Latin Borrowings in English

In the course of many centuries words of Latin derivation, either in their original Latin form, or recast in French form, came to be more and more familiarly used in English. The result was an immense enrichment of the language. The familiarity with Latin words promoted by the intensive cultivation of Latin lead not only to the adoption of new words from Latin, but the

remodelling of words long established in English. Under the influence of Latin such words as sauacion, auance, auenture, soudeour, saume, auter, vertu were changed into salvation, advance, adventure, soldier, psalm, altar, virtue. Later Latin models were respelled: inscribe, describe, circumscribe i/ (Mid. EngL, inscriur, descryue, circumscuriue): receipt, conceipt (Chaucer, recert, counceite)' debt, doubt (Chaucer, dette, doute): perfect, subject (Chaucer, perfit, subgit): equal (Chaucer, egal). In some cases earlier modes of pronunciation established in popular use did not yield as readily as did the spelling to the Latin influence. In debt and doubt, subtle and receipt the older pronunciation has persisted in spite of a Latinized spelling.

The assimilation of foreign elements into English offered difficulty of other kind. Latin words and Latinized forms of words were readily assimilated into the language of those trained in the Latin schools of the period. With the speech of the unschooled the situation was different. The popular assimilation of the borrowed terms was a slow and laborious process. To people entirely unacquainted with Latin, at an earlier period words in -osity and -ation and -ize and -ism were "hard words".

During the XVI th centure - the first centure of modern English – two new forces began to exercise a powerful influence on the national language. One was the impact of the Renaissance, the revival of classical learning.

From the Greek, virtually unchanged, save in the transliteration of alphabets, we still use: acme, anonymous, criterion, ephemeral, idiosyncrasy, lexicon, ostracize, polemic, tantalize, thermometer, tonic

Language scholars have been able to fix the precise years at which certain words entered the English vocabulary. Among these the Oxford English dictionary lists: genius (1513), area (1538), vacuum (1550), virus (1599), series (1611), apparatus (1628), complex (1652), maximum and minimum (1663), nucleus (1704), propaganda (1718), auditorium (1727), ultimatum (1731), insomnia (1758), prospectus (1771) and so on.

Latin was the language of a higher civilization, a civilization from which the Anglo-Saxons had much to learn. Contact with that civilization, at first commercial and military, later religious and intellectual, extended over many centuries and was constantly renewed. It began long before the Anglo-Saxons came to England and continued through the Old English Period. For several hundred years, while the Germanic tribes who later became the English were still occupying their continental homes, they had various relations with the Romans through which they acquired a considerable number of Latin words. Later when they came to England they saw the evidences of the long Roman rule in the island and learned from the Celts a few additional Latin words which had been acquired by them. And a century and a half later still, when Roman missionaries reintroduced Christianity into the island, this new cultural influence resulted in a really extensive adoption or Latin elements into the language. There were thus distinct occasions on which borrowing form Latin occurred before the end of-the Old English period.

The change in OE known as I-umlant occurred in the course of the VII th century, and when we find it indicates that the Latin word had been taken into English uy iiia.1 iiiiic. Thus Lttim mOncta (which bcciitiie inuMit ^iTiyilei (a coin, Mod. E. mint) is an early borrowing. Another change that helps us to date a borrowed word is known as palatal diphthongization. OE ciese (L. caseus, cheese) shows both 1-umlaut and palatal diphthongization (caseus > caesi> ceasi > ciese).

The first Latin words to find their way into the English language owe then-adaptation to the early contact between the Romans and the Germanic tribes on the continent. Several hundreds of Latin words found in the various Germanic dialects testify to the extensive intercourse between the two peoples. After the conquest of Gauls by Caesar, Roman merchants quickly found their way into all parts of the Germanic territory. The adopted words naturally indicate the new conceptions which the Teutons acquired from this contact with a higher civilization. Next to agriculture the chief occupation of the Germans in the empire was war, and this experience is reflected in words like camp (battle) weall (wall), pytt (pit), straet (road, street), and so on. More numerous are the words connected with trade. The Germans traded amber, furs, slaves, and probably certain raw materials for the products of Roman handicrafts, articles of utility, luxury, and adornment. The words ceap (of Eng., cheap, chapman) and mangtan (to trade) with its derivative mangere (monger), pund (pound), mynet (coin) are terms to be employed.

A number of the new words relate to domestic life and designate household articles, clothing, etc.: cytel (kettles; L. catillus, catinus), pyle (L. bulvinus, pillow), cycene (kitchen; L. coquina), cuppe (L. cuppa, cup), disc (dish, L. discus), linen (L. linurn, flax); line (rope, line; L. linea). Roman words for certain foods were adopted: ciese (L. caseus, Cheese), pipor (pepper), popig (poppy), butere (butter; L. butyrum), plume (plum), pise (L. pisum, pea), minte (L. mentha, mint).

Roman contributions to the building arts are evidenced by such words as cealc (chalk), copor (copper), pie (pitch), tigele (tile).

Miscellaneous Vv-ords arc presented by mii! (mule), dracs (dragon), p'pe (pipe, musical instrument), drice (church), biscop (bishop).

