived from Rome with St Augustine.

This coincided with the development for the first time of something like the notion of the state, in the coming together of the warring tribes south of the River Humber in some kind of a loose ‘union’, overseen by the Bretwalda (‘Ruler of Britain’).

 A state needs a writing system – Christianity had such a system.

Therefore, the impact of Latin, the main language of Christianity.

Religion: pope, bishop, monk, nun, cleric, demon, disciple, mass, priest, shrine,

Learning:circul, not(note), paper, scol (school),epistol

  The number of borrowings was not as great as might have been expected, however.

Reasons: the comparatively limited impact of the spirit of Christianity and the preservation of the heroic spirit in AS poetry

Latin borrowings during Norman French times (1580-1660)

Difficult to say whether the borrowings were:

- Direct borrowings from Latin

- Or had come through French

Because Latin was the language of learning among the French too

French suffixes: - ity ( brevity from Latin brevis,

passivity from Latin passivus)

- ation (consolation , destination)

- ance (dalliance, variance)

French helped break the resistance of English to foreign (incldg. Latin) borrowings by giving French suffixes to English together with the French words it gave it. These same suffixes were also used by French to assimilate Latin borrowings it made. Once they came into English, they provided a MODEL for English itself to directly borrow and assimilate Latin words in the same way.

 Latin borrowings since the 15th century

Changes the nature of English in a fundamental way

A deluge, following the dawn of the modern order of society and the accompanying intellectual / philosophical changes that were taking place.

- the rise of PHILOSOPHICAL EMPIRICISM

- the Renaissance

- Printing

New demands on the language - recourse to the western classics to make good the grammatical, lexical and rhetorical deficiencies of the language.

Large numbers of words poured in from Latin and Greek - mainly learned words introduced through writing rather than speech – scientific, mathematical, legal, & pertaining to the liberal arts:

affidavit, apparatus, caveat, corpuscle, compendium, equilibrium, equinox, formula, inertia, incubate, momentum, molecule, pendulum, premium, stimulus, subtract, vaccinate, vacuum,

RESULT: the appearance for the first time of the distinction between the LEARNED and the POPULAR.

- No strong sense of the distinction in Shakespeare

5. GREEK BORROWINGS

TELE- + -phone, -pathy, -graphic, -scopic

STEREO- + …….. CRYPTO- + . . . . .

HYDRO- + . . . . . . HYPER- + . . . . .

HYPO- + . . . . . . NEO- + . . . . . .

woman (wife + man)

blackbird (black + bird)

miniaturisation (miniature + ise + ation )

Other borrowings

Primarily a result of EMPIRE and TRADE CONTACTS

American: racoon, coyote, prairie, wigwam

Australian: wallaby, kangaroo, boomerang

Arabic: saffron, sequin, tamarind, alchemy, zenith

Persian: naphtha, jasmine, chess, lilac

Japanese: samurai, kimono

Other Asian regions: avatar, yoga, stupa, karma, curry,

bangle, chop, catamaran, mandarin, ketchup, kowtow

For users of English in England, America, the rest of Europe, etc. these settle around periphery, not as learned words but as EXOTICA.

But, not really exotic to users of English in regions where these words came into being.

 New Oxford boldly goes ‘full monty’

1. The vocabulary of English has vastly increased in size during the last 1500 years – historical events, social and cultural factors

2. Language contact and cultural domination has greatly influenced the word stock of English. Social and cultural changes are accordingly clearly reflected in changes in vocabulary.

3. From the social point of view, more interesting than the mere addition of new words is the change in the character of English word stock, from one which can be called Germanic to one that is also partly Romance – French and Latin, which have been associated with domains of power and prestige.

4. There have also been fundamental developments in the principles of word-formation (Borrowing of prefixes and suffixes as well as words from French, Latin and Greek) and its social consequences.

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