Functions of Latin and Scandinavian Military Borrowings in Modern English
PEOPLES’ FRIENDSHIP
UNIVERSITY OF RUSSIAof Foreign Languagesof Foreign Languages in Theory and
Practice
APPROVED FOR
PRESENTATIONHead of the Department of Foreignin Theory and Practice
PAPER
«Functions of Latin and
Scandinavian Military Borrowings in Modern English»
.03.02 - Linguistics
by.V. Tikhonova
2016
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION1. THE HISTORY AND PLACE OF BORROWINGS IN
THE STRUCTURE OF THE -ENGLISH LANGUAGE
.1 Borrowing as a method of new word formation
.2 Classification of borrowings
.3 The word and the term
.4 History of military borrowing from Latin
.5 History of military borrowing from old Norse2. THE
ETYMOLOGY AND MODERN FUNCTIONS OF MILITARY LOANWORDS
.1 Military loanwords from Latin
.2 Military loanwords from old Norse
.3 The present day use of borrowed Latin & old
Norse terms
.3.1 Historical fiction
.3.2 Fantasy genre fiction
.4 Non-military modern meaningsLIST
INTRODUCTION
The topic of this work deals with the functions of Latin and
Scandinavian military borrowings in modern English. The work itself consists of
an introductory part, a main part that includes two chapters and a
conclusion.task of the research is to work through etymological dictionaries to
understand the history of each military Latin and Scandinavian loanword, the
development and diversity of their meanings, and to analyze modern fiction to
understand the role they play in present times. Thus, the goal is to realize
the functions of military borrowings in modern English.subject of this research
will be that part of English vocabulary, that has been build of loanwords, and
the complex of military borrowings will serve as the object. Analytical methods
will be used to achieve the objective of the work, with dictionaries and
fiction serving as the research material.is common to speak about loanwords in
the language of Anglo-Saxons (Old English), about their etymology, the ways
they were acquired, their influence on Old English, even about their functions
in present etc. The relevance of this work consists in the fact that the role
of Latin and Scandinavian military words will be contemplated not in the
context of Anglo-Saxon but in the context of modern English.
borrowing latin military loanword
CHAPTER 1. THE HISTORY AND PLACE OF BORROWINGS IN THE
STRUCTURE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
.1 Borrowing as a method of new word formation
can be named several different ways of enriching a language
and forming new words.
) Affixation:
. Number (rook - rooks)
. Case (Jacob’s cat)
. Gender (chat - chate (Fr. “cat”)
. Time (die - died)
. Person (go - goes)
. Degree of comparison: (pretty - prettier)
) Composing:) Pyroscaphe (pyros + scaphe)) Steamship (steam +
ship)
) Conversion (the conversion of one part of the speech into
another without any changings in its phonetic and grammatical structure):) “The
black”, meaning “space” (TIE pilot slang, the Star Wars franchise)) “The blue”,
meaning “planetary atmosphere” (TIE pilot slang, the Star Wars franchise)
) Abbreviation (word abridgement).) B.C. - Before Christ)
A.D. - Anno Domini (literally, “God’s year”)
c) BNC - British National Corpus
d) ROFL - “rolling on floor laughing” (slang)) P.S.
- post scriptum) Km - kilometer
) Word reviewing (the denotation passes from one word to
another one or to a whole group).
) Borrowings.“borrowing” - or a “loanword” - is both a
foreign element in the language and the process of such an element appearing
and remaining in the language. Borrowings are an essential historical and
functional part of the language, one of the ways of enriching its vocabulary.
They serve as a source for new roots, new word formation elements and new
terms.are an important factor of language development - perhaps, even one of
the most important. This process lies in the very core of language activity.
The percent of borrowings is always high in each language, though the exact
number of them is not possible to be counted, because of its constant growth:
new borrowings appear, old borrowings get harder to recognize and tell what
their origins are and say where did they come from.are seen as a specific and
separate layer of the language. In each language it is possible to name several
layers of words:
. Words that belong to every language of one language family.
. Words that belong to a group or a sub-group of related
languages.
. Aboriginal words.
. Borrowings.terms of English it looks as following:
Indo-European words (mother, father, brother, daughter, be,
hundred);
German words (bear, winter, see);
West-Germanic words (ask, love);
Anglo-Saxon (lord, boy/girl);
Borrowings (loanwords):related languages: knight, low, flat
(Ancient Scandinavian), napper, fitter (Holland);not related languages: Soviet,
vodka, tundra, pernach (Russian), samurai, katana (Japanese), echo, xylophone
(Greek).is the standard classification of the English language, yet it cannot
be called ultimately right. For example, some words that are deemed to be
Indo-European may actually belong to older pre-languages, as there have always
been trade and war connections between different peoples of the old.that have
been borrowed in ancient times and that are now fully assimilated by the
receiving language are not taken as foreign. For example, the English word
“table” has actually come from the French word which is spelled absolutely the
same. Most times it is hard to differentiate what particular language has
transferred a word that lingered in another language and in time became a
borrowing (the word “figure” may have come directly from Latin “figura” or from
French “figure”). Another difficulty lies in differentiation of a borrowing’s
origins and a word’s derivation.spite of all the nuances this classification
demonstrates the scope of the phenomenon: most of English words have been
borrowed in earlier or latter periods, from relative or unallied language
systems.
