ACADEMIC RESEARCH IN MODERN SCIENCE
International scientific-online conference
98
FOREIGN LANGUAGE BORROWINGS IN MODERN ENGLISH.
Abdullaeva S.M.
Teacher of Uzbek State World Languages university
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12515796
This article touches upon the topic of borrowings in English. The author
gives a generalized description of the historical periods of the English language
and analyzes some words. Based on the conducted research, it was established
that foreign language borrowings are one of the important types of enrichment
of the vocabulary of the English language. However, despite the high percentage
of borrowings, English cannot be classified as a language of international origin.
The topic of borrowings in the development of the English language is very
relevant. One of the ways to expand your vocabulary is to borrow from other
languages of the world. For example, Old English had in its lexical composition
borrowings from two languages: Latin and Celtic. Middle English had in its
lexical composition borrowings from French and Scandinavian languages. In the
Early Modern English period, borrowings occurred during the Restoration era.
The words were borrowed from Italian (these were mainly words related to the
visual arts, music, theater), Spanish, Dutch (these were words related mainly to
navigation and painting). Subsequently, the range of languages from which
borrowings came into English continued to expand. Borrowings came from
Russian, German; languages of the Middle East, languages of India and Australia.
These borrowings are studied by such learned linguists as K.P. Ivanova, A.N.
Smirnitsky, L.F. Zalesskaya. The history of the English language is traditionally
divided into three periods: Old English - the period from the beginning of
written monuments (7th century) to the end of the 11th century, Middle English
- from the beginning of the 12th century to the 15th century, New English - from
the 16th century to the present day.
The first population of the British Isles was a non-Indo-European tribe of
Britons, whose level of material culture belongs to the Neolithic (Late Stone
Age). The next settlers were the Celts. In 55 BC, Julius Caesar launched a
campaign against the British Isles. This first campaign was not successful, but in
the following year 54 BC he managed to achieve success, impose tribute on the
Celts and take hostages. Roman rule in Britain lasted until the 5th century AD.
After the departure of the Roman legions, Britain was captured by the Germans.
By the end of the 6th century, the Germans finally settled throughout Britain,
with the exception of the mountainous regions. The language of the conquerors
ACADEMIC RESEARCH IN MODERN SCIENCE
International scientific-online conference
99
influenced the language of the indigenous population. The most ancient
Germanic inscriptions (starting from the 3rd century AD) used a runic alphabet,
consisting of 24 characters containing only vertical and oblique lines. Only two
Old English monuments of runic writing have been found. These are inscriptions
on a stone cross near the village of Gutwell, and a whalebone box, decorated
with carvings and bordered with an inscription telling about legendary
creatures. Christian missionaries introduced the Latin alphabet to England.
In Old English, there are two layers of borrowings from Latin: the oldest layer,
which includes words borrowed by Germanic tribes from the Romans even
before the resettlement to Britain and after the resettlement - from the Celts; the
second layer is words related to religion, associated with the introduction of
Christianity, which began in 597. The first layer of borrowings consisted of
words related to trade, agriculture, as well as the names of objects of material
culture: Win - wine (from Latin utility > present wine, Pound - pound (from
Latin pondo) > present pound, Mynet - coin ( from Latin) > present time - mint.
The Germanic tribes knew only apples from fruits; other fruits and vegetables
became known to them later from the Romans: Rege - pear (from Latin 1 piece),
> present time react Pluwe - plum (from Latin rspiz). ) > present plam Bete -
beet (from Latin beta) > present beet. The ancient Germans were engaged in
animal husbandry and knew well what milk was. However, the Romans
introduced them to the preparation of butter and cheese: Ciese - cheese (from
Latin caseus) > present. time cheese Butere - butter (from Latin butyrym) >
present buttert The Romans also learned about spices: Mint - mint (from Latin
heat! a) > present mint Words related to cooking were borrowed: Cucene -
kitchen (from Latin coquina) > present tense kitchen Cuppe - cup (from Latin
sirra) > present tense - sir.
During their reign in Britain, the Romans built good, powerful roads, their name
- strata via - paved road - was taken by the Germans from the Celts: the Old
English strit originally meant road, and since settlements began to appear along
the roads, strit acquired the meaning “street”. The Romans also built fortified
forts and camps - castra. This word has become part of various geographical
names: Lancaster (in the English dialect - caster), Manchester (in the dialect
caKco-ceaster > present Chester).
The capital of England, London, also retains traces of Celtic origin in its name.
London is called by the Celts: Llyn-dun fortress by the river. The Romans
remade it into Londinium. In Scottish dialects, the Celtic word loch is preserved -
lake, which became part of the names of many lakes in Scotland of Celtic origin.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH IN MODERN SCIENCE
International scientific-online conference
100
The name of the western part of Britain, in which the remnants of the Celtic
tribes settled, is Weals - Wales. Iron has been mined in Wales since ancient
times, and the name of this metal, cap, is also of Celtic origin.
Borrowings from the Latin and Celtic languages came into general use, obeyed
the word-formation, grammatical and phonetic laws of the Old English language,
and became indistinguishable from the desired words.
During the Middle Period, the vocabulary of the English language underwent
significant changes. The Scandinavian and Norman conquests had a huge impact,
which caused an influx of large amounts of borrowing. Massive borrowing led to
an abundance of synonyms, often displacing original words. The vocabulary was
also replenished using internal resources through affixation and compounding.
Historical conditions of development. The Middle English period in the history of
England is characterized by two major historical events that left their mark on
the further development of the English language. This is due primarily to the
following historical and linguistic factors.
