Foreign elements in Modern English

English German Swedish

Common Germanic stratum

English Latin Russian

Common Indo-European stratum

Native elements in Modern English

General characteristics

Etymological strata in modern English

Lecture 12

The English vocabulary of today reflects as no other aspect of the language the many changes in the history of the people and various contacts that the English speakers had with many nations and countries. The long and controversial history of the people is reflected in its vocabulary and especially in the number of loan words, different in origin and time of their entering the language and the circumstances under which the acquisition of the foreign element took place. So large is the number of foreign words in English that it might at first be supposed that the vocabulary has lost its Germanic nature.

However, the functional role of the native element: the notions expressed by native words, their regularity and frequency of occurrence, lack of restrictions to their use in written and oral speech of different functional styles, proves that the Germanic element still holds a fundamental place, and the English vocabulary should be called Germanic.

English native words form two etymological strata: the Common Indo-European stratum and the Common Germanic stratum.

The words forming this stratum are the oldest in the vocabulary. They existed thousands of years B.C., at the time when it was yet impossible to speak about separate Indo-European languages, as well as about various nations in Europe. Words of the Common Indo-European vocabulary have been inherited by many modern Indo-European languages, not only Germanic which is a possible proof of these words belonging to the Common Indo-European stratum. Compare:

mother mater мать

brother frãter брат

night nox ночь

stand stare стоять

There are also words inherited from Common Germanic. Common Germanic is supposed to exist before it began splitting into various subgroups around the 1^st century B.C. -1^st century A.C. These words can be found in various Germanic languages, but not in Indo-European languages.

man mann man

harm harm harm

grey grau grã

The occurrence or non-occurrence of corresponding words in related languages is a proof of their common origin. But, of course, the word could be borrowed form the same source into different languages, especially if we speak about languages in modern times.

(borrowings)

As we know, borrowed words comprise more than half the vocabulary of the language. These borrowings entered the language from many sources, forming consequently various etymological strata. The principal ones here are as follows:

- the Latin element

- the Scandinavian element

- the French element.

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