.2 Classification of borrowings
differ:methods.) direct, which a word has come straightly
from one language to another one.) indirect, through one or several
intermediary languages.ways.) transcription (phonetic way). The word’s sound
form is kept by the receiving language, e.g. “boutique”, “ballet”.)
transliteration. The way of writing the word is borrowed. The letters change
for the letters of the receiving tongue, e.g. “sputnik” or many Greek words.)
calque/loan translation. The components of the word or a collocation are
translated apart and then joined as in the original word/collocation, e.g.
French “gratte-ciel” which was formed after the English “skyscraper”.types of
assimilation.) completely assimilated. They do not have an aura of foreign
words. Also the verbs that belong to the completely assimilated group of
borrowings are usually regular (e.g. punish - punished). Nouns that have assimilated
completely have their plural form ending with the s-inflexion (e.g. sack -
sacks). In completely assimilated loanwords from French the stress is no longer
on the last syllable.) polysemantic borrowings. They have been transferred from
other languages not fully: only one meaning has been brought into the receiving
language (e.g. a loanword «sputnik» is used in English only in the meaning of
an orbital spaceship, while in its mother tongue Russian it has also got a
meaning of a person that accompanies someone).) partly assimilated borrowings.
This group itself consists of several sub-groups:
) Borrowings that are not assimilated semantically, for they
name objects and notions from a specific country which are not common in any
other place in the world e.g. sari, vodka, flamenco, taiga, etc.
) Borrowings that are not assimilated grammatically. For
example, such are those nouns that came from Latin and Greek. They keep their
plural Latin/Greek forms, e.g. bacteria - bacterium, datum - data, octopus -
octopi, etc.
) Borrowings that are not assimilated phonetically. To this
sub-group belong those words that begin with sounds [v] and [z], e.g. volume,
zebra. In native-English words these consonants are used only in between vowels
(the intervocalic position) as allophones of sounds [f] and [s] (loss - lose,
life - live). Scandinavian borrowings tend to have consonants and combinations
of consonants which are not palatalized, e.g. [sk] in the words: sky, skate,
ski, etc., while in the native words the sound are palatalized; sounds [k] and
[g] before front vowels are not palatalized e.g. girl, get, give, kid, kill,
kettle, while in the native words they are also palatalized, e.g. German,
child.French borrowings have kept the stress on the last syllable as in words
bizarre, giraffe, baroque and cartoon. Some French borrowings have kept special
combinations of sounds, e.g. [a:3] in the words: camouflage, bourgeois; some of
them have kept the combination of sounds [wa:] in the words: memoir, boulevard.
) Borrowings that are partly assimilated graphically, e.g. in
Greek borrowings “y” can be spelled in the middle of the word instead of “i”
(e.g. etymology, gymnasium), “ph” denotes the sound [f] (geography, hemisphere,
euphoria), “ch” denotes the sound [k] (mechanic, monarchy),”ps” denotes the
sound [s] (psychosis, psychiatry).
) Borrowings that are called foreign words and collocations.
These borrowings have not changed at all and they have kept their foreign face:
their phonetic and grammatical structures. For example, a French war-term “meleé”, which denotes a
confused fight, or another French war-term “coup de grace”, which means “the
final blow”, or a well-known French phrase: “C’est la vie!” (mostly in
Russian).English language has received a lot of foreign words. Most of them are
of French origin, because of the great number of wars and more or less peaceful
contacts with this country. Though there are many words that have come to
English from such languages as Latin, German, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, etc.
Wars had a great influence, of course, but even more influence was caused by
the period of invasions into Britain. The invaders brought their own language
with them and through interaction with the locals many a foreign word lingered,
stayed and through the course of the times became an assimilated (or not)
borrowing.words have been integrated into the English language in miscellaneous
spheres, one of the biggest being the military one. Most of the military
borrowings became what is known to be a war “term”.
1.3 The word and the term
best definition of the word is as follows: the word is a
fundamental semantic-structural unit of the language, which is used as a
principal carrier of meaning.its turn, the term expresses a strict notion and
is expressed by a word in the language but, unlike the word, the term does not
only express a meaning but simultaneously specializes it. Here, is where the
most controversial moment lies: what is the difference between an ordinary word
and a term and how to determinate the latter., there exist terms-collocations:
terms that consist of several components. Scientists single out three types of
terms-collocations.first type is represented by a term-collocation in which
both words belong to specialized vocabulary. The second type is represented by
three variants of terms-collocations, which are:
. Those, in which only one component is a technical term and
the other belongs to vernacular vocabulary.
. Those, in which the first component (the adjective) has a
specialized meaning in a specific scientific sphere.
