Borrowings from Classical Languages, with Special Reference to the Age of the Renaissance

As is known, Latin continued to be used in England all through the OE and ME periods in religious rituals, in legal documents and in texts of scientific and philosophical character. After the Norman Conquest it was partially replaced by official Anglo-Norman but still its main spheres remained the Church, the law courts and academic activities.

The period of the Renaissance saw a new influx of Latin borrowings (including Greek loan words). In the 16^th and 17^th centuries Latin was the main language of philosophy and science, its use in the sphere of religion was more restricted after the Reformation and the publication of the English versions of the Bible.

Many classical borrowings came into Early NE through French due to continuous contacts with France, for the French language had adopted many loan-words from classical languages at the time of the Renaissance. One of the reasons for the influx of Latin words during this period was that many of the new ideas encountered in classical works were not susceptible to precise translation – therefore scholars preferred to retain the Latin terms.

A distinction should be made between genuine Latin and Greek words, which were used in ancient times with the same or roughly the same meaning, and those which were based on Latin and Greek roots but were made as new terms in modern times. These borrowings which were adopted in their original form and meaning or with slight adaptation (dropping or change of the ending) large date from the 16^th century. They mostly indicate abstract concepts and belong to the vocabulary of educated people and even erudites. Numerous Latin and Greek words were first used by Thomas More (early 16^th c.) who wrote in Latin and English. For example, anticipate, contradictory, exact, exaggerate, explain, fact, monopoly, necessitate, pretext, etc. Many classical borrowings first appeared in Shakespeare’s works: accommodation, apostrophe, dislocate, misanthrope, reliance, submerge, etc. Some borrowings have a more specialized meaning and belong to scientific terminology (mostly Greek prototypes): acid, analysis, antenna, apparatus, appendix, atom, axis, complex, diagnosis, etc. A distinct semantic group of Greek loan-words pertains to theatre, literature and rhetoric: comedy, climax, critic, dialogue, drama, epilogue, episode, metaphore, rhythm, etc. Some classic words underwent sematic changes in English. For example, Latin musculus originally meant ' little mouse’; climax meant ‘ladder’ in Greek; atom meant ‘something indivisible’, but changed its meaning due to the new discoveries in physics.

In addition to true borrowings, classical languages have provided a supply of roots in the creation of new roots. For example, Thomas Elyot (16^th c.) introduced the Greek word democracy, education and encyclopaedia.

Nowadays such words form the basis of international terminology (international words), which is the chief element that modern languages have in common. The vast body of international terms continued to grow in the 18^th-20^th centuries due to the great technical progress of the 20^th century which is reflected in hundred of newly coined words or Latin and Greek words used in their new meanings: antibiotic, cyclotron, hormones, orthopedic, protein, stratosphere – all based on Greek roots; Latin examples include such words as facsimile, introvert, quantum, radioactive, relativity, etc.

In addition to words and roots, Latin and Greek have supplied English (as well as other modern languages) with a great number of derivational affixes which have become productive in English. For example, humanism (-ism from Greek –i smos, Latin – ismus); fraternize (from the Greek –i zen, Latin – izar e); The Greek prefixes anti-, di-, neo -, the Latin (and French) prefixes de-, ex-, re - and others occur in numerous modern words combined with other components of diverse origin.

One of the effects of the classical borrowings on the English language was the further increase of the number of synonyms. Replacement of native words by classical loan-words is of rare occurrence; a normal result of the adoption of Latin words) was an addition of another synonym to the existing set. For example, Native English kingly, French roya l, Latin regal. As a matter of fact, Latin and French words are more bookish than native, Latin words being sometimes ‘elevated’ than French ones.

Some French and Latin loan words in the English vocabulary go back to the same Latin root that is they are etymological doublets. They differ in sound, form and meaning, as the borrowings from Old French have undergone many changes both in the history of the French language since the days of the Latin parent-language and in the history of English after its adoption. The borrowings coming directly from Latin have suffered relatively few changes. For example, sure and secure (from OFr. seure and Latin securum).

Latin and Greek loan-words irrespective of the period they were borrowed in, have some formal markers. For example, Latin suffixes – ate, ute formed some English verbs: locate, separate, dominate; execute, prosecute; or elements – ent, -ant in adjectives: apparent, evident, important, etc.; some Greek loan-words retain peculiarities of spelling which can facilitate identification: ph for [f]; ps for [s], ch for [k], for example: photography, psychology, scheme, archaic, etc. Most of them are international words found in many modern languages including Russian and Belarusian.

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