资源描述：
《The Hutchinson Dictionary of Word Origins .pdf》由会员上传分享，免费在线阅读，更多相关内容在学术论文-天天文库。
1、TheHutchinsonDictionaryofWordOriginsPrefaceThisdictionarycontainstheoriginsofwordsrangingfromthefamiliarandeverydaytothemoreformalandspecialized.Wheredowordscomefrom?MostEnglishwordscanbetracedbacktooneoftwosources,GermanicorItalic.Germanicwords,usuallyregardedasthe'native'ones,oftenhavetheirco
2、unterpartsinmodernGerman,aswellasrelatedlanguagessuchasDutch,Swedish,Danish,andNorwegian.ItalicwordsoftenhavetheircounterpartsinmodernFrench,aswellasrelatedItalian,Spanish,andPortuguese,andshareacommonancestorinLatin.GermanicandItaliclanguagesthemselveshadacommonancestorinIndo-European,sothatso
3、memodernEnglishwordshave'relatives'inbothbranches.Thisisespeciallytrueofthemostfundamentalwords,suchasfamilyrelationships,numbers,orobjectsofthenaturalworld.IngeneralitistheeverydayandconcretewordsthatareGermanicinorigin,andthemoreformalandabstractthatareItalic.Ofcourse,thereareotherlanguagesth
4、athavealsoprovidedEnglishwords,albeittoalesserextent.Twoothers,eachequallyancient,areCelticandGreek.Celtic,likeGermanicandItalic,isagroupoflanguagestodayrepresented,amongothers,byScottishGaelic,Irish,andWelsh.Greek,ontheotherhand,isaunifiedlanguage,likeLatin.EnglishwordsderivedfrombothCelticand
5、GreeksharethequalitiesofGermanicandItalicinthatCeltic-derivedwordsareusuallyeverydayandconcrete,andGreek-derivedwordsformalandabstract.Latin,likeGreek,hasalsogivenmanymodernorspecializedwords.Attheotherendofthescale,manyGermanicwordsoperateatamuchmoreearthylevel,appealingasmuchtothesensesastoth
6、emind.EnglishaswenowunderstanditwasfirstspokenbytheAngles,Saxons,andJuteswhocametotheBritishIslesinthe3rdand4thcenturiesAD,whenBritainwasstillpartoftheRomanempire.These,therefore,weretheGermanicpeopleswhobroughttheirlanguageswiththem,andintroducedthemtothenativeCelts.Thelanguagesthattheyspokegr
7、aduallycoalescedintowhatisknownasAnglo-Saxon,ormorecommonlyOldEnglish,andthisistheforerunnerofthe'new'Englishwespeaktoday.Asitwasforming,OldEnglishitselfadoptedanumberofScandinavianwordsimportedbytheVikingswhentheyinturncametoBrit