. Those, in which the second component can be understood in
its basic meaning but together with the first component serves as a term in a
specific scientific sphere.third type unites the terms-collocations, in which
both components belong to vernacular vocabulary and only the combination of two
turns out to be a term.the linguistic aspect the conception of “term” is
unique. The term-consisting vocabulary is more complicated than vernacular
vocabulary. The semiotic essence of the term does not coincide with the word’s
basic (literary) meaning wholly., there is no single opinion upon what the word
“term” itself means. A term may mean a word or a collocation that demand a
specific definition in a specific notinal system [4, p. 77]. A term may mean a
word or a collocation that belong to specific objects or subjects and which are
used by specialists in certain areas of science [14, p. 110]. A “term” is also
said to be a nominative group connected with scientific and technological texts
and expressing a complex of conceptual features [6, p. 14]., having analyzed
several linguistic concepts, the conclusion can be made that a term is a
cognitive unit of the language that has formed under the influence of history
and time or in a close circle of specialists; is characterized by
unequivocality and fully reflects the basic features of a concrete notion that
exist during this particular period of science, technique and society’s
development.linguistic nature of the term lies in a group of its peculiarities:
. A term is a vocabulary unit that belongs to every literary
language.
. Terms possess a lot of informational satiation, because
they give the fullest and the most accurate definition of the presented
concept.
. Terms have a nominative character.
. Terms differ from other words by having system.
. Terms are mostly single-valued in terms of a presented
specific terminological context.
. Terms stand out from other words by their neutrality and
their lack of expressiveness.form the base of scientific vocabulary because
they contain more information than anything else. They make it [the scientific
vocabulary] differ from the vocabulary of the literary language by a number of
ways:
. Functionally. Terms have not only the nominative function
but also the defining function.
. Semantically. Terms name specific notions, the contents of
which are in most times unique.
. In the spheres of usage. A lot of terms belong to the
scientific sphere and are not used in more generic spheres.
.4 History of military borrowing from Latin
were three periods in the history of the English language
when Latin words were actively borrowed:
1) Continental borrowing (Zero Period)
2) Latin through Celtic Transmission (Latin Influence of
the First Period)
) Latin Influence of the Second Period: The
Christianization of Britain. [10, p. 72-75]
Such military borrowings as camp, banner, wall (weal) belong
to the Zero period [10, p. 75] when the Latins contacted with the Angles and
Saxes on the continent. “Traders, Germanic as well as Roman, came and went,
while Germanic youth returning from within the empire must have carried back
glowing accounts of Roman cities and Roman life. Such intercourse between the
two peoples was certain to carry words from one language to the other.” [10, p.
72] The Anglo-Saxon tribes brought these words to Britain and they stayed in
the English language. Such words as ceaster (castle) and turris (tower) were
borrowed through the Celtic language while the Anglo-Saxons assimilated with
the former.are two methods of military borrowings from Latin. The first one is
the direct method - during the Zero period, when the Anglo-Saxons contacted
with the Romans on the continent without any in-between culture.second type is
the indirect method: as it has already been said, through Celtic: for 5
centuries the Romans have dominated over the Isle.to the 1st century
the people who lived on the British Isles were Celts, who had began their
immigration there in the 800-700 B.C. The people that lived in Britain are
traditionally called “the Brits”, a name that came from their self-designation
- “Pryden”. At the begging of the Roman invasion era they lived in villages,
many of which transformed later into Roman cities, the most known being
Londinium (modern London), Eboracum (modern York) and Colenceaster (modern
Colchester).the year 41 Caligula, the Roman Emperor, was murdered and Claudius
(41 - 54 A.D.) inherited the throne. He was not popular in the imperial house,
so he decided to strengthen his authority by a war campaign, which he deemed to
be fruitful. Britain became the target of this campaign. There were at least
two reasons for such a choice: 1) Britain had never been conquered before, not
even Julius Cesare, one of the most brilliant Roman war leaders; 2) Britain was
a good exporter of metal, fish, corn, hounds and slaves, so the conquer of the
island promised much profit to the Roman Empire.the year 43 forty thousand
Roman soldiers debarkated in Britain and thus the invasion began. The
legionaries went ashore near Kent, not far from Richboro (Rutupiae at that
time) and soon took under control all the South-East of the island. The Celts -
as has been mentioned before, tribes that lived on the British Isles before the
invasion and that are considered aboriginal, because not a people is known to
had lived there before the Celts did - tried to resist but were pulverized and
