A Brief History of the English Language

From Beowulf to Modern Times

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English Language
Old

English from the earliest written documents to the end of the 7th century Middle English the 7th century to 1500 Modern English 1500 to present day
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 Romans

55 B.C. (Julius Caesar) Celtic people (Britons) 400 years > a Roman colony Wales & Scotland > unconquered obstacle (high mountains) 410 A.D. Romans left Britain
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Anglo-Saxon Influence
5th century A.D. New invaders - Germanic tribes: Angles (Schleswig) Saxons (Holstein) Jutes (Jutland) Germanic speech family West Germanic > Low German (English, Dutch) > High German (German)
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Anglo-Saxon

Old English an inflected language five cases of nouns (Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative, Vocative) strong & weak declensions for adjectives (each with five cases) a full conjugation of verbs
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system of grammatical gender e.g. hand > feminine fot (= foot) > masculine heafod > neuter wif (= wife) > neuter wifmann (woman) > masculine
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England the land of the Angles man woman work eat house shire

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The Danish Element

The end of 8th century > conquerors & settlers Words common to both Saxon & Danish languages father winter think man town will wife house see
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mother summer come

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 Danish

leg
sky ugly call
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words skin happy weak take

skull
law

knife
low

wrong want die lift

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Latin Influence
the 6th century AD missionaries from Rome came to strengthen Christianity in Britain religion and learning
school pope candle mass
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monk verse
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French (Norman) Influence

1066 Britain conquered by the Normans French became the official language government, legal system, cooking court advise govern sovereign *veal *mutton

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Sir Walter Scott Ivanhoe the names of animals while alive English prepared for food > Norman cow / bull / ox > beef calf > veal sheep / lamb > mutton swine / pig > pork

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 French English

> official language > spoken by the common

people 1362 Edward III > opened Parliament in English French has become much unknown in this realm.
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Modification of English
For

three centuries almost entirely spoken language

general grammatical simplification dropping of grammatical gender case endings of nouns reduced to one simplified verb forms although Germanic language > 50% of the words of French and Latin origin
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Vocabulary
early

accepted French words >totally anglicized >accent on the first syllable (a feature of Old English) virtue nature honour reason later accepted words >failed accentuation campaign faade
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 garage

(half-way) [gara:] [gra:] [garid] > carriage; marriage pronunciation of G as [ d ] > rage, age, judge as [ ] > rouge, sabotage, camouflage
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 pronunciation

of CH as [ ] > chief, chimney as [ ] > chef, chauffeur

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Two words > roughly the same meaning

Saxon origin vs. Norman origin foe enemy friendship amity freedom liberty Saxon words > deeper emotional content Brotherly love vs. fraternal affection Hearty welcome vs. cordial reception

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 Since

Norman times no other invader has come to England to impose an alien tongue on the country. the stream of words has never ceased to flow in.

But

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Greek and Latin Influence

Renaissance

interest in classical learning influx of words from Greek and Latin physics radius architecture phenomenon history educate

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Colonies Striking Back

WORLDWIDE ENGLISH (WORLD ENGLISH)

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Borrowings from Other Languages

Indian:

>pyjamas, shampoo, bungalow Persian: >caravan, jackal, bazaar Arabic: >admiral, alcohol, coffee, cotton

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 Italian:

>piano, umbrella, balcony, corridor, monkey Spanish: >dispatch, cargo, cigarette Portuguese: >verandah, parasol, firm
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Indian (New World) >potato, tobacco, canoe, Mexico >chocolate, cocoa, tomato Chinese: >tea Malaya, Polynesia, Australia >bamboo, taboo, boomerang, kangaroo

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British vs. American English

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British vs. American English (Lexis)

American
apartment

British

Serbian

flat
luggage milliard tin

stan
prtljag milijarda konzerva
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baggage billion can

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A vs. B: LEXIS contd

American candy druggist elevator fall first floor gas, gasoline subway suspenders 4/3/2013 truck British sweet chemist lift autumn ground floor petrol underground braces lorry Serbian slatkis apotekar lift jesen prizemlje benzin podzemna zel tregeri 27 kamion

Compare
American Joe stopped the truck near a billboard. Taking out his flashlight, he checked the gas and the battery, wiped the windshields, lifted the hood, and tried to tighten the spark plug with a monkey 4/3/2013 wrench. British Joe stopped the lorry near the hoarding. Taking out his electric torch, he checked the petrol and the accumulator, wiped the windscreen, lifted the bonnet, and tried to tighten the sparking plug with a 28 spanner.

Differences in spelling
American behavior color favor honor caliber center theater catalog 4/3/2013 connection British behaviour colour favour honour calibre centre theatre catalogue connexion Serbian

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Differences in spelling contd

American judgment traveler likable lovable advisor gram ton program 4/3/2013 defense British judgement traveller likeable loveable adviser gramme tonne programme defence Serbian

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Differences in pronunciation
last pass dance tired iron clerk [la:st] [pa:s] [da:ns] [taid] [ain] [cla:k] [lst] [pst] [dns] [taird] [airn] [cl:rk]

current
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[krnt]

[k:rnt]
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