This document discusses how the etymology and origins of words can provide insight into a nation's history. It examines the various processes by which new words are formed, including affixation, back formation, blending, clipping, compounding, and conversion. Examples are given of words derived from other languages and their original meanings, such as "assassin" from Arabic and "mortgage" from French. The origins of the names of days of the week and months are explored for both English and Lithuanian, tracing their roots to Roman gods and seasonal references. In conclusion, the document states that a nation's vocabulary reflects its history through borrowing and derivation of terms from other cultures over time.

1. Words and nation‘s history.
What lexis can tell about
nation’s history?

2. Content:
• Definition
• Where Do New Words Come From?
• Etymological examples
• Months and Weeks
• Conclusion
• References

3. Definition
Etymology is a branch of linguistics which does the
research on the origin of words.
There are two types of etymology: scientific and folk.
The first one is more important for linguistics because it
empathizes on the origin of the word, its genetic
relations with other words from native and foreign
languages.

4. Six Types of Word-Formation in
English
• Affixation: Over half the words in English have been
formed by adding prefixes and suffixes to root
words.
• Back Formation: Reversing the process of affixation,
a back-formation creates a new word by removing
an affix from an already existing word.
• Blending: A blend is formed by merging the sounds
and meanings of two or more other words.

5. Six Types of Word-Formation in
English
• Clipping: Clippings are shortened forms of words.
• Compounding: A compound is a fresh word or
expression made up of two or more independent
words.
• Conversion: By this process, new words are formed
by changing the grammatical functions of old
words, such as turning nouns into verbs.

6. Etymological examples
• Assassin- Murderer, generally somewhat professional
• Hazard -Danger; To risk or expose to danger.
• Phony (or Phoney) : Something that is not genuine;
a fake or imitation.
• Quarantine- Any forced stoppage of travel or
communication.
• Malaria : Infectious disease characterised by chills
and fever .

7. • The word “bride” comes from an old proto-
Germanic word meaning “to cook”.
• The word “mortgage” comes from a French word
that means “Death contract”.
• The concept behind the word “cool” might come
from the African word “Itutu”, brought to America
by slavery.

8. Week
• It is believed that Babylonians had a week of seven
days 4000 years ago, which length was probably 28
days of the month divided by 4.
• Later the nation in the same region - Jewry created
a bible which said that the world was created in 6
days and the seventh day God rested.
• Another explanation for seven days is there’s 7
celestial bodies seen from the earth with the naked
eye ( the sun, the moon and five planets), which
are mentioned by the Babylonians.

9. Week
• In different languages days of the week are from
different origin. In Romanian language the names of the
stars are used to call days of the week. These names are
used in French, Spanish and other languages.
Scandinavians used names of Gods, the English partly
took it.
• In ancient Egypt the week started on Sunday, this
tradition is also used by the Jewish society. Therefore
Arabians, Greeks, Hebrews and Portuguese have a word
Monday that means “second day”. Nowadays week
that’s starts from Sunday is only counted in USA,
Philippines and Canada. In other continents and
countries the week starts from Monday.

10. Months
• January -- Janus's month
• Middle English - Januarie
• Latin name - Ianuarius
• French - Janvier
• Saxon - Wulf-monath - wolf month
• February -- month of Februa
• Middle English - Februarius
• Latin name - Februarius mensis - Month of Februa
• Latin - dies februatus - Day of Purification
• Old English - Solmonath - mud month

11. • March -- Mars' month
• Middle English - March or Marche
• Latin name - Martius mensis - Month of Mars
• Old English - Martius
• April -- Aphrodite's month
• Old English - April or Aprilis
• Latin name - Aprilis or Aperit - to open
• Greek - Aphro - short for Aphrodite

12. • May -- Maia's month
• Old English - Maius
• Latin name - Maius mensis - Month of Maia
• Old French - Mai
• June -- Juno's month
• Old English - Junius
• Latin name - Junius mensis - Month of Juno
• Old French - Juin

13. • July -- Julius Caesar's month
• Middle English - Julie
• Latin name - Julius mensis - Month of Julius
• Latin - quintilis mensis - Fifth month
• August -- Augustus Caesar's month
• Latin name - Augustus mensis - Month of Augustus
• Latin - sextilis mensis - Sixth month
• Anglo-Saxons - Weod Monath - Weed month

14. • September -- the seventh month
• Middle English - septembre
• Latin name - september mensis - seventh month
• Anglo-Saxons - Gerst monath - Barley month
• October -- the eighth month
• Middle English - octobre
• Latin name - October mensis - eighth month
• Anglo Saxons - Winterfylleth - winter full moon

15. • November -- the nineth month
• Middle English - novembre
• Latin name - novembris mensis - ninth month
• Old English - Blotmanad - Blood month
• December -- the tenth month
• Middle English - decembre
• Latin name - December - tenth month
• Old English - Geol-monaþ - month before yule

16. Lithuanian months
• Sausis: from the word “dry”(sausas).
• Vasaris: the warmest month of winter season, sunny, from word
“summer” (vasara).
• Kovas: from the name of birds that come back after the winter.
• Balandis: from the name of pigeons.
• Gegužė: is the month when the bird cuckoo (gegutė) starts to
tweet.
• Birželis: from the start of the sowing time (sėjos metas). Biržis – is a
mark in the field where grain fall down.
• Liepa: from the name of trees that bloom in the summer.
• Rugpjūtis: from rye harvest (rugių pjovimas).
• Rugsėjis: from rye sowing (rugių sėjimas).
• Spalis: from the boon beating time (spalių mušimo metas); flax
straw blade (lino šiaudo šapas).
• Lapkritis: from the falling of leaves (lapai krenta).
• Gruodis: from the word frost (gruodas).

17. Week
Day Other Languages Meaning
Pirmadienis Fr. Lundi En. Monday In roman – The day of the moon
Antradienis Fr. Mardi, En. Tuesday In roman – The day of Mars . In
Scandinavian – Pure God’s day.
Trečiadienis Fr. Mercredi, En. Wednesday In roman – The day of Mercury .
In Scandinavian – Voden God’s or
Odin’s day
Ketvirtadienis Fr. Jeudi, En. Thursday In roman – The day of Jupiter
In Scandinavian – God Tor’s day
Penktadienis Fr.Vendredi, En. Friday In roman – The day of Venus
In scandinavian – God’s Freyr or
Goddess Frey day)
Šeštadienis Fr. Samedi, En. Saturday In roman and english – The day of
Saturn
Sekmadienis Fr. Dimanche, En. Sunday In roman and english – The day of
sun

18. Conclusion
• Words and nation’s history are closely related, they
take an important part and can tell you about its
history.

19. References
http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/Where-Do-New-
Words-Come-From.htm
http://www.fun-with-words.com/etym_example.html
http://ualgiman.dtiltas.lt/zodzio_eimologija.html
http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/Etymologywords.
htm
http://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/folketymterm.html
http://www.etymonline.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-crystal/english-
language-history_b_1380908.html#s815733&title=Gaggle
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/08/10-
interesting-word-phrase-facts/