soon fled to more North-West regions.himself travelled to Britain the same year
and received capitulations from twelve local rulers.conquer of Britain lasted
for 40 years. A number of lands did not bow to the Romans easily and it took
much struggle and a lot of time to overpower them. Moreover, rebellions on
already captured territories were a common thing, arising from the necessity of
the locals to serve in the army, from the violence of the invaders and etc.lot
of strength demanded the stronghold of Maiden-Castle in Dorset. Only after a
long siege the Romans were able to seize it and burn to ashes. While this
campaign was being held (in the year 60 A.D.) a rebellion lead by queen
Boadicca (Boadicea - Latin), the governess of the Iceni tribe, began. The Iceni
were a Celtic tribe that lived in the south-east regions of Britain. The
constant violation of their sacred places (the demolition of druidic sacraments
on the isle of Mona), trespasses of Roman authorities and an insult to the
royalty of the Iceni forced the latter to start fighting against the Roman
influence.Iceni army moved from the East part of England and marched with
triumph through Colenceaster (Colchester), Londinium (London) and Verlamion
(St. Albans). The Romans had to interrupt their warfare in Anglesey and march
to meet Boadicea.the two armies clashed in battle, though the history did not
manage to keep the location of this battle. As Roman historians say the Iceni
army twelve times outnumbered the Romans, but this fact did not keep the Romans
from winning a glorious victory over them. If the notes are to be trusted,
eighty-thousand Brits fell during this battle with Romans losing only four
hundred of their men. In the outcome, Boadicea poisoned herself and her
daughters not to fall into the Romans’ hands as captives. Thus the most
powerful uprising in Britain against the Romans ended with the latter ones
staying triumphal.situation with the Celts, that had taken cover in the
Scottish forests was more complicated. The myth about them defeating the Ninth
Legion is nowadays proved wrong, though they most certainly brought a lot of
trouble to the Romans.the year 119 A.D. they united and another uprising
began.this, in 117, Hadrian became the Roman Emperor. He returned to the old
traditions of foreign policy, that were typical of August’s times: fortified
boundaries and lack of further conquests. In 12, when the Celts had forced the
Romans south, Hadrian himself arrived in Britain and, having understood that
there was no quick victory for the Romans there, ordered to build a massive
wall along the northern bank of the river Tyne right to the bay of Solway
Firth, that would cut the Isle from east to west.Romans got to work immediately
and after six years of hard labor Hadrian’s wall appeared. The remnants of this
magnificent structure can still be seen on the road from Newcastle to
Carlyle.’s wall was not just a stone wall. It defensive fortification,
consisting of sixteen stronghold. Moreover there were forts built one Roman
mile (about 1,48 km) apart from each other that were constantly filled with
garrisons on duty (the best known one is Chester). The distances between the
forts were fortified with three guard towers.twenty years after the Hadrian’s
wall had been built the Roman army managed to advance further into the north
and the question of another fortification wall arose. By the will of Antoninus
Pius (138-161 A.D.) another wall was built, though it was such an imposing
structure. It stretched from the bay Firth of Forth to the bay Firth of Clyde
and carried the name of Antoninus as Hadrian’s wall carried the name of Hadrian.
The building started in 143 but already in 164 the Romans were forced back into
their previous boundaries and there they remained until leaving about 410 A.D.
due to attacks on the Roman Empire becoming more frequent., despite the large
influence of Roman culture over the Celtic one and the fact that the Celts have
adopted more than 600 words [10, p. 74], few of them were transferred to the
language of Anglo-Saxons. Much more military Latin loanwords came through
French - especially with the Norman conquest.Romans conquered all the
Mediterranean coast in seven years (125-118 B.C.) and formed a province, that
has lived up to modern days as a south-eastern part of France with the same
name: “Province”. Several times were the Romans in Province attacked by
barbaric tribes (teutons, cimbri), but each time they were able to hold their
ground and force the attackers back to where they had come from.60 A.D.
an alliance of tribes that lived to the east of Rheine displayed interest in
waging war upon some of the Gallic tribes that lived to the west of the river.
The Gauls turned for help either to the Romans, or sided with the Suevi (the
Germans), thus inviting both parties into their lands. The Romans defeated the
Suevi and thus gained control of the whole Gaul (Gallia - Latin) for another
five hundred years.to the interaction between the Gauls and the Romans words
passed between Gaulish and Latin that later evolved in the receiving language
and in time, when close contacts with Britain began, passed into English.
.5 History of military borrowing from Old Norse
method of borrowing loanwords from Old Norse was only direct
due to the Scandinavian conquest of Britain in the 9th
century.period of invasions did not end for Britain with the Germanic tribes.
