古希臘羅馬神話對(duì)英語(yǔ)詞匯的影響

1、北方民族大學(xué)學(xué)士學(xué)位論文 論文題目: 古希臘羅馬神話對(duì)英語(yǔ)詞匯的影響 院(部)名 稱: 外國(guó)語(yǔ)學(xué)院 學(xué) 生 姓 名: AAAAAA AA 專 業(yè): 英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)言文學(xué) 學(xué) 號(hào):201020AA指導(dǎo)教師姓名: AAAAAAA 論文提交時(shí)間: 2014年5月 論文答辯時(shí)間: 2014年5月 學(xué)位授予時(shí)間: 2014年6月 北方民族大學(xué)教務(wù)處制On the Impact of Greco-Roman Mythology on English VocabularyBy AA LAA Submitted toThe School of Foreign Language and LiteratureBeifan

2、g University of NationalitiesIn Partial Fulfillment ofThe Requirements forThe Bachelor Degree of Arts in EnglishUnder the Supervision of ZAAAMay 2014 . IntroductionEnglish, as the world language, is of great importance in the communication of human beings by performing its daily significance. For En

3、glish learners, especially English majors, to expand their vocabulary through learning culture backgrounds might be a proficient way to reach a higher level of English. 1.1. Significance of the Study With the popularization of English learning, China has a large number of English learners. It is a g

4、reat challenge for English majors to hunt jobs and stand out from the crowds. Thus English majors are supposed to be more demanding about their skills than others. As words are the basis of language, one who is proficient in English must have a huge vocabulary as well as a good understanding of cult

5、ure of that language. Ancient Greco- Roman mythology, as one of the most important major sources of western culture, has made a great contribution to both culture and vocabulary in English. Therefore, the author intends to make a research on the relation of Greco-Roman myths and English vocabulary.

6、The paper plans to describe the significance and present the impact of Greco-Roman myth on English words. There are many similar researches on this thesis both in China and some foreign countries, yet after consulting a number of those papers about the subject on the line, the author finds that near

7、ly all of them are fragmentary and not very systematic. These scholars just list a mass of words without describing the specific classification or content of the impact of Greco-Roman myth on vocabulary. In order to state the thesis efficiently in details, the paper focuses mainly on four parts, wit

8、h an introduction as the start to demonstrate clearly significance of this study and respectively the definitions and relation of culture, language and vocabulary. Then the body, including part two and part three, theoretically analyzes and classifies specifically the impact of Greco-Roman myth on E

9、nglish vocabulary. And part four draws a conclusion clearly about the thesis of the whole paper.1.2. Culture, Language and Vocabulary According to the definition of Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, the term culture here refers to “the total pattern of beliefs, customs, institutions, and techniqu

10、es that characterize the life of a human community”. However, language is an essential part of culture which plays an absolutely important role in it. Some social scientists even consider that culture would be impossible without language. In turn, language is influenced and shaped by culture; it can

11、 also reflect culture(Deng & Liu, 2008:3). Thus, in the hoping of mastering a language proficiently, one is supposed to know very well about the culture background.Vocabulary, as the building block of a language, refers to the total number of all words in a language (Zhang, 2010:2). Besides, Liu Run

12、qing, a professor of Linguistics in Beijing Foreign Studies University, pointed out that the three basic factors of language are sound, vocabulary and grammar; words are to language as bricks are to building. This indicates that vocabulary plays an important component of language. Meanwhile, it has

13、been emphasized that “in the course of learning a language, without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed (Zhang, 2010:111).” Noting this significant improvement, the lexicologist McCarthy also signified that “no matter how well the student learns grammar,

14、 no matter how successfully he masters the sounds of a second Language, without words to express a wide range of meanings, communication in that language cannot happen in any meaningful way.” (Zhang, 2010:1)Since vocabulary is the fundamental part of language and language is the carrier of culture,

15、in order to master a language,English learners are supposed to endeavor to know the impact of a culture on its vocabulary. Theoretical Analysis on Greco-Roman Mythology and Classification of English Vocabulary2.1. A Brief Analysis of Greco-Roman MythologyThe ancient Greek and Roman Mythology, dating

16、 back to the ancient society, has made significant contributions to humans language. In the beginning, the low level of productivity and lack of scientific knowledge caused peoples limitation of grasping the rules of nature. Greeks regarded mythology as a part of their history. They used myths and l

17、egends to explain everything of natural phenomena. They even considered it is the gods willing and power that had caused all these strange phenomenon in the nature. Thus many myths were created and transmitted from generation to generation. Listed as the world cultural heritage, the Greek and Roman

18、mythology greatly has an extensive influence on the development of European civilization. Many poets chose it as their writing material when composing poems. Furthermore, it left a sea of vivid expressions, especially some words and phrases in English. 2.2. A Brief Analysis on the Classification of

19、English VocabularyEnglish vocabulary, which means all the words and phrases in English language, can be divided into several different categories by various criteria. English vocabulary involves words and phrases. To dig deep enough, words, according to the word structure, can be analyzed into morph

