English Language in Terms of Etymology

Question: Discuss about the English Language in Terms of Etymology. Answer: Introduction The etymology of names refers to the study of the origin and literal meaning of names (Berlitz, n.d.). It is the study of the history and origin of words. Notably, new words enter the language on a daily basis and they stop to be used. Some of the main sources of new words are word creation or neologism, acronyms, derivation, eponyms, compounding, inheritance, shortening, blending, and borrowing. Etymologists usually apply the techniques of comparative linguistics to reconstruct information about languages that are too ancient for any direct information to be available. In the area of higher learning such as physical sciences, life sciences, social sciences, medicine and law, English has usually borrowed words from other languages to get new words to cover new ideas, new material, or abstract occurrence. The language has also borrowed mainly from Greek, French, and Latin (Barnhart, 1995). In this paper, we are going to look at the history of both the English language and the Tamil la nguage, where comparisons will be made. History Tamil is a Dravidian language which is predominantly spoken by the Tamil communities of Sri Lanka, india, and the Tamil diaspora constituting Burghers, Chindians, and Tamil Lankan Moors (Bodmer, n.d.). Tamil is used as one of the languages of education in Malaysia along with the English language, Mandarin, and Malay. It is also considered to be one of the longest surviving classical languages in the world. The closest key relative of Tamil is Malayalam. These two languages began diverging around the 9th Century CE and even though many of the distinctions between Malayalam and Tamil indicate a prehistoric division of the western dialect, the process of division into a distinct language, Malayalam, was not finished until the 14th Century (Asimov, n.d.). Similar to any existing language, Tamil has evolved too. As is spoken and written today, Tamil language is quite distinct from what it originally was. The fact that logical classification of society and habitats in a systematic manner were recorded at a very early age in the grammatical treatise Tolkappiyam, is an indication of the organized way in which the Tamil language has evolved. This is a textbook on Tamil grammar providing the inflection of syntax of sentences and words, and is also categorized into three main chapters namely etymology, orthography, and subject matter or Porul (Ayers, n.d.). The 300 years after the Sangam era witnessed an increase in the shared interaction of Tamil and Sanskrit, various words and ideas relating to religion, philosophy, and ethics were equally exchanged and borrowed between the languages. On the other hand, English is a West Germanic language that has its origins from Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to the United Kingdom in the course of the 5th and 7th Centuries (Baugh, n.d.). The closest living relatives of English are Frisian and Scots. Frisian is a language that is spoken by an estimated half a million individuals in the Dutch province of Friesland, in neighboring regions of Germany and on a few islands in the North Sea (Berlitz, n.d.). Over the years, the English language has greatly been influenced by various other languages. Notably, before the Saxons, the language spoken in what is now England was a combination of many Celtic languages and Latin which were spoken before the Romans settled in England between 54BC and 5BC. Many of the words passed on from this period are those coined by Roman soldiers and merchants such as win (wine), belt (belt), weall (wall), and candel (candle) (Barnhart, 1995). The ancient Germanic language evolved into three main parts namely North Germanic, East Germanic, and West Germanic. While the East Germanic languages have disappeared, the northern ones exist today as Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic and Swedish (Bodmer, n.d.). The West Germanic languages exist today as Dutch and their variants, German, and English. Notably, modern English framer is very distinct from modern German grammar. This is because initially, it was transformed by Norse-speaking invaders in the 9th and 10th Centuries, then by Norman-French speaking invaders in the 11th Century, then by researchers and antiquarians in the 16th and 17th Centuries, and finally by the Internet, globalization, and new ideas of power in the 20th Century (Asimov, n.d.). Comparison There exist English words that have been borrowed ultimately or directly from Dravidian languages constituting Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada (Ayers, n.d.). The words have also been borrowed from various other languages spoken mainly in South Asia. Although some of the words can be traced to particular languages, others tend to have uncertain or disputed origins. Three origins of words that will be compared between the two languages are candy, congree, and godown. The word Godown which is also synonym to warehouse is English from Malay which may have been borrowed from Telugu, angi, or Tamil ki-anku (Baugh, n.d.). This word is a common term in various parts of India and was often utilized in 19th Century Hong Kong. Congee which means rice porridge or water with rice in English has an uncertain origin. However, it is assumed to be from Tamil, Kannada or Telugu. The earliest reference to congee that was found dates back to the Han Dynasty and further back to about 1,000 BC. In other Asian cultures, congee is also referred to as kanji. On the other hand, Candy which is crystallized sugar or confection made from sugar is a Dravidian word which stems from the Sanskrit root word Khanda (Berlitz, n.d.). This is a relatively novel word in the way it is used today. The word has its origins from Proto-Dravidian words Kantu meaning sweet, and Kattu meaning lump and harden (Barnhart, 1995). Notably, the word Candy found its way into the English language in the course of the 15th Century. Additionally, sugar candy was borrowed from the French and Italian from the Arabic word sukkar quandi. Sukkar originated from the Sanskrit word Sarkara meaning granular particles, gravel, or grit but also came to mean crystalline sugar (Bodmer, n.d.). Conclusion The answers to questions such as why there are so many distinct languages lie in the study of etymology which is concerned with the origins of words and how the spellings, sounds, and meanings have evolved over time. References Asimov, I. (n.d.). Words from the myths. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Ayers, D.M. (n.d.). English words from Latin and Greek elements. 2nd Edition. Tucson, Arizona: The University of Arizona Press. Barnhart, R.J. (1995). Dictionary of etymology: The origins of American English words. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Baugh, A.C.A. (n.d.). A history of the English language. 2nd Edition. London: Routledge. Berlitz, C. (n.d.). Native tongues. New York: Grosset Dunlap Publishers. Bodmer, F. (n.d.). The loom of language. New York: W.W. Norton Company, Inc.