In the 8th century Scandinavians, tribes that lived in nowadays
Norway, Sweden and Denmark rowed to more distant coats in search for richer
plunder. Before this time such raids used to end with them devastated the
chosen piece of the coast and then returning back home in their boats, which
were called “drakkars”. But systematically repeating raids led the
Scandinavians farther and farther from their homes in search for greater
wealth.in the 8th century the Scandinavians, who had their boats
built and equipped better, prevailed in crossing the North Sea to Scotland.one
there could have ever guessed the consequences of this first raid. From this
time on the Scandinavians are more known as Vikings, a term deriving either
from Frisian wic ‘settlement’ or Old Norse vik ‘bay’ [14, p. 11]. The first
place to be attacked was the monastery of Lindisfarne in the year 793 and the
second - Jarrow in 794 [14, p. 11]. The Vikings were dragged to the monasteries
because of their riches and they slaughtered everyone within their reach. They
eviscerated many more places, such as the island of Iona, a centre of
Hiberno-Scottish culture. Very soon the Vikings became the scourge of Ireland
and the entire north of England.first Scandinavian invaders were Norwegians but
in was not long until the Danes joined the ranks of the raiders during the 9th
century. The beginning of their activity on the British Isles consisted in a
series of raids on the east coast of England in 835. It was then when the
history of the Scandinavians in Britain had found its first faces: Ragnar
Lothbrok and his sons who burned and marauded Sheppey (an island at the
northern coast of Kent).the middle of the 9th century the Danes
seized control of Kent and East Anglia and, seeing no serious resistance from
the local population, they very much akin to the Angles, Saxons and Jutes
before them decided to settle in England. During time the so-called Danelaw
appeared, which was the area in eastern and north-eastern England that was
completely under the rule of the Danes.the Scandinavians have never left
Britain since them. The raids stopped at some time, but the descendants of
those who had chosen to stay on the Isles assimilated into the English
population.the Danes were at some point surprised and glad for the lack of any
resistance, the lack was not permanent. King Alfred the Great, who had been
born in Wantage in 849, by of 871 started to wage war against the Danes. His
war campaigns lasted for fifteen years (871-886) and the result was in Wessex
being freed of Viking control. “The Anglo-Saxon chronicles”, which have already
been mentioned above for several times, describes the victories and defeats of
that war. The part of the chronicles known as “the Parker Manuscript” that has
been named after a bishop who possessed it for some time, gives particular
details of this struggle. In the years 886 to 892 Alfred seized his war desires
for things devoted to temporal, religious and cultural business, but in 892 the
Danes, who were previously for several decades occupied by ransacking the north
of France, marched upon Alfred once more. Alfred did not let them take Wessex
and that part of Mercia that belonged to the English and in 896 the Danes
decided to stay in the boundaries of Danelaw. Some of them even went back to
France to settle down there. Three years later, in 899, King Alfred died.10th
and 11th centuries passed in wars between the Anglo-Saxons and
against the Danes, but during the reign of king Edgar (959-975) the former were
able to take control over Danelaw, thus establishing a unified kingdom in
Britain. As a result, the Vikings began to assimilate in Britain and mix with
the Anglo-Saxons. Due to the fact that their languages were akin, the
assimilation went faster than most times in common cases.the end of the 10th
century Viking raids recommenced. The Danish kings, that had been able to unite
not just Denmark but the biggest part of Scandinavia, marched on Britain. They
were able to conquer Britain once again and one of their kings, Cnut (or
Canute), at some point was simultaneously a king of Britain, Denmark and Norway
(in the beginning of the 11th century).Canute died and another seven
years of distractions followed Edward (who was called “The Confessor”) became
the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. After him, the Norman invasion began., in
this chapter the concept of borrowing has been determined. The classification
of such words has been given as well as the description of historical periods
when military loanwords were borrowed. The phenomenon of a term has also been explained
together with its differentiation from a mere word. The time has come to look
closer at the list of loaned military vocabulary and to realize the place its
components have in modern English.
CHAPTER 2. THE ETYMOLOGY AND MODERN FUNCTIONS OF MILITARY
LOANWORDS
followed the history of the ways military terms were borrowed
from Latin during the Roman conquest and Old Norse, the language of the
Vikings, during the Scandinavian invasion, it’s time to turn our gaze upon
these borrowings themselves. The list of them, which follows after these
introductory words, is arranged in alphabetic order and is complete with the
etymology of each term and the explanation of the object which is named by the
term.
.1 Military loanwords from Latin
alphabetic list of Latin military borrowings, which have into
English both directly and indirectly, is as follows:
1) archer (n.). Indirect method of borrowing.
Combat arm.13c., from Anglo-French archer, Old French archier
"archer, bowmaker," from Latin arcarius, from arcus "bow"
[37].
2) ballista (n.). Indirect method of borrowing (most
probably, through Celtic).
Artillery.artillery engine, from Latin ballista, which means
"a throwing machine” [37]. Though the word became a term in the late 14th
century, the word itself and the machine were known even before the Roman
invasion. Julius Caesar described using ballistæ on the Brits during a try
to debark in his “The Conquest of Gaul”.:
.1) Manuballista..hand version of the weapon (also called
“cheiroballista”). From manus “hand” + “ballista” [37].
.2) Carroballista..version of the weapon that was put on a
cart. From carro “cart” + “ballista” [37].
) banner (n.). Direct method of borrowing.Old French baniere
(Modern French bannière) "flag, banner,
standard," from Late Latin bandum "standard". [37]
) camp (n.). Direct method of borrowing,
reborrowing."place where an army lodges temporarily," 1520s, from
French camp, from Italian campo, from Latin campus "open field, level
space". It is a later reborrowing of the Latin word, which appeared
originally in Old English as camp "contest, battle, fight, war." [37]
) castle (n.). Indirect method of borrowing (through
Celtic)..Old English castel "village" (from Vulgar Latin); then
"large fortified building, stronghold," from Latin castellum "a
castle, fort, citadel, stronghold; fortified village," diminutive of
castrum "fort," from Proto-Italic kastro- "part, share
[37].oldest castle known in Britain is the Portchester castle which is located
in Portchester, Hampshire and is dated with 285-290 A.D.:
.1) Chester (castle)word Cestre has come from Old English
ceaster "Roman town or city," from Latin castrum "fortified
place". Many English cities’ names evaluated from this word, e.g. Chester,
Colchester, Dorchester, Manchester, Winchester, Lancaster, Doncaster,
Gloucester, Worcester [37].
6) catapult (n.). Indirect method of borrowing.
