Where does the English Language come from?

[Abumashal]

Where does the English Language come from? i have asked this question many times. can you supply me any information about this topic or just show me any links concerning about this, please.

[Torsten]

Most English words have come from four other languages: Anglo-Saxon, French, Latin and Ancient Greek. The language spoken in Britain in the first century B.C. would have been a Celtic language, similar to the Gaelic languages that are still spoken today in Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Brittany in northwest France. During the first century A.D. Britain was ruled by the Romans, who brought with them their own language, Latin. Celts and Romans lived together and their two languages probably influenced each other for the next 300 years. If you have read the comic books about Asterix the Gaul, you will know something about this period in France.
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[Abumashal]

Thank you Torsten for you clarification. But what about the grammatical points?

[Narayanan Krishnaswamy]

To make a long story short, it is the modern version of old West German. Angles, Saxons and Jutes, the sea robber races, reached and settled on the eastern shores of England. The combination of the languages spoken by them came to be called the Anglo-saxon or the Old English.upto 1100AD. 1100-1300 or so Middle English. With Chaucer the Modern English period starts.
The present day English has undergone a lot of changes and the most important being the effect of the conquering of England by the Prince of Normandy or Orange? This is called the war of Hastings, which occurred in the year 1066. From that time French became the royal language. Because of the abolition of Manorial system and other things that ocurred many new words entered the Language and people, in general became literate. Religion gave a lot of Latin words. The influence of the Romance languages on English is a great one. English scholars appreciated the Classics and that paved way for many Greek and Latin words and phrases to enter the language. Learning English was looked down upon even by the English in England and it was left to the Great Churchill who made learning English compulsory even in England.
Refer to F.T.Wood 'History of English Language or A.C. Ward for better and correct information.
narayanan.

[Narayanan Krishnaswamy]

Grammar of a laguage is the essence taken out of its literature. Usage defines grammar. But some points about grammar of English could be found in e or j mutation and the great vowel change.
There have been grammarians right through the ages and they define the changes that occur from time to time. To-day we find 'Sraffs' or 'datas' accepted by The Oxford Dictionary. 'Will' has lost its specialized use and has become the word to denote 'future.' We find 'shall' used only in questions.
So changes are normal and at the persent time recording has become easy and the IT field has made incorporating such changes very easy, and has also added to its vocabulary.
So the grammar of no language remains static.

[Tdol]

There's also the Viking contribution- the mingling of Saxon and Viking, followed by the Norman invasion bringing French and Latin are the four main components.

[Esl Learner]

Hi, I have just recommended a book called "The Adventure of English", maybe you have already seen the message in the index.
If you want to know the whole history of the English language, this is the right book for you!
Have fun!

[Rkr]

[Jamie (K)]

What you had originally, as mentioned above, was a combination of Germanic dialects from Northern Germany, present-day Holland and western Denmark that combined one way or another to form what was called Anglo-Saxon, the basis of English. Originally, it had a lot of case inflection on the words and articles, as German still does today, but these were gradually lost, and the word order got more rigid as a result. Then the Norman French (the descendants of Vikings) invaded in 1066 and ruled England for 300 years, during which time the royalty spoke French and the ordinary people spoke Anglo-Saxon (English).

A lot of the grammar and vocabulary of standard English were formed in the 15th century by the owners of the first printing presses. There were so many dialects of English that a book printed in one local dialect would not be understood elsewhere. For this reason, the printers created a sort of mixed dialect whose grammar and vocabulary would be understood in most parts of England. This form of English was nobody's native dialect, but it became the basis of today's standard English. Printers were also instrumental in expanding the English vocabulary. To put it in modern terms, in order to stay in business and keep selling books, they needed "content", just as TV stations need today. The fastest way to get this was to translate foreign books -- often in Latin -- into English. The printers had a problem, because this literature contained a lot of concepts that English had no words for. Sometimes the printers coined new English words, but they very frequently just used the Latin words, and this greatly expanded the English vocabulary.

One piece of misinformation above is that the modern English period started with Chaucer. The writer was mistaken. Chaucer belonged to the Middle English period.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, some intellectuals started tampering with the grammar of English, trying to make it conform to the rules of Latin or of mathematics. This resulted in some rules that were and still are very unnatural to English, and that have caused problems for many native English speakers. Most of these rules are dying out now, because people largely continued to talk in the old way.

[Alan]

Hi,

And it's worth noting that this 'tampering with the grammar of English' and trying to make it conform to Latin has caused a lot of pain to schoolchildren over the centuries even up to my time at school! A perfect example of 'Latin' English can be found in John Milton's epic 'Paradise Lost'. After all Milton (1608-1674) was Latin Secretary to Oliver Cromwell.

Alan
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[Jamie (K)]

[Rkr]

[Ralf]

[Prezbucky]

which came first:

Scandinavian tongues (Swedish/Norwegian/Danish and their ancestors)

or

German (and its ancestors, as spoken by northern Germanic tribes)

did one predate/influence the other?
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[Jan]

I am afraid all of them are bloody Germans except Germans themselves , because Germans are now more Italians then Germans.

If you take all population of Europe , you would find that 80% of us would be originating from just
8 or 9 very very old female ancestors. Our common DNA features (or we may call these DNA tricks) are without any pity for politics or religions believes.

Jan - the Master of negligence.