Early Modern English Vocabulary Summary Flashcards
with The Renaissance came Renewed interest in:
classical (Latin and Greek) languages and literatures
in the Renaissance, Scientific texts were still written in :
Latin
Exploration by European nations to:
other parts of the world
Discovery of many new
foods and phenomena
)________were needed to talk about them
new words
Influx of :
thousands of new words into English
Counter trend:
: the Reformation
: the Reformation:
access to scriptures in the vernacular language
aim of the reformation:
to reach mass audience with accessible language
In EME, borrowings from Latin far outnumbered those from all other languages. Reason:
Latin was the language of scholarship and science up to the eighteenth century.
Works in philosophy and science were written mostly in ____. Example:
Latin, Newton’s Principia (1689)
English equivalents were not available for many of the new scientific terms.
- Translators used:
the Latin or Greek terms
influx of Latin words examples:
integer, genius, vertigo, folio, exit, area, premium, specimen, series, census, medium,
species, militia, virus, album, complex, minimum, stimulus, status
influx of greek words examples:
anachronism, anonymous, anarchy, heptagon, archaeology, enthusiast, epigraph,
diagnostic, apocalypse
Words formed from Greek and Latin roots:
atmosphere,
barometer, biosphere, electrolysis, invertebrate, microspecies, synchrotron, zoology
Words from French:
accent, anatomy, bizarre, chocolate, detail, elegance, equip, erosion, exist,
entrance, grotesque, invite, muscle, pioneer, ticket, volunteer
Words from Italian:
balcony, carnival, design, giraffe, lottery, macaroni, opera, sonata, violin,
volcano, umbrella
Words from Spanish and Portuguese:
alligator, banana, cargo, cockroach, embargo, flamingo,
guitar, hurricane, molasses, mosquito
Words from German:
cobalt, hamster, paraffin, plunder, quartz, vitamin, zinc
Words from Dutch:
cruise, dock, dollar, easel, knapsack, landscape, yacht
Words from Indic:
punch, guru, dungaree, bungalow
Words from Iranian languages:
shah, dervish, caravan, shawl
- Disadvantage of so many borrowings from Greek and Latin:
Their meanings are not immediately evident to native speakers.
- advantage of so many borrowings from Greek and Latin:
They are understandable internationally.
- They were borrowed into many other languages as well.
effects of so many borrowings:
A large number of synonyms for use in different registers (popular (OE), Formal (french), intellectual (Latin))
pairs of cognate words borrowed at different times from the same language or from different languages:
doublets
Loanwords often retained their :
original plural forms:
- Loanwords often retained their original plural forms (result?)
– a lot more irregular plurals.
- “Inkhorn” terms:
- 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.
Some of these pompous “inkhorns” didn’t survive:
furibund = furious lubrical = smooth oblatrant = reviling turgidous = puffed up
Some of these pompous “inkhorns” survived:
defunct, spurious, reciprocal, strenuous, retrograde
Compounding:
Putting two (or more) words together to form one
examples of kennings:
sæweall (sea wall), sciprāp (ship rope), nihtwaco (night watch)
Whether a compound is written as one word (flowerpot), a hyphenated word (flower-pot), or two
words (flower pot) is a matter of:
convention, preference, and time.
- Some other common Latin and Greek prefixes, suffixes and roots borrowed:
bio-, contra-, -graph, hydro-, macro-, mono-, morph-, phono-, tele-, thermo-
Some common Latin roots in English:
spec(t), vert, port, duc, press
What is the derivational suffix? What does it do?
They (usually) change a word from one type to another.
- Inflectional suffixes:
They add grammatical information to the word: person, number, case.
tense,…
