Jon's Page O' Linguistics - Loanwords

Major Periods of Borrowing in the History of English

I. Germanic period

It can be deduced that these borrowings date from the time before the Angles and Saxons left the continent for England, because of very similar forms found in the other old Germanic languages (Old High German, Old Saxon, etc.). The source words are generally attested in Latin texts, in the large body of Latin writings that were preserved through the ages.

Latin
Germanic Modern English Latin
ancor anchor  
butere butter  
cealc chalk  
ceas cheese caseum
cetel kettle  
cycene kitchen culina
cirice church ecclesia
disc dish discus
mil mile milia passuum
piper pepper  
pund pound pondus
sacc sack saccus
sicol sickle  
straet street via strata
weall 'wall   vallum
win   'wine  vinum 
II. Old English Period (600-1100)

Latin
Old English Modern English Latin
apostol apostle apostolus
casere caesar emperor
ceaster city castra
cest chest cista
cirul circle circum
cometa comet cometa
maegester master magister
martir martyr
paper paper papyrus
tigle tile tegula

 

Celtic
Old English Modern English Celtic
brocc badger brocc
cumb conbe, valley cumb

(few ordinary words, but thousands of place and river names: London, Carlisle, Devon, Dover, Cornwall, Thames, Avon...)

III. Middle English Period (1100-1500)

Scandinavian

Most of these first appeared in the written language in Middle English; but many were no doubt borrowed earlier, during the period of the Danelaw (9th-10th centuries).

 
French
Sometimes it's hard to tell whether a 
given word came from French or whether
it was taken straight from Latin. Words for which 
this difficulty occurs are those in which there 
were no special sound and/or spelling changes
of the sort that distinguished French 
from Latin.
anger attorney
blight bailiff 
by-law
 chancelor
cake chattel
call court
doze crime
egg defendent
fellow evidence
gear government
get jail
give judge
hale jury
hit larceny
husband noble
kick parliament
kill plantiff
kilt plea
kindle prison
law revenue
low state
lump tax
rag verdict
raise abbot
root chaplain
scathe chapter
scorch clergy
score friar
scrape prayer
scrub preach
seat priest
skill religion
skin sacrament
skirt saint
sky sermon
sly baron; baroness
take count; countess
they duke; duchess
them marquis; marquess
their price; princess
thrall viscout; viscountess
thrust nobel
ugly royal
want army
window artillery
battle
Place Name Suffixes captian
-by company
-thorpe corporal
-gate defense...

IV. Early Modern English Period (1500-1650)

The effects of the renaissance begin to be seriously felt in England. We see the beginnings of a huge influx of Latin and Greek words, many of them learned words imported by scholars well versed in those languages. But many are borrowings from other languages, as words from European high culture begin to make their presence felt and the first words come in from the earliest period of colonial expansion.

Latin

 Greek Arabic
agile anonymous alcove
abdomen atmosphere algebra
anatomy autograph zenith
area catastrophe algorithm
capsule climax alminac
compensate comedy azimuth
dexterity critic alchemy
discus data admiral
excavate extacy amber
expensive history cipher
fictitious ostracize orange
gradual parasite saffron
habitual pnumonia sugar
insane skeleton zero
janitor tragedy
mediate tonic
notorious -ism
orbit -ize
peninsula
physician
superintendnet
ultimate
vindicate

V. Modern English (1650-present)

Period of major colonial expansion, industrial/technological revolution, and American immigration.

French Spanish Italian Dutch Flemish German
ballet armada anrsenal avast bum
champagne adobe balcony boom hex
chick alligator cameo commodore loafer
faux pas barricade duo dock noodle
salon cannibal ghetto freight pretzel
brigade canyon macaroni reef hamburger
granade cyote piano sloop dunk
infantry guitar opera spice feldspar
bigot mesa stanza tackle lager
denim mustang studio stripe quartz
garage ranch tempo easle sauerkraut
shock tornado violin booze zwieback

 

Arabic African Languages Chinese Japanese Yiddish
bedoin banana chop suey hara kiri bagel
emir banjo chow mein judo dreidel
gazelle chigger ketchup jujitsu kosher
harem goober tea kamakaze spiel
lute gumbo ginseng karaolkimonoe schlemiel
mosque jazz   samuri goy
myhrr jitters soy klutz
sirocco voodoo sumo oy vey
sultan yam sushi schmuck
caravan zebra tsunami  

 

Scandinavian Russian Sanskrit Hindi Dravidian
fjord borscht avatar bandanna curry
maelstrom czar karma cot mango
ski glasnost mahatma jungle teak
salom icon swastica loot pariah
smorgasborg perestroica yoga punch  
  vodka   thug

 

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