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LANGUAGES IN ENGLAND BEFORE ENGLISH ● The Celts: The first people whose language is known in the area: Goidelic 2000-1200 B.C and Brythonic 500-400 B.C. Both spoken in the bronze age. ● Their coming to England coincided with bronze age into the island. They were called respective, Q-Celtic and P -Celtic, and they were called this because a shift in the consonant. ● Division of Celtic languages: Gaelic (Goidelic branch) and Cymric (Britannic branch). ● Celtic: The First Indo-European tongue spoken in England (still spoken nowadays).
THE LATIN LANGUAGE IN BRITAIN ● The Influence of Celtic upon Old English was slight: The Celt was in a position of a submerged race to Anglo-Saxon. ● Latin was not the language of a conquered people: The language of a higher civilization. Arrived in 55 B.C. ● Contact with Latin: Commercial, Military, Religious and Intellectual. ● Began long before the Anglo-Saxons reached England. ● Romans Left england in 406 A. D. ● Roman Missionaries re-introduced Christianity: adoption of Latin elements into the Language. This was not the first contact of the tribes with latin
1. THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGE: NORTH GERMANIC ● To be found in Scandinavia, Denmark, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. ● In its earlier form the “Scandinavian” language is spoken of as “Old Norse”. ● Scandinavian Attacks: 787 first sackings (A-SC); 850 Arrival of Danish Fleet (350 ships); 878 The Danes defeated by King Alfred the Great; from 878 to 1042 more Scandinavian incursions; 991 substantial viking fleet to England; 992 The Battle of Maldon (English defeated); 1012 King Svein of Denmark, King of England; ● Cnut, King of Denmark (Svein’s son): In 1014 he obtained the English Throne and from England ruled most of the Scandinavian world. For the next 25 years Englad ruled by Danish Kings. ● The Scandinavian influence is one of the most fundamental prevalences of the foreign influences that have contributed to the English language. 2. THE SCANDINAVIAN INFLUENCE: THE VIKING AGE. ● In Old English this wasearly palatalized to sh (written sc), except possibly in the combination scr, whereas in the Scandinavian countries it retained its hard sk sound. ● Consequently, while native words like ship, shall, fish have sh in Modern English, words borrowed from the Scandinavians are generally still pronounced with sk: sky, skin, skill, scrape, scrub, bask, whisk. ● The Scandinavian influence is one of the most fundamental prevalences of the foreign influences that have contributed to the English language. ● The same way the retention of the hard pronunciation of k and g in such words as kid, dike (cf. ditch), get, give, gild, and egg is an indication of Scandinavian origin. ● For example, the Germanic diphthong ai becomes ā in Old English (and has become ō in Modern English) but became ei or ē in Old Scandinavian. 3. EFFECT ON GRAMMAR ● That the Scandinavian influence not only affected the vocabulary but also extended to matters of grammar. ● A certain number of inflectional elements peculiar to the Northumbrian dialect have been attributed to Scandinavian influence. ● Most Prevailing: the -s of the third person singular, present indicative, of verbs and the participial ending -and (bindand), corresponding to -end and -ind in the Midlands and South, and now replaced by -ing.
3. THE YEAR 1066. – January 1066: Edward, the Confessor, died childless. Godwin, earl of the West Saxon earldom, possible after-comer (he was Edward’s principal adviser). – His son Harold was elected King the day after Edward’s death. – English Throne Challenged by William, duke of Normandy, second cousin to the former King Edward. – Harold occupied in the north of England by another claimant to the throne, the King of Norway. – Harold triumphed in battle against King of Norway. – Immediately attacked by William in the south. – King Harold was killed in battlefied with his two brothers. – William won the battle of Hastings. – London resisted against William on Christmas Day 1066, William crowned King of England. 4. THE NORMAN SETTLEMENT – Introduction of a new nobility. – The new King was only acknowledged in the Southeast. – After several rebellions he decided to eliminate the Old English nobility with ruthless cruelty. – In 1072 only one of the twelve earls in England was an Englishman, and he was executed four years later. 5. THE USE OF FRENCH. -French by the Upper Classes. – Old English wiped out by 11th Century. – The distinction in the next 200 years between those who speak French or English was not ethnic, but social. – English: Language of the masses. – Upper classes obliged to be bilingual: French and English. – By mid thirteenth Century was changed into “Middle English” after the Norman impact. – French Grammar and Syntax had a great effect. 