LNG 201/ENGL 202
Prof. G. Steinberg
Borrowing

Examine the following triplets of related words in Modern English.  What do you notice about the difference in meaning of the words?  When was each word introduced into English?  From where did we get each word?  Click here to go to the online Oxford English Dictionary.

  1. exhilarate, excite, awaken
     

  2. atmosphere, climate, weather
     

  3. insane, lunatic, mad
     

  4. disregard, ignore, overlook
     

  5. consolidate, combine, blend

  1. emphasis, stress, weight
     

  2. eradicate, destroy, kill
     

  3. necessitate, require, need
     

  4. sympathy, compassion, care
     

  5. obstruct, hinder, block

Look up the origins of each word in one of the columns below.  Which words are native Old English words?  Which are loanwords from other languages?  When did they enter the language?  Do you detect any pattern for the borrowing within each set?  Which words are more marked?  What kind of word is least likely to be replaced by a borrowed term?  Click here to go to the online Oxford English Dictionary.

father

mother

son

daughter

brother

kin

sister

aunt

uncle

nephew

niece

cousin

relative

 horse

mare

colt

foal

filly

gelding

stallion

charger

mount

courser

 day

night

morning

evening

week

year

month

decade

century

noon

hour

second

minute

moment

 

 house

floor

roof

door

bed

stool

window

rug

ceiling

chair

table

chimney

cellar

Click here to go to the course syllabus.