20、emes which are labeled root, stem, base and affix as minimal meaningful units (Zhang, 2004:50). After reading and consulting a number of books on this subject, the author finds that among these morphemes a lot of roots and affixes are derived from names of Gods (Goddesses) or other objects in the my

21、ths, which are to be analyzed and described in details. Besides, In terms of the origin, words can be classified into native words and loan words. As the oldest and most widely used language, English has borrowed from other cultures nearly eighty percent of its entire vocabulary, of which a majority

22、 come from Latin, French, Scandinavian and some other languages and cultures, and of which plenty are originated from Greek and Greco-Roman myths (Zhang, 2010:12). However, the borrowed words, been classified by the level of usage by the author, can further be divided into common words and technical

23、 terms which are to be elaborated in the following parts. According to Wikipedia, a phrase is any group of words as a single unit. A phrase can only consist of one word, but in this paper it is discussed as being formed of more than one word. As is known to all, in English vocabulary, phrases are th

24、e links of words to sentences. However, among them a substantial phrases are allusive idioms derived from Greco-Roman myths. According to grammatical function, these allusive phrase idioms, which will be put into elaboration, can be commonly divided into four types which are adjective idioms, nomina

25、l idioms, verbal idioms and prepositional idioms. . Impact of Greco-Roman Myths on English Vocabulary3.1. Impact of Greco-Roman Myths on Morphemes It is universally known that English has borrowed lots of words and idioms in its process of development. However, after making a deep research and analy

26、sis, the author also finds that there are plenty of roots and affixes derived from Greco-Roman mythology. They together constitutes plentiful words which are widely used in many fields. Parts of them were directly taken from the names without any change while others were developed through deleting o

27、r changing several letters. 3.1.1. Impact of Greco-Roman Myths on RootsIt has been proven that complex words typically consist of a root morpheme and one or more affixes. The root is the core of the word and carries the major component of its meaning (Dai & He, 2011:34). A great quantity of roots ar

28、e transmitted from names of Greek and Roman mythology. Most of them belong to bound morphemes. To name some as examples:The Muses, consisting of nine goddesses, are the governors of the inspiration of literature, science and arts. They were considered as the source of the knowledge, and written in p

29、oetics and other literary works for centuries since the ancient time. Not only are the Muses used in modern English to refer to an artistic inspiration, but they also are implied in words such as amuse, museum (a place where the Muses were worshiped) and music. In the ancient Greek time, Gamelia, cl

30、osely associated with wedding or marriage, was said as the other name of Hera, the goddess of marriage, women and birth. Hera was known for her jealous and vengeful nature, most notably against Zeuss lovers and offspring. However, the other name Gamelia indicated her lucky and good aspect of image.

31、For this reason, the variant form of the root “-gamy” or “-gam-” from Gamelia is connected with marriage. For instance, “bigamy”, “bigamist”, “bigamous”, “digamy”, “digamous”, “misogamy”, “exogamy”, “monogamy” , “monogamist”, “monogamous”, “polygamy”,“polygamous”, “polygamist” and many other words(D

32、eng, 2011:163).It is only when the learners have understood the fundamental meaning that the roots carry on that can they be capable of remembering more words more efficiently.3.1.2. Impact of Greco-Roman Myths on Affixes Affixes, commonly including prefixes and suffixes, are forms that are attached

33、 to words or word elements to modify meaning or function. The Greek and Roman mythology has created enormous derivational affixes, which makes great contributions to the vocabulary in English. Unlike suffixes which are mainly to change the grammatical function of the base, all prefixes primarily aff

34、ect a semantic modification of the base of words, and almost many of them are derived from the Greek and Roman mythology. In order to demonstrate this, several examples are given below:The prefixes “chron-” and “chrono-” indicating something about time in todays English language, both comes from the

35、 name Chronus, the god and embodiment of time, who was imagined as a god, serpentine in form, with three headsthose of a man, a bull, and a lion. However monstrous his image is, many words about time has been related on his name. Such as “chronic”, “chronicle”, “chronicler”, “chronology”,“chronologi

36、c”, “chronologize”, “diachronic”, “synchronic” , “synchronize”and many other words.The prefix “helio-” which is derived from Helios, the god of the sun earlier and the god of light in late Greek mythology, means something related to the sun. For instance, “heliocentric”, “heliocentricism”, “heliomet

37、er”, “heliolatry”, “helioscope”, “heliotropism”, “heliotherapy” and many others (Deng, 2011:144).One another case is the prefixes “hydro-” and its variant “hydr-”. According to the myth, Hydra was a gigantic monster of nine-head water serpent. As the legend has it, when one head was cut off, the pla

38、ce where it was severed grew out immediately two new ones, and the very middle head was immortal. Once wounded or touched by the blood of Hydra, which was said the source of all kinds of poison in the world, every creature would definitely become severely incurable. However, with the perseverance an

39、d great assistance of his friends, Hercules eventually hunted her with burning arrow. He straightway cut off all her heads, including the middle immortal one, and buried them with big fire under a huge rock. Therefore, the word “hydra” in English vocabulary today refers to difficulties or troubles w

