The Story of English
In The Beginning . . .
Indo-European Language
1) The Start of the Indo-European Language
6000 BC, Indo-European language started in a cold, northern climate of the forests north of the Black Sea (in what is now Ukraine) during the Neolithic period.
2) The Spread of Indo-European Language
By 3500 BC, these IE speakers began to travel.
We get the start of many of the world's languages
These people spread:
West to Europe (German, English, French)
South to the Mediterranean (Italian, Spanish, Greek)
North to Scandinavia (Polish, Russian)
East to India and Iran (Iranian, Hindi)
The First English (kind of)
3) The Celtics
A. The first of these groups to go to England were the Celts
Celtic initially developed in mainland to France
B. Only about a dozen words are still in use
Geographical terms for UK
Avon and Thames
C. After a few early invasions, the Celts pushed West
They formed the languages of Welsh, Ireland, Scotland
The Italians (thank God!!!)
4) The Invading Romans
A. The Romans invaded UK and the Celts
B. Roman invasion in Britain left only 5 words.
-chester in Manchester and the -caster in Lancaster (means camps)
Interestingly, the Romans gave birth to a whole new group of Romantic languages in Europe (Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, etc.).
C. The Romans soon left (why stay in England when you have Italy!)
Stayed for 367 years
D. The Real Shocker:
Everywhere the Roman Empire went, they left the "Latin" language
Left Latin in France and it became Latin French (evolving into French)
Left Latin in Italy and it became Latin Italian (evolving into Italian)
Left Latin in Spain and it become Latin Spanish (evolving into Spanish)
Left Latin in Portugal and it became Late Portuguese (evolving into Portuguese)
The Germans are Coming!
5) The Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes
A. Around 450 AD, The Angles (gave us "A[E]nglish"), Saxons (dominant group), and the Jutes came from Holland, Germany, and Denmark.
They were unrefined and barbaric compared to the Celts
B. After years of being isolate, their 3 languages started to blend together and develop into a brand new language--Old English!!
It sounded much more like German than English
There are still places in Germany where people speak a version of Anglo and Saxon that sound very much like Old English.
The Germans are Coming!
C. What is left from old Anglo/Saxon (Old English) :
Most of Anglo/Saxon died out
Today, only about 1% of the words in the Oxford English Dictionary are A/S (old English)
Yet, those surviving words are the most fundamental
Man, wife, child, brother, sister, live, fight, love, drink, sleep, eat, house, through, look, walk, shoot, ground, meat, today, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, to, for, but, and, at, in, on.
In fact, everyone of the 100 most common words spoken today are Anglo/Saxon
Of the next 100 words, 83 are of A/S origins
The Christians
6) The Christians with their Latin
A. In 597 AD, Christianity brought its huge Latin vocabulary to England (thanks to Augustine).
We get Angel, disciple, litany, martyr, mass, relic, shrift, shrine, alter, psalm, etc.
B. We also get . . . our dominant religion
Remember, the A/S were pagans (Tue, Wardon, Thor, Frick)
Thus, America was founded as a Christian State, not a pagan one
Here Comes Trouble, again!
7) Vikings (750-1050 AD)
A. The Vikings invaded the Northern part of England
Spoke old Norse
B. The Vikings were very aggressive
They killed the Anglos, Saxons, Christian monks, land owners, etc.
C. English almost died out without a trace
Then, in 878 AD, in an 11th hour victory, Alfred the Great won many decisive battles
Dane Treaty was signed-English got the South, the Danes got the North
Without this victory, we may be speaking Viking!
D. To this day, the treaty line divides Northern and Southern English Dialects
To hear Northern-English speakers, one can hear Viking terms and accents.
In fact, Northern England is filled with over 1,400 town names that are Viking
E. Over 1500 Viking words still survive:
Anger, bag, bait, birth, club, die, dirt, egg, husband, knife, law, skate, skill, skin, sky, they, their, ugly, want, weak, window
They gave us more than just French Fries
8) The French Normans
A. The Famous 1066 invasion of William the Conqueror
The "Norman French" came to England and kicked butt
B. They Became the New Elite Leaders of England
For 300 years, England did not have a King who spoke English (until 1399)
They took all the seats of power (church, government, law)
The common English continued to speak their A/S German (AKA, Old English)
C. Their addition to English:
The French speaking Normans gave English 10,000 words (3/4 of which are still in use)
Just about all our words related to government (except King and Queen), the law, the arts, medicine, high fashion, and the military are French
Bacon, beef, butcher, button, court, crime, curfew, defeat, eagle, fashion, felony, fraud, gallon, grammar, injury, joy, judge, jury, justice, lever, liberty, marriage, noun, nurse, parliament, pork, prison, question, rape, river, salary, shop, spy, squirrel, syllable, tax, virgin
D. The Blending of the Two Worlds (and languages)
Slowly, Norman French began a break with Parisian French
Many felt no alliance with "real" French anymore and began to embrace English (as a new language and a culture)
Lots of intermarriages between the Normans and the English
This blending is the start of Middle English
Unifying The Many Dialects of English
A) Fragmented Society
By the 15th Century, people of English could still not understand people from other parts of England.
B) Unifying the English Language
Since, London was so big and influential, it was destine to be the standard for all English.
It also helped that London spoke an "east-midlands dialect," the same dialect spoken at Oxford and Cambridge.
Their graduates became the leaders of the country.
