English has grown from its humble roots to being one of the most important global languages. The language is used by countries and organizations around the world so that their messages can be heard and understood by many nations. Even so, many people have difficulties learning and using English. This is due to its unique grammar and vocabulary. This uniqueness did not appear overnight. Rather, English developed through a long and conflicted history. This history is marked by dramatic shifts in culture and government, which are the main causes for the development of the language we know today as English.
Extensive studies on the origins of languages have been performed by historians, mapping the migration of lingual roots across geography and known languages. One particularly important root language is the Indo-European subset of the Proto-Indo-European language. This is the basis of nearly all phonetics that stretch across the European continent (Algeo 50). Among these Indo-European languages is English, and it is from the Indo-European that the Germanic languages were developed.
The history of the English language follows the development of Germanic languages. The homeland of English, however, was in an area of the British Isles that spoke a Celtic, and not German, language (Algeo 79). The change to a Germanic language is because of the ancient history of the British Isles and, oddly enough, their relationship with the Romans, a group of people who spoke the Italic language of Latin. The Romans were an expanding and technologically superior nation whose borders eventually reached the shores of the contiguous European continent. Beyond the channel that lapped at Europe’s northwestern shores were the British Isles, or as it was known to the Romans, Britannia. In the year 43 AD, the Roman Empire invaded the British Isles and eventually conquered the Celtic inhabitants in the region of Anglia.
Extensive studies on the origins of languages have been performed by historians, mapping the migration of lingual roots across geography and known languages. One particularly important root language is the Indo-European subset of the Proto-Indo-European language. This is the basis of nearly all phonetics that stretch across the European continent (Algeo 50). Among these Indo-European languages is English, and it is from the Indo-European that the Germanic languages were developed.
The history of the English language follows the development of Germanic languages. The homeland of English, however, was in an area of the British Isles that spoke a Celtic, and not German, language (Algeo 79). The change to a Germanic language is because of the ancient history of the British Isles and, oddly enough, their relationship with the Romans, a group of people who spoke the Italic language of Latin. The Romans were an expanding and technologically superior nation whose borders eventually reached the shores of the contiguous European continent. Beyond the channel that lapped at Europe’s northwestern shores were the British Isles, or as it was known to the Romans, Britannia. In the year 43 AD, the Roman Empire invaded the British Isles and eventually conquered the Celtic inhabitants in the region of Anglia.
The inhabitants of Anglia, the British Celts, were not quick to adopt Latin. In fact, despite the Roman occupancy of Anglia, most of the citizens retained their Celtic language (Algeo 79). The main affect that the Romans had on the language of the British Celts was in how the Romans affected their mind sets. After generations of Roman rule, the British Celts had become submissive and unable to defend themselves. When the Romans withdrew from Britannia in the fifth century, they were helpless against the German and Pictish tribes (Algeo 79). It was because of this that later in the fifth century the Anglo-Saxons, and the English language, arrived in Anglia.
According to the Venerable Bede in his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum as Translated by Jane, the defenseless Celts hired Germanic tribes to defeat their Scottish and Pictish aggressors. Then, after a time of fighting the Picts, the Germanic tribes, among them the tribe of the Angles, began to settle with the Celts, and eventually turned on them, conquering the east and south of the British Isles (Jane). When a stalemate was reached, the Celts and the Germanic invaders made a treaty that became formally known as the Danelaw in 886 AD (Dawson 41).
According to the Venerable Bede in his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum as Translated by Jane, the defenseless Celts hired Germanic tribes to defeat their Scottish and Pictish aggressors. Then, after a time of fighting the Picts, the Germanic tribes, among them the tribe of the Angles, began to settle with the Celts, and eventually turned on them, conquering the east and south of the British Isles (Jane). When a stalemate was reached, the Celts and the Germanic invaders made a treaty that became formally known as the Danelaw in 886 AD (Dawson 41).
By this treaty, the Celtic inhabitants were under the rule of their Germanic, or Saxon, conquerors. These people were then subjected to the laws and political systems of the Saxons. This change in law caused a dramatic shift in the culture of the Celts as well as in their language. Under this new system, the inhabitants were forced to adopt new words to accommodate the political systems. Gaining importance in everyday society, the language system in Anglia began to follow a morphological pattern that closely traced the development of German (Dawson 45). After the culture and language changed from its original Celtic origins to this German culture, the British Celts and the Anglo-Saxons began to refer to themselves and their language as “English” (Algeo 80).
