The History of the English Language

Old English

English

• Is a Germanic language of the Indo-European family. It is the second most spoken language in the world.

• What is the most spoken language in the world?

Official LanguageEnglish is listed as the official or co-official language of over 45 countries and is spoken extensively where it has no official status.

Majority English speaking populations:Antigua New ZealandAustralia St. LuciaBahamas St. VincentBelize South AfricaCanada Trinidad and TobagoDominica United KingdomGrenada U.S.AGuyanaIreland *More than listed

Old English (450-1150)

• Celts inhabit and colonize British Isles – Language relative of Welsh (whiskey, bog)

• Three Germanic tribes invade the British Isles during the 5th Century AD.

• Angles, Saxons, and Jutes crossed the North Sea from what is the present day Denmark and northern Germany. – Begin Anglo-Saxon settlements

Old English

• Most of the Celtic speakers were pushed into Wales, Cornwall, and Scotland.

• English derives from Angles’ language – Anglo-Saxon language

covers most of modern day England

Old English • Development of four

English dialects during next few centuries:

1. Northumbrian2. Mercian3. West Saxon4. Kentish

• As time went on, Northumbria’s culture and language dominated Britain.

• The Vikings invasion of the 9th Century brought this domination to an end. – Scandinavian influence

• By the 10th Century, the West Saxon dialect became the official language of Britain.

Old English

Old English consisted of an Anglo Saxon base with borrowed words from the Scandinavian languages (Danish and Norse) and Latin.

Scandinavian ‘sk’ vs. English ‘sh’. There are many pairs of words in English with these phonetic differences which originally had the same meaning: skirt and shirt; raise and rear; screech and shriek

Latin gave English words like: street, kitchen, kettle, cup, cheese, wine, angel, bishop, martyr, candle

The Vikings added many Norse words like: sky, egg, cake, skin, leg, window.

Celtic words also survived mainly in place and river names: Devon, Dover, Kent, Avon, Thames

Old English • In 1066 the Normans

conquered Britain (Battle of Hastings). French became the language of the Norman aristocracy and added more vocabulary to English.

• Because the English underclass cooked for the Norman upper class, the words for most domestic animals are English while the words for the meats derived from French.

Old English: Interesting Tidbits

The Germanic form of plurals (house:housen; shoe:shoen) was eventually displaced by the French method of making pluralsOnly a few words have retained their Germanic plurals: oxen, feet, teeth, children

French also affected spelling so that the cw sound came to be written as qu (cween)

Old English

It wasn’t until the 14th Century that English became dominant in Britain again. By the end of the 14th Century, the dialect of London had emerged as the standard dialect of what we now call Middle English.

Old English: Excerpt from Beowulf:

1-21HWÆT, WE GAR-DEna in geardagum, þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon! oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum, monegum mægþum meodosetla ofteah, egsode eorlas, syððanærest wearðfeasceaft funden; he þæs frofre gebad,weox under wolcnum weorðmyndum þah,oð þæt him æghwylc ymbsittendraofer hronrade hyran scolde, gomban gyldan; þæt wæs god cyning! Ðæm eafera wæs æfter cenned geong in geardum, þone God sende folce to frofre; fyrenðearfe ongeat, þe hie ær drugon aldorlease lange hwile; him þæs Liffrea, wuldres Wealdend woroldare forgeaf, Beowulf wæs breme --- blæd wide sprang-

• Hwæt w Gâr-Dena in geâr-dagum�So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by• þod-cyninga þrym gefrãnon,�and the kings who ruled them had courage and

greatness.• hã ð~ æþelingas ellen fremedon. We have heard of those princes’ heroic campaigns.• Oft Scyld Scfing sceaþena þratum, � �There was Shield Sheafson, scourge of many tribes,• 5 monegum mægþum meodo-setla oftah; �a wrecker of mead-benches, rampaging among foes.• egsode Eorle, syððan ærest wearð This terror of the hall-troops had come far.• fasceaft funden; h þæs frÇfre geb~d: � �A foundling to start with, he would flourish later on• wox under wolcnum, weorð-myndum þ~h, �as his powers waxed and his worth was • proved.oðþæt him æghwylc þ~ra ymb-sittendraIn the end each clan on the outlying coasts• 10 ofer hron-r~de hyran scolde, beyond the whale-road had to yield to him• gomban gyldan: þæt wæs gÇd cyning! and began to pay tribute. That was one good king

Old English

Important Takeaways:• Old English: 450-1150• Norman Invasion: 1066 • https://www.youtube.c

om/watch?v=_K13GJkGvDw