journal of linguistic studies

- borrowed words that have been assimilated with a single letter (although the
English words contain a double consonant): buldog (DOOM), ofset (DOOM),
tenis (DOOM), stoper (DOOM), presing (DOOM), congres (DOOM).
It can be said that most English words spelled with a double consonant, have
preserved this feature when they were borrowed into Romanian.
The group of letters “ck” has the equivalents “c” and “ch” in Romanian: bec < back,
docher < docker, cocteil < cocktail (in DOOM, it is also recorded with the etymological
spelling cocktail). However, many borrowings containing this group of letters have an
etymological spelling: rock, snack-bar, cockpit, hacker, background, feedback, pick-up,
lock-out, play-back, etc. Lyutakova (2004) remarks that sometimes the etymological
spelling may lead to confusion due to the contradiction between the English and the
Romanian spelling systems. The consonant group “ch” corresponds to [tS] in English and
to [k] in Romanian when it is followed by front vowels. That is why the English word
“chip” has only been borrowed recently; its meaning was rendered by the loantranslation,
“pastilă” or by the phrase “circuit integrat”. Because of its international status
this word has entered Romanian and has been adapted to its spelling: cip in order to avoid
the homography with the older lexeme: chip [kip].
The letter “y” is rendered as such in most of the borrowings: lobby, whisky, cowboy,
hobby, fairplay, sexy, spray, hippy, and cherry-brandy. Very few borrowings containing
the letter “y” have been adapted to the Romanian orthographic system; this letter is
replaced with “i”: iaht, volei, hochei, nailon; some borrowings are recorded in DOOM
with both spellings: derby / i, penalty / i, rugby / i.
The letter “w” is quite similar to “y” as far as adaptation is concerned. It remains
unchanged in most English borrowings: weekend, whisky, western, twist, swing, etc. It is
assimilated in the following borrowings: clovn, sveter, vatman, vafă (“w” is replaced with
“v”).
The problem that emerges in the case of the compounds is whether the compound
borrowings should be written solid, hyphenated or as completely separate words. The
spelling rules of Romanian regarding the compounds take into account the extent to
which the component parts preserve their morphological identity; the elements that
receive the suitable inflection are hyphenated (Avram 1987).
Some compound borrowings preserve their original spelling:
- compounds that are written solid both in English and in Romanian: bodyguard,
cowboy, pacemaker, weekend (Oxford 1995, DOOM 2005);
- compounds that are hyphenated both in the lending and the receiving language:
music-hall, know-how, non-stop, play-back, duty-free, etc. (Oxford 1995, DOOM
2005).
Other compounds that are written in English as two completely separate words are
either written solid or hyphenated, in Romanian: fairplay, bestseller, etc.; mass-media,
sex-appeal, talk-show, etc. (DOOM 2005). The borrowings lockout and showroom
(written solid in English) are hyphenated in Romanian: lock-out, show-room.
In Romanian there is a tendency to hyphenate the compound borrowings even when
the hyphen does not exist in the original word. Separating by a hyphen the elements of a
compound helps clarify its meaning, structure, to the Romanian speaker facilitating its
integration, as well.
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