Філологічні науки/7

Язык, речь, речевая коммуникация

Lyubov S.Vykhrystyuk

Donbas State Technical University

Foreign Terminology in English

The English language has taken considerably in words from Latin and French throughout its history. Yet we can find in current English a number of words and phrases from these languages which retain their foreignness. In the case of words from the French accents are preserved in spite of the fact that English has no accents. Moreover, among the educated classes at least, the French pronunciation is preserved, or something like it. When French words were introduced in the past there was often a considerable space of time before the pronunciation got anglicized. We know that when the word 'oblige' came in from French in the sixteenth century, it was pronounced 'obleege', and indeed that pronunciation survived right up to the nineteenth century. In this connection it is interesting that the Englishmen keep the French pronunciation in their use of the expression 'noblesse oblige' (literally 'nobility obliges'), which we quote, often ironically, in reference to the honorable and generous conduct which is expected of the aristocracy.

Anglicization, in respect of French accents, is happening all the time, if very slowly. Where 'rôle', which came in the seventeenth century, has lost its accent during the last few decades, 'cliché', which came in last century, still keeps its accent. The word 'cortège' we sometimes hear nowadays without its accent. Yet 'tête-a-tête' (a confidential conversation, literally 'head to head'), which came in during the seventeenth century, keeps its accents. The word 'café', a nineteenth-century importation, has preserved its accent and its pronunciation hitherto.

'Café' is just one among many French words from the world of eating and drinking which have now established themselves in regular English usage. They use the French terms 'gourmet', 'gourmande' and 'bon viveur', for those who relish the delights of the table. No doubt the French preeminence in the world of what we call 'haute cuisine' ('high-class cookery') is responsible for this influence of the French language. At the restaurant we study the 'à la carte' ('according to the list') menu, from which we are free to select as we choose, and the 'table d'hôte' (literally 'the host's table') menu which contains a series of courses planned by the establishment at a quoted price. The first course may be called the 'hors d' œuvre' ('outside the work') and is supposed to consist of preparatory appetizers. If the word 'starters' seems now to be replacing 'hors d'œuvre', other French expressions at the table seem to hold their own. There are dishes such as 'pâté de foie gras' ('pâté' of fat liver'), and a beefsteak cut from between the ribs is called 'entrecôte'. English sweet dishes include a 'souffle'. They also include a 'sorbet' and, accustomed as they are to adapting our pronunciation to suit the French, the Englishmen give the word the French treatment, though in fact it comes from Turkish and is really the same word as 'sherbert'.

It may be added that the expression 'crème de la crème' ('cream of the cream') takes the Englishmen right out of the restaurant. It stands for the very best of the best. Their inherited respect for the French as social superior of taste applies beyond the dining-room. Just as they speak of 'haute cuisine' so also they use the expression 'haute couture' for high-class dressmaking, another sphere of French preeminence. They used to call high society the 'haul monde' ('the high world') and the world of fashion the 'beau monde' ('the beautiful world'). They still preserve the French pronunciation of 'boudoir', 'massage' and 'coiffure'. The French language therefore, having the cachet or prestige of die upper class, comes in useful for veiling unmentionable items and practices in delicate terminology. When women want new underwear, they seek it in the 'lingerié' department. Their undress is their 'negligée' or their 'déshabillé'. The Englishmen describe a woman's low-cut garment that exposes the bosom as 'décolleté'. A comparable delicacy no doubt stands behind the now established practice of referring to hotel rooms that are fully equipped with washing and toilet facilities as 'en suite' (literally 'in sequence').

Undoubtly, the English vocabulary for the intimate and the personal is rich in French terms. The Englishmen use the expression 'en famille' for someone who is at home with his family. Another French expression, 'entre nous' ('between you and me'), serves us in the sphere of confidential intimacy. We even tend to preserve the masculine and feminine spellings of 'confidant' and 'confidante' for a very special friend who can be let into all our secrets. A delicate way of speaking of a communication which amounts to a love letter is to call it a 'billet doux' (literally a 'sweet note'). Delicacy of a different kind encourages them to speak of a 'faux pas' (literally a 'false step'), when someone puts their foot in it, as they say, and they call a social blunder a 'gaffe'.

Here are some French borrowings to correspond Ukrainian while translating:

noblesse oblige - положення зобов'язує; cortege - кортеж; haute cuisine - кулінарне мистецтво; haute couture - висока мода; gourmet - гурман; gourrnande - хто любить добре поїсти; bon viveur - людина, що насолоджується життям; preeminence - вищість, перевага; а la carte - на замовлення; table d'hote – табльдот; hors d'teuvre- закуска; pate de foie gras - паштет із гусячої печінки; entrecote – антрекот; boudoir – будуар; coiffure – зачіска; condescension – поблажливість; cachet - характерна риса; lingerie - жіноча білизна; negligee - пеньюар; deshabille - домашнє плаття; dticollcte – декольте; suite - номер люкс, анфілада кімнат; niceties – дрібниці; delicate – вишуканий; billet doux - любовна записка; faux pasх - хибний крокblunder - груба помилка; gaffe – необачність.

So, there are many things in the English language to remind the people of the Normans conquest of England when the North dialect of French was brought to the country and left there forever.

Ст.викладач Вихристюк Л.С.