English Etymology

English vocabulary
is known as exhibiting a composite nature: it consists of
Native elements
and
Loan words borrowed from different languages

What is a native word?
The term «native» is traditionally applied to words of the Anglo-Saxon origin brought to the British Isles from the continent in the 5th century by the Germanic tribes of the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes.

Some of the medieval artifacts…

The front page and an illustration from the «Song of Beowulf», the longest Anglo-Saxon epic poem

What is a native word?
Practically, the term «native» describes words that existed in the English word-stock of the 7th century.
In a far broader sense, «native» denotes words whose origin cannot be traced to any other language.

What is borrowing?
The process of adopting words from other languages
The result of this process, the language material itself

Borrowing is everlasting…

What is the difference between the source of borrowing and the origin of the word?
The source of borrowing (источник заимствования) denotes the language from which this or that particular word was taken into English.
The term «origin of the word » (источник происхождения, первоисточник) is applied to the language the word may be traced to.

What is the difference between the source of borrowing and the origin of the word?
Table
(English)
Table
(French)
Tabula
(Latin)
The recipient
language
The source
of borrowing
The origin of
the word

Source vs Origin
The immediate source of borrowing may be defined with some certainty, while the actual origin may be doubtful

Source vs Origin
Ink
«the black liquor with which men write» [Johnson], mid-13c., from O.Fr. enque «dark writing fluid», from L.L. encaustum, from Gk. enkauston «purple or red ink used by the Roman emperors to sign documents»; originally a neutral adjective form of enkaustos «burned in», from the stem of enkaiein «to burn in», from en- «in» + kaiein «to burn». The word is from a Gk. method of applying colored wax and fixing it with heat. The verb meaning «to mark or stain in ink» is from 1560s. Inky «as black as ink» is attested from 1590s.
(http://dictionary.reference.com)

Source vs Origin
The immediate source of borrowing is of greater importance as it reveals the extra-linguistic factors responsible for the act of borrowing and also because borrowed words bear the imprint of the sound and graphic form as well as the morphological and semantic structure characteristic of the language they were taken from.

Native Words

Native Words
Words of the native origin consist mainly of very ancient elements: Indo-European, Germanic and West-Germanic cognates (родственные слова).
The native element is estimated to make 25% of the English vocabulary, but it is characterized by a high word-building ability, frequency of use and semantic and stylistic value.

Semantic Characteristics of
Native Words
Auxiliary and modal verbs (shall, will, must, can, may, etc.)
Pronouns (I, you, he, my, his, who, etc.)
Prepositions (in, out, on, under, etc.)
Numerals (one – hundred)
Conjunctions (and, but, till, as, etc.)

Semantic Characteristics of
Native Words
Notional words denoting:
Parts of the body (head, hand, arm, back, etc.)
Family members and close relatives (father, mother, brother, son, wife, etc.)
Natural phenomena and planets (snow, rain, wind, sun, moon, star, etc.)
Animals (horse, cow, sheep, dog, etc.)
Qualities and properties (old, young, cold, hot, light, dark, long, etc.)
Common actions (do, make, go, come, see, hear, eat, etc.)

Semantic Characteristics of
Native Words
Most native words are polysemantic (possess more than 1 meaning):
Finger, n
1. any of the terminal members of the hand, especially one other than the thumb;
2. a part of a glove made to receive a finger;
3. the breadth of a finger as a unit of measurement, a digit;
4. the length of a finger: approximately 4 1 / 2 inches (11 cm);
5. Slang: an informer or spy;
6. something like a finger in form or use, as a projection or pointer: a finger of land leading out into the bay; the finger on the speedometer;
7. any of various projecting parts of machines.
(http://dictionary.reference.com)

Combining Power of Native words
Most native words possess a wide range of lexical and grammatical valence and enter a big number of free word combinations and phraseological units:

Burn one's fingers (to suffer injury or loss by meddling or by acting rashly): поплатиться, обжечься
Have a finger in the pie (1 to have an interest or share in something, 2 to meddle in something): быть замешанным в ч-л, приложить руку, иметь рыльце в пуху
Keep one's fingers crossed (to wish for good luck or success, as in a specific endeavor): держать кулаки
Lay / put one's finger on (1 to indicate exactly, remember; 2 to discover, locate sth): попасть в точку
Not lift a finger (to make not even a small attempt, do nothing): пальцем не пошевелить

Slip through one's fingers (1 to elude one, as an opportunity not taken, escape 2 to pass or be consumed quickly): упустить, ускользнуть, просочиться сквозь пальцы
Snap one's fingers at sth (to exhibit disdain or contempt for sth): игнорировать, не обращать внимания
Twist / wrap around one's little finger (to exert one's influence easily or successfully upon): обводить вокруг пальца
(http://dictionary.reference.com)

Derivational Potential of English Words
Most words of native origin make up large clusters of derived and compound words:
Head, n
Head (v), headache, headachy, headband, headboard, headcheese, headdress (=headgear), header, headforemost, heading (=headline), headland, headless, headlight, headlong, headman, headmaster, etc. (about 50 morphologically related words)

Derivational Potential of English Words
The formation of new words is greatly facilitated by the fact that most native words are root words.
New words have been coined from the Anglo-Saxon simple word stems by means of affixation (head – headless), word composition (head – headache), conversion (head, n – head, v), etc.