C) Without this unification, America would be a different country
English settled from GA to Mass-Image if they all had different dialect
- Someone from Maine would not understand "South Carolinian"
Some Other Influences that Changed English (and you)
Other Worldly Contributions to English
Shakespeare
Used 34,000 words-8% were never used before
Average educated 16,000 / King James Bible 8,000
Coined 2,000 words: barefaced, critical, leapfrog, monumental, castigate, majestic, obscene, frugal, radiance, dwindle, countless, submerged, excellent, fretful, gust, hint, hurry, lonely, summit, pendant, obscene, and some 1, 685 others
Coined many Phrases: One fell swoop, In my minds eye, To be in a pickle, Vanish into thin air, Budge an inch, Play fast and loose, Flesh and Blood, To be or not to be, Foul play, Cruel to be kind
No single person has ever done more for any language
Other Worldly Contributions to English
Algonquin Caribou, Massachusetts, Missouri, moccasins, Oregon, pecan, raccoon, tomahawk, Wisconsin, Wyoming
Iroquois Kentucky, Ohio, Canada
Arabic Albatross, alcohol, algebra, almanac, assassin, average, caramel, coffee, cork, cotton, garbage, giraffe, jar, magazine, mattress, mirror, monkey, safari, sheriff, soda, sofa, syrup, tariff, zenith, zero
Dutch Bluff, boom, booze, boss, brandy, Brooklyn, bully, caboose, coleslaw, cookie, deck, decoy, dock, dot, drill, drug, grab, Harlem, hustle, jeer, landscape, lottery, pickle, plug, plump, poll, Poppycock, quack, Santa Claus, cab, stove, tub, waffle, wagon, yacht, Yankee
Parisian French A la cart, ballet, biscuit, cache, camouflage, crayon, dentist, espionage, laissez faire, lieutenant, maroon, mayonnaise, nasal, parachute, picnic, pioneer, renaissance, rendezvous, restaurant, sabotage, soup, souvenir, sport, tampon, tangerine, traffic, umpire, unique
Modern German Blitz, brake, clock, clown, dollar, hamburger, heroin, kindergarten, lager, luck, muffin, nickel, noodle, pretzel, quartz, rocket, vitamin, waltz
Spanish
Argentina, bonanza, canyon, Colorado, embargo, Florida, guitar, lunch, patio, ranch, rodeo, stampede, tornado, tuna, vanilla
Sanskrit Brilliant, candy, hemp, nirvana, opal, orange, pepper, sugar, swastika, yoga
Italian A cappella, alarm, America, bank, bankrupt, bravo, broccoli, buffoon, canon, cartoon, casino, desk, ditto, escort,graffiti, macaroni, Mafia, manager, opera, pasta, piano, pizza, risk, solo, semolina, soprano, studio, spaghetti, umbrella, violin, volcano
Kongo (West Africa) Bongo, boogie, chimpanzee, funky, gorilla, mojo, zebra, zombie
Portuguese Bossa Nova, breeze, caste, cobra, Creole, embarrass, fetish, flamingo, massage
Hebrew Amen, cider, cinnamon, elephant, gopher, hallelujah, Israel, Jew, jockey, jug, messiah, Nimrod, rabbi, Sabbath, sapphire, Satan, sodomy
Proven?al (S. France) Ballad, boutique, cabin, cavalier, cocoon, crusade, fig, Harlequin, limousine, lingo, mascot, nutmeg, perfume, pilgrim, salad, sonnet
Other Worldly Contributions to English (the 2 biggies)
Latin Agitator, album, animal, August, autumn, calendar, circus, data, doctor, December, educator, February, France, Germany, Greece, inch, joke, July, June, Jupiter, liberator, London, March, Mars, May, Mercury, mile, November, October, parent, pastor, picture, refrigerate, religion, republic, satellite, September, Spain, stadium, study, stupid, suburb, table, tavern, vagina
- Many of these also appear in the Romance Languages
Greek
Academy, acrobat, alphabet, aristocrat, athlete, barbarian, bishop, buffalo, cathedral, catholic, cemetery, chorus, Christ, democracy, dinosaur, diploma, drama, economy, genesis, gymnasium, helicopter, history, horizon, idea, mathematics, method, museum, mystery, ocean, Olympic, panic, prophet, psalm, psycho-, pyramid, rhythm, symphony, tele-, theater, theatre, theory
Other Worldly Contributions to English
Afrikaans: Slim
Avestan (extinct from Iran): Magic and Paradise
Bilti (Pakistan): Polo
Benton (West France): Billiards
Carib (Caribbean): Barbecue
Czech: Robot
Flemish (North Belgium): Gas
Hindi: Shampoo
Maya: Cigar
Nahuatl (Mexico): Chocolate & Tomato
Tongan (South Pacific): Taboo
Some Closing thoughts on English up to 1500
1) English is a mongrel language made up of a little of everything from everywhere
2) English is a NEW language.
Not until 1600s do we get a language that we could recognize today
3) The English Vocabulary Huge (or big, large, ample, great, prodigious, immense, elephantine, elephantine, towering, gargantuan, gigantic, massive, monolithic, voluminous, tremendous, Herculean)
That is in larger part due to all the invasions & borrowing
We have a synonyms for everything
Russian Vocabulary: 150,000 words
French Vocabulary: 180,000 words
Chinese Vocabulary: 221,000 words (2nd largest)
English Vocabulary: Over 600,000 words (1st, by a mile)
Although the average 8th grader only uses 890 words a day
Now. . . To America!!!
