The History of the English Language

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THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF  EUROPEAN LANGUAGE CULTURE

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever wondered how many people there are who speak English? It’s quite a number!–750 million people.

Geographically English is the most wide-spread language on Earth, and it’s second only to Chinese in the number of people who speak it. It’s spoken in the British Isles, the USA, Australia, New-Zealand and much of Canada and South Africa.

English is also a second language of the people living in more than sixty countries.

If you add to this the enormous number of people who learn to understand and speak English (yourselves), you will realize that English is, indeed, a “world language”.

But how it all began is a long and adventurous story. Let us look into the matter.

THE BODY

We do not know much about these early people because they lived in Britain long before a word of their history was written. But we can learn something from their skeletons, their stone weapons and tools and the remains of their dwelling which have been found.

THE CELTS

During the period  from the 6th to the 3d century B.C. a people called the Celts spread across Europe from the East to the West. More than one Celtic tribe invaded Britain. They were the Picts, the Scots and the Britons. They came in such large numbers that in time Scotland and Britain were named after them. By the way, the Celts were also called “welsh” which means “foreigner” in Anglo-Saxon dialect. The Iberians were unable to fight back the attacks of the Celts who were armed with metal spears, swords, daggers and axes. Most of the Iberians were slain in the conflict, some were driven westwards into the mountains of Wales and the others mixed with the Celts.

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We know enough about the Celts from early writers and historians such as Heredotus and Julius Caesar. Before British invasion the Celts lived on the territory of France and the Romans called the Celts “Gauls” as they gave this name to France. The Celts lived in tribes (clans), wore long flowing moustaches but no beards. They had no towns, they lived in villages. They were acquainted with the use of copper, tin, iron. They cultivated crops, especially corn and kept herds of cattle and sheep. All primitive tribes worshipped nature and numerous gods and believed in many spirits who lived in the rivers, lakes, mountains and thick forests.

They had priests called druids. They were powerful, even more powerful than the chiefs. They were also teachers and doctors. Wise women were considered very important. There were women prophets and women warriors who trained young men in arms; some women were made tribal chiefs and called queens.

To this day the descendants of the ancient Celts live on the territory of the British Isles. The Welsh who live in Wales are of Celtic origin and speak Welsh, a Celtic tongue. The Scots living in Scotland speak Scotch and the Irish living in Ireland speak Irish. These three are Gaelic/Celtic languages.

Some words of the Celtic language can still be found in Modern English and most of them are geographical names. Many rivers, hills, towns are still called by their old Celtic names. Thus, in English there are several rivers called “Avon” which in Celtic means a “river”, for example, Stratford-on-Avon. Some rivers have the name of “Derwent”, which in Celtic means “clear water”. The word “coill” or “kil” means “wood” as in Kilbrook. The chalk highlands in the southern and south-eastern parts of England are called “the Downs”. This name comes from the Celtic word “down” which means “bare, open highland”. And can be found in the towns’ names of Dunscore, Dunedin, Dumbarton.

ROMAN BRITAIN

In the 1st century B.C. when the inhabitants of the British Isles were still living under the primitive communal system the Roman Empire became the strongest slave-owning state in the Mediterranian. It was the last and greatest of the civilizations of the ancient world. The Romans were greatly interested to learn from the travellers that valuable metals were to be found in Britain. Finally they decided to occupy the island; they crossed the sea in galleys under the command of Julius Caesar and conquered the country. Britain was a province of the Roman Empire for about 4 centuries. Let's speak about Roman influence upon the life of the primitive Celts and the traces of Roman rule in Britain.

The Romans were practical men. They were very clever at making hard roads and building bridges, and fine tall houses that are admired to this day. They were skillful warriors and won most of the battles they fought. But well-trained as these

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soldiers were it was not so easy to conquer the Britons, and the Romans had to encamp troops all over the country.

It is from these camps that some of the English cities later arose. The Latin word “castra”- “camp” became a suffix and was later pronounced |keste|, |sheste| and |ste|. The names of many English towns never dropped the Latin ending, and you can find Lancaster, Manchester, Worchester |wuste|, Leicester |leste| and many others on the map.

Many things the Romans taught the Britons were given Latin names. They made the Britons build roads and bridges, ports and a high wall in the north to keep the savages out, because they were unable to conquer the Scottish Highlands where the Picts and Scotts lived. It’s called  Hadrian’s Wall after the Emperor Hadrian by whose command it was built. Thus, the word “wall” comes from the Latin “vallum”, “street” from “strata” meaning “road”. 

 But the Romans and the natives of Britain did not become one nation; all that the Romans wanted was to make the Britons work for them. Towards the end of the 4th century the invasion of all of Europe by barbaric peoples compelled the Romans to leave Britain because they were needed to defend their own country. The fall of the Roman Empire followed soon after.