Artillery.word became an English military term only in the 16th
century, having come from Middle French catapulte that, in turn, came from
Latin catapulta "machine for throwing” [37].
7) circumvallation (n.). Direct method of
borrowing.
Fortifications.
From Latin circumvallare, from circum
“circle” and vallum “wall, rampart”.
Circumvallation is a trench with a parapet which is made by
the besiegers between themselves and the outer space in case the besieged have
a supportive army on the outside of the city [12, p. 324] [see Pic.1].
8) contravallation (n.). Direct method of borrowing.
Fortifications.Latin contra “against” and vallum “wall,
rampart”.is a line, or a trench with a parapet, encircling the besieged city to
shield and cover the besiegers from possible enemy's fire. The fortifications
themselves are called “lines of circumvallation”, and they usually consist of
earthen walls and dry moats [12, p. 404] [see Pic.1].
[Pic. 1]
9) cuirass (n.). Indirect method of borrowing..piece of
armory that protects the chest and back, came into English in the middle of the
15th century, though was a basic element of Roman equipment, from
Middle French cuirasse, which in its turn is a derivative of Latin coriacea
vestis “leather clothes” from Latin corium “leather” and vestimentum “garment”
(vestis “dress” (n.) or vestitus “clothing) [37].
) legion (n.). Indirect method of borrowing..Old French
legion "Roman legion" (3,000 to 6,000 men, under Marius usually with
attached cavalry), from Latin legionem (nominative legio) "body of
soldiers" [37].
) mangonel (n.). Indirect method of borrowing..mangonel is
yet another war engine of catapult type. It is derived from Old French mangonel
"an engine of war that hurls stones" (Modern French mangonneau),
diminutive of Medieval Latin mangonum, from Vulgar Latin manganum
"machine" [37].
) onager (n.). Indirect method of borrowing..come from Old
French onager (“wild ass; siege engine”), the term that denotes another type
of “stone hurling war engines” has its origin in Latin onager which means “wild ass” [37].
) phalanx (n.). Indirect method of borrowing (probably,
through Celtic)..is a battle formation when men of one unit stand close to each
other in ranks. Borrowed from Latin phalanx “compact body of heavily armed men
in battle array”, while the initial origin of the word is Greek [37].
) tower (n.). Indirect way of borrowing (through Celtic)..Old
English for “tower” is torr "tower", derived from Latin turris
"a tower, citadel, high structure" [37].:
.1) Watchtower.
Fortifications.tower from where the sentries/guards/lookouts
can keep an eye on the space before the city or the castle walls in case of an
enemy or any other type of danger [37].
14.2) Siege tower..tower that can be moved on wheels, which
was used during storming walls as a platform for bowmen and a safe place for
the attackers from the arrows of the besieged. Due to the fact that siege
towers were always made of wood and so could easily burn, they sometimes had
metallic parts of were covered by either by metal plates or fresh animal skins
[37].
. wall (n.). Direct method of borrowing..English weall,
Anglian wall "rampart, dike, earthwork" (natural as well as
man-made), "dam, cliff, rocky shore," also "defensive
fortification around a city, side of a building," an Anglo-Frisian and
Saxon borrowing (Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch wal)
from Latin vallum "wall, rampart, row or line of stakes" [37].
.2 Military loanwords from Old Norse
number of military loanwords from Old Norse - the language
the Vikings spoke - is a lot smaller than from Latin.
) arrow (n.).14c., from Old English arwan, earlier earh
"arrow". Most possibly a loanword from Old Norse ör (genitive örvar). A weapon with a
metal spear-shaped head on a thin wooden shaft with feathers on the other end
of it, that is shot from a bow [37].
) dirk (n.). long thin dagger. The word was used in Old Norse
and meant "a picklock”, but eventually evaluated into the name of a weapon
[37].
) club (n., also v.) .Old Norse klubba "cudgel" or
a similar Scandinavian source. A thick stick used as a weapon, sometimes with a
metallic round head or with spikes [37].
) knife (n., also v.) .late Old English cnif, probably from
Old Norse knif. A short metal blade with a handle, used for cutting and
piercing [37].is the only word the object of which has survived up to this day
and is used not only by military men but by every person and in every house.
) sling (n., also v.).Old Norse slyngva "to knock
down". A part of an artillery weapon that holds a boulder or a different
type of missile [37].
.3 The present day use of borrowed Latin & Old Norse
terms
time went by and our civilization progressed, the methods of
warfare changed. Cold steel arms firstly evolved and for some time existed with
firearms which took the place of bows and crossbows. Then they were fully
replaced by firearms and the terms which named them became obsolete. They are
no longer used in modern speech but can be heard when a discussion goes to
historical topics., fortification terms also became obsolete, because
architecture changed. Due to the development and the growing efficiency of
artillery, castle walls became less and less effective, their building at long
last ceased and castles were replaced by palaces.
The only sphere in which these old military terms are still
used is art. More specifically, in literature and cinematography, when the plot
is based upon either some specific historical events or is happening in a
fantasy universe where the civilization and the society are still on the
Medieval level.
In the following parts it will be proved that though the time
has claimed the objects the terms named, they are still very common in
literature and cinematography.
