History Of English

The History Of English

 

It's developed over hundreds and hundreds of years.

Now   today   hundreds of millions of people speak English all over the world   whether

it's their first language or their second language   or just one of the foreign languages

that they speak and learn at school and so on. So   hundreds of millions of people speak

English and learn English. But hundreds of years ago. The English language that we know

today didn't really exist. It sort of got put together gradually by different historical

events. So we're going to go back in history now and have a look at a timeline.

I don't know if you've seen a timeline before but it is literally the time the years going

from left to right like you get on a graph if you've done graphs and the time goes across

along the line. So the different developments that happened can be shown on that line. So

we're starting here in 55 BC   hundreds of years ago and we're coming up to... Well beyond.

 

       We have 1066   here   but because I ran out of space on the board   the time went

on for such a long time   I couldn't get all the centuries in   but I will still tell you

about them. But these are the very interesting parts which are on the board.

So   55 BC   the Roman invasion of Britain of the U.K.   where we are at the moment.

So   you've heard of the Roman Empire with Julius Caesar and all the other Caesars   the Roman

Empire that spread in different directions   and Britain is one of the directions they

spread in.

      They came here   and stayed for a while   and built some nice buildings   and

they built a wall that goes across between Scotland and England   called Hadrian's Wall 

because the Emperor at the time was called Hadrian. So   anyway   when they came and stayed

for some time   they brought their language with them the Latin language. And the

Latin language   it's called a dead language today   but it has influenced so many other

languages   especially in Southern Europe 

so languages like Italian   French   Spanish   Portuguese   they all come from Latin.

 

      So   in this country   in the English language 

we have had the Latin influence at different times. So   the Romans brought their Latin

language with them. So that influenced the way people were speaking to each other

as time went on. And the natives of this country started learning Latin words   and it became

integrated into the language.

 

        So let's have a look at some of the words that we use today that were influenced

or that came from Latin words. Right? And we have this pie chart   here   which you may

know if you've been studying things for IELTS and the writing task. A pie chart... So the whole circle represents 100%. So if you're thinking of all the words in the English language

at the moment   Latin   the Latin words that came from... Partly from the Roman invasion 

we have 29% of the words in the English language have come from a Latin origin   from a source 

Latin source. So here are just a few very words that we use every day really.

Words like: "human"   "animal"   "dental" to do with the teeth   "decimal" which is to do

with the fingers because we have 10 fingers   "decimal"   and "digital"   also fingers   "factory"

where things are made   manufacture   "library" where you read books   "libber" meaning book 

"library"   the building where the books are kept   "manual" to do with if you do things

with your hand, it comes from the Latin word for "hand"   "manual". "Lunar" to do with the

moon because the Latin word for the moon was "Luna".

 

         And "solar" to do with the sun again because the Latin word was like that   "solar".

"Military"   anything to do with soldiers because the Latin

Roman Empire soldiers were... That was the word that was

used for "soldiers". "Melees," I think. And we also get our "mile"   the distance 

a mile from that   because that was the distance that they would march   I think   before they

had a rest or something like that. So "military" is to do with soldiers. "Science" to do with

knowledge. "Science"   and "station"   the railway station a bus station is a place where

you stand still before you move off   and that also comes from a Latin word to be static

in one place. so that's the Latin. You'll notice also that later on in history 

Latin kept coming back   so there and there   but that's the Latin from these three points

in history when we had visitors of one sort or another.

 

         So let's move on then the next major event. I've put 450 AD   but I'm going to start

putting century numbers now because it's simpler. So   5th... The 5th century   

Germanic migration. That's people from roughly where Germany is today in mainland Europe

moved across. From the Saxon area of Germany. Saxony. So the language

they brought with them was a kind of... Well, it became Anglo-Saxon because it got merged

with the English we already had the Anglo part with the Saxon part added. It... And

that's another name for that is Old English   Old English which looks totally different

from the English we have today. So they brought a different language with them and that got

all mixed in. If you think of a big cooking pot and different ingredients being put in and it just keeps cooking and cooking over time that's how it was developing.

So   Germanic. Let's have a look at how much The German language there is in English today.

So looking at our pie chart again we've got Germanic 26%   so just over a quarter of

the words in the English language today come from a Germanic source. And I've put some

little abbreviations here; Old English   Middle English   Old Norse   and Dutch.

These are all roughly sort of from the Germanic area 

and the Dutch words as well are all mixed in there   too 

because Holland isn't that far away either.

 

         So   let's just see a few examples of

the Germanic words. They're often quite short words and words we use every day   like "above" 

"again"   "and"   "apple"   "bad" and "good" 

"cake"   "eat" and "drink" 

parts of the body especially   "eye" and "feet" and "arm"   "boy" and "girl" 

these are all the Germanic type of words.

"House"   "hand"   "bread"   so parts of the body. "Food"   all of that kind of thing.

