ETYMOLOGY OF MARINE SURVEYOR TERMS (BASED ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of marine surveyor terms through the etymological perspective. The marine surveyor terms have been chosen as the object of the given investigation. The subject of the study is the structural features and origin of the terms of the above-mentioned branch. The selection of terms in the amount of 300 units, which are widely used in surveying, makes up the material of our research. The character of the object and subject of the investigation as well as its purpose define the choice of the methods applied: the sampling method; the statistical analysis method; contextual method; descriptive method; elements of diachronic and synchronic analysis. To achieve the purpose of our scientific research, the etymology of the English marine terminology has been analyzed and its characteristic features have been established: belonging to a certain marine environment / background, appropriateness to some certain context or situations (different spheres of communication), usage only by the representatives of shipboard or coastal language communities as well as in communicative situations related to different working conditions at sea, usage and formation under certain sociolinguistic circumstances. Marine terminology is characterized by consistency, availability of definition, lack of expressiveness and stylistic neutrality. The survey provides a complex of different services of qualitative and/or quantitative examination of particular objects, subjects or phenomena, and it is performed by the party not concerned. The carried out structural analysis of surveyor terminology shows that most surveyor terms are compound and consist of two (52%) and three components (16%). As for the etymological aspect, the majority of lexical components of marine terms in the surveying sphere are of Anglo-Saxon origin. They make up 40 % of the material researched. The number of lexical components of Latin and Old French origin in English comprises 28 and 22% respectively. Lexical components of Greek and Dutch origin are of the same amount – 3,5% for each group.