For a word to be formed in any language there must be a base morpheme. It is this base morpheme that either stands on its own to have a meaning or allows itself to be fused on its own to have a meaning or allows itself to be fused with other morphemes or even compounded with another word of the same or different linguistic class. In French language, this base morpheme is called “ le radical”. Most of the base morphemes are borrowed from languages like Greek, Latin, Spanish, English, German, and even Arabic. Sometimes these borrowed words could maintain the original meaning they are known for in the language where they are borrowed from or their meaning could suit the French morphological/ semantic rule and structure. Most words that have their endings in “ tion” té and eur” e.g election, nation, difficulté, ferveur etc were borrowed from Latin.
Several adjectives like passif, actif, fragile, fiddle, légal, etc were borrowed from Latin; so also verbs like adorer, députer, naviguer, recencer. Others are agenda, maximum, intérium, pensum, ultimatum. In the case of some other borrowed words, there is little modification to the original word from the Latin when it gets into the French language. For example :
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Advocatum - avocat Articulum - article Auscultaire - ausculter Classicum - classique Hospitale - hôpital Mobilem - mobile Potinem - potion Redemptionem redemption Separare - séparer
3.2.1 Words Borrowed from the Greek and other Languages
These words borrowed from the Greek language got into French through Latin, because Latin speakers have been making use of these Greek words. It became easier for the French elite to bring them through Latin into French. Some of such words are; école, église, cimetière, diable, orgue perdrix, prêtre, anarchie, démocratique, démagogie, dispute, épigraphie, auto, socio etc.French language factors like music, architectural designs, marine cum navigation, military and warfare are behind most words borrowed from Italian into French language. Examples are; adagio, andante, opera, arcade, balcon, coupole, niche, pilastre, boussole, gallérie, golfe, ,pilote, arsenal, bataillon, escrime, infanterie, soldat, bandit, banque, patron, etc.
Words borrowed from Spanish, just like in the case of Italian language, artistic, commercial, social and sporting rapport exists between the French people and the Spanish. Some of these words are: camarade, casque, guitare, nègre, rectify, tomate, épinard, etc.
Words borrowed from German language into French include képi, sabre, bière, blague, vampire etc.
Words borrowed from the English Language include those of sporting activities e.g “La coupe mondiale”, tennis, sportsmen, football, basketball, etc. Other words are antelopes, banquet, bébé, film, cellubrid, express, flirt, gentleman, weekend, spleen, wagon, flanelle, fury, pamphlet, rail, touriste, tunnel etc.
Words were also borrowed from the Arabic language into the French language although, they were first brought into French through Spanish or Italian. Some lexicologists or morphologists have the tendency of
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classifying them as either Italian or Spanish borrowed words. Their examples are: alchimie, alambic, alcool, algebra, arabesque, babouche, douane, fez, gazelle, harem, magasin, minaret, pastèque, Sultan, talisman, tariff, timbale, zouave etc.
Apart from these various words borrowed from different languages that we have enumerated above, there are some other base words borrowed from Indo-European languages into the French language. The major difference between these base words (racine and radical) in French language is that while other borrowed words from borrowed languages can stand on their own (after a little or with no modification nor change in form) and have meaning, the base words would need to be fused to either a prefix, infix or suffix so as to form a new word.
Note that base words borrowed from other languages can stand on their own. One reason why they are not classified as words with affixes, is that no matter the number of affixes fused to them, the newly derived words still portray the original meaning of the base morpheme.
Examples of these are:
3.2.2 Some Based Morphemes
Base Meaning Words Formed
Morpheme
- hag Drive, make something agir, agilité, actualisé move
-b(v)ain Open legs to march venire, Avénement, acrobate
cap - Take, seize, trap capture, captivité, captive, accaparer, captiver
cap- Head capitate, chapeau, caption,
capitaine, capitalisme, chapitre, capuchon
cadi Fall Cadaver, caduc
dic- To describe with words, dire, dictionnaire, diction,
notice dictée
doc- To teach, to show document, docile, doctorat
duc- To drive conduire,conducteur
Fab- To narrate, to tell fatum, fable
Fac, fee To do, to make Facile, difficile, effectif
Fav- To favour Favoriser, faveur,
favorable
Jug- To tie together Jugulaire, conjugal,
conjuncture
Lee- To be tied by an afinity Lecture, election, intellectual
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Lockw To speak Location, locuteur, eloquent, soliloque
Mac- Big Maximal, magnifique
Men - Brain, human thinking Mental faculty
Mic small Microbe, microscope
Mob (v) To move Mobile, movement,
mobilité
mon- To show, to teach Montrer, monument,
moniteur
noc- harmful Nocif, noctume
ple- Filled, surplus Plain, suppléant
pets - To ask for reason, desire to Petition know or report
pos - To present, to represent Position, opposition, pose
ree- To direct Recseur, directeur, règle
sem- One Simple
sek - To follow Conséquent, consécutif
Self-Assessment Exercise 1
Identify the languages from which each of these words were borrowed.
(a) Avocat (b) douane (c) école (d) bébé (e) képi (f) pilote (g) diable (h) guitare (i) nation (j) bandit
4.0 CONCLUSION
In this unit, you have learned about vocabulary development, the position of affixes, their derivations, as well as the use of borrowed or loan words from other languages in the process of word formation.
5.0 SUMMARY
This Unit has introduced you to functions of affixes and their derivations and the languages from which they are being borrowed.