A History of English Language

The nineteenth century and after 285
tortilla, tostada; and through Spanish from the Native American language Nahuatl,
guacamole and tamale. German has given us angst, festschrift, gestalt, schadenfreude,
weltanschauung, zeitgeist, and zither. From Russia have come troika, vodka, and, with
momentous political and economic changes, glasnost and perestroika. Goulash is a
Magyar word, and robot is from Czech. Asia is represented by karma, loot, and thug
from India; pajamas (British pyjamas) from Persia; yin, yang, t’ai chi, and chow mein
from China; and geisha, haiku, Noh, sake, samurai, sayonara, shogun, sushi, soy, and yen
from Japan. The cosmopolitan character of the English vocabulary, already pointed out,
is thus being maintained, and we shall see in the next chapter that America has added
many other foreign words, particularly from Spanish and the languages of the Native
Americans.
217. Self-explaining Compounds.
A second source of new words is represented in the practice of making self-explaining
compounds, one of the oldest methods of word formation in the language. In earlier
editions of this book such words as fingerprint (in its technical sense), fire extinguisher,
hitchhike, jet propulsion, the colloquial know-how, lipstick, steamroller, steam shovel,
and streamline were mentioned as being rather new. They have now passed into such
common use that they no longer carry any sense of novelty. This will probably happen,
indeed has already happened, to some of the more recent formations that can be noted,
such as skydiving, jet lag, house sitter, lifestyle, hatchback, greenhouse effect, acid rain,
roller blades, junk food, e-mail, and the metaphorical glass ceiling. Many of these betray
their newness by being written with a hyphen or as separate words, or by preserving a
rather strong accent on each element. They give unmistakable testimony to the fact that
the power to combine existing words into new ones expressing a single concept, a power
that was so prominent a feature of Old English, still remains with us.
218. Compounds Formed from Greek and Latin Elements.
The same method may be employed in forming words from elements derived from Latin
and Greek. The large classical element already in the English vocabulary makes such
formations seem quite congenial to the language, and this method has long been a
favorite source of scientific terms. Thus eugenics is formed from two Greek roots, —
meaning well, and —meaning to be born. The word therefore means well-born and
is applied to the efforts to bring about well-born offspring by the selection of healthy
parents. The same root enters into genetics, the experimental study of heredity and allied
topics. In the words stethoscope, bronchoscope, fluoroscope, and the like we have -scope,
which appears in telescope. It is a Greek word σκoπóς meaning a watcher. Just as
in Greek means far and enters into such words as telephone, telescope, television, and the
like, so we have stethoscope with the first element from Greek
(breast or
chest), bronchoscope from Greek ßρóγχoς (windpipe), and fluoroscope with the same