.3.1 Historical fiction
. “At the foot of the hill were the three enormous catapults
that Nur ad-Din’s engineers had constructed. Yusuf watched as one of the
catapults fired. The heavy counterweight - stones and dirt gathered in a wooden
bin - fell, and the long arm of the catapult rose into the air. Trailing from
the far end of the arm was a leather sling, which now snapped upwards, hurling
a three-hundred-pound boulder.” [22, p. 391]
. “En meget større boltfraen ballista
piskede en bygeafjord op, mensen kanon blev affyret fra Harfleursmur” [38],
which when translated from Danish means “A much bigger bolt-firing ballista
whipped a missile up, but its blow landed far from the walls of Harfleurs”.
. “I don’t even know anything about this blooming great
castle we’re sitting under. The Normans built this, didn’t they? William the
Conqueror and his lot.” [12, p. 48]
. “The first onager was a little more than a black, charred
skeleton. A short distance away the other onager almost looked undamaged as the
enemy swarmed round it.” [41]
. “There was a loud clanking just behind John as the mangonel
lever was released. He turned to watch the catapult in action /…/ A rock from
another mangonel hit the wall a few feet away, and a chunk of stone fell
loose.” [24, p. 181]
6. “The manuballista can fire fifty heavy bolts per quarter
hour, to about three hundred paces, and is very accurate. It can kill at a five
hundred paces. It is a more powerful version of the scorpion that the Dacians
use.” Artillery Centurion Turpilinus stepped forward and enthusiastically
added, “We have also introduced an all metal manuballista.” [20, p. 189]
7. “Their own defenses weren’t neglected. Towards the end of
August, the nine-mile-long lines of circumvallation (facing outwards from the
town) and contravallation (facing inwards) were completed, signaling to the
enemy that they were endeavoring to put stranglehold on Lille.” [39]
. “The Wall would be built by the legions, which, descended
from Rome’s first soldiers, phalanxes of farmer-soldiers from the plains of
Latium, remained the core of the army.” [11, p. 155]
. “While in later clearer visioncan sense the coppery
sweat,the pikes grow wet and slipperyour Phalanx, Cyrus met.” [40]
. “Thomas felt his heartbeat quicken at the sounds and the
movement, even the stink wafting up from bellow. Old memories and sensations
welled up inside him as the galley prepared for battle. He turned to Richard.
‘Bring me my cuirass, helmet and sword. And arm yourself.’” [30, p. 137]
. “I pushed him into the trees, then slid the sword from its
scabbard and turned to face my pursuers, one of whom took an arrow from the bag
strapped at his waist. That persuaded me to follow Willibald into the corpse.
The arrow slid past me and ripped through the undergrowth. I wore no mail, only
the thick fur cloak that offered no protection from a hunter’s arrow.” [16, p.
9]
. “The second archer raised his stave, then recoiled,
dropping the bow to clap his hands to his face and I saw a spark of blood
there, blood bright as the holly berries.” [16, p. 10]
. “John let them come. The man on the right swung his club
for John’s head.” [23, p. 223]
. “The gate’s arch was flanked by a pair of stone towers but
the rampart above was wooden. There were at least a score of men on the
platform, and more were joining them. I could see no way up to the rampart and
the stairway was inside one of the towers.” [17, p. 221]
. “They came in through your section of the camp!’ King
Conrad was shouting as he pointed at King Louis.
‘You’re the one who insisted that we camp here,’ Louis
retorted. ‘There are hundreds of paths through the orchards. It is impossible
to guard every one of them. My men’s blood is on your hands!’.” [22, p. 75]
. “John spotted Yusuf’s standard at the heart of the
fighting, pushing towards Baldwin’s banner.” [22, 395 p.]
.3.2 Fantasy genre fictionfollowing examples will start with
six quotes taken from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, because he can be called the
founding father of the fantasy genre. Though his works are based mostly on the
Bible, Old Scandinavian lore, Old & Middle English legends, Finnish &
Celtic myths and British literature works (such as Shakespeare’s Macbeth),
latter authors have borrowed a lot from Tolkien, starting with races and ending
with geographical names. Of course they were also influenced by the medieval
atmosphere and with it came the medieval warfare with all the supporting
vocabulary.
. ‘But the Ring was lost. It fell into the Great River,
Anduin, and vanished. For Isildur was marching north along the east banks of
the River, and near the Gladden Fields he was waylaid by the Orcs of the
Mountains, and almost all his folk were slain. He leaped into the waters, but
the Ring slipped from his finger as he swam, and then the Orcs saw him and
killed him with arrows.’ [32, p. 69]
. “Then perceiving that the valour of the City was already
beaten down, the hidden Captain put forth his strength. Slowly the great
siege-towers built in Osgiliath rolled forward through the dark.” [34, p. 1079]
. “Then Sauron made it into a watchtower for Morgoth, a
stronghold of evil, and a menace; and the fair isle of Tol Sirion became
accursed, and it was called Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the Isle of Werewolves.” [35, p.
197]
. ‘Have they got any weapons?’ asked Merry.
