ETYMOLOGY: How do new words form?

Etymology is the study of the origin and history of words.

If you discuss the “etymology” of a word, you are explaining how

it entered our language.

The history of the English language starts with the story of the invasions

of the island of Britain over many hundreds of years. 

  

Originally, Britain was inhabited by groups of tribes that we now refer to

as the Celts.  

Julius Caesar invaded Britain and eventually conquered all of the Celtic tribes around 43 B.C, making those he conquered Roman Celts.

Romans spoke Greek and Latin

400 years later, Germanic tribes began invading Roman territory, and Rome was forced to recall its soldiers from Britain in order to defend the city of Rome.

In 410 A.D., Britain was left defenseless, and Germanic tribes gradually invaded and conquered

the Roman Celts.

Each conquering tribe spoke their own unique Germanic

dialect. The longer they lived in Britain, however, the more their

language merged with the conquered Roman Celts, and

the more they all started to sound alike.

Since the Angles and the Saxons were the largest groups

of invaders, the common Germanic dialect that all of the tribes in Britain began to use

became known as Anglo-Saxon.

The English language developed from Anglo-Saxon.

In summary, the invasions of the Romans and the Germanic tribes eventually created

an Anglo-Saxon language, which was a blend

of many influences, but mainly Germanic.

When the Anglo-Saxon language changed enough that the Germanic

tribes on the continent could no longer understand them, Old

English was born.

English developed in three stages:

1. Old English (400-1066)

2. Middle English (1066-1500)

3. Modern English (1500 – today)

Old English was heavily influenced by Germanic dialects.

• Verbs came at the end of sentences.• The thorn alphabet they used looks

nothing like the letters we use today.

Even when Old English is written in a modern alphabet, it looks strange

and unfamiliar:

þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon! oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum, monegum mægþum meodosetla ofteah, egsode eorlas, syððanærest wearð

Middle English developed because of the Norman invasion

in 1066

The Normans were a French speaking people from Normandy in the north of France.  

Gradually, as the Norman landowners tried to

communicate with their conquered peasants, French and Old English combined to

form Middle English.

For example, this is when the English language developed new words to

distinguish the meat of an animal from the animal itself.

Norman (French)

(landowners)

• Beef

• Poultry

• Mutton

• Venison

• Pork

Anglo-Saxon

(peasants)

• Cow

• Hen

• Lamb

• Deer

• Swine

During the Middle English period, most

of the new words that entered the

language came from French.

Under French influence, Middle English…

• became more melodious — very different from the harsh sound of Old English

• developed into a word-order language—the subject-verb-complement structure we use today (no more verbs at end of sentence)

Canterbury Tales

• A knyght ther was, and that a worthy man,That fro the tyme that he first biganTo riden out, he loved chivalrie,Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie.Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre,And therto hadde he riden, no man ferre,As wel in cristendom as in hethenesse,And evere honoured for his worthynesse.

Translation…

A knyght ther was, and that a worthy man,

That fro the tyme that he first bigan

To riden out, he loved chivalrie,

Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie.

A knight there was, and he a worthy man,

Who, from the moment that he first began

To ride about the world, loved chivalry,

Truth, honour, freedom and all courtesy.

Modern English dates from approximately 1500 A.D.

• Grimm’s Shift — a change in the way that vowels were pronounced—dramatically changed the sound of English by 1550.

• The arrival of the Renaissance (a rebirth in interest in classical languages and literature) made it popular to study Greek and Latin literature

During the Modern English period, most of

the new words that entered the language came from Latin and

Greek

Remember what we learned about which languages influenced

each stage of English.

Stage Most Influential Language

Old English

Middle English

Modern English

Germanic Dialects

French

Latin & Greek

So how exactly do we get new words in a language?

We are going to learn the seven most common ways that a new

word enters a language.

That means we will be studying the

etymology of different words

1. BORROWING

New words are formed from a word in another language. We borrow a word.

Challenge came from the French word “chalonge.”

Borrowing is the most common way new words are

formed:

spaghetti (Italian) tornado (Spanish tronada)

alien (French) sacrifice (Latin sacrifise)

moment (French) zombie (African zumbi)

lame (French) psycho (Greek psykho)

Tracing the history of a borrowed word…

Tracing the history of a borrowed word…

2. ONOMATOPOEIA

New words are created by imitating a sound or movement

Saying splash imitates the sound that a splash makes!

Examples of onomatopoeia:

blip

crow

crash splatmurmur

garglebuzz

3. PROPER NOUNS

New words are formed by creating a common noun from the name of

a person, city, or company

The word diesel came from the name of its inventor Rudolf Diesel

Examples of proper nouns:

• frankfurter (named for the city of Frankfurt)

• atlas (named for mythical god Atlas, who held up the heavens)

• cannibal (named for the man-eating Caniba tribe discovered by Columbus)

• googling (named for the search engine Google)

4. COMPOUND WORD

New words are formed by putting two words together to

form a new word

Doghouse is a combination of dog + house

Examples of compound nouns:

gunman

football

placemat

5. WORD BLEND

New words are formed by combining pieces of two words

into one new word

brunch (breakfast + lunch)

Examples of word blends:

• motel (motor + hotel)

• smog (smoke + fog)

• grungy (grubby + dingy)

• snazzy (snappy + jazzy)

6. CLIPPED WORD

New words are formed by shortening longer words.

Photograph becomes photo

Examples of clipped words:

• advertising becomes ad

• gymnasium becomes gym

• fanatic becomes fan

• hamburger becomes burger

• examination becomes exam

7. ACRONYM

New words are formed by using the first letter of each word in a

phrase.

swag comes from

stuff we all get

Examples of acronym:

• scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus)

• laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation)

• zip code (zone improvement plan)

THE ENDCopyright © 2012 Raina BurdittAll rights reserved by author.Permission to copy for single classroom use only. Electronic distribution limited to single classroom use only.Not for public display.