Pan-Art Pedagogy. Theory & Practice Philology. Theory & Practice Manuscript

Archive of Scientific Articles

ISSUE:    Philology. Theory & Practice. 2025. Volume 18. Issue 10
COLLECTION:    Germanic Languages

All issues

License Agreement on scientific materials use.

Native lexemes in etymological doublets of contemporary English

Maksim Kirillovich Smirnov
Moscow Pedagogical State University


Submitted: October 30, 2025
Abstract. The study aims to identify diachronically identical lexemes in contemporary English that are classified as native (non-borrowed) units and have not been previously described in scientific literature. The paper considers the current definition of an etymological doublet, identifies the main categories of borrowings and the proportion of native words in contemporary English, and analyzes the structural and semantic characteristics of native English words of common origin. A classification of the identified etymological doublets according to the number of components is also carried out. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that it provides the first detailed description of a class of etymological doublets in contemporary English that includes native components of Old English origin. As a result of the research, it is shown that lexical units of Anglo-Saxon (Old English) origin have been preserved in contemporary English with a certain degree of lexico-semantic, phonetic, and morphological divergence. The relationship between these lexemes is manifested at the level of Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Germanic roots, as well as independent, fully formed Old English etymons. Moreover, the formation of etymological doublets is not due to the phonetic derivation of modern English words. The author proposes to distinguish seven formations of genetically related vocabulary in the English language that have not been previously described in the scientific literature: the triplet “red – ruddy – rust”, as well as the doublets “neighbour – nigh”, “frost – freeze”, “flood – flow”, “beaver – bear”, “yea – yon”, “clench – cling”, “health – hale”.
Key words and phrases:
английская этимология
исконная английская лексика
этимологическое тождество
этимологический дублет
English etymology
native English vocabulary
etymological identity
etymological doublet
Reader Open the whole article in PDF format. Free PDF-files viewer can be downloaded here.
References:
  1. Дмитриева Е. Ф. Этимологические дублеты латино-французского происхождения в современном английском языке: дисс. … к. филол. н. М., 1954.
  2. Кузина М. А. Роль заимствований с национально-культурным компонентом значения в пополнении класса этимологических дублетов в современном английском языке // Litera. 2024. № 4. https://doi.org/10.25136/2409-8698.2024.4.70592
  3. Никитина М. О. Этимологические дублеты в истории английского языка (к проблеме тождества слова): дисс. … к. филол. н. М., 1985.
  4. Смирнов М. К. Русизмы в составе этимологических дублетов современного английского языка // Преподаватель XXI век. 2024a. № 4-2. https://doi.org/10.31862/2073-9613-2024-4-418-425
  5. Смирнов М. К. Эволюция понятия «этимологический дублет» в лексикологической парадигме // Лингвистика и образование. 2024b. Т. 4. № 1.
  6. Фадеев В. И. Этимологические дублеты общего происхождения в английском и русском языках: дисс. … к. филол. н. К., 1970.
  7. Царевская И. В. О лингвистической природе этимологических дублетов // Вестник Московского государственного университета культуры и искусств. 2014. № 5 (61).
  8. Шепелева Е. В. Этапы формирования английского языка // Известия Пермского государственного гуманитарно-педагогического университета им. В. Г. Белинского. 2011. № 23.
  9. Brachet A. Dictionnaire des doublets ou double formes de la langue française (avec supplement). P., 1871.
  10. Butet P. R. F. Lexicologie Latine et Française. P., 1801.
  11. Denning K., Kessler B., Leben W. R. English vocabulary elements. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
  12. Kennedy A. G. Current English: A Study of Present-day Usages and Tendencies, Including Pronunciation, Spelling, Grammatical Practice, Word-coining, and the Shifting of Meanings. Boston: The Athenaeum Press, 1935.
  13. Sesterhenn K. An Overview of the Phenomenon of Doublets in English. Athens: University of Georgia, 2016.
  14. Usmonova G. Etymological Survey of the English Vocabulary, Native and Borrowed Words // Academic research in educational sciences. 2020. Vol. 3. № 1.
All issues


© 2006-2025 GRAMOTA Publishing