4.7. New English Vocabulary Changes

The XV c. in Europe is marked by two important phenomena: the Renaissance, a great cultural movement with its centre in Italy, and great geographical discoveries, which had a far-reaching effect on the English language.

The ideas of the Renaissance came to England only in the XVI c. together with the ideas of Reformation (the establishment of the national church) and were called the «New learning». The most significant period of the Renaissance in England falls to the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

The revival of interest in Roman and Greek culture paved the way for Latin and Greek borrowings. The mixed character of the English vocabulary, particularly the great number of French loanwords borrowed during the ME period facilitated an easy adoption of words from Latin and other Romanic languages.

4.7.1. Latin Loanwords

The most numerous were borrowings from Latin. Here belong:

1. verbs in -ate, derived from the past participle (in -ātum) of Latin verbs of the 1-st conjugation in -are, e.g.

exaggerate, narrate, separate, irritate;

2. verbs in -ute, derived from the past participle (in -utum) of a group of Latin verbs of the 3-rd conjugation in –uere, constitute, attribute, contribute, pollute;

3. verbs derived from the past participle of other Latin verbs of the 3-rd conjugation, e.g.

dismiss, collect, correct;

4. verbs derived from the infinitive of Latin verbs of the 3-rd conjugation, e.g. permit (< L permittere), admit (< L permittere), admit (< L admittere), compel (< L compellere), expel (< L expellere), produce (< L producere}, enduce (< L inducere);

5. adjectives derived from Latin present participles in -ant (verbs of the 1-st conjugation) and in -ent (verbs of the 2-nd, 3-rd and 4-th conjugations), e.g. arrogant, reluctant, evident, transparent, expedient, obedient, patient; also the nouns accident, incident, orient;

6. adjectives derived from the comparative degree of Latin adjectives with the -ior suffix, e.g.

superior, inferior, senior, junior, minor.

Not infrequently the same word was borrowed twice, earlier from French (often with a different meaning), later from Latin. Thus, Latin – French etymological doublets appeared, such as fragile – frail, defect – defeat, prosecute – pursue, secure – sure, pauper – poor, hospital – hotel, history – story, example – sample.

There exist even Latin – Latin doublets and triplets borrowed at different perods, e.g.,

the Latin word «discus» (<Greek) is represented in English by «dish» (OE borrowing), «disc» (ME borrowing) and «discus» (NE borrowing).

4.7.2. Latinization of French Loanwords

Due to the great influence of the Latin language, some English loanwords of earlier French origin were latinized: their spelling, and in some cases pronunciation, was brought closer to their Latin source. Thus, e.g., the ME word «langage», under the influence of the Latin word «lingua», came to be pronounced [′læŋgwiʤ] and spelt with the letter «u» «language». ME «aventure» (< Fr aventure) came to be spelt «adventure» under the influence of L «adventūra» and pronounced [əd′ventə].

Sometimes latinization of French loanwords was the result of false etymology. Thus, the ME words «avancen» and «avantage» were replaced by «advance», «advantage» on the assumption that their Latin source had included the the prefix ad-, while actually they were derived from the French words «avant», «avantage», which came from the Latin phrase ab ante.