Middle English names of merchants: Etymology and aspects of usage

Abstract

The relevance of the research is due to the need for a comprehensive study of the Middle English vocabulary, in particular of occupational names as its subsystem. The article is devoted to the general purpose of the study of the etymological composition and functional differentiation of the thematic group of Middle English names of merchants. The investigation of the functional differentiation of the Middle English occupational names is based on the principles of the communicative and historical approaches. Middle English occupational names are distributed into two classes – common nouns (in their nominating function) and proper names, especially family names (in the function of identification of the person as the component additional to the personal name in the personal nomination formulas). Within each etymological group of vocabulary we distribute the lexical material according to the functional principle and distinguish three groups of occupational names: those functioning exclusively as common nouns; those functioning exclusively as the proper names in the personal nomination formulas; those functioning as common nouns as well as the proper names. According to the functional principle of the distribution of the vocabulary and on the quantitative calculations we draw the conclusions about the degree of sustainability of the usage of borrowed occupational names: we consider English words, loan-blends as well as the assimilated borrowings that functioned as the common nouns and proper names to be the words with the established (settled) usage; we consider English words, loan-blends and the assimilated borrowings that existed only as the personal name in the nomination formula to be the words with the unsettled usage; we consider English words, loanblends and the assimilated borrowings that existed exclusively as common nouns to be the words with the restricted usage. It was found out that functional differentiation of the vocabulary is different in English and borrowed occupational terms as well as within the lexical-thematic subgroups. Data obtained in the study under review are valuable as the constituent part of the comprehensive study of the etymology and usage of the Middle English vocabulary.