EXERSISES

1. Subdivide all the following words of native origin into a) Indo-European, b) Germanic, d) English proper.

Daughter, woman, room, land, cow, moon, sea, red, spring, three, I, lady, always, goose, bear, fox, lord, tree, nose, birch, grey, old, glad, daisy, heart, hand, night, to eat, to see, to make.

2. Subdivide the following words of native origin into: 1) words of Indo-European origin; 2) words of Common Germanic origin; 3) English words proper. In case of difficulty consult the Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology.

MODEL tell, sheriff, what The native English word tell is of Common Germanic origin (group 2). The native English word sheriff belongs to the English words proper (group 3). The native English word what is of Indo-European origin (group 1).

Woman, blast ('gust of wind or air'), sister, glove, lady, tooth, always, slow, green, know, daisy, sand, long, grass, flood, boy, seven, high, eat, sheriff, widow, answer, life, lip, call, swine, small, bird, corn, silver, ten, day, lord, ship, we, bench, sun, girl.

3. In the following sentences find examples of Latin borrowings; identify the period of borrowings.

1. The garden here consisted of a long smooth lawn with two rows of cherry trees planted in the grass. 2. They set to pork – pies, cold potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, cold bacon, ham, grabs, cheese, butter, gooseberry-tarts, cherry-tarts, bread, more sausages and yet again pork-pies.3.Instead of commendation, all we got was a tiradeabout the condition of the mackintosh sheets, which Matron had said were a disgrace both to the hospital and the nursing profession. 4. A cold wind knifing through downtown streets penetrated the thin coat she had on. 5. The substance of my life is a private conversation with myself which to turn into a dialogue would be equivalent to self-destruction. 6. It was the money, of course; money which did strange things to human beings, making them greedy, panicked, at times sub-human.

4. In the sentences given below find the examples of Scandinavian borrowings. How can the Scandinavian borrowings be identified?

1. He went on to say that he was sorry to hear that I had been ill. 2. She was wearing a long blue skirt and a white blouse. 3. Two eyes – eyes like winter windows, glared at him with ruthless impersonality. 4. The sun was high, the sky unclouded, and the air warm with a dry fresh breeze. 5. If Eastin were right, Wainwright reasoned, the presence of the husband could be in with Wainwright’s own theory of an outside accomplice. 6. It’s not such a bad thing to be unsure sometimes. It takes us away from rigid thinking.

5. Copy out the examples of Norman and Parisian borrowings from the following passage. Describe the structural peculiarities of these words.

1. It was while they were having coffee that a waitress brought a message to their table. 2. I knew nothing about the film world and imagined it to be a continuous ferment of personal intrigue. 3. The masseur and majordomo quietly disappeared. Replacing them like one more character emerging on stage was a chef, a pale, worried pencil of a man. 4. A limousine and chauffeur, available at any time from the bank’s pool of cars, were perquisites of the executive vice-president’s job, and Alex enjoyed them. 5. He would have dinner quickly and then get down to work. But as he opened the door he smelt Eau-Cologne and there was Ruth in a chair by the gate. 6. His bandaged head was silhouetted in the light from the little window. 7. “ I don’t see the matter”, said Steven, helping himself to more mayonnaise. 8. Apart from being an unforgivable break of etiquette, you only make yourself extremely ridiculous. 9. However this John Davenant evidently knew more about the army and commerce than either of them. 10. At last I began to want my breakfast. I began walking in the direction of Madge’s hotel and set down en route at a cafe no tar from the Opera.

6. State whether the given words were borrowed into the English language directly or indirectly, i. e. through another language. Define the source and origin of the given borrowed words.

Model sphinx < ME < L < Gr Sphigx

The word sphinx was borrowed into the English language indirectly, i.o. through another language. The source of borrowing is Latin, whereas the origin of borrowing is Greek.

1) obelisk < L obeliscus < Gr obeliskos; 2) please (v) < ME plaise, plese < OF plaisir < L placere; 3) easy < ME < OF aisie; 4) character < ME caracter < OF caractere < L character < Gr kharakter; 5) poof ME povere, pore < OF povre < L pauper; 6) averse < L avcrsnn; 7) climate < (O)F climat or L cllma, cllmat < Gr klima, klfmtM| 8) mania < ME < L mania < Gr mania; 9) hurricane < Sp huracrtlij 10) risk < F risque < It risco; U)fate < It fato < L fatum; 12) damp 4 (O)F damner, < L damnare; 13) obese < L obesus; 14) tender • () tender < L tener; 15) gnosis < Gr gnosis; 16) alarm < ME < OF alarme< It allarme.

7. Write down in the space provided a letter, which indicates the language from which the given words were borrowed. In case of difficulty consult the Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology.

a — Celtic, b — Latin, c — Scandinavian, d — French, e — Greek, f — Russian, g — Spanish, h — Italian, i — German

Cup, to cast, anemia, samovar, Avon, kindergarten, banana, law, government, violin, halt, fellow, London, promenade, umbrella, criterion, armada, Exe, cosmonaut, anger, motto, power, candle, mosquito, waltz, hormone, plant, verst, to take, nickel, wall, eponym, Kilbride, guerilla, poodle, lieutenant, tornado, the Downs, kvass, bandit, interior, restaurant, tundra, gondola, anamnesis.