But still there are today many things in Britain to remind the people of the Romans. The wells which they dug give water today. And the chief Roman roads are still along the highways of Modern England. Watling Street still runs from London to Chester. Long stretches of Hadrian’s Wall, the ruins of public baths and parts of the Roman bridges have remained to this day. The fragments of the old London wall built by the Romans can still be seen. Besides, as you can see, many words of Modern English have come from Latin.

THE INVASION BY GERMANIC TRIBES

In the middle of the 5th century some Germanic tribes called Jutes, Angles and Saxons invaded Britain. They came from the northern and central part of Europe. They spoke different dialects of the West Germanic language from which modern German developed. A wild and fearless race, they came in hordes from over the North Sea and the Britons could never drive them away. So the native population was forced to adopt many of their customs and learn to speak their languages. These tribes were pagans, that is to say they believed in many gods. When people learned to divide up time into weeks and the week into seven days they gave the days the names of their gods.

It’s not hard to guess that Sunday is the day of the sun, Monday is the day of the moon, Tuesday – the day of the god Tuesco (god of Darkness), Wednesday – Woden’s day (god of War), Thursday – Thor’s day (the Thunderer), Friday – Freia’s day (goddess of Prosperity), and Saturday – Saturn’s day (god of time worshipped by the ancient Romans). The Jutes, the Angles and the Saxons were

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closely akin in speech and customs and they gradually merged into one people. The name “Jute” soon die out and the conquerors are generally referred to as the Anglo-Saxons.

At first they spoke 4 dialects: Northumbrian, Mercian, Wessex and Kentish, and divided Britain into seven kingdoms: Kent, Sussex, Essex, Wessex, Mercia |mershja|, East Anglia and Northumbria. But in the course of a few centuries they became one nation. The 1st king to rule over all of them was Egbert, king of Wessex. Most of the works and documents in Old English that are in existence today are written in the Wessex dialect of Anglo-Saxon. By the time the Angles and Saxons conquered Britain, they already had letters of their own called “runes” which they carved on stone and wood.

THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY

The culture of the early Britons changed greatly under the influence of Christianity, which penetrated into the British Isles in the 3d century. In the year 306, the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, made Christianity the official religion of Rome. It was brought to all countries belonging to the Roman Empire. This religion was called the Catholic Church (“catholic” means “universal”).

When the Saxon and other pagan tribes invaded Britain, most of the British Christians were put to death or driven away to Wales and Ireland. It was not until the end of the 6th century that monks came from Rome to Britain again. It was the Anglo-Saxon kings and nobles who accepted Christianity first. Then they began to convert the rank-and-file to the new faith.

The spread of Christianity brought about important changes in the life of the Anglo-Saxons. It was of great importance for the growth of culture in Britain and promoted a revival of learning. Many new churches and monasteries were built all over the country. The monasteries, where reading and writing were practiced, became the centres of learning and education in the country.

THE DANES

The beginning of the 9th century was a troubled time for England. Danish pirates, called Norsemen, kept coming from overseas for plunder. They were not driven out of the country but they were made subjects of Wessex. They submitted to the power of the Anglo-Saxon kings and never tried to make the Danelaw into a separate kingdom.

The Danes influenced the development of the country greatly. They were good sailors and traders and they favoured the growth of towns and the development of trade in England. They were skillful shipbuilders and many grave-goods found in their ship-burials show their great craftsmanship. The Danes used a large iron axe

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to clean the forests and to plough the large stretches of virgin land. The majority of them in England were free peasants and remained free throughout the Middle Ages.

Many Scandinavian words came into English at that time and are even used today. Such adjectives as happy, low, loose, ill, ugly, weak,  such verbs as to take, to die, to call, nouns like sister, husband, sky, fellow, law, window, leg, wing, harbour are examples of Scandinavian borrowings. The Danes gave their own names to many of the towns they built.

In the regions where they lived many town-names end in “by” or “toft”, for these were the words meaning Danish settlements. For example, Derby |da:bi|, Grimsby, Whitby, Lowestoft and others. The whole country formed a united kingdom. The newly conquered Danelaw was divided into shires, like the Anglo-Saxon part of the kingdom. Each of these shires, had for its centre one of the market towns which the Danes had established, and that is the reason why to this day the midland counties (unlike those of Southern England) are nearly all named after their county towns. (For example,  Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire and others.)

THE NORMAN CONQUEST (12-13 centuries)

When King Alfred the Great died, fighting with Danes soon began again.

Parties of the Norsemen sailed round Scotland and over to Ireland. Others sailed south across the Channel to France. They conquered the north of France and settled there. In the next hundred years they came to be called Normans, and their country Normandy.  In the middle of the 11th century the internal feuds among the Anglo-Saxon earls invited a foreign conquest. The Normans did not miss their chance. In the year 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, defeated the English at Hastings in a great battle. Within 5 years William the Conqueror became complete master of the whole of England. The English became an oppressed nation.  

