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História da Língua Inglesa
The Origin of Words and Names
Where Words Come From
by Kryss Katsiavriades
The English language has developed from an Anglo-Saxon base of common words: household words, parts of the body, common animals, natural elements, most pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and auxiliary verbs. Other modern words in English have developed from five sources. These are discussed below.
Words Created From Nothing
Examples of words that have just appeared in the language out of nothing are byte, dog (replacing the earlier hund), donkey, jam, kick, log, quasar, google, and yuppie.Shakespeare coined over 1600 words including countless, critical, excellent, lonely, majestic, obscene.
From Ben Johnson we got damp, from Isaac Newton centrifugal and from Thomas More: explain and exact.
Words Created In Error
The vegetable pease was thought to be a plural so that the individual item in the pod was given the name pea. The verb laze was erroneously created from the adjective lazy. The word buttonhole was a mis-hearing of button-hold.
Borrowed and Adopted Words
English has borrowed words from a variety of sources and other languages. Three examples show this.Orange
The name of the fruit was NARANJ in Sanskrit. This language was spoken in ancient India. Indians traded with Arabs, so the word passed into Arabic as NARANJAH. The Spaniards were ruled by north African Arabs who passed the fruit and word into Spanish as NARANJA (pronounced as NARANHA).
This came into English where the fruit was a NARANJ. Words ending in J are not common in English so the spelling quickly changed to a NARANGE.
The initial N moved to the a because of mis-hearing to give an ARANGE (this is called metanalysis).
Over time, the initial A became an O to give an ORANGE.
Chocolate
When the Spanish arrived in Mexico they came across the Aztecs. The Aztec language is called Nahuatl. The Aztecs had a drink which they made from a bean they called CHOCO (bitter). They would put this bean into water (ATL) to produce CHOCO-ATL (bitter water).
The TL sound is common in the Aztec language but not in Spanish. The Spaniards inserted an A between the T and L and pronounced the drink CHOCOLATO.
This drink was brought to Europe (with sugar added) where the pronunciation and spelling in English became CHOCOLATE.
Checkmate
This is a term in chess. It is from the Farsi language spoken in Iran and Afghanistan. The original phrase is SHAH-K-MATE (every syllable pronounced) which means "The King is Dead".
The word SHAH means a "king" as in the last monarch (or SHAH) of Iran. MATE has the same root as the English "murder" and the Spanish "matador" (killer).
The word came via French (where the SH became a CH) and into English where the MA-TE (two syllables) became MATE (one syllable) to give CHECKMATE.
Changes In Words
Many words used in modern English have changed their meaning over the years. This is shown in the table below.
Word Original Meaning awful deserving of awe brave cowardice (as in bravado) counterfeit legitimate copy girl young person of either sex guess take aim knight boy luxury sinful self indulgence neck parcel of land (as in neck of the woods) notorious famous nuisance injury, harm quick alive (as in quicksilver) sophisticated corrupted tell to count (as in bank teller) truant beggar The word silly meant blessed or happy in the 11th centuary going through pious, innocent, harmless, pitiable, feeble, feeble minded before finally ending up as foolish or stupid.
Pretty began as crafty then changed via clever, skilfully made, fine to beautiful.
Buxom began with the meaning obedient and changed via compliant, lively, plump to large breasted.
The word nice meant stupid and foolish in the late 13th Century. It went through a number of changes including wanton, extravagant, elegant, strange, modest, thin, and shy. By the middle of the 18th Century it had gained its current meaning of pleasant and agreeable.
Words are changing meaning now: consider how the words bad and gay have changed in recent years.
Words Created By Subtraction Or Addition
Words can be created by adding suffixes: -able, -ness, -ment. They can also be created by adding prefixes: anti-, dis-.Examples include: sellable, brightness, pavement, disestablish, antideluvian.
Words can be combined to form new words (air and port gave airport; land and mark to give landmark). Sometimes the combination can go in more than one way (houseboat, boathouse; bookcase, casebook).
Many common words have been shortened from the original term as in the table below.
Modern Word Original Form bra brassier bus omnibus (Latin: for everyone) exam examination gym gymnasium knickers knickerbockers lab laboratory mob mobile vulgus (Latin: fickle crowd) petrol petroleum (Greek: rock oil) pram parambulator Metanalysis is the process where a letter is added or subtracted because of a nearby word. Examples below.
