英语词汇学教程

1、Chapter 2The Development of the English VocabularyI. The Indo-European Language FamilyArmenianAlbanian r Prussian普鲁士语 Lithuanian立陶宛语Polish波兰语Balto-Slavic C Czech 捷克Bulgarian保加利亚语Slovenian斯洛文尼亚语Persian波斯语Russian俄罗斯语an Eastern setJ Bengali孟加拉语Indo-Iranian Hindi 北印度语I Romany吉普赛语Scottish苏格兰语Irish爱尔兰语1)

2、Celtic Welsh 威尔士Breton布列塔尼语k Pictish皮克特语P Portuguese萄牙语 Spanish西班牙语 2)Italic French 法语Italian意大利语Rumanian罗马尼亚语The Indo-EuropearLanguage Familyan Western SetHellenic: Greek is the modern languagederived from HellenicE English 英语German德语Germanic Dutch 荷兰语F Flemish 弗来芒语NorwegianIcelandicScandinavian la

3、nguages DanishSwedish5)Hittite6) TocharianII. A Brief History of English WordsEnglish has a history of only 1,500 years, developing from a local language spoken by a small number of people on a small island about the middle of the fifth century. But now English is one of the most important languages

4、 in the world, spoken by more than 370 million people as a first language in the United Kingdom, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies and South Africa. And another 300 million people use English as a second language or official language, or as the medium of instruction in school

5、and universities in those countries, English has a important position, it is estimated that the number of speakers with varying degrees of proficiency range between 800 million and 1 billion throughout the world.The English words that we use everyday are derived from a wide range of sources, mostly

6、within the Indo-European family of language. The English vocabulary can generally divided into native words, borrowed words from other languages and hybrid words which we will discuss in the following.CelticNative ElementThe Angles-Saxons-Jutes PeriodA History of English WordLatin Influences on Old

7、EnglishThe Scandinavian InfluenceMiddle EnglishBorrowedElementsThe Norman Conquest and French LoanwordsThe Early Modern English PeriodThe Re-establishment of EnglishModern EnglishHybrid WordsNative ElementsCeltic (Pre-English Period- 450AD)The first people in England are the Celts. They were the nat

8、ive inhabitants of the Britain. The Celtic languages were once spoken across Europe, they were driven to the north-west fringe of Europe. At the time of Roman invasion, the indigenous languages of Britain were Celtic. Celtic was probably the first indo-European tongue to be spoken in England.In the

9、summer of 55 B.C. the Romans conqueror, Julius Caesar made Latin an official language of culture and government. The Celts in England had enjoyed the benefit of Roman government (55BC-410AD), worshipped in Christian churches, and spoke a certain extent, at least, the Latin language by social elite.

10、The Romans never penetrated far into the mountains of Wales and Scotland in the course of Romanization of the Island, so the Celtic survived, but the Celts had not their own written language. Now we could see some of the place names are from the Celtic, e.g. Thames River, London, Ben Nevis etc. And

11、we could say that Latin spoken rather extensively for centuries before the coming of English.The Angles-Saxons-Jutes Period (450AD-1100AD)As to its origin, the English language is as humble and obscure. It was brought by .二，一 ，.二. _ ththe German tribes-Jutes, Angles, and Saxonswho conquered the isla

12、nd in the 5 century (449AD), and became the founders of the English nation. The result was the known as Anglo-Saxon Period or Old English Period. Now in word English”，the Engl- goes back to the Angles, the -ish means belonging to，so the language belonged to the Angles- the Angle-ish language.The Eng

13、lish language of today is the language that resulted from the history of the dialects spoken by the three Germanic tribes, and the subsequent mixture of the three people. The vocabulary of Old English is almost purely Germanic. English is classified as a Germanic language to which German, Dutch, Fle

14、mish, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian also belong. It shares with these languages similar grammatical structure and many common words. About 20-30 percent of English vocabulary is the Angles-Saxons words. So the Angles-Saxons words are considered to be the native English words and the core of English

15、 vocabulary.Borrowed ElementsLatin Influences on Old English (579AD-1150AD)Latin influenced English through Celtic transmission and Chiristianizing of Britain. With the introduction of Christianity into Britain, the Latin influence was not only extensive, but thorough and marks the real beginning of

16、 the English habit of freely incorporating foreign elements into its vocabulary.And more than half of present words in common use are derived from Latin used in military and official class, cities and towns. By means of prefixes and suffixes, a single root is made to yield a variety of derivative an

17、d the range of these is greatly extended by the ease with which compound are formed. So the noun, the adjective, the definite article, the personal pronoun, the verb, and preposition express fundamental concepts, especially the ideas of scientific and learned character. It was more resourceful in ut

18、ilizing its native material than Modern English, which has come to rely to a large extent on its facility in borrowing and assimilating elements from other language, e.g.church- abbot/ bishop/ monk/ pope/ priest/ temple/ ruleclothing and household-cap/ chest/ mat/ purple/ sack/ silk/ sock food-pear/

19、 lobster/ cookanimals-elephant/ camel/ tigereducation and learning-school/ grammar/ meter/ master/ noon/ anthem/ angel/ verse/ gloss/ circle/ talent(2)The Scandinavian Influence (c.9-c.11)Scandinavia elements that entered into English language are such as would make their way into it through the giv