6. THE DIFFUSION OF BOTH LANGUAGES (interaction and relation) – By the end of Thirteenth Century English Idioms were being shaped to French Order: – “To put to death” = metre à mort – Verbs such as: “do”, “give”, “have”, “make”, “take” used in the French equivalent = “do battle”, “give offence”, “have mercy”, “make peace”, “take pains” = came from French expressions: avoir (“have”) and faire (“do” or “make”). – Middle English borrowed terms from other languages (French). – Sir Walter Scott developed a famous analysis of words for food in his novel Ivanhoe: – The anglo-saxon raised the food while the Norman Frenchman ate it. – English words for animals remain Old English: sow, cow, calf, ox, sheep, deer, swine. – English words for meat (food) are Anglo-French: pork, beef, veal, mutton, venison. – French literature in French language was strictly under the patronage of the English court. – To know more about this Norman French period of England read the novel Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott
BLACK DEATH: Rise of a substantial Middle Class: Decisive in helping language. ● Important Date 1348. The black Death ● The plague; 30% death date. ● the mortality was accordingly greatest among the lower social orders, and the result was a serious shortage of labor. ● This is evident in the immediate rise in wages, a rise which the statute of laborers was insufficient to control or prevent ● Next hundred years : Villeins frequently made their escape, and many cotters left the land in search of the high wages commanded by independent workers. ● The Peasants’ Revolt (1381): the effect of the Black Death was to increase the economic importance of the laboring class and with it the importance of the English language which they spoke. 10. RISE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS ● We may also note at this time the rise of another important group—the craftsmen and the merchant class. By 1250 there had grown up in England about two hundred towns with populations of from 1,000 to 5,000. ● Such changes in the social and economic life benefited particularly the English speaking part of the population, ● General adaptation of english in the fourteenth century.Spoken by everyone. ● Henry IV’s speeches claiming the throne and later accepting it were delivered in English ● The English Parliament opened in English in 1362. ● Increasing Ignorance of French in the Fifteenth Century.
Why many English words are similar to words in French (FRENCH INFLUENCE ON THE VOCABULARY. ● Two stages can be observed, an earlier and a later, with the year 1250 as the approximate dividing line ● The French words appearing in English before 1250, roughly 900 in number = French speaking nobility (baron, noble, dame, servant, messenger, feast, minstrel, juggler,largess). ● In the period after 1250 the conditions marked by a new and powerful factor: the upper classes were bilingual and heavily influenced by English. GOVERNMENTAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE WORDS: ● Government words: crown, state, empire, realm, reign, royal, prerogative, authority, sovereign, majesty, scepter, tyrant, usurp, oppress, court, council, parliament assembly, statute, treaty, alliance, record, repeal, adjourn, tax, subsidy, revenue, tally, exchequer ● Administrative Words: The word office and the titles of many offices are likewise French: chancellor, treasurer, chamberlain, marshal, governor, councilor, minister, viscount, warden, castellan, mayor, constable, coroner, and even the humble crier. Except for the words king and queen, lord, lady, and earl ● Designation of ranks are also French: noble, nobility, peer, prince, princess, duke, duchess, count, countess, marquis, baron, squire, page, sir, madam, mistress. ECCLESIASTICAL WORDS. ● In monasteries and religious houses French was for a long time the usual language ● French words such as: religion, theology, sermon, homily, sacrament, baptism, communion, confession, penance, prayer, orison, lesson, passion, psalmody; such indications of rank or class as clergy, clerk, prelate, cardinal, legate, dean, chaplain, parson, pastor, vicar, sexton, abbess, novice, friar, hermit ● Names of objects associated with the religious service and life: crucifix, crosier, miter, surplice, censer, incense, lectern, image, chancel, chantry, chapter, abbey, convent, priory, hermitage, cloister, sanctuary ● Theological concepts: creator, savior, trinity, virgin, saint, miracle, mystery, faith, heresy, schism, reverence, devotion, sacrilege, simony, temptation, damnation, penitence, contrition, remission, absolution, redemption, salvation, immortality LAW. ● French was for many years the language of the law courts in England. ● We speak of justice and equity instead of gerihte, judgment rather than dom (doom), crime in place of synn, gylt, undæd. ● We have likewise a rich array of verbs associated with legal processes: sue, plead, implead, accuse, indict, arraign, depose, blame, arrest, seize, pledge, warrant, assail, assign, judge, condemn, convict, award, amerce, distrain, imprison, banish, acquit, pardon. ● The names of many crimes and misdemeanors are French: felony, trespass, assault, arson, larceny, fraud, libel, slander, perjury, adultery, and many others.