Borrowings

When are words borrowed into a language?
Words are borrowed from other languages when the native speakers of two different languages come into close contact.
The nature of such contact may be different:
Wars, invasions, conquests, etc. (foreign words are imposed upon the conquered nation);
Trade, cultural, etc. relations (the process of borrowing is natural and peaceful)

Why are words borrowed into a language?
To fill a gap in the vocabulary of the recipient language: butter, plum, beef Latin, potato, tomato Spanish;
To adopt a word expressing a particular notion in a new aspect: friendly (native) – cordial (Latin), wish (native) – desire (French), like / love (native) – admire (Latin) – adore (French).

How do borrowings adjust themselves to the new environment?
The majority of borrowed words get adapted to the norms of the recipient language, the process being called assimilation.

Assimilation
A partial or total confirmation to the phonetic, graphical and morphological standards of the recipient language and its semantic system.
The degree of assimilation depends upon the length of the period during which the word has been used in the language, upon its importance for communication purpose and its frequency.

Assimilation
Oral borrowings due to personal contacts are assimilated more completely and more rapidly than literary borrowings, i.e. borrowings through written speech.

Phonetic assimilation
Brings about changes in the pronunciation of the word. The earlier the borrowing was made, the greater phonetic assimilation it has undergone.
Compare:
Table, plate (entered English around 11-12th c., mostly oral)
Regime, matinee, café, ballet, etc. (entered English around 15th c., oral and literary)

Grammatical assimilation
Consists in a complete change of the word paradigm.
Grammatical assimilation is a long-lasting process, so some words retain the grammatical paradigm of the source language.

Semantic assimilation
involves the adjustment of the word’s meaning to the system of meanings of the vocabulary: words borrowed blindly (for no obvious reason) are either rejected by the vocabulary or manage to take root in the language by developing a different meaning.

Semantic assimilation
Survive
(originally) to continue to live or exist after the death, cessation, or occurrence of sth (= outlive /native): His wife survived him. He survived the operation;
(currently) 1 to remain alive after the death of someone, the cessation of something, or the occurrence of some event; continue to live: Few survived after the holocaust; 2 to remain or continue in existence or use: Ancient farming methods still survive in the Middle East; 3 to get along or remain healthy, happy, and unaffected in spite of some occurrence: She's surviving after the divorce.
(http://dictionary.reference.com)

Types of Borrowed Words
Completely assimilated loan words (loans proper)
Partially assimilated loan words
Unassimilated loan words (barbarisms)

Completely assimilated words
Are found in all the layers of older borrowings (Latin – cheese, street, wall, wine, etc., French – chair, face, finish, matter, etc., Scandinavian – husband, fellow, gate, root, wing, call, die, take, want, happy, low, ill, wrong, odd, etc.);
Follow all morphological, phonetic and orthographic standards;
Are an integral part of the semantic system of the language;
Are frequent and stylistically neutral;
Take an active part in word-formation.

Partially assimilated words
Loan words not assimilated semantically – they denote objects and notions peculiar to the country from which they come (xenisms):
Articles of foreign clothing (sari, sombrero, etc.)
Foreign titles and professions (shah, rajah, toreador, etc.)
Food and drinks (pilav, sherbet, blini, borsch, etc.)
Etc.

Partially assimilated words
Loan words not assimilated grammatically – late borrowings from Latin and Greek which keep their original plural form:
Datum – data (not «datums») / there is a tendency to use the word in the plural form only, with the meaning of singular or plural;
Criterion – criteria («criterions» is becoming more and more common), crisis – crises, cactus – cacti («cactuses» is becoming quite common), etc.

Partially assimilated words
Loan words not completely assimilated phonetically:
Words with a peculiar stress pattern (usually French): machine, cartoon, police, etc.
Words with a peculiar combination of sounds (particularly French): bourgeois, camouflage, regime, memoir, mélange, etc.
Words with a peculiar phonetic make-up (easily recognized Italian and Spanish borrowings): confetti, incognito, macaroni, opera, sonata, soprano, tomato, tobacco, etc.

Partially assimilated words
Loan words not completely assimilated graphically:
French borrowings where the final consonant is not pronounced: ballet, buffet, etc.
French borrowings keeping a diacritic mark: cliché, café, etc.
French borrowings with specific digraphs in their spelling: bouquet, brioche, etc.

Unassimilated Borrowings
Words from other languages used by English people in conversation or writing but not assimilated in any way, and for which there are corresponding English equivalents:
Addio (Italian) – good-bye
Affiche (French) – bill, poster, placard
Ad libitum (Latin) – at pleasure

Types of Borrowings (Self-Study)
Etymological doublets
International words
Calques (translation loans)
Semantic loans
Hybrid words (loan words formed out of borrowed morphemes)

Where do you find references on the word’s etymology?
Diachronic dictionary
Etymological
Historical (on historical principles)

Etymological Dictionaries of English
Skeat W. W. Etymological dictionary of the English language. Oxford, 1953. New ed. 1963. (переиздания)
Klein E. A comprehensive etymological dictionary of the English language. I-II. Amsterdam, 1966-1967. 1776 p.
The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology / Ed. by C. T. Onions. Oxford, 1966.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology / Ed. by T.F. Hoad. Oxford : Clarendon press, 1986 - XIV, 552 с.
Partridge E. Origins: An etymological dictionary of Modern English. Routledge. 992 p.
Liberman A. A Bibliography of English Etymology: Sources and Word List. University of Minnesota Press. 2009. 974 p.

Dictionary on Historical Principles: Oxford English Dictionary (OED)