20、e-and-take of everyday life. The earliest loans referred specifically to objects and concepts related to Danish culture, including for boats, for currency, for warriors and place-names. The number of Scandinavian words, according to English Dialect Dictionary ，there are 1150 simple words were Danish

21、 element. Many words with sc/sh-, sk- are Scandinavian origin, e.g.Noun- bank/ birth/ bull/ dirt/ down/ egg/ fellow/ gap/ guess/ kid/ leg/ skirt/ sister/ skin/ trust/ want/ windowAdjective- awkward/flat/ low/ odd/ rugged/ tight/ weakVerb- call/ die/ get/ give/ lift/ raise/ takeMiddle English-Period

22、of Great Change (1100AD-1500AD)The change of this period affected English in both its grammar and vocabulary. Those in the vocabulary involved the loss of a large part of the Old English word-stock and the addition of thousands of words from French and Latin.The Norman Conquest and French Loanwords

23、(1066AD-1500AD)In 1066AD, Britain was conquered by Normans. Through the influence of Norman French, the Old English period gradually ended. The Norman conquerors spoke French, so French words were borrowed directly and observably, affected English vocabulary and spelling. English and French elements

24、 are mixed. French words were borrowed from a wide range of different areas: government, law, hunting, sport, social relationship, morals, fashion, cuisine, etc.Despite the many French loanwords, English remains English, the very heart of the vocabulary remained English. Middle English is characteri

25、zed both by its greater French vocabulary and by the loss of inflections. However by the end of the Middle English period, only two of these inflections remained in use, -es for plural nouns and the past tense marker -ed.The Early Modern English Period (1500AD- 1700AD)This is a period of loss inflec

26、tions. We know that the influence of Latin and Greek in this period was great by social elite, but not used by the majority of the population. The great humanistic movement of Renaissance took place at the period and increased activity in almost every field; the printing press; the reading habit; th

27、e rapid spread of popular education; the increased commerce, transportation and rapid means of communicationbooks, magazines and newspapers; the growth ofspecialized knowledge and the emergence of various forms of self-consciousness about language; the reform of church etc. The social, commercial, t

28、echnological, and intellectual force releasedin the Renaissance,had profound effects on the English. The result was a healthy desire for improvement of new words in various technical fields, where English was notable weak. The great number of new and strange words was borrowed from Latin, Greek, Fre

29、nch, Italian, Spanish etc. e.g.from Latin and Greek: words relating technical, biological, legal and medical names and terminology, cation-act, animal, cherries, church, cup, describe, discuss, dish, disability, equal, exist, expect, graduate, piazza, street, wall, wine, violinliterature- ant

30、hology, catastrophe, comedy, drama, emphasis, magic, myth, poet, rhythm, tactics, tragedyphilology and maths-basis, geometry, category, ethics, thesis, theory, hypotenusebiology, physics and chemist- bulb, dynamo, organism, pneumatics, thermometermedicine and science-cancer, cleaner, diagnosis, neur

31、algia, phonograph, rheumatism, telephone, televisionlinguisticsantonym, dialect, euphemism, etymology, homonym, idiom,lexicology, metaphor, metonymy, polysemyaffixes- auto-, bio-, geo-, tele-, photo-; -able, -ible, -al, -id, -ism, -ist, -ive, -ize, -oid, -logy, -ology, -ous, -ticsfrom French: French

32、 language altered the English vocabulary much in the governmental, administrative, law, army, navy, art, learning, medicine, fashion, meals and social life ernment and administrative words-alliance, authority, court, crown, empire, governor, justice, judge, jury, liberty, majesty, minister,

33、 noble, office, peasant, prince, public, royal, slave, servant, state, tax, treatyreligion and ecclesiasticalwords charity, clergy, confession, creator, faith,mercy, miracle, mystery, passion, prayer, sacrifice, sermon, solemn, virtuelawaccuse, arrest, complaint, decree, evidence, heir, proof, priso

34、n, property,sentence, summonsarmy and military arms, battle, captain, conquest, defense, enemy, guard,mail, peace, soldier, spy, victoryliteraturecopy, grammar, logic, preface, prologue, prose, title, volumeclothes-button, coat, collar, dress, embroidery, robefoodappetite, biscuit, beef, feast, frui

35、t, grape, lemon, olives, orange, peach,pork, plate, roast, mutton, sugar, supper, toast, tasteart figure, painting, palace, music, sculpture, tonesciencephysician, patient, poison, pulse, remedy, surgeonfashion and social life-blanket, boots, chair, curtain, diamond, jewel, pearl, screen, trainThe R

36、e-establishment of EnglishConditions were changed after 1200. It was succeeded by a conflict of interests and a growing feeling of antagonism that culminated in a long period of open hostility with France. The Hundred Years War (1337-1453) between England and France was one of the causes to use Engl

37、ish as the language of the country.English began to be used in the schools, in the law courts and writing, and become the standard English both speech and writing toward the end of the 14th century. Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) vividly reflected the changes in his English words. And in the later par

38、t of the 15 th century London Standard had been accepted as the Standard English and in the 16th century, the use of London English had become a matter of precept as well as practice. By the end of 17th century, Britain grew commercially and acquired overseas colonies. English was taken to the American and India. With the rise of printing, English acquired a stable typographic identity. Shakespeareis the greatest writer in this period. It is noted that Shakespeares vocabulary of over 30,000 words. During 18 century, many foreig