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Study questions
1. What is thedifference between etymology and entomology?
Key: (1) Etymology is the study ofthe origin and history of words.
(2) Entomology, on the other hand, is the study of insects.
2. Which of thefollowing pairs contains an example of calques? How would you describe theother(s)?
(a) footobooru(Japanese) – football l(English)
(b) tréing (Hungarian) – training (English)
(c) luna demiel (Spanish “moon of honey”) – honeymoon (English)
(d) jardind’enfants (French “garden of children”) – Kindergarten (German ‘childrengarden’)
Key: (c) and (d) are examples ofcalques; (c) and (d) are borrowings.
Calque is a type of borrowing in which each element of a word istranslated into the borrowing language.
3. Can you identify the different word-formationprocesses involved in producing each of the underlined words in thesesentences?
(a) Don’t youever worry that you might get AIDS ?
(b) Do you havea xerox machine?
(c) That’sreally fandamntastic !
(d) Shiel still parties every Saturday night.
(e) These news kateboards from Zee Designs are kickass .
(f) When I’mill, I want to see a doc, not a vet .
(g) The housenext door was burgled when I was babysitting theSmiths’ children.
(h) I like thisold sofa – it’s nice and comfy .
Key:
4. Identify the prefixes and suffixes used inthese words: misfortune, terrorism, carelessness, disagreement, ineffective,unfaithful, prepackaged, biodegradable, reincarnation, decentralization
Key:Prefixes: mis-, dis-, in-, re-, un-, pre-, bio-, de-;
Suffixes: -ism, -less, -ness, -ment, -ive, -ful, -ed, -able, -tion
5. In Kamhmu, the word salmeans “to put an ornament in the ear.” What would be the word for “an earornament”?
Key: Srnal
6. More than one process was involved in the creationof the forms underlined in these sentences. Can you identify the processesinvolved in each case?
(a) Are youstill using that old car-phone ?
(b) Can you FedExt he books to me today?
(c) Police havereported an increase in carjackings in recent months.
(d) Welcome,everyone, to karaokenight at Cathy’s Bar and Grill!
(e) Jeeves,could you tell the maid to be sure to hoover the bedroom carpet?
(f) Would youprefer a decaf ?
Key: (a) car-phone: clipping (fromtelephone) plus compounding
(b) FedEx: blending (from Federal Express) plus conversion (noun → verb)
(c) carjackings: blending (car + hijack) plus conversion (verb → noun)
(d) karaokenight: borrowing (from Japanese karaoke) plus compounding
(e) hoover: eponym (from William Hoover) plus conversion (noun → verb)
(f) decaf: clipping (from decaffeinated coffee) plus blending
Tasks
A. What are‘initialisms’? Were there any examples in this chapter?
Key: Initialisms are a type ofabbreviation. They are often confused with acronyms because they are made up ofletters, so they look similar, but they can't be pronounced as words. FBI andCIA are examples of initialisms because they're made up of the first letters ofFederal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency, respectively,but they can't be pronounced as words. NASA, on the other hand, is an acronymbecause even though it is also made up of the first letters of the departmentname (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), it is pronounced as aword, NASA, and not by spelling out the letters N, A, S, A.
B. Who invented the term‘portmanteau words’? How many examples were included in this chapter?
Key: The standard linguistic termfor this type of word is a blend. It was Lewis Carroll in Through The LookingGlass who coined the word portmanteau to describe them. In the book HumptyDumpty explains that: “Well, ‘slithy’ means ‘lithe and slimy’. ‘Lithe’ is thesame word as ‘active’. You see, it’s like a portmanteau — there are twomeanings packed into one word.” Among several other words Carroll createdchortle (a combination of ‘chuckle’ and ‘snort’) and galumph ( a combination of‘gallop’ and ‘triumph’).
So, a portmanteau or blend word is one derived by combining portionsof two or more separate words. Interestingly, portmanteau itself is a blendword, originating from the French portemanteau, a compound formed from porter(to carry) and manteau (cloak).
Or：
A portmanteau word is formed out of parts of other words. Oxbridgeis made up from parts of the names of Oxford and Cambridge and refers to eitherof the two universities. ‘Swatch’ is a portmanteau word formed from Swisswatch, ‘brunch’ is formed from Breakfast and lunch.
A ‘chocoholic’ has a problem with chocolate that is like theaddiction of an alcoholic. Portmanteau words offer a quick way of forming newwords that are easily understood by virtually everybody.
Examples in this chapter: gasohol, smog, smaze, smurk, bit, brunch, motel, telecast, Chunnel,telethon, infotainment, simulcast, Franglais, Spanglish, telex, modem.
C. Using a dictionary with etymologicalinformation, identify which of the following words are borrowings and fromwhich languages they were borrowed. Are any of them eponyms?
assassin,clone, cockroach, denim, diesel, horde, kayak, kiosk, nickname, penguin, robot,shampoo, sherry, slogan, snoop, taboo, tea, tomato, umbrella, voodoo S/No.&Word& Etymology&
Key: Etymologies
assassin: Arabic (hashishin)
clone: Greek (klón)
cockroach: Spanish (cucaracha)
denim: French (serge de Nîmes)
diesel: German (Rudolf Diesel)
nickname: Old English (an eke name)
robot: Czech (robota)
shampoo: Hindi (champo)
slogan: Gaelic (sluaghghairm)
snoop: Dutch (snoepen)
tomato: Nahuatl (tomatl)
umbrella: Italian (ombrello)
The word ‘nickname’ is not a borrowing.
The words ‘denim’ (from a place) and ‘diesel’ (from a person) areeponyms.
F. When Hmong speakers (from Laos and Vietnam) settled in the USA, they had to create some new words for the different objectsand experiences they encountered. Using the following translations (provided byBruce Downing and Judy Fuller), can you work out the English equivalents of theHmong expressions listed below?
Key: Hmong compounds
chaw (‘place’) kho (‘fix’) mob (‘sickness’) = ‘hospital’
chaw (‘place’) nres (‘stand’) tsheb (‘vehicle’) = ‘parking lot’
chaw (‘place’) zaum (‘sit’) tos (‘wait’) = ‘waiting room’
dav (‘bird’) hlau (‘iron’) = ‘airplane’
hnab (‘bag’) looj (‘cover’) tes (‘hand’) = ‘glove’
kev (‘way’) cai (‘right’) = ‘law’
kev (‘way’) kho (‘fix’) mob (‘sickness’) = ‘medical treatment’
kev (‘way’) nqaj (‘rail’) hlau (‘iron’) = ‘railway’
kws (‘expert’) hlau (‘iron’) = ‘blacksmith’
kws (‘expert’) kho (‘fix’) hniav (‘teeth’) = ‘dentist’
kws (‘expert’) ntaus (‘hit’) ntawv (‘paper’) = ‘typist’
kws (‘expert’) ntoo (‘wood’) = ‘carpenter’
kws (‘expert’) kho (‘fix’) tsheb (‘vehicle’) = ‘mechanic’
kws (‘expert’) tshuaj (‘medicine’) = ‘doctor’
tsheb (‘vehicle’) nqaj (‘rail’) hlau (‘iron’) = ‘train’
daim (‘flat’) ntawv (‘paper’) muas (‘buy’) tshuaj (‘medicine’) =‘prescription’