1. Borrowing:
* Latin: Old English borrowed heavily from Latin, especially after the Roman conquest of Britain. Examples: *street, church, school, wine, candle, cheese*.
* Scandinavian: The Viking invasions and subsequent settlement left their mark on the English language. Examples: *berserk, skull, take, skirt, egg, husband, knife*.
* Other Languages: Borrowing was not limited to Latin and Scandinavian. Some Old English words come from Old Frisian, Old Dutch, and even Old French.
2. Compounding:
* This involved combining two or more words to create a new word with a combined meaning. This was very common in Old English.
* Examples: *sunbeam (sun + beam), starlight (star + light), forehead (fore + head), woodpecker (wood + pecker), housewife (house + wife)*.
3. Derivation:
* Adding prefixes and suffixes to existing words to change their meaning or grammatical function.
* Prefixes: *un- (unhappy), be- (beset), for- (forbid), a- (awake)*.
* Suffixes: *-ness (kindness), *-ship (friendship), *-dom (kingdom), *-ful (beautiful)*.
4. Conversion (Zero Derivation):
* This involved shifting the grammatical function of a word without adding affixes. For example, a noun could be used as a verb, or vice-versa.
* Examples: *The man fished (verb from the noun "fish"), They housed the refugees (verb from the noun "house")*.
5. Back-Formation:
* Creating a new word by removing a supposed affix from an existing word.
* Examples: *The word "editor" was formed from the noun "editor" by removing the supposed suffix "-or"*.
6. Metathesis:
* Changing the order of sounds within a word. This was less common in Old English, but it did occur.
* Examples: * "fright" from "ferht" (meaning "fear"), "bird" from "brid" (meaning "bird")*.
7. Folk Etymology:
* Misinterpreting the origin of a word and applying a new meaning based on the misinterpretation.
* Examples: *The word "sandwich" is said to have evolved from the Earl of Sandwich, but it is actually based on the Old English word "sand".
In Summary:
Old English used a diverse array of techniques to create new words, drawing on influences from other languages, combining existing words, and manipulating word structures. This dynamic approach contributed to the rich vocabulary and expressive power of the language.