This new “English” is what historians call “Old English.” Heavily based on the German, this new language developed into a different branch than the traditional German. Instead of being considered a part of the High German, English diverged into the branch known as Low German (Baker). This Old English is distinctive from the High German in the way the English verbs do not conjugate differently depending on their person perspective, meaning that for the subjects “I,” “you,” and “it,” the Old English verbs would look the same in each situation, such as in English “I see” and “you see” have the same verb. Old English is also distinctive in that it did not undergo the consonant shift that the High German languages did (Baker). The difference from this can still be seen today between Modern English and modern German. The English word “father” is spelled with an “f” while the German word “vater” is spelled with a “v,” and yet they both make the same sound due to the change in consonant pronunciation during the consonant shift. Beyond that, Old English used vocabulary drawn mainly from German and partially from Celtic, Scandinavian and Latin (Algeo 90).
The era of Old English lasted until the final reign of the Anglo-Saxon kings. This coincides with the rise of Middle English and the Norman Invasion in 1066 AD. The Anglo-Saxon conquerors who lived in Anglia during the Danelaw lived as equals with the previous residence, but when the Normans conquered the British Isles, they treated the conquered as inferiors (Vajda). Thus the Norman French became the language of the upper class, and the Old English became the language of the lower class. After the loss of Normandy in 1204 and the Hundred Years’ War in 1337, the French language lost popularity, even among the upper class (Algeo 114). English, however, had already experienced a major change from its previous Old English.
This new “English” is what historians call “Old English.” Heavily based on the German, this new language developed into a different branch than the traditional German. Instead of being considered a part of the High German, English diverged into the branch known as Low German (Baker). This Old English is distinctive from the High German in the way the English verbs do not conjugate differently depending on their person perspective, meaning that for the subjects “I,” “you,” and “it,” the Old English verbs would look the same in each situation, such as in English “I see” and “you see” have the same verb. Old English is also distinctive in that it did not undergo the consonant shift that the High German languages did (Baker). The difference from this can still be seen today between Modern English and modern German. The English word “father” is spelled with an “f” while the German word “vater” is spelled with a “v,” and yet they both make the same sound due to the change in consonant pronunciation during the consonant shift. Beyond that, Old English used vocabulary drawn mainly from German and partially from Celtic, Scandinavian and Latin (Algeo 90).
The era of Old English lasted until the final reign of the Anglo-Saxon kings. This coincides with the rise of Middle English and the Norman Invasion in 1066 AD. The Anglo-Saxon conquerors who lived in Anglia during the Danelaw lived as equals with the previous residence, but when the Normans conquered the British Isles, they treated the conquered as inferiors (Vajda). Thus the Norman French became the language of the upper class, and the Old English became the language of the lower class. After the loss of Normandy in 1204 and the Hundred Years’ War in 1337, the French language lost popularity, even among the upper class (Algeo 114). English, however, had already experienced a major change from its previous Old English.
Old English had emphasized its German roots in its vocabulary and grammar. After the Norman Conquest, however, the Italic languages grew in precedence. Whereas before the Norman Conquest, German was used for all aspects of life, after the conquest “many Anglo Saxon words narrowed in meaning to describe only the cruder, dirtier aspects of life. Concepts associated with culture, fine living and abstract learning tended to be described by new Norman words”(Vajda). This means that the French ideas and culture were seen as superior to the Germanic roots. As such, French became more important and had a noticeable impact on the syntax and vocabulary of English.
The superiority of French was so large that not only was the vocabulary strongly affected, but the grammar was even altered to more closely resemble the French. An example of this is seen in the prefix and suffix systems on words. The Anglo-Saxon prefixes and suffixes were generally replaced by Latin or French prefixes and suffixes (Vajda). Among the Latin prefixes that came from the Latin are the common prefixes “ex-” and “en-,” and “pro-” and “con-.” These are common in words used for movement or opinion, with the original Latin meanings respectively being “out” and “in,” and “for” and “against.” An effected change in pronunciation is also seen in the verses and poetry of the time. According to Charlton Lewis, the Middle English showed in its poetry a clear change in its accent and syllabic construction when compared to its purely Germanic language of Old English (95). As well as with pronunciation, there was an effect on vocabulary too. Even though Old English and Norman French were separated in their use by social class, by the 1500’s the two languages had streamlined into a unified and unique language, the final step in Middle English. This Middle English was no longer heavily based on the German; rather, the majority of its vocabulary was now drawn from the French and Latin languages of its rulers (Algeo 115). In particular, because the French culture and politics were so much different from the Danelaw and Celtic governmental systems, essentially all of the words for government, such as the Modern English word “judicial,” are derived from the Latin or French (Vajda). “Judicial” is the Modern English word which is derived from the Latin word “iudicium,” meaning judgment or trial. This word is closely related to the Latin word “iustus,” which means just. It is from “iustus” that the Old French word for justice, “justise" was derived, and it was this word that was transferred into the English lexicon, replacing the Old English “gerihte.” With the base meaning for justice formed from the French and the Latin, the names of the systems related to justice evolved and became derivatives of these words.
