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History of the English Language. Or…Why English doesn’t make any sense.
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History of the English Language Or…Why English doesn’t make any sense
I take it you already know Of tough and bough and cough and dough? Others may stumble, but not you On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through. Well don't! And now you wish, perhaps, To learn of less familiar traps. Beware of heard, a dreadful word That looks like beard but sounds like bird. And dead: it's said like bed, not bead, For goodness sake don't call it deed! Watch out for meat and great and threat (They rhyme with suite and straight and debt). A moth is not a moth as in mother Nor both as in bother, nor broth as in brother, And here is not a match for there, Nor dear and fear, for bear and pear. And then there's dose and rose and lose-- Just look them up--and goose and choose And cork and work and card and ward And font and front and word and sword And do and go, then thwart and cart, Come, come! I've hardly made a start. A dreadful Language? Why man alive! I learned to talk it when I was five. And yet to write it, the more I tried, I hadn't learned it at fifty-five. English Is a Screwy Language
Old English • Old English began with the departure of the Romans in the fifth century and lasted until the Norman invasion in 1066 • Old English combined Norse, Latin, Greek, Anglish, Saxon, Frisian, and other Germanic languages, as well as Celtic.
The Celts • Iron workers and weavers as well as farmers • Tribal—constant warfare • Pre-Christian religion (Druid included)
Christianity in Celtic/Roman Britain • Christianity came to the Roman Empire in the 2nd and 3rd centuries • It traveled to Britain with the Romans and spread throughout the Celts
Roman Invasion • Julius Caesar invaded what he named “Britain” in 55 B.C.(E.) • Celts either embraced Roman ways or fled to the outer lands of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland • Romans brought their language (Latin) and the language of their conquered lands (Greece) with them • Romans build roads, cities, viaducts, and forts. • As Roman empire fell, troops were called back • Romans finally left in 410 AD (CE)
Old English Orthography • þ and Þ (thorn): In Modern English we represent the sounds at the beginning of the word "the" and end of the word "with" with the digraph "th" (digraph is a term meaning two letters used to represent one sound). Old English had two separate letters for the "th" sound. The first is written like this: þ . It is called thorn. • Old English Orthography • ð and Ð (eth): Old English scribes could also represent the "th" sound with the letter ð (the capital letter version looks like a capital D with a short horizontal line : Ð). The letter is called "eth," pronounced so that it rhymes with the first syllable in the word "feather." • Thorn and eth are used interchangeably to represent both voiced and unvoiced "th" sounds (the sound at the beginning of "thud" is voiced; the sound at the end of "with" is unvoiced). • Æ and æ (ash): This letter, called "ash," may be familiar to you from old-fashioned spellings of words like "Encyclopædia." The digraphæ in Old English is pronounced the same way as the "a" in the words "bat" or "cat." • Below you will find some Modern English words with the "th" sound replaced by "eth" or "thorn" and some of the "a" sounds replaced with "ash." • Ðat = that • ðousand = thousand • sixþ = sixth • þin = thin • wiðer = wither • bæckground = background • Æppetite= Appetite • æt = Æt • hæmmer = hammer • Æcknowledge = Æcknowledge
Today in Old English Anno mmvii. Todæg is se vii dæg þæs monþes þe mon nemneð Novembres, þæt is on ure geþeode blodmonað. Hit is wodnesdæg. Nu is seo xv tid & ii pricon. 2007. Today is the 7th day of the month that is called Novembres, that is in our tongue November. It is Wednesday. It is now the 15th hour [after midnight] and 2 points. (Local time in Washington DC is Wednesday November 7, 2007 15:36) Translation into Old English
First Consonant Shift • The first consonant shift between Indo-European and Greek, Latin, Celtic, and Teutonic was fully accomplished by the first century AD. This shift affected four series of Indo-European consonants: • Labials bh, b, p • Dentals dh, d, t • Palatals gh', g', k' • Velars gh, g, k
Second Consonant Shift • The second consonant shift affected German dialects between the 5th century and the 8th century AD. For example, when comparing German and English: • zu - to • schlafen - sleep • Tochter - daughter • du - thou • dein - thine
Middle English began in approximately 1100 and ended in approximately 1500. The best-known author was Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer and Middle English
In modern prose: When April with its sweet showers has pierced the drought of March to the root, bathing every vein in such liquid by which virtue the flower is engendered, and when Zephyrus (Greek god of the west wind) with his sweet breath has also inspired the tender plants in every wood and field, and the young sun is halfway through Aries (first sign of the zodiac), and small birds that sleep all night with an open eye make melodies, their hearts pricked by nature, then people long to go on pilgrimages, and pilgrims seek foreign shores and distant shrines known in sundry lands, and especially they wend their way to Canterbury from every shire of England to seek the holy blessed martyr who has helped them when they were sick.[
Modern English • Begins with first dictionaries written in the 1500’s • Standardized spelling and sentence structure • Formalized vocabulary • Slowed flow of other languages into English, thus slowing the changing of the language
Great Vowel Shift • Middle English [aː] (ā) fronted to [æː] and then raised to [ɛː], [eː] and in many dialects diphthongised in Modern English to [eɪ] (as in make). Since Old Englishā had mutated to [ɔː] in Middle English, Old English ā does not correspond to the Modern English diphthong [eɪ]. • Middle English [ɛː] raised to [eː] and then to modern English [iː] (as in beak). • Middle English [eː] raised to Modern English [iː] (as in feet). • Middle English [iː] diphthongised to [ɪi], which was most likely followed by [əɪ] and finally Modern English [aɪ] (as in mice). • Middle English [ɔː] raised to [oː], and in the eighteenth century this became Modern English [oʊ] or [əʊ] (as in boat). • Middle English [oː] raised to Modern English [uː] (as in boot). • Middle English [uː] was diphthongised in most environments to [ʊu], and this was followed by [əʊ], and then Modern English [aʊ] (as in mouse) in the eighteenth century. Before labial consonants, this shift did not occur, and [uː] remains as in room and droop).
Late Modern English 1800-Present • The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is vocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, arising from two principal factors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for new words; secondly, the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth's surface, and the English language adopted foreign words from many countries • India • China • Japan • African Nations (through slavery and the expansion of the British Empire)
