INTERNATIONAL WORDS

It is often the case that a word is borrowed by several languages, and not just by one. Such words usually con vey concepts which are significant in the field of communication.

Many of them are of Latin and Greek origin. Most names of sciences are international, e.g. philosophy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, linguistics, lexicology. There are also numerous terms of art in this group: music, theatre, drama, tragedy, comedy, artist, primadonna.

It is quite natural that political terms frequently occur in the international group of borrowings: politics, policy, revolution, progress, democracy, communism, anti-militarism.

20th c. scientific and technological advances brought a great number of new international words: atomic, antibiotic, radio, television, sputnik. The latter is a Russian borrowing, and it became an international word (meaning a man-made satellite) in 1961, immediately after the first space flight by Yury Gagarin.

The English language also contributed a considerable number of international words to world languages. Among them the sports terms occupy a prominent position: football, volley-ball, baseball, hockey, cricket, rugby, tennis, golf, etc.

Fruits and foodstuffs imported from exotic countries often transport their names too and, being simultaneously imported to many countries, become international: coffee, cocoa, chocolate, coca-cola, banana, mango, avocado, grapefruit.

It is important to note that international words are mainly borrowings. The outward similarity of such words as the E. son, the Germ. Sohn and the R. сын should not lead one to the quite false conclusion that they are international words. They represent the Indo-Euroреаn group of the native element in each respective language and are cognates, i. e. words of the same etymological root, and not borrowings.

QUESTIONS

1What sets of English words can be singled out according to their origin? 2 What word is called ‘native’?

3. What does the term a borrowed word/a-borrowing mean? 4. What is the diachronic division of native words? 5. What semantic groups are words belonging to the Indo-European stock divided into? 7 What are the ways of borrowing? 8 What is meant by the term 'source of borrowing'? 9 What is meant by the term 'origin of borrowing'? 10 What historical facts and events stipulated the great influence of borrowings from different languages? 11What languages did the English language borrow words from? 12 What borrowings are called translation borrowings? 13 What does ‘semantic borrowing’ mean? 14 What words are called international? 15 What does the term 'assimilation of borrowings' denote? 16 What degrees of assimilation can be singled out? 17 In what cases can borrowed words be considered completely assimilated? What are the peculiarities of completely assimilated borrowed words? 18 What borrowings are regarded as partially assimilated? 19 What is the principle of the classification of partially assimilated borrowed words? 20 What words are called unassimilated words or barbarisms? 21 What does the term 'etymological doublets' imply? 22 What levels of the language system were influenced by borrowings?

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