Borrowed words History of the Study of Borrowing

Partially assimilated borrowings are the words which lack one of the types of

Assimilation. They are subdivided into the groups:

1) Borrowings not assimilated semantically (e.g. shah, rajah). Such words usually

Denote objects and notions peculiar to the country from which they came.

2) Loan words not assimilated grammatically, e.g. nouns borrowed from Latin or

Greek which keep their original plural forms (datum – data, phenomenon –

Phenomena).

3)Loan words not completely assimilated phonetically. These words contain

Peculiarities in stress, combinations of sounds that are not standard for English

(machine, camouflage, tobacco).

4) Loan words not completely assimilated graphically (e.g. ballet, cafe, cliche).

Barbarisms are words from other languages used by the English people in

Conversation or in writing but not assimilated in any way, and for which there are

Corresponding English equivalents e.g. ciao Italian – good-bye English,

The borrowed stock of the English vocabulary contains not only words but a great

Number of suffixes and prefixes. When these first appeared in the English language they were parts of words and only later began a life of their own as word-building

Elements of the English language (-age, -ance, -ess, -merit) This brought about the

Creation of hybrid words like shortage, hindrance, lovable and many others in which

A borrowed suffix is joined to a native root. A reverse process is also possible.

In many cases one and the same word was borrowed twice either from the same

Language or from different languages. This accounts for the existence of the so called

Etymological doublets like canal – channel (Latin -French), skirt – shirt (Sc. –

English), balsam – halm (Greek – French).

International words. There exist many words that were borrowed by several

Languages. Such words are mostly of Latin and Greek origin and convey notions

Which are significant in the field of communication in different countries. Here belong

Names of sciences (philosophy, physics, chemistry, linguistics), terms of art (music,

Theatre, drama, artist, comedy), political terms (politics, policy, progress). The

English language became a source for international sports terms (football, hockey,

Cricket, rugby, tennis).