 

    So moving on   in the 6th century   before this   we had been what you call a Pagan country 

sort of pre-Christianity. In the 6th century, Saint Augustine came and started converting

people to Christianity. And that meant bringing languages with him   like the Bible

that was written in these different languages   other books   of learning. So   again 

Latin came in. And Greek as well came in   and Hebrew all came with the Christianity 

which spread around the whole country. So we've covered Latin already. Let's just have

a look at Greek in our the pie chart to see how much influence that has had on the language

today. So looking at Greek   it's actually quite small   just 6%.

But they're very sort of... They're kind of words that are used in a sort of academic life 

and the word "academic" itself is one of them; "academic" is a Greek word.

And "Android"   if you have an Android

mobile phone   you wouldn't believe that it had come from an old Greek word   but it has.

"Android". A word like "basic"   "cinema" even   "climate"   "democracy"   "economy"   "geography" 

"history"   "idea" because philosophy   thinking   ideas are very important

and had a big... Greece had a big influence on that.

"Politics" and "technology" all come from Greek.

 Hebrew   we don't have unless it's included under other one of the other influences which

is another 6%.

 

        .   So moving on to a period when we had some more invasions and it wasn't

the Romans this time   it was people called the Vikings who came from Scandinavian countries 

so that's Norway   Sweden   Denmark   and they came across the sea and invaded. And it wasn't

just one invasion; it happened over three centuries from the 8th to the 11th century.

So the Viking invasions   and they brought their Scandinavian languages with them.

And Old Norse is one of them. And as I said earlier   from this Germanic migration   this was another

sort of input into the Germanic types of languages that we have. That's why we've got 26% because

there was such a lot coming in   a lot of words   there.  .. Right.

So moving on again to the... This is the 11th century as well   1066   which is a big date

in English history. The Norman invasion. And if you know the area called Normandy in Northern France 

there's a connection there. So   the Normans were French   and they invaded... They

came across the channel   they had a big battle near the south coast of Britain   and they

won so they took over. So the Norman invasion brought French for the first time and

some more Latin again   because anyway   French developed from Latin   so it was a mixture

of that. But French for the first time   their French that had developed from Latin 

as well as Latin itself.

 

         So   let's have a look at some of the words we use in English today that came from French sources.

 .. So   food   French people love food and a lot of words for food came in.

So: "beef"   "pork" and "veal" all come from French words.?

But then some other interesting words that maybe were Latin originally 

but they became French   and then these French

words came into English and they're still with us today 

words like: "continue"   "liberty" 

"justice"   so a lot of legal language words to do with the law come from French.

So "liberty"   "justice". "Journey"   if you go on a trip a journey comes from a French word.

"People" comes from a French word for people. And even the little word "very".

When you say: "Oh   that's very nice"   "very" just is the French word for true 

so it means "truly"   "truly nice". That is truly nice   that is very nice.

So a little word like "very" comes from the French word for "true".  ..

Right   so we've covered Latin   French   Germanic and Greek. And we've come up to 1066   but

of course, The English language didn't stop developing then. As I said   I ran out of space.

But other things happened   for example   in the 15th century   16th century   people started

exploring the world   going off in ships and finding other countries   finding places like

America that they didn't know was there before; Christopher Columbus. Also going the other

way   and at the Portuguese   for example   found India and China. So   people explored. So 

from the English point of view, we had explorers who went off and found things   and came back 

and that also influenced the language because   for example   we got tobacco and potatoes from

America   so the words for those things were new.  ..

 

              And then 18th   19th century   colonialism   British Empire   Britain became involved politically

in other countries   then eventually, the British Empire ended and we now have the Commonwealth

instead. And now in the 20th   21st century   the language is still developing. We've got

the internet   the speed of travel. It's very easy to get on a plane and travel thousands

of miles and go to another country   so words keep coming back from other countries   for example.

So looking at from the British Empire onwards a lot of Asian words from

the Middle East and the far east   like "balcony" and "bangle"   a bangle that you wear around your

wrist   "bangle". A "bungalow"   that's a house which is only one storey 

a bungalow. We have quite a lot of those in this country.

A "guru" from India someone who you go to for advice and help   "guru". A "kiosk"   "pyjamas" that you wear in bed at night to sleep in   "pyjamas"

are from an empire country. "Sandals" that you wear on your feet sandals with spaces

in between for hot weather. And even "shampoo" that you wash your hair with   "shampoo" is

a foreign word from one of the empire countries.

And finally... So   we were talking about the internet and technology. If you're doing the

housework and hovering the carpet   we also say vacuuming the carpet because you use a

vacuum cleaner   but one of the major brands of vacuum cleaner is the Hoover   and that

was the name of the maker the Hoover. So   but that word has now become a verb "to hover" 

and "hovering". So   names count for about 4% in the English language   so Hoover 

and more recently   Google; we all use Google   and now there is a verb "to Google"  

so I am goggling something. So... No   sorry   not like that   that's hovering.

I'm googling something. So those are just two examples of names that are now part of the English

language   and it's changing all the time still. So... But it's a fascinating language to study 

as I hope you agree.