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`LECTURE 2
ETYMOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
MODERN ENGLISH AND UKRAINIAN VOCABULARY

1. Etymological peculiarities of the English and Ukrainian
vocabulary
2. Types of borrowings
3. Assimilation of borrowings
4. Etymological doublets
5. Translation-loans

Key terms: native word, loan word, translation-loan,
assimilation, etymological doublet

1. Etymological peculiarities of the English and
Ukrainian vocabulary
According to the Dictionary of Language Teaching and
Applied Linguistics, etymology — the study of the origin of
words, and their history and changes in their meaning.
Etymologically the vocabulary of the language is far from being
homogeneous. It consists of two layers – the native stock and the
borrowed stock of words.
A native word is a word which belongs to the original stock
(native element), as known from the earliest available manuscripts
of the Old period.
A loan word, borrowed word or borrowing is a word
taken over from another language and modified in phonemic
shape, spelling, paradigm or meaning according to the standards of
the language.
Native words comprise only 30% of the total number of
words in the English vocabulary but the native words form the
bulk of the most frequent words actually used in speech and
writing. The native element in English embraces a large number of
high-frequency words like the articles, prepositions, pronouns,

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