40、hich are hard to cope with. The true original meaning of the prefixes “hydr-” and “hydro-”, are finally unfolded. They are related to something about water.There are lots of words which contain either one of them, to list some as an example: “hydrate”, “hydration”, “hydrous”, “hydroelectric”, “hydro

41、bomb”, “hydrotherapy”,“hydrology”, “hydrotaxis” and other numerous words which are not common used in daily life (Deng, 2011:173). However, it is of great importance to grasp the meaning of prefixes because this will help one to guess the right meaning of unknown words in a certain context.3.2. Impa

42、ct of Greco-Roman Myths on Borrowed Words Lexically, words taken over from foreign languages are known as borrowed words or loan words or borrowings in simple terms (Zhang, 2010:10).The author of English Lexicology Teaching, Zhang Weiyou also pointed out that “As is stated in Encyclopedia Americana,

43、 the English language has vast debts. In any dictionary some 80% of the entries are borrowed.” Therefore, other than the impact on word-formation, the Greek and Roman mythology has also effects on words themselves, that is to say, plentiful English words are borrowed from it. Derived directly from n

44、ames or characteristics of the gods, many common words keep in their original forms, and their semantic meanings are associated with the experience or jobs of the corresponding figures in the Greek and Roman mythology. Among them a number of these words have changed and varied their grammatical clas

45、s or category. This part intends to make words divided into common words and proper nouns according to the classification rule of the impact.3.2.1. Impact of Greco-Roman Myths on Common WordsCommon words are of absolute necessity with high frequency of usage in daily life. Almost all of them are der

46、ived from the names of the gods and stand for the meaning related to their functions or important events about them. To illustrate this point, some words are given as below:The name Tantalus is the origin of the English verb to tantalize. Tantalus, an agreeable god, was the son of Zeus and a nymph.

47、However, he was so arrogant that one day he finally made Zeus extremely angry. In order to punish him, Zeus made hin eternally suffer with hunger and thirst in the dark world; he was put up to his chin in water that always moved away as long as he tried to drink it and with fruits above him placed o

48、n a little bit high out of his reach. Hence, the word “tantalize” means to tease or torment a person or animal by arousing his desire.According to the dictionary, the underlying meaning is that when someone is tantalized, that person may has similar experience as Tantalus: something desirable is alw

49、ays just out of that persons reach. Another example is given, Echo, a nymph, was given a punishment by Juno.Then she could only speak and reply with the last word of other peoples sentence. Once she had a crush on Narcissus who was a very handsome god, but the sad fact was that she was despised by h

50、im during their conversation in which Echo could only reply him by repeating the last word of his sentences. And at last Narcissus left her and nothing remained except her voice (Wang, 2009:91). Thus, the meaning of the word “echo” which is obviously related to this story refers to sending and repea

51、ting a sound or an idea or opinion. To take the word siren as one more example, as the dictionary explains, the word siren means “the mechanical device that makes such an alarming sound when police cars, ambulances or fire engines approach”. This word also has its origin in Greek mythology. Sirens w

52、ere a kind of creature that had the body of half bird and half women. They made voices to lure the sailors around to death on the rocks. But Odysseus, the traveler knew this danger. Then in order to avoid being lured by this sound, he asked his accompanies to plug their ears. So nowadays, the word s

53、iren has the meaning of both a loud sound and danger. More examples are displayed as follows: the word “cereal” is originated from Ceres as the elder sister of Zeus and the god of grains and harvests. “Chaos” and “chaotic” are both from Chaos who was the earliest original god meaning a state of comp

54、lete confusion and disorder. “Fury” and “furious” are from Furies who were the three goddesses of revenge “Ocean” is from Oceanides who was the goddess of water and seas.“Panic” is from Pan, with the upper part of a man and the body and the legs of a goat, as the ancient Greeks considered, he was th

55、e god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, hunting and music (Zhou, 2005:200).3.2.2. Impact of Greco-Roman Myths on Technical Terms Almost everything existing on the planet has its god or goddess to rule together the universe in Greek and Roman mythology. It has significant i

56、mpact on naming of proper nouns and technical terms in many fields. To begin with the effect on space, such as Nike missiles, Apollo spacecraft, names of planets like Jupiter,Venus, Mars, Pluto, Neptune, Saturn , Uranus and some others which are all from the names of Roman gods. Then in the field of

57、 Geography there have Atlantic Ocean, Aegean Sea, Oceania, Amazon, Europe, Paris, Atlanta and many more proper nouns taken from the myths. Moreover, Chemistry has brought words such like uranium, titanium, helium, plutonium, cerium, tantalum and so on. Besides, the zoology includes words as names of

58、 animals like hydra, medusa, fauna etc. Other fields own their particular technical terms as well like narcissism of connotative meaning of having an inflated idea of their own importance and its denotative meaning as some kind of plant (Ge, 2009:30). 3.3. Impact of Greco-Roman Myths on IdiomsAccord

59、ing to the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, an idiom is a group of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of its grammatical or logical one. The Online Merriam-Webster Dictionary explains that an idiom is an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words

60、 but that has a separate meaning of its own. From the definitions above, it can be concluded that an idiom is a special form of expression which has a meaning that differs from the literary meaning of the words putting together. Almost every language that developed for a long history owns a flow of