After the era of Middle English, Modern English is approximated to have started in the 1500’s. Middle English had ended in the formalization of English, and the codification and continuation of English defined the Modern English era. Even though English had finally stabilized, globalization had led to the influence of other cultures on the predominantly Anglo-Norman language (Vajda). In particular, Early Modern English drew words from the dead Latin and Greek languages as well as German. Due to the fact that by this time English was neither Germanic nor French, these foreign words were no longer easy to integrate into the current vocabulary (Algeo 141). Instead, these words were taken directly from their parent languages as loan words, showing little to no change in their spelling or pronunciation during the transition. The reason for the sudden need for borrowed vocabulary was the need for words describing new things and ideas. The world had become smaller in that English speakers travelled to other countries and experienced new cultures, and the scholars of the time were making new fields and discoveries (Algeo 140). Other than this new vocabulary, little else changed from the late Middle English to Early Modern English.
The superiority of French was so large that not only was the vocabulary strongly affected, but the grammar was even altered to more closely resemble the French. An example of this is seen in the prefix and suffix systems on words. The Anglo-Saxon prefixes and suffixes were generally replaced by Latin or French prefixes and suffixes (Vajda). Among the Latin prefixes that came from the Latin are the common prefixes “ex-” and “en-,” and “pro-” and “con-.” These are common in words used for movement or opinion, with the original Latin meanings respectively being “out” and “in,” and “for” and “against.” An effected change in pronunciation is also seen in the verses and poetry of the time. According to Charlton Lewis, the Middle English showed in its poetry a clear change in its accent and syllabic construction when compared to its purely Germanic language of Old English (95). As well as with pronunciation, there was an effect on vocabulary too. Even though Old English and Norman French were separated in their use by social class, by the 1500’s the two languages had streamlined into a unified and unique language, the final step in Middle English. This Middle English was no longer heavily based on the German; rather, the majority of its vocabulary was now drawn from the French and Latin languages of its rulers (Algeo 115). In particular, because the French culture and politics were so much different from the Danelaw and Celtic governmental systems, essentially all of the words for government, such as the Modern English word “judicial,” are derived from the Latin or French (Vajda). “Judicial” is the Modern English word which is derived from the Latin word “iudicium,” meaning judgment or trial. This word is closely related to the Latin word “iustus,” which means just. It is from “iustus” that the Old French word for justice, “justise" was derived, and it was this word that was transferred into the English lexicon, replacing the Old English “gerihte.” With the base meaning for justice formed from the French and the Latin, the names of the systems related to justice evolved and became derivatives of these words.
After the era of Middle English, Modern English is approximated to have started in the 1500’s. Middle English had ended in the formalization of English, and the codification and continuation of English defined the Modern English era. Even though English had finally stabilized, globalization had led to the influence of other cultures on the predominantly Anglo-Norman language (Vajda). In particular, Early Modern English drew words from the dead Latin and Greek languages as well as German. Due to the fact that by this time English was neither Germanic nor French, these foreign words were no longer easy to integrate into the current vocabulary (Algeo 141). Instead, these words were taken directly from their parent languages as loan words, showing little to no change in their spelling or pronunciation during the transition. The reason for the sudden need for borrowed vocabulary was the need for words describing new things and ideas. The world had become smaller in that English speakers travelled to other countries and experienced new cultures, and the scholars of the time were making new fields and discoveries (Algeo 140). Other than this new vocabulary, little else changed from the late Middle English to Early Modern English.