The Normans could not speak a word of English. They spoke the Norman dialect of the French Language. But the Anglo-Saxon dialects were not suppressed. During the next 200 years communication went on in three languages:

1. At the monasteries learning went on in Latin;
2. Norman-French was the language of the ruling class and was spoken at court and in official institutions;
3. The common people held firmly to their mother tongue.

 In spite of this, however, the language changed so much in the course of     time that we must speak about it.

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HOW THE LANGUAGE CHANGED

1. Many French words came into the language. Under the influence of French the pronunciation of the people changed. Some French words could not be pronounced by the Anglo-Saxons, so some of the Norman-French sounds were substituted by more familiar sounds from Old English. There appeared many long vowels (diphthongs) in their native language. This newly formed pronunciation was nearing that of Modern English.
2. The spelling did not correspond to the pronunciation. The Norman scribes brought to England their Latin traditions. Some Anglo-Saxon letters were runes. The Normans replaced them by the Latin t + h = th.
3.  What was particularly new was the use of French suffixes with words of Anglo-Saxon origin. For instance, the noun-forming suffixes –ment (government, agreement) and –age (courage, marriage), giving an abstract meaning to the noun, and the adjective forming suffix –able (admirable, capable) were used to form new words. Examples of such hybrids, as they are called, are:

                                 -ment                              -age                                  -able

                              fulfillment                        bondage                           readable

                    bewilderment                   cottage                            unbearable

                    bewitchment                    stoppage                         drinkable

4. The French prefix dis- was used to make up words of negative meaning: distrust, distaste.
5. The indefinite article was coming into use.

6) The struggle for supremacy between French and old English words went on in the following way:

1. If the French word meant a thing or idea for which there was no name in English, then the French word came into the language. Such words were those relating to government, church, court, armour, pleasure, food, art.
2. If the object or idea was clearly expressed in English, then the English word remained.
3. If both words remained, then it was because of a slight but clear-cut difference in the meaning. An interesting example is to be found in the first chapter of “IVANHOE” by Sir Walter Scott. Wamba, a Saxon serf, tells the swineherd Gurth that his swine will be turned into Normans before morning.  The Anglo-Saxon word “swine” means the living animals, while the French word “pork” is the name of the food. Other examples are:

                  calf – veal          ox – beef              sheep – mutton

7. As a result of this process there appeared a large store of synonyms. Each of them has its own shade of meaning. The use of one or other of these synonyms makes all the difference between the following verbs; those of Anglo-Saxon origin are used in conversation, while the verbs of French origin are used in formal speech:

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to give up - to abandon

                                    to give in/over - to surrender

                                           to come in - to enter

       to begin - to commence

    to go on - to continue

The history of English literature shows us how the popular tongue became the language of the educated classes because it was spoken by the majority of the population, by those who tilled the soil, sowed and reaped, by those who produced the goods and struggled against the foreign oppressors.

Words of Germanic origin make up the basic vocabulary of Modern English. In Modern English simple everyday words are mostly Anglo-Saxon, like eat, land, house and others. But the English language changed greatly under the influence of the French language, which enriched its vocabulary and added 10,000 loan words, for instance, relating to administration and law, such as charter, country, council, state, nation,  law, design, accuse, crime, obey, command, serve, noble; or such military terms as arms, troops, guard, navy, battle, victory, peace,  and other words characterizing the way of life and customs of the Norman aristocracy. 

Gradually the Normans mixed with the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes and the English nation finally emerged. Norman-French and Anglo-Saxon were moulded into one national language only towards the beginning of the 14th century. It is called Middle English.

CONCLUSION

Today, English is represented in every continent and in the three main oceans – the Atlantic, the Indian and the Pacific. English is mixing with and marrying other languages around the world. It is probably the most insatiable borrower.

There were only 30,000 words in Old English. 

Modern English has the largest vocabulary in the world – more than 600,000 words.

There are about 60,000 words in common use.

The average vocabulary of a native speaker is 5,000 words.

About 450-500 words are added to the English language every year.

The most frequently used words in written English are: the, of, and, to, a, in, that, is, I, it, for and as.

The most frequently used word in conversation is I .

The longest word in the English language is  pneumonoultamicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (a lung disease), with 45 letters.

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                                                 So, why not learn it?