The influence of the Norman Conquest is generally known as the Latin Influence of the Third Period in recognition of the ultimate source of the new French words. But it is right to include also under this designation the large number of words borrowed directly from Latin in Middle English. The number of Latin words coming from the spoken language is small in comparison with those that we can observe entering by way of literature. The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were especially prolific in Latin borrowings. A miscellaneous list of examples includes: abject, adjacent, allegory, conspiracy, contempt, custody, distract, frustrate, genius, gesture, history, homicide, incarnate, include, incredible, incubus, incumbent, index, individual, infancy, inferior, infinite, innate, innumerable, intellect, interrupt, lapidary, legal, limbo

, lunatic, magnify, mechanical, minor, moderate, necessary, nervous, notary, ornate, picture, polite, popular, prevent, private, project, promote, prosecute, prosody, pulpit, quiet, rational, reject, remit, reprehend, rosary, script, scripture, scrutiny, secular, solar, solitary, spacious, stupor, subdivide, subjugate, submit, subordinate, subscribe, substitute, summary, superabundance, supplicate, suppress, temperate, temporal, testify, testimony, tincture, tract, tributary, ulcer, zenith, zephyr.

Here we have terms relating to law, medicine, theology, science, and literature, words often justified in the beginning, byj technical or professional use and later acquiring a wider application. Among them may be noticed several with endings like -able, -ibie, -ent, -al, -ous, -ive, and others which thus became familiar in English and, reinforced often by French now form common elements in English derivatives.

All the examples listed above are accepted by the Oxford English Dictionary as direct borrowings from Latin.

The greatest influences of Latin upon Old English was occasioned by the

Introduction of Chistianity into Britain in 597. The introduction of Christianity

meant the building of churches and the establishment of monasteries. Latin, the language of the services and of ecclesiastical learning, was once more heard in England. Schools were established in most of the monasteries and larger churches. In the VIII th century England held the intellectual leadership of Europe, and it owed this leadership to the church. The church as the carrier of Roman civilization influenced the course of English life in many directions and numerous traces of that influence are to be seen in the vocabulary of Old English.

It is obvious that the most typical as well as the most numerous class of words introduced by the new religion would have to do with that religion and the details of external organization. A few words relating to Christianity such as

church and bishop were borrowed earlier. Most of the words borrowed at that time have survived in only slightly altered form in Modem English: abbot, alms, altar, angel, anthem, Arian, ark, candle, canon, cleric, deacon, disciple, epistle, hymn, manna, martyr, mass, Minster, noon, nun, offer, organ, palm, pope, priest, psalm, relic, rule, shrine, stole, synod, temple, tunic. Some of these were reintroduced later. But the church also exercised a profound influence on the domestic life of the people. This is seen in the adoption of many words, such as the names of articles of clothing and household use - cap, sock, silk, purple, chest, mat, sack; words denoting foods, such as beet, caul (cabbage), pear, radish, oyster, lobster to which we may add the noun cook; names of trees, plants, and herbs (often cultivated for their medicinal properties), such as box, pine, aloes, balsam, lily, mallow, myrrh, rue, savory. A certain number of words having to do with education and learning reflect another aspect of the church's influence. Such are school, master, Latin (possibly an earlier borrowing), grammatical, verse, meter, gloss, notary (a scribe). A number of words are too miscellaneous to admit of profitable classification; like anchor, fan, fever, place, sponge, elephant,phoenix and some more or less learned or literary words,such as calend,circle,legion,giant,consul,talent.

Old English borrowed also a number of verbs and adjectives, such as aspendan (to spend; L. expendere), bemutian (to exchange; L. mutare), dihtan (to compose; L. dictare), tyrnan (to turn; L. tornare) and crisp (L. crispus, "curly").

The influence of Latin upon the English language rose and fell with the fortunes of the church and the state of learning. A new series of Latin importations contains words of scientific and learned character: antichrist, apostle, cantor, cell, cloister, collect, creed, demon, idol, nocturn, prime, prophet, sabbath, synagogue, troper. Though literary and learned words predominate: accent, brief, decline, history, paper, terminus, title. A great number of plant names are recorded in this period: coriander, cucumber,ginger, verbena. A few names of trees might be added such' as cedar, cypress, fig, laurel, magdala (almond). Medical terms like cancer, paralysis, plaster, and words relating to the animal kingdom, like camel, scorpion, tiger belong to the same category of learned and literary borrowings.

As a result of the Christianizing of Britain some 450 Latin words appear in English writings before the close of the Old English period. A large number of

them were fully accepted and thoroughly incorporated into the language.

The real test of a foreign influence is the degree to which the words were assimilated. This is not merely a question of the power to survive; it is a question of how completely the words were digested and became indistinguishable from the native word-stock, so that they could enter into compounds and be made into other parts of speech just like native words. When, for example, the Latin noun planta comes into English as the noun plant and later is made into a verb by the addition of the infinitive ending -ian (plantian) and other inflectional elements, we may feel sure that the word has been assimilated. Assimilation may be indicated by the use of native formative suffixes, such as -dom, -had, -ung to make a concrete noun into an abstract (martyrdom, martyrhad).The word church enters inio more man fony compounds and derivatives (church-bell, church-book, church-door, etc.). The Latin influence of the Second Period was not only extensive but thorough and marks the real beginning of the English habit of freely incorporating foreign elements into its vocabulary.

The large classical element already in the English vocabulary makes such formations seem quite congenial to the language, and this method has long been a favourite source of scientific terms. Thus eugenics is formed from two Greek roots, eu - meaning well, and yeu - meaning to be born. The word therefore means well-born and is applied to the efforts to bring about well-born offspring by the selection of healthy parents. The same root enters into genetics, the experimental study of heredity and allied topics. In the roots stethoscope,bronchoscope, fluoroscope, and the like we have - scope which appears in telescope. It is a Greek word, meaning a watcher

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