One of the major changes was the correction and regularization of spelling. Scholars, many of whom were French, went through the English lexicon and altered words so that they more closely resembled their Latin roots, and sometimes so that they closely resembled a false cognate (Vajda). This led to a generally agreed upon system of spelling that unified English as a written language. The last major transition of English is due the massive globalization as it approaches current history. As more languages and ideas became more readily available, a need for new words once again led to the adoption of loan words from the parent languages, but in this case the languages came from around the world, such as India, China, and South Africa (Vajda). This means that Modern English is being influenced again by other cultures. Now, however, English is also being influenced by another major factor: technology. With the development of relatively new technologies, such as cell phones and the internet, the English language has begun to evolve dramatically. Granted, it is mostly the written language that has been affected, there has, however, also been an increase in slang words that have made their way into the accepted lexicon of English speakers. The written language has been changed mostly for informal and practical purposes, resulting in a large increase in abbreviations and acronyms for words generally relating to everyday activities, such as laughing or leaving. The integration of slang is more complicated, involving a process where a word is created by a source, often times a television show or a famous celebrity. This word then has to be used by enough people to where it can be considered commonplace, and then from there a dictionary publishing company that is recognized as a database for English vocabulary, such as Merriam-Webster, might include the word in a new addition of their dictionary, making it an official word.
Given the brief history above, it is clear that English did not develop in an isolated environment. Rather, English is the product a cultural disasters and dramatic social upheavals. From the beginning English grew in a contested region, and knowing this history allows English speakers to understand why it developed as such. Given a more in-depth exploration and report, sufficient data can be gathered from the sources cited which links the majority of Modern English to the French, Latin and German languages, including how the current pronunciations and spellings can be shifted to produce a general meaning for words in the parent languages, such as the word “father.” According to Baker, “father” is directly descended from the Germanic “fater” by understanding that, from the spelling codification during Modern English, the “h” is father would have been silent (Baker). This “fater” can be traced down to the modern German “vater” by recognizing the consonant shift that separated High and Frissian German, where the modern German “v” sounds like and English “f.” If instead you wanted to trace “fater” to the Latin, then another consonant shift needs to be understood. Tracing the Germanic languages through the Indo-European line to the Italic languages, of which Latin is a part, the “f” sound in Germanic languages is often shifted to the Italic “p.” This means that the word “fater” in the Germanic line would loosely be pronounced as “pater” in the Italic line, and as it turns out, the Latin word for father is “pater,” or in the French it is “père.”
It is by understanding the history of England, how it was ruled by Germanic tribes and by the French, that you begin to understand the full development of English. With a little knowledge in French, German and Latin, you could potentially garner a deep understanding for the mechanisms of English. This is especially true if you follow the morphology from its beginnings and consider how each language influenced certain aspects of the English culture. The French was important for the political system of England, and now governmental terms are based on the French and Latin. Scholars used Latin as the language to share their work, and many technical terms are based off the Latin. German was the most significant language for the people conquered and influenced by the French, and the grammatical structure and the most common terms of the English language are based off the German. All these influences have their place in the language if you are willing to look for them. Understanding these influences can help you understand the construction of formal English, but it is only through practice that slang can be learned and English can be mastered.
Given the brief history above, it is clear that English did not develop in an isolated environment. Rather, English is the product a cultural disasters and dramatic social upheavals. From the beginning English grew in a contested region, and knowing this history allows English speakers to understand why it developed as such. Given a more in-depth exploration and report, sufficient data can be gathered from the sources cited which links the majority of Modern English to the French, Latin and German languages, including how the current pronunciations and spellings can be shifted to produce a general meaning for words in the parent languages, such as the word “father.” According to Baker, “father” is directly descended from the Germanic “fater” by understanding that, from the spelling codification during Modern English, the “h” is father would have been silent (Baker). This “fater” can be traced down to the modern German “vater” by recognizing the consonant shift that separated High and Frissian German, where the modern German “v” sounds like and English “f.” If instead you wanted to trace “fater” to the Latin, then another consonant shift needs to be understood. Tracing the Germanic languages through the Indo-European line to the Italic languages, of which Latin is a part, the “f” sound in Germanic languages is often shifted to the Italic “p.” This means that the word “fater” in the Germanic line would loosely be pronounced as “pater” in the Italic line, and as it turns out, the Latin word for father is “pater,” or in the French it is “père.”
It is by understanding the history of England, how it was ruled by Germanic tribes and by the French, that you begin to understand the full development of English. With a little knowledge in French, German and Latin, you could potentially garner a deep understanding for the mechanisms of English. This is especially true if you follow the morphology from its beginnings and consider how each language influenced certain aspects of the English culture. The French was important for the political system of England, and now governmental terms are based on the French and Latin. Scholars used Latin as the language to share their work, and many technical terms are based off the Latin. German was the most significant language for the people conquered and influenced by the French, and the grammatical structure and the most common terms of the English language are based off the German. All these influences have their place in the language if you are willing to look for them. Understanding these influences can help you understand the construction of formal English, but it is only through practice that slang can be learned and English can be mastered.