7 Aug /15

English

In our Word-of-the-day series, we often talk about Old English or Middle English; about Chaucer’s English or Anglo-Saxon English. Since it might not be clear to everyone what exactly these terms mean, we will attempt to demystify the English language in today’s Word-of-the-day. Join us on this metaphorical gallop across the historical landscape of the English language where we shall meet some Germanic tribes and famous authors of the day; we’ll consider why anything written down before the 14th century makes very little sense to the 21st century person; and, most likely, we’ll bump into Shakespeare somewhere along the way.

Why “English”?

The word English derives from the combination of the noun Engle + the suffix –ish. To break its etymology down to the simplest explanation, Engle derives from the word Angles. An Angle was a member of a Germanic tribe from the district of Angeln (present day northern Germany and southern Denmark), which came to England somewhere around the 5th or 6th century. Stick an “-ish” on Angle and you describe what is of or belonging to the Angles. Anglish then became English.

But at the start of our journey, it’s actually the Celts and their languages that dominate the landscape. The Romans came over but, struggling to maintain order in their vast empire, they left in AD 410 and it was Warlord Prince Vortigern who allowed the Angles and Saxons to come and help him fight the Picts and Scots. Eventually, they began to settle and became known as the Anglo-Saxons. These are the people that brought us some of our first written records; the most famous being the epic poem Beowulf (c1000) about a brave warrior who battled with monsters and dragons in Scandinavia. This period of English is known as Old English (500-1100), but this was a language from a foreign place and it would take many more centuries and historical events for it to evolve into today’s language. Sprinting at break-neck speed then, these events included: the arrival of Christian missionaries (Latin), the invasion of the Vikings (Norse), and the Norman Conquest (French). Let our haste, though, not detract from their significance on our growing vocabulary.

The history of the English language

After this eventful period in history, we arrive at the age of Middle English (1100-1500). It’s here that we might start quoting Geoffrey Chaucer, who is perhaps best known for his famous collection of stories The Canterbury Tales. According to information from the British Library: “One of the reasons that Chaucer is so important is that he made the decision to write in English and not French. Following the Norman invasion, The Canterbury Tales was one of the first major works in literature to be written in English…Chaucer uses all kinds of spoken styles…, while also trying out different rhythms and sounds, and sculpting new linguistic structures”. English was gaining ground over French which was the language of leaders, but Latin was still coming into our language through religion, law and medicine, as well as literature.

After this period, we find ourselves in the era of Early Modern English (1500-1800) and now we can understand better the literature of the day, including the works of Shakespeare. Ironically, although Shakespeare is famous around the world, he is a man very much unknown. Scholars, critics, and even Sigmund Freud have tried to understand the details of his life and his mind through analyzing his works, but we still only really know the basic facts. These include that he was a husband and a dad to three kids (his little boy dying at the age of eleven); he left his family home to work in London, and he died on St. George’s Day. His mark on the English language, however, is staggering. Through countless creations of new words (neologisms), he gave us the depth of language we needed to express our ideas on themes like philosophy, science and religion.

And meanwhile, while Shakespeare was writing his plays, the first British settlers reached the east coast of America building their home Jamestown in 1607. Here began a whole new adventure in the English language and one which would now see Native American words entering into the language.

Finally, we slow down to a steady trot and find ourselves in more familiar territory as we move into Late Modern English (1800-present). At the start of this period, the British Empire is in full swing, and while English has a huge influence across the globe, our vocabulary is also growing with words from Indian languages. Back home, women become prominent in the world of literature and novels by the Brontë sisters and Jane Austen go on to become timeless classics. Nowadays, however, if you asked the Brontë sisters, “why don’t you build a website, upload examples of your latest projects for your fanbase and write a blog, too?” They would literally have no idea what you mean given the amount of 21st century vocabulary in that sentence.

So, there you have it. After this linguistic leap through time, we have a modest snapshot of the history of the English language. Phew!

And yet, it is such a small piece of the phenomenon of language…English belongs to a huge family of languages called the Indo-European languages, which contains in it many of the languages found in Europe and India, hence its name. All of these languages developed from Proto-Indo European (PIE), a language which was probably spoken about 6,000 years ago by the people living on the plains of Eurasia. Some of these people went east and others went west, and so began the journey that would bring us all the languages in the Indo-European language family. English is part of the Germanic group and, more specifically, the West Germanic group which includes German and Dutch.

So you see, English is not just a language, but an adventure in history. It’s a language created by warriors, playwrights, and Christian missionaries; by science, technological invention, exploration, colonization and politics. It is the sum of all its parts and, no doubt in the next 1000 years, our current version of the language will be as difficult to decipher as that of the first Anglo-Saxon manuscripts.

For now, though, take a break and don’t forget to join us for more etymological adventures in the next Word-of-the-day.