Non-derivative nominations of money, payments and financial operations in the English language: ratio of native and borrowed words, ratio of frequency

Abstract

The origin (native or borrowed character) of 100 non-derivative lexemes, denoting money, payments, financial operations is considered. The percentage of native English words and borrowings from different languages has been determined. It is shown that most borrowings come from the Old French language (43%), Latin borrowings take the second place (22%), borrowings from Scandinavian and other languages constitute 11%. Using the frequency dictionary “Word Frequency of Written and Spoken”, 100 non-derivative lexemes were ranked in decreasing order of frequency.