Early Modern English Vocabulary Summary

Question 1

with The Renaissance came Renewed interest in:

Answer 1

classical (Latin and Greek) languages and literatures

Question 2

in the Renaissance, Scientific texts were still written in :

Answer 2

Latin

Question 3

Exploration by European nations to:

Answer 3

other parts of the world

Question 4

Discovery of many new

Answer 4

foods and phenomena

Question 5

)________were needed to talk about them

Answer 5

new words

Question 6

Influx of :

Answer 6

thousands of new words into English

Question 7

Counter trend:

Answer 7

: the Reformation

Question 8

: the Reformation:

Answer 8

access to scriptures in the vernacular language

Question 9

aim of the reformation:

Answer 9

to reach mass audience with accessible language

Question 10

In EME, borrowings from Latin far outnumbered those from all other languages. Reason:

Answer 10

Latin was the language of scholarship and science up to the eighteenth century.

Question 11

Works in philosophy and science were written mostly in ____. Example:

Answer 11

Latin, Newton’s Principia (1689)

Question 12

English equivalents were not available for many of the new scientific terms.
- Translators used:

Answer 12

the Latin or Greek terms

Question 13

influx of Latin words examples:

Answer 13

integer, genius, vertigo, folio, exit, area, premium, specimen, series, census, medium,
species, militia, virus, album, complex, minimum, stimulus, status

Question 14

influx of greek words examples:

Answer 14

anachronism, anonymous, anarchy, heptagon, archaeology, enthusiast, epigraph,
diagnostic, apocalypse

Question 15

Words formed from Greek and Latin roots:

Answer 15

atmosphere,

barometer, biosphere, electrolysis, invertebrate, microspecies, synchrotron, zoology

Question 16

Words from French:

Answer 16

accent, anatomy, bizarre, chocolate, detail, elegance, equip, erosion, exist,
entrance, grotesque, invite, muscle, pioneer, ticket, volunteer

Question 17

Words from Italian:

Answer 17

balcony, carnival, design, giraffe, lottery, macaroni, opera, sonata, violin,
volcano, umbrella

Question 18

Words from Spanish and Portuguese:

Answer 18

alligator, banana, cargo, cockroach, embargo, flamingo,

guitar, hurricane, molasses, mosquito

Question 19

Words from German:

Answer 19

cobalt, hamster, paraffin, plunder, quartz, vitamin, zinc

Question 20

Words from Dutch:

Answer 20

cruise, dock, dollar, easel, knapsack, landscape, yacht

Question 21

Words from Indic:

Answer 21

punch, guru, dungaree, bungalow

Question 22

Words from Iranian languages:

Answer 22

shah, dervish, caravan, shawl

Question 23

• Disadvantage of so many borrowings from Greek and Latin:

Answer 23

Their meanings are not immediately evident to native speakers.

Question 24

• advantage of so many borrowings from Greek and Latin:

Answer 24

They are understandable internationally.

- They were borrowed into many other languages as well.

Question 25

effects of so many borrowings:

Answer 25

A large number of synonyms for use in different registers (popular (OE), Formal (french), intellectual (Latin))

Question 26

pairs of cognate words borrowed at different times from the same language or from different languages:

Answer 26

doublets

Question 27

Loanwords often retained their :

Answer 27

original plural forms:

Question 28

• Loanwords often retained their original plural forms (result?)

Answer 28

– a lot more irregular plurals.

Question 29

• “Inkhorn” terms:

Answer 29

• Some writers used Latin terms excessively.
• They were criticized for their pomposity.
• The terms were labeled “inkhorn” terms because they came from the inkhorn and not from any real
  need.

Question 30

Some of these pompous “inkhorns” didn’t survive:

Answer 30

furibund = furious
lubrical = smooth
oblatrant = reviling
turgidous = puffed up

Question 31

Some of these pompous “inkhorns” survived:

Answer 31

defunct, spurious, reciprocal, strenuous, retrograde

Question 32

Compounding:

Answer 32

Putting two (or more) words together to form one

Question 33

examples of kennings:

Answer 33

sæweall (sea wall), sciprāp (ship rope), nihtwaco (night watch)

Question 34

Whether a compound is written as one word (flowerpot), a hyphenated word (flower-pot), or two
words (flower pot) is a matter of:

Answer 34

convention, preference, and time.

Question 35

• Some other common Latin and Greek prefixes, suffixes and roots borrowed:

Answer 35

bio-, contra-, -graph, hydro-, macro-, mono-, morph-, phono-, tele-, thermo-

Question 36

Some common Latin roots in English:

Answer 36

spec(t), vert, port, duc, press

Question 37

What is the derivational suffix? What does it do?

Answer 37

They (usually) change a word from one type to another.

Question 38

• Inflectional suffixes:

Answer 38

They add grammatical information to the word: person, number, case.
tense,…