Modern Word Original Form a nickname an ekename a newt an ewt an adder a nadder an apron a napron an orange a narange an umpire a nonper
Where Surnames Come From
English and British surnames (family names) have four main sources: the person's occupation, the place of origin, a nickname and relations. Examples of these can be seen in the tables below.
Occupations
Name Meaning Archer bow and arrow user Bishop bishop's man Butcher meat worker Carpenter wheel repairer Fletcher arrow maker Fuller cloth cleaner Miller grain grinder Shepherd herder of sheep Smith metal worker
Places
Name Origin Devonshire an English county French from France Lincoln an English city Kent an English county Preston an English city Scott from Scotland Walsh from Wales
Nicknames
Name Meaning Armstrong strong armed Campbell crooked mouth Goldwater urine (derogatory) Kennedy Gaelic: ugly head Morgan Welsh: white haired Russell French: red haired Whistler one who whistles Whitehead white headed
Relations
Name Meaning Johnson son of John MacDonald son of Donald (Scottish) O'Connor son of Connor (Irish) Robinson son of Robin
Where First Names Come From
First names (given names in American English, a more accurate term) have many sources as can be seen in the tables below. Please note that the phrase first name may be ambiguous in some cultures (eg. Chinese) where the family name comes first. I do not use the term Christian name as it makes cultural assumptions.Arabic Names
Examples: Amber, Ali, Mohammed...Aramaic Names
Examples: Bartholomew, Martha, Thomas...Assyrian Names
Example: Lilith...Celtic Names
Examples: Brian, Dylan, Kermit, Tara...French Names
Examples: Alison, Bruce, Olivia...Germanic Names
Examples: Charles, Leonard, Richard, William...Greek Names
Examples: Angel, Christopher, George, Selina...Hebrew Names
Examples: Adam, David, John, Michelle...Italian Names
Examples: Bianca, Donna, Mia...Latin Names
Examples: Cordelia, Diana, Patrick, Victoria...Norse Names
Examples: Brenda, Dustin, Eric...Old English Names
Examples: Edward, Oscar, Wayne...Persian Names
Examples: Esther, Jasmine, Roxanne...Phoenician Names
Example: Hannibal...Sanskrit Names
Examples: Beryl, Opal, Uma...Slavic Names
Examples: Boris, Nadia, Vera...Spanish Names
Examples: Dolores, Linda, Rio...
Where Place Names Come From
The table below shows the historical influence of various languages in names of places and their derivations for the British Isles.
Source Language Meaning Modern Forms ac Anglo-Saxon oak Ac-, Oak-, -ock baile Gaelic farm, village Bally-, Bal- bearu Anglo-Saxon grove, wood Barrow-, -ber beorg Anglo-Saxon burial mound Bar-, -borough brycg Anglo-Saxon bridge Brig-, -bridge burh Anglo-Saxon fortified place Bur-, -bury burna Anglo-Saxon stream, spring Bourn-, -burn(e) by Old Norse farm, village -by caer Welsh fortified place Car- ceaster Latin fort, Roman town Chester-, -caster cot Anglo-Saxon shelter, cottage -cot(e) cwm Welsh deep valley -combe daire Gaelic oak wood -dare, -derry dalr Old Norse valley Dal-, -dale denn Anglo-Saxon swine pasture -dean, -den dun Anglo-Saxon hill, down Dun-, -down, -ton ea Anglo-Saxon water, river Ya-, Ea-, -ey eg Anglo-Saxon island Ey- ey Old Norse island -ey, -ay gleann Gaelic narrow valley Glen- graf Anglo-Saxon grove -grave, -grove ham Anglo-Saxon homestead, village Ham-, -ham hyrst Anglo-Saxon wooded hill Hurst-, -hirst -ing Anglo-Saxon place of ... -ing leah Anglo-Saxon glade, clearing Leigh-, Lee-, -ley loch Gaelic lake Loch-, -loch mere Anglo-Saxon lake, pool Mer-, Mar-, -mere, -more nes Old Norse cape -ness pwll Welsh anchorage, pool -pool rhos Welsh moorland Ros(s)-, -rose stan Anglo-Saxon stone Stan-, -stone stede Anglo-Saxon place, site -ste(a)d stoc Anglo-Saxon meeting place Stoke-, -stock stow Anglo-Saxon meeting place Stow-, -stow(e) straet Latin Roman road Strat-, Stret-, -street tun Anglo-Saxon enclosure, village Ton-, -town, -ton thorp Old Norse farm, village Thorp-, -thorp(e) thveit Old Norse glade, clearing -thwaite wic Anglo-Saxon dwelling, farm -wick, -wich
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