89 English: a global language

A

B

C The origins of English vocabulary

LANGUAGE ONLINE

Some languages do not easily accept words from other languages into their lexicon1, but English has always welcomed them. It is estimated that English vocabulary has its sources2 in at least 120 languages. Some languages have, of course, provided English with more words than others. English started out with a basic Anglo-Saxon3 word stock4 . Viking5 and Norman6 invaders from the 9th century onwards enriched7 the language enormously with large numbers of words brought from their own languages. The Vikings brought new words of Germanic origin while the Normans spoke a form of French. Both sets of invaders had an enormous impact on8 English vocabulary, explaining why English may sometimes seem to have several words for the same basic concept9. During the Renaissance of the 15th to the 17th centuries, scholars introduced many words of classical origin10. And throughout history, English speakers’ contact with the world as explorers, scientists, traders, pirates and holiday-makers has had linguistic consequences11 in a wealth of new words from every part of the world that they reached. These words taken from other languages are sometimes referred to as loanwords or borrowings.

1 vocabulary (specialist term) 2 where something comes from 3 Old English 4 set of words 5 Norse, from the north of Europe, e.g. Denmark or Norway 6 from Normandy, a region in the north of France 7 made richer 8 influenced, had an eff ect on 9 idea 10 from Latin or Ancient Greek 11 results aff ecting language

English words from other languages

language word meaning phrase Arabic amber yellowy-orange substance originating from tree resin and used in jewellery an amber necklace

Dutch roster list of people’s turns for jobs the cooking roster Farsi tabby grey and brown stripy cat our old tabby German gimmick an amusing or unusual way of attracting attention advertising gimmicks Greek tonic medicine to make you feel stronger and better take a tonic Hindi cot child’s bed with high vertical sides sleep in a cot Icelandic mumps a childhood illness have mumps Japanese karaoke type of entertainment where ordinary people sing to popular music a karaoke machine Portuguese palaver unnecessary trouble What a palaver! Russian intelligentsia social class of intellectuals 19th-century

intelligentsia

Spanish hammock net hung and used as a bed sleep in a hammock Turkish turban type of men’s headwear, made from a long piece of cloth wear a turban

False friends

Some English words may look like words in your language but have a diff erent meaning. Such words are known as false friends, e.g. the German word Gift looks like the English word gift [present] but actually means poison in German. The English word sympathetic resembles a word meaning, simply, nice in many other European languages, but in English sympathetic has a much narrower meaning

[understanding and caring about someone else’s suff ering]. Note also that the pronunciation of a word borrowed into English may be quite diff erent from its pronunciation in its language of origin.

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Complete the sentences with a word from A opposite.

1 A linguist may talk about a language’s vocabulary as its 2 Old English is also known as .

3 Ancient Greek and Latin are referred to as languages.

4 A loanword can also be termed a . 5 Where something originates from can be called its . 6 A word for something that happens as a result of something else is 7 A synonym for eff ect or influence is .

8 The opposite of impoverish or make poorer is .

Which of the words in B opposite do these pictures illustrate?

1 2 3 4

Fill the gaps with one of the words from B.

1 We’re having a evening at school tonight – it should be great fun. 2 Most babies these days have an injection to protect them from getting 3 I have some lovely earrings. They match my orange scarf perfectly. 4 Have a refreshing drink of lemon and honey every morning – it’ll be just the need to make you feel better again. 5 Who’s on the for the cleaning this week? 6 The clowns went out into the street as a to advertise their circus. you

Think of words that have come from your own language into English. Try to find words from these topic areas, which are particularly rich in loanwords in English.

• food and drink • animals, flowers and landscape features • industrial products and inventions • clothing and the home • politics and society • the arts, sports and leisure activities

Make a list of false friends for English and your own first language. Here is a list begun by a Spanish speaker.

English word similar word in my language + meaning meaning in English

complexion complexión = person’s physical build appearance of skin on a person’s face (a clear complexion) destitute destituido = removed from job without money, food, home or possessions

These words are said to have moved from English into a number of other languages. Which of them exist in your language?

thematic fields English source words food and drink beefsteak, jam, pudding, sandwich animals bulldog, dog, skunk clothing blazer, cardigan, pullover, sweater political and social life parliament, Tory, boycott, budget, inflation, strike industry and inventions car ferry, container, freight, computer chip, cable TV arts, sports and leisure ace [1 in playing cards], boxer, football, break-dance