Did you know that according to some sources every nine hours more or less one new word is added to the range of English vocabulary and the very English on-line dictionary itself gets around 1,000 new entries every year? Words like yogalates, human bean and splendiferous did not even exist before September this year, when the Oxford Dictionary digested 500 new words, phrases and senses altogether.
But it is not only about the unfurling. English is one of the most commonly used languages globally, with an estimated 380 million native and another 700 million non-native users worldwide. It is a medium to over three-quarters of all information circulated overall and – unquestionably – the mother tongue of the Web. In addition, as many as 67 sovereign states and 27 non-sovereign entities from Pakistan through to United Arab Emirates and Puerto Rico use it as their official language. Hence, there is no overstatement in saying that because of its global presence, English has become the true language hegemon of today.
But have you ever wondered where on earth it actually all began? I have thought it might be quite interesting to look at the history of English. In a gargantuan nutshell, obviously.
Let’s start from the early ages. I have always had so much fun thinking of that old days as from the Ice Age movies – vast, bare lands covered with green under idyllic skies. But it is not far away from the truth, actually. I have read that at around the time of 450,000 years ago, British Isles were separated from the rest of Europe by a giant prehistoric river craving its way through the glacier, which covered immense amounts of the present day northern hemisphere. The river was so forceful that it had created a deep channel, known as the English Channel nowadays. Obviously this medieval geo-formation did not give roots to the language or the culture, but by separating the Isles from the rest of the continent, it had influenced its history for ever. Indeed, it was not only until a few thousands years later that the Isles experienced a history of migration from mainland Europe, giving way to the creation of a unique Celtic identity.
It is said that the first tribes to reach Britain were Proto-Indo Europeans from Eastern and Central Europe. However, some historians agree that they were not the first inhabitants of the Isles and that many unknown regional cultures of the British Iron Age grew out of the preceding era. You can imagine these small but myriad prehistoric communities being scattered all over the whole archipelago, each with their own distinct identity and language. Throughout generations many of them either vanished or merged with their continental neighbours, including Gauls and Celts from northern France.
Centuries later, Celtic identity of the British Iron Age was heavily influenced by the invasion of the Roman Empire. The new rule saw profound cultural changes over the Isles and by AD 300 almost every islander was Roman, legally and culturally, even though of indigenous descent and speaking Celtic dialects.
The fallout of the jurisdictional authority of Latin as the official language of the empire was that many of its words entered the dictionary of the Islanders. Latin schola, amica, fama or agricola all gave roots to numerous English variations. But it was not until the withdrawal of Romans and the arrival of Germanic tribes from modern-day Germany and Denmark during the 5th century AD, that the history of the English language started.
Among those invading tribes were the Angles, who pushed the Celts west and north of the Isles and stayed in what is now known as England. Their language, combined with local dialects, developed over the years into Old English. It was used from around the 5th until the 11th century. Although still far from what we know as English today, it gave roots to as many as about half modern words used now, including water, good or king, to name the few.
11th century saw an invasion and occupation of Britain by an army of French soldiers led by Duke William the Conqueror. These events exerted several changes on the indigenous Celtic culture of the Isles.
After William was crowned the King of England, for example, his new rule transformed the face of English forever. The invaders caused a linguistic havoc in the British society as they selected French to become the language of the upper class, royal court and business elites. English was pushed to the poor second and was subject to a philological neglect.
New French words entered its dictionary with new senses added or modified. It is said that never again in the history of English as a language was it subject to such penetrating conversions. This was even further intensified when in the 13th century, the upper classes started to learn English and carried further French words into it. Today, many native English speakers would not recognise that words such as servant, messenger, army or soldier are of French descent.
Perhaps one of the most significant of these changes was the modification of the Old English pronunciation of certain words. It was the French influence that replaced the common letter pattern from hw to wh, so that hwaer became where, hwaenne became when and hwil became while. Although for the Islanders these were some oddities difficult to accept, they continued to be ingrained into their language until the end of the 14th century, when English regained its position.
Did you actually realise that there are certain medieval terms of the Old English that could possibly reenter our dictionaries nowadays? Even though their linguistic utility is scarce, they are simply amusing in character and use.
I am going to prepare a list of my favourite Old English words for one of the next entries, but for now I leave you with these three: tobrabble, to groke and to jargogle. Which of them is to argue loudly about something unimportant and which is to confuse and to look at somebody eating with the hope of getting something? Have fun guessing and see you in the next read!
- Original post on Marcin’s website: http://bit.ly/2eq8L3m [Accessed 18th October 2016].