8. Explain the etymology of the following words.

Sputnik, kindergarten, opera, piano, potato, tomato, droshky, czar, violin, coffee, cocoa, colonel, alarm, cargo, blitzkrieg, steppe, komsomol, banana, balalaika.

9. Think of 10-15 examples of Russian borrowings in English and English borrowings in Russian.

10.Explain the etymology of the following words. Write them out in the three columns:

a) fully assimilated words;

b) partially assimilated words;

c) unassimilated words. Explain the reasons for your choice in each case.

Pen, hors d’oeuvre, ballet, beet, butter, skin, take, cup, police, distance, monk, garage, phenomenon, wine, large, justice, lesson, criterion, nice, coup d’etat, sequence, gay port, river, loose, autumn, low, uncle, law, convenient, lunar, experiment, skirt, bishop, regime, eau-de-Cologne.

11. State the origin of the following etymological doublets. Compare their meanings and explain why they are called “etymological doublets”.

1) captain – chieftain, canal – channel, cart – chart;

2) shirt – skirt, shriek – screech, shrew – screw;

3) goal – jail, corpse – corps, travel – travail;

4) shadow – shade, off – of, dike – ditch.

12. a) State the origin of the following doublets.

b) Comment on the different formation of the doublets and on the difference in the meaning, if any.

1 abbreviate – abridge 4 balm – balsam

cavalry – chivalry emerald - smaragdus

captain – chieftain hospital – hostel, hotel

cart – chart gaol - jail

fragile – frail major - mayor

2 artist – artist pauper - poor

corpus – corpse senior – sir

liquor – liqueur canal - channel

rout – route legal - loyal

suit – suite 5 skirt – shirt

salon – saloon screw – shrew

3 shade – shadow screech - shriek

of – off nay – no

white – wight 6 ward - guard

dike – ditch wage - gage

13 Classify the following borrowings according to the sphere of human activity they represent. What type of borrowings are they?

Television, progress, football, grapefruit, drama, philosophy, rugby, sputnik, tragedy, coca-cola, biology, medicine, atom, primadonna, ballet, cricket, hokey, chocolate, communism, democracy.

14 State the etymology of the given words. Write them out in three columns: a) completely assimilated borrowings; b) partially assimilated borrowings; c) unassimilated borrowings or barbarisms.

Torchere, wall, maharani, a la mode, datum, perestroika, gate, tet a-tet, want, chalet, ad hoc, sheikh, parlando, nucleus, parquet, matter, bagel, a la carte, kettle, chauffeur, formula, pari-mutuel, shaman, finish, corps, alcazar, commedia dell'arte, money, souvenir, bacillus, pas de deux, ill, spahi, stratum, nota bene, spaghetti, ménage a trios, odd, memoir, parenthesis, hibakusha, padrona, incognito, thesis, coup de maitre, tzatziki, sabotage, ad libitum, stimulus, Soyuz, alamcdn, street, boulevard, criterion, deja vu, torero, yin, Ubermenseh, macaroni, tzigane, sensu lato, hypothesis, bagh, pousada, Shiatsu, shapka.

15 Transcribe the following borrowings not completely assimilated graphically or phonetically. Pay special attention to their spelling tin pronunciation.

Torchere, chalet, parquet, chauffeur, corps, souvenir, spaghetti, memoir, incognito, sabotage, boulevard, macaroni.

16 Give the plural form of the nouns borrowed from Latin and Greek sanatorium — sanatoria;

Datum, nucleus, formula, bacillus, stratum, parentheiltylJl stimulus, criterion, hypothesis.

17. Read the following jokes. Identify examples of international words.

1. Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. 2. A psychologist is man who watches everybody else when a beautiful girl enters the room. 3. An expert is a man who knows a great deal about very little; and who goes on knowing more and more about less and less until finally he knows practically everything about nothing; whereas a reviewer is a man who knows very little about a great deal and keeps on knowing less and less about more and more until finally he knows practically nothing about everything.

18. State the origin of the following translation-loans. Give more examples.

Five-year plan, wonder child, masterpiece, first dancer, collective farm, fellow traveller.

19 What is the difference between the words in the following pairs? Analyze the examples and prove that the etymological and stylistic characteristics of words are closely interrelated.

Motherly – maternal, fatherly – paternal, childish – infantile, daughterly – filial, womanly – feminine, brotherly – fraternal, to begin – to commence, to wish – to desire, to love – to adore, to build – to construct, to go on – to proceed, to take part in – to participate.

20. Group the following words according to their origin:

Caftan, lilac, canoe, operetta, machine, vanilla, waltz, skipper, guerilla, verst, algebra, caravan, jungle, law, mule, chocolate, telephone, dollar, khaki, artet, wigwam, mazurka, pagoda, cannibal, kangaroo, taboo, chimpanzee, maize, gorilla, tobacco, verandah, beryl, chauffeur, beauty, umbrella, squaw, devil, school, nun, anchor.

21 From the following sentences, pick out all special terms which have become international and state which of them are formed from Latin or Greek roots.