There were no sharp social differences between the speakers of Scandinavian
dialects and the Anglo-Saxon population. Already from the 9th century, a mixed
population formed in the area of Danish law. Initially hostile relations between
the Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons gradually became more friendly. The
absence of social contradictions between the conquerors and the local
population contributed to the rapid assimilation of the two nationalities. English
and the Scandinavian languages were so close that people who spoke them could
easily understand each other, so direct contact was possible between them.
Contact between the English and French languages, which coexisted on the same
territory, takes on different forms due to the differences between them. After the
conquest of England by William the Conqueror, the country began a long period
of bilingualism. The feudal nobility uses French, and the bulk of the population
uses English. Over time, the French language ceases to be the native language of
the ruling class, it falls out of use in everyday life, but continues to be artificially
maintained as the state language, the language of high society, the court, judicial
institutions and the church. English is seen as uplandish and rude. There is much
evidence in Middle English literature that without knowledge of French it was
impossible to advance in society, and a person who did not speak French is not
told of, that is, he was not taken into account. Thus, French has always been
separate from English. It influenced the English language, but did not mix with it.
In the field of vocabulary, Scandinavian influence differs from French in its wide
coverage of a wide variety of semantic areas. Everyday words penetrate from
ACADEMIC RESEARCH IN MODERN SCIENCE
International scientific-online conference
101
Scandinavian into English, including even pronouns (English - they) and function
words (for example, the English preposition till). But to the greatest extent, the
depth of Scandinavian influence is characterized by the impact of Scandinavian
dialects on the grammatical structure of the English language. Mixing with
Scandinavian dialects contributed, first of all, to accelerating the process of
weakening unstressed endings and the collapse of the system of declension and
conjugation that had begun in the English language. In the process of forming a
mixed English-Scandinavian dialect, a uniform grammatical system should have
been developed. Morphological differences between English and Scandinavian
were more significant than differences in vocabulary. If it is not difficult to
identify the Scandinavian stein - “stone” with the English stan (not to mention
such correspondences as dom rock, Scandinavian dom-r; - Old English fisc - fish,
Scandinavian fisk - r; b and so on), then the inflection system is similar
identification of grammatical affixes was impossible.
As a result of the collision of two different systems of inflection, neither of them
was preserved; both of them, with the mutual contact of languages, became
simplified and underwent numerous analogous transformations. The
dependence of morphological processes in English on Scandinavian influence is
confirmed by the fact that this process occurred especially intensively in the
area of Danish law, where it was completed more than a hundred earlier than in
other areas. Since the bulk of the population spoke English, the English forms
won out for the most part. In other words, the winner was the English language,
the Scandinavian dialects dissolved in it. So, the Scandinavian influence on
English morphology did not consist in the fact that Scandinavian forms were
borrowed, but in the fact that crossing contributed to a change in the
grammatical structure of the English language. The Scandinavian influence on
the syntax of the English language was also significant.
French influence in the field of morphology is limited to word formation. A
significant number of word-forming elements - suffixes and prefixes - have
penetrated into English from French. This influence was possible because the
English language borrowed a significant number of words from French,
including derivative words.
Scandinavian borrowings are so closely intertwined with old Anglo-Saxon words
that it is often difficult to determine whether we have a borrowing or simply a
semantic change in an English word caused by Scandinavian influence. A striking
example of such a change is the word of the Old English dream > Middle English
drem - a dream in which the form is English, but the meaning is clearly
ACADEMIC RESEARCH IN MODERN SCIENCE
International scientific-online conference
102
Scandinavian, since in Old English this word meant “triumph, joy” while the
meaning of “sleep, dream” was characteristic only of Scandinavian languages.
Borrowings from Scandinavian languages led to the formation of Scandinavian-
English etymological doublets. This happened in cases where both etymological
parallel lexical units were preserved - the Scandinavian and English words. The
difference between the Scandinavian and English forms of the word was used
for semantic differentiation, resulting in two different, although etymologically
identical, or related words.
Based on the above, it should be noted that the history of the English language is
inextricably linked with the history of England. When the Romans left the British
Isles in 410, the Latin language left with them. The true inhabitants of the island
(the Britons) continued to use Celtic languages. The ancestors of modern
Englishmen did not waste time. In 449, the Germanic tribes of the Angles, Saxons
and Jutes began their first raids on the islands. The language of the conquerors,
to which only a handful of Celtic words were added, is now called Anglo-Saxon.
In the 6th century, missionaries brought Christianity to England. Latin words
borrowed from priests immediately found their way into the spoken language.
The changes that occurred from the 6th to the 15th centuries were natural and
were not supported by any theory. People tried to speak the same way as their
neighbors spoke, and everyone who knew how to write at least tried to capture
the sounds of their speech on paper. With the spread of literacy, the English
language slowed its change, but it continues to change to this day. The ease of
use of the rules, as well as the richness of the vocabulary, which continues to
expand, has allowed the English language to become an international language
of communication over the past half century.
Bibliography:
1. Atrashevskaya O.T. Lexical fields with semantically correlative native and
borrowed units. Communication theory. - M., 2006.
2. Brunner I.V. Lexicology of modern English. - M., 1999.
3. Vinokur G.O. Notes on English word formation. - M., 1999.
4. Vinokurova V.N. Patterns of development of the semantic structure of lexical
borrowings in modern English. - 2005.
5. Krysin L.P. Foreign words in modern life. English language of the late 20th
century. - M., 1996.
6. Reutovich Yu.S. Lexical assimilation of German borrowings in English / Yu.S.
Reutovich // Theory of communication. Linguistic meanings. Issue 2. Sat.
scientific articles / MSLU. - M., 2002.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH IN MODERN SCIENCE
International scientific-online conference
103
8. Rosen E.V. New words and stable phrases in the German language. - M., 1991.
9. Sekirin V.P. Borrowings in English. - M., 2004.
