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The Development of The English Language: The Diachronic Approach

This document provides an overview of the development of the English language from its origins as an Indo-European language through its classification in the Germanic language family and sub-groups. It describes the periods of Old English, Middle English, and Modern English, highlighting some of the main historical events and influences during the Old English period, including invasions and borrowings from Celtic, Latin, and Scandinavian languages that enriched the English vocabulary.

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Ioana Alexandra
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110 views

The Development of The English Language: The Diachronic Approach

This document provides an overview of the development of the English language from its origins as an Indo-European language through its classification in the Germanic language family and sub-groups. It describes the periods of Old English, Middle English, and Modern English, highlighting some of the main historical events and influences during the Old English period, including invasions and borrowings from Celtic, Latin, and Scandinavian languages that enriched the English vocabulary.

Uploaded by

Ioana Alexandra
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lecture 3

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: THE DIACHRONIC APPROACH

English: an Indo-European language


Indo-European = language spoken about 5,000 years ago by people(s) living in a relatively limited geographical area, probably the central or the south-eastern part of Europe Branches of the I.E. family: Indian, Iranian, Slavic, Baltic, Germanic, Celtic, Italic, Hellenic, Albanian, Armenian, Hittite, and Tocharian

The Germanic sub-group of I.E. West Germanic North Germanic East Germanic

Low German

High German

ENGLISH Dutch, Flemish, Frisian, Mod. Low Gm. Afrikaans

Common characteristics of the IE languages


An inflectional structure Common word stock
Family relations Parts of the body Natural phenomena Animals Numerals from 1 to 10

Periods in the development of English


Old English (OE): 450/700 1100 period of full endings; Middle English (MidE): 1100 1500 period of levelled endings; Modern English: 1500 to the present period of lost endings
Early Modern English (16th 17th cent.) Late Modern English (17th -18th cent.) Modern English Proper (from the 18th cent. onwards)

OLD ENGLISH
Main historical events of the period:
5th, 6th cent. settlement in the island of Jutes, Saxons and Angles; 597 the coming of St. Augustine and the subsequent conversion of England to Latin Christianity; 8th, 9th, 10th cent. the Scandinavian invasions; 11th. cent. the Norman conquest

Invaders called initially SAXONS, later on ANGLES / ANGLI Around 1000 AD, the nation is called ANGLECYNN (Angle race), later ENGLALAND (land of Angles) Language always called ENGLISC

The Old English vocabulary


Words also existing in other IE languages: mother, father, night; Words found only in the Germanic branch of the IE lgs: earth, land, sand, sea, word, sleep; Specifically English words (not to be found in any other languages): clipian (to call) sellan (to give), blican (shine)

OE native words.

Means of enriching the vocabulary of OE


I. WORD BUILDING A. Derivation 1. Suffixes: -noun-forming suffixes: -ere : fiscere (fisher); -estre: spinnestre (woman who spins); -adjective-forming sufixes: -i: misti (misty); -en: ylden (golden); -full: carfull (careful); -lic: freondlic (friendly); -verb-forming suffixes:-sian: clensian (to clean, to purify); lcan: gerichtlcan (to justify); -ettan: cohhettan (to cough)

WORD BUILDING A. Derivation 2. Prefixes - - out of, from: beran (to bear), risan (to arise); - be- by, near, about: bewerian (to protect from, to defend against) - for- indicating destruction: fordn (to kill, to destroy) - on-: onlyhtan (to illumine), oncnawan (understand) B. Composition folcricht (folks right, common law), Monand (Monday), crftsprc (craft speech, scientific language), thelstan (noble stone), dolsprc ?

II. BORROWINGS
Three main sources of loan words in Old English: A. Celtic B. Latin C. Scandinavian

A. Celtic loan words


Place names: in the present southern and eastern England: Kent, Winchester, Salisbury, Exeter; - Cwm (cumb = deep valley)- Cumberland, Duncombe, Morecombe; - Torr (high rock, peak) Torrcross, Torr; - Pen (top) Pendle, Penrith, Pendleton; - Mor (great) Morecombe (great valley), Benmore (great mountain), Kilmore (great church) - Mull (headland) Mull of Cantyre, Mull of Galloway River names: Avon, Exe, Usk, Dover, Ouse, Calder (violent), Cam (crooked), Dee (holy)

B. Latin loan words


B.1. The first period of Latin borrowings (due to the contact between the Germanic tribes and the Romans) a. military life: camp (battle), pil (pointed stick, javelin), pytt pit (from Lat puteus), strt paved road, street (Lat. [via] strta), weall wall (Lat. vallum), etc. b. trade: cap (bargain), pund pound (Lat. pond measure of weight), mynet (coin from Lat. moneta), ynce inch (Lat. uncia) etc. c. domestic life, clothing, food: cytel kettle (Lat. catillus little pot) cycene kitchen (Lat. coquna), scamol (stool, bench), pyle (pillow), cese cheese (Lat. cseus), cisten (chestnut-tree), win (wine), butere butter (Lat.butyrum), pise (pea), disc dish (Lat. discus) etc. d. building arts: cealc chalk (Lat. calc), copor copper (Lat. cuprum), tiele tile (Lat. tegula).

B.2. The second period of Latin borrowings (due to Christianization) Ecclesiastical terms: abbot, alms, altar, angel, apostle (Lat. apostolus), bishop (from episcopus), candle (Lat. candela), canon, chalice, cleric, creed, deacon, dmon (Lat. daemon), disciple, hymn, idol, litany, martyr, mass (from Missa), monk (from monachus), nun (from nunna), pope (from papa), priest (from presbyter), prophet, psalm, shrine, temple (from Lat templum). Lat. Castrum caster (N and E of England), chester (W and S of England), cester (the Midlands): Lancaster, Doncaster, Leicester, Gloucester, Manchester, Chesterfield.

C. Scandinavian loan words


-the Viking (Norwegians and Danes) raids on Britain began in AD 787 and continued at intervals until the beginning of the eleventh century. -large number of settlements with Scandinavian names by, the Danish word for farm, or town. There are over 600 places ending in by: Derby, Grimbsby, Rugby, Whitby, Selby, and Thoresby : thorp meaning village: Althorp, Linthorpe, Cleethorpes, Gawthorpe, Northorpe, Scunthorpe, Thorpe; thwaite (clearing, piece of land): Applethwaite, Bassenthwaite Braithwaite, Cowperthwaite, Langthwaite, etc. Other place-names end or start with: -toft (a piece of ground): Brimtoft, Eastoft, Langtoft, Lowestoft, and Nortoft; -beck (brook): Beckford, Birkbeck, Holbeck, Troutbeckl, Wansbeck; -brack, breck, brick (slope): Haverbrack, Norbreck, and Scarisbreck; -dal/dalr (dale, 'valley'): Avondale, Scarsdale, Danesdale, Deepdale; -fell (hill): Scafell, Snafell Whinfell; -garth (yard): Applegarth, Arkengarthdale, Garth of Tresta; -gill (ravine): Gaisgill, Garrigill; -keld (spring): Hallikeld, Trinkeld; -kirk (church): Kirkby, Kelkirk etc.

Other examples: -husband (hus-bonda dweller of the house, irrespective of marital status; -fellow (felaga/felagi person that lays down fe (money) = partner) -husting (hus ing = gathering/meeting in the house) -names of parts of the human body: calf, leg, skin, knee; -names of animals: bull, kid, rein(deer).

OE cluster sc turned into sk in Scandinavian words skyrta = skirt; into sh in Anglo-Saxon words skyrte = shirt

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