‘Whips, knives, and clubs, enough for their dirty work:
that’s all they’ve showed so far,’ said Cotton. ‘But I dare say they’ve got
other gear, if it comes to fighting. Some have bows, anyway. They’ve shot one
or two of our folk.’ [34, p. 1321]
. “The dwellings of the Rohirrim were for the most part many
leagues away to the South, under the wooded eaves of the White Mountains, now
hidden in mist and cloud; yet the Horse-lords had formerly kept many herds and
studs in the Eastemnet, this easterly region of their realm, and there the
herdsmen had wandered much, living in camp and tent, even in winter-time.” [33,
p. 555]
. “The javelin hurled through the flames faster than any
ballista dart.” [19, p. 294]
. “The gods of Winterfell kept a different sort of wood. It
was a dark, primal place, three acres of old forest untouched for ten thousand
years as the gloomy castle rose around it.” [27, p. 29]
. “In gloved hands were clutched all manner of weapons:
longswords and lances and sharpened scythes, spiked clubs and daggers and heavy
iron mauls.” [27, p. 312]
. “I notched an arrow. Geryon laughed. ‘You fool! One arrow
is no better than one sword’.” [28, p. 127]
. “The proud towers of Myr Tariniel shone brightly in the
last light of the setting sun.” [29, p. 294]
. “Instead, they placed a pair of riding boots before me,
along with a soldier’s tunic and a bronze cuirass - the same uniform that they
wore.” [18, p. 83]
. “A fine theory. Only works if you advertise their presence,
though. We didn’t know they were aboard until they were charging us in a
[bloody] phalanx.” [26, p. 746]
. “She kept to the shade, head constantly moving to survey
the crowd, and she wore truncheon and dirk openly on her belt.” [26, p. 2134]
.4 Non-military modern meanings
the meaning of the listed words may change and then they stop
being a military term of the old and start naming an entirely different object
or phenomenon. Such a thing happened to the word “wall”: only in the 13th
century “wall” began to name an interior part of a building [37]. The word
“arrow” came to mean modern road signs which show direction and specific
buttons on computers and other gadgets.example:
“Maria reached for her camera and clicked to the display
before handing it to him. “I think this one’s the best,” she said. “But there
are a few more. Just use the arrow button there to go through them.” [31, p.
168]another example the word “tower” can be taken. It has become a verb in the
middle of the 15th century with the meaning “to rise high” [37] and
“to loom over”. Now it is used to name a structure for catching signals and
broadcasting.
“Wayne Tevis, the radar supervisor, was alerted by the tower
chief, who went personally to the radar room to inform Tevis of Flight Two’s
condition, its estimated arrival time, and the doubt about which runway - two
five or three zero - was to be used for landing.” [21, p. 479]word has even
passed into science-fiction (both literary and cinematographic), meaning either
a part of a spaceship with the same function or a different name for the bridge
(the place from which the ship is commanded). [See Pic.2&3]
[Pic. 2]
[Pic.3]
The word “camp” has kept its terminological appurtenant up to
the modern times yet it has also developed a more peaceful meaning: a place
were people live in tents for a period of time (for example, for a
holiday).word “banner” has also developed another meaning. From 1913
newspapers’ headlines were started to be called so.more examples will follow:
. “The little theatre in which appeared this animated statue
was surrounded by a moat some six feet wide, which acted as a barrier
protecting the young savage from any possible approach. Beside this
circumvallation an armchair had been placed [for Valmont].” [25, p. 175]
In this quote the former term “circumvallation” no longer
means “a trench with a parapet which is made by the besiegers between
themselves and the outer space in case the besieged have a supportive army on
the outside of the city” [36, p. 324], but means “a barrier”, a circular “wall”
that parts the girl from the outer space.as it is in an another example:
2. “The Wall would be built by the legions, which, descended
from Rome’s first soldiers, phalanxes of farmer-soldiers from the plains of
Latium, remained the core of the army.” [11, p. 15]quote was already mentioned
before, but then the focus was on the word “legion” (which itself has another
meaning of “a lot of something”). Now the gaze should be turned to the word
“phalanx”. In this context it does not mean a particular military formation
made up by soldiers but just “lines, rows” of people going in the same
direction., this is all that should be said on this topic. Thus, having
analyzed the ways military loanwords exist in modern English, the research is
over.
CONCLUSION
tasks of the research have been complete. The part of the
English vocabulary that consists of borrowings was analyzed and the not so
short list of Latin and Scandinavian military loanwords has finally been made
up. Through using etymological dictionaries, their roots and types of borrowing
have been established. Their new meanings were gained through the use of
monolingual dictionaries and through analyzing historical and fantasy fiction
their roles in modern English have been found and determined.results of the
research have shown that the Latin and Scandinavian military borrowings have
lost their terminological meaning and are no longer actual in the military
sphere. Yet they have also shown they are still valuable and highly used in the
language.they function as:
. Terms of the old, without which one cannot discuss or write
on the topic of history not only of the British Isles but of history itself.
. Important vocabulary in the fantasy genre literature.
. Words that developed from the military terms but that in
the modern state of the language have new, different meanings., it can be said
that the goal of the research has been reached.
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