C) Italian borrowings

We also find large scale borrowings in the English vocabulary from other Romance languages, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

Cultural and trade relations between Italy and England brought many Italian words into English. The earliest Italian borrowing came into English in the 14-th century, it was the word bank from the Italian banko – “bench”. Italian money-lenders and money-changers sat in the streets on benches. When they suffered losses they turned over their benches, it was called banco rotta from which the English word bankrupt originated.

Italian was the source of many borrowed words in the English vocabulary at different periods. During the first two centuries of the Early Modern linguistic period (1476-1776), the words borrowed from Italian were distributed evenly between words having to do with everyday life, military activities, architecture, and the arts. From that period English has inherited artichoke (1531), gondola (1549), squadron (1562), stanza (1588), fresco (1598), bazaar (1599), balcony (1619), opera (1644), vermicelli (1669), rotunda (1687) and others.

In the 17-th century some geological terms were borrowed from Italian into English: volcano, granite, bronze, lava. At the same time some political terms were borrowed from Italian, too: manifesto, bulletin.

Italian is considered a very important contributor to English, especially to music, the other arts, and cuisine. At the beginning of the 18-th century, Italian music and especially Italian opera became very fashionable in England, and with that came a new wave of Italian loanwords. Indeed, there was a real explosion of new musical words in English. Many music terms are direct borrowings from Italian, while others came into English via Italian from other languages.

Here is a small selection of some of these words with their dates of entry (all dates from the Chronological English Dictionary): adagio (1746), allegretto (1740), andante (1742), bravo (1761), cantata (1724), coda (1753), coloratura (1753), concerto (1730), moderato (1724), pianissimo (1724), pianoforte (1767), sotto voce (1737), trombone (1724) etc.

These words traverse the broad landscape of music, occupying numerous subcategories. A few representative examples are these: directions: agitato, grandioso, lentissimo, vivo, vivace; composition: fugue, madrigal, capriccio, concerto, fantasia, intermezzo, opera, operetta, sonata, toccata, oratorio; performers and singing-voice ranges: solo, duet, trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, septet, octet, nonet; baritone, tenor, falsetto, alto, basso, diva, contralto, soprano, mezzo-soprano, prima donna and musical instruments: ocarina, piano, timpani, violin, violoncello, viola, contrabass, harmonica, tuba, harpsichord, mandolin.

The addition of the Italian musical terms to English illustrates well the importance of innovation, leadership, and prestige to the composition of the vocabulary. During the 18-th century it became impossible to speak about western music in English without using an Italian word.

It should be mentioned that half the Italian words in English, even those of modern times, have come through French. Many other Italian words introduced through French or adopted to French forms are: alarm, battalion, bankrupt, bastion, brusque, brigade, carat, colonel, cavalcade, campaign, charlatan, gala, gazette, grotesque, infantry, pistol, rebuff.

To the other arts Italian has contributed words like fresco, tarantella, galleria, cameo and literati. To cuisine, Italian's prolific contributions are evidenced by these representative examples: antipasto, cappuccino, espresso, maraschino, mozzarella, linguini, pasta (and the words for all its shapes and varieties), pizza, ravioli, spaghetti, spumante, spumoni and zucchini. The word tetrazzini, as in chicken tetrazzini, is an eponym based on the surname of the Italian opera diva Luisa Tetrazzini (1874-1940).

Italian has also contributed various miscellaneous words to English, for example, ghetto, regatta, rialto (from the marketplace district of Venice so named), trattoria, paparazzo (first recorded in English in the mid-20th century, from the surname of a photographer in the 1959 Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita), and the interjection ciao, used in English especially to say “goodbye”, Italian dialect for “(I am your) slave”.

Some other Italian borrowings are: arsenal, broccoli, cameo, cupola, duo, grotto, macaroni, motto, pantaloons, sequin, studio, tempo, torso, umbrella, etc.

Among the 20-th century Italian borrowings we can mention: gazette, incognito, autostrada, fiasco, fascist, dilettante, grotesque, graffiti, latte, Mafioso etc.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11