The history of the English language

The history of the English language

1.Indo-European and Germanic influences

English belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. The influence of the original IndoEuropean language can be seen today, even though no written record of it exists. For example, the word for father is Vater in German, pater in Latin and pitr in Sanskrit. These words are all cognates, similar words in different languages that share the same roots.

English is part of the Germanic group of languages. About 3000 years ago this group began as a common language. Tribes who invaded from the east, from what is Germany now, spoke different dialects of the ‘Germanic’ language, from which modern German developed. Because of this English and German are often similar.

During the second century BC this Common Germanic language split into three distinct subgroups: East Germanic, which was spoken by peoples who migrated back to southeastern Europe. The only written East Germanic language that survives is Gothic. The second group, North Germanic, evolved into the modern Scandinavian languages of Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic. And the last group is West Germanic. It’s the ancestor of modern German, Dutch, Flemish, Frisian and English.

2. Old English (500-1100 AD)

Old English was spoken and written in England during the early Middle Ages, from the fifth century through the eleventh.

In the fifth and sixth centuries AD the Angles, Saxons and Jutes began to populate the British Isles. These tribes fought with the original inhabitants of the island, the Britons, and pushed them back to the north and west, what is Scotland and Wales today. The new territory of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes can be called the land of the Anglo-Saxons, or for short, “Angle- land”- England. They spoke a mutually understandable language, which was similar to modern Frisian -the language of northeastern region of the Netherlands- that is called Old English. Old English had three major dialects: Northumbria was spoken in the north of England, Mercian in the Midlands and West Saxon in the south and west.

The original Celtic-speaking inhabitants were pushed out of what is now England into Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Ireland by these invaders. These Celtic languages still survive today as ‘Welsh’ in Wales, ‘Gaelic’ in Scotland and Ireland, ‘Breton’ in France and ‘Manx’ in the isle of Man.

The Vikings also influenced English at this time. Norse invasions, which began around 850, brought many North Germanic words into the language. Most of the modern English words have foreign, not Old English roots. For example words like be, water and strong derive from Old English roots. But Old English had a number of letters, which no longer appear in the Late Modern English language. It is a foreign tongue for us.

3. Middle English (1100-1500)

Between 1100 and 1500 English suffered its most meaningful changes.

The man who invaded and conquered England and the Anglo-Saxons in 1066 AD was William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy. The Normans brought with them the old French language known as Anglo-Norman. This language became the language of the Royal Court and the ruling and business class. Latin had been only a minor influence on the English language. Some French words replaced Old English words, for example: crime replaced firen. King John lost the province of Normandy to the King of France in 1024 AD.

The mixture of the two languages Old English and French came to be known as Middle English. This language was very different in different parts of the country. Modern Englishspeaking people can read Middle English. In 1362 the Statue of Pleading was adopted. This made English the language of the courts and it began to be used in Parliament.

The changes during this period gave place to the 5 variants of English that are still spoken in Great Britain: Northern, East Midland, West Midland, Kentish and Southern.

Middle English was the language of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer (about 1340-1400). He was known as the greatest English poet before Shakespeare. Chaucer wrote many tales and novellas. His most famous work is ‘Canterbury Tales’.

4. Modern English (1500-present)

Modern English began in the year 1500 until today. We’ve devided it into two parts: Early Modern English and Late-Modern English.

Early Modern English (1500-1800)

With the Renaissance came the next wave of innovation in English. It was the time of great advance of learning and culture. Many classical Latin and Greek words were brought into the language by the revival of classical scholarship. Many of these borrowings survive to this day.

Shakespeare’s character Hofernes in Loves Labor Lost is a satire of a very enthusiastic schoolmaster who is too fond of Latinism. Shakespeare (1564- 1616) was the individual, who had the most influence on the English language. Because of his in sight into human nature and his gift for using words, Shakespeare has become the most famous playwright of all time. It must have helped him to have such a new rich language in his hands. He coined some 2000 words, and many catch phrases are from Shakespeare. For example: “One fell swoop”,“vanish into thin air”, “flesh and blood”, “If music be the food of love, play on and give me excess” (12 th Night), “Of one who loved not wisely too well” (Othello) are all Shakespeare’s. Shakespeare gave many phrases and sayings, which English speaker still use every day to the language. But often they do not realise that these words came from Shakespeare’s plays or poems. He defined the English language like no other.

The first of the two other major factors, which influenced the language and served to separate Middle and Modern English, was the Great Vowel Shift. This change in pronunciation began around 1400.

Chaucer’s pronunciation would have been completely unintelligible to the modern ear; Shakespeare would be accented, but understandable.

The advent of the printing press was the last major factor. In 1476 William Caxton brought the printing press to England. At last the printing press brought standardisation to English. The dialect of London became the standard. The first English dictionary was published in 1604. The printing of a book -the ‘Authorised’ or ‘King James’ translation of the Bible in 1611- has had an even greater effect on society and culture than Shakespeare. Anyone who could read had access to the Bible in his or her own language and in words, which were easy to understand. Many phrases and quotations from it have become part of the English language. People often use them, but they don’t know that they come from the Bible. For example: “go a second mile”, “he love of money is the root of all evil”.

Late-Modern English (1800-present)

Pronunciation, grammar and spelling in Early Modern English and Late-Modern English are largely the same. The only differences are the vocabulary and that Late-Modern English has many more words. These words are the result of two historical factors: 1. The Industrial Revolution and the rise of the technological society, 2. The British Empire.

English adopted many foreign words and made them its own. English relied heavily on Latin and Greek. Some words, for example protein and nuclear, didn’t exist in classical languages, but were created from Latin and Greek roots.

The rise of the British Empire and the growth of global trade served to introduce words into English. The languages of the Indian subcontinent, for example Hindi, provided many words. Nearly every language of the world has contributed to the development of English. The creation and spread of American English was the most significant linguistic consequence of the British Empire.

The military influence during the second half of the 20 th century has been great because of the two world wars. Before the Great War military slang existed, but rarely influenced Standard English. During the mid-20 th century military slang entered the language like never before.

English has continued to change since the time of Shakespeare. British settlers moved across the world. They went to the USA, Australia, New Zealand; India, Asia and Africa and in each place, the language changed and developed, and took in words from other local languages. Words like ‘kangaroo’ and ‘boomerang’ are native Australian Aborigine words.

All these different types of English have mixed with the increase in communication, travel, radio and television. Because of American and Australian TV programmes many parts of Australian and American English are used in Britain today. Words from many other languages, for example French, German, Spanish, Arabic and Nepali, have been borrowed. So English continues to change and develop with hundreds of new words arriving every year. It has truly become the world’s international language.

English has become the language of science, air traffic control, and the world of computers and especially of the Internet. It spread throughout the world and became the official language of many countries and the most important transmitter of knowledge in the modern era.