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Video Supplement

1. The title
2. Archeological excavations
3. The Celts: the Picts, the Scots, the Britons
4. Celtic/ Welsh = foreigner
5. The Celts: A woman-warrior; National Celtic costume
6. Avon = a river: Stradford-On-Avon

             Dervent = clear water

             Coill/ Kil = wood: Kilbrook

             Dun/ Dum – Down/ Dune = bare, open highlands:

             Dunscore, Dunedin, Dumburton

7. The Roman Empire

     8                A Roman  warrior

            Сastra = camp:

                  [keste]   – Lancaster

                  [sheste] – Manchester

                  [ste]       – Leicester [leste], Worchester  [wuste]

 9               Portus = port

                 Hadrian’s Wall

            Vallum = wall, Strata = street

10. Watling Street
11. The Germanic tribes: the Jutes, the Angles, the Saxons
12. An Anglo-Saxon warrior
13. Sunday  = the Sun, Monday = the Moon
14. Tuesday = Tuesco, Wednesday = Woden,

            Thursday =  Thor

15. Friday = Freia, Saturday = Saturn
16. Anglo-Saxon Dialects:

            Northumbrian, Mercian, Wessex, Kentish                    

            Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms:

             Kent, Sussex, Essex, Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia, Northumbria

17. The Runes
18. Constantine the Great; the Christian Cross; catholic = universal
19. A Vikings’ ship
20. Adjectives: happy, low, loose, ill, ugly, weak

             Verbs: to take, to die, to call

       Nouns: sister, husband, sky, fellow, law, window, leg, wing, harbour

21.           Towns: Derby, Grimsby, Whitby, Lowestoft

            Shires: Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire

22. King Alfred the Great
23. The Norman Conquest; knights’ coats of armour; a helmet
24. t + h = th

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         -ment                             -age                               -able

              fulfillment                    bondage                         readable

              bewilderment               cottage                           unbearable

              bewitchment                stoppage                         drinkable

25.  dis- distrust, distaste

             French words: government, church, court, armour, pleasure, food

26.  Anglo-Saxon/Germanic                Norman-French

              calf/теленок                                  veal/телятина          

              ox/бык                                           beef/говядина

              sheep/овца                                     mutton/баранина

         Anglo-Saxon             Norman-French

                 (casual)                       (formal)

              to give up                 to abandon            отказаться, бросить

              to give in/over          to surrender          сдаваться, капитулировать

              to come in                 to enter                 входить

              to begin                     to commence        начинать

              to go on                     to continue           продолжать

27. Everyday English is of Germanic origin: eat, land, house, etc.

             Administration, military and Law in English are of French origin:

             charter, country, council, law, design, crime, obey, serve, arms,        

             troops, etc.

28. Old English – 30,000 words

             Modern English -  60,000 words in common use

             The average vocabulary of a native speaker – 5,000 words

              Every year – 450/500 words added

              The most frequently used words –

            “the, of, and, to, a, in, that, is, I, it, for, as”

              The most frequently used word in conversation –“ I”

              Pneumonoultamicroscopicsilcovolcanoconiosis – 45 letters

              Disproportionableness – несоразмеримость

              Incomprehensibilities -  непонятности – 21 letters

              The commonest letter – “E”

              More words begin with “S”

   29       The most overworked word – “SET”: 126 – verbal/ 58 – noun uses

              The newest letters in the ABC – “J” and “V”

              Oxford English Dictionary – 20 volumes, 21.728 pages

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 The commonest name – Smith: 800.000 in England and Wales,

                                                                  1.700.000 in the USA

               80% of all information in the world’s computers

               75% of letters and faxes

               60% of all telephone calls

               More than 60% of scientific journals

              30       The Nations of the World

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PLAN

1. Introduction.

2. The Body: The Earliest Men; The Celts; Roman Britain; The Invasion by Germanic Tribes; The Spread of Christianity; The Danes; The Norman Conquest; How the Language Changed.

3.  Conclusion.

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List of Literature

1. Beddoe John, “The Anthropological History of Europe”, 1993
2. Dawkins, W. Boyd, “Early Men in Britain”, 1998
3. Gerhard, Herm, “The Normans”, New-York, St. Martin’s Press, 2002
4. Gwyn Jones, “A History of the Vikings”, New-York, Oxford University Press, 1968
5. Huntington, Ellsworth, “Civilization and Climate”, Yale University Press, 2008
6. Madison Grant, “The Celts of Ireland”, 1970, pp.117-131
7. Osborn, Henry Fairfield, “The Origin of Life”, New-York, Scribner, 2005

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РЕЦЕНЗИЯ

Предметом анализа является реферат ученицы 9 класса  Алены Лысиковой МБОУ - гимназии 17 по теме «Историческое развитие английского языка». Актуальность темы обусловлена ростом интереса учащихся как к изучению европейских языков в целом, так и широким межкультурным обменом, наблюдающимся в современном мировом сообществе. Тенденция к изучению учащимися параллельно нескольких европейских языков в нашем образовательном учреждении давно вызывает любопытство учащихся к истории стран изучаемых языков, а также к удивительному сходству  словарей английского, французского и немецкого языков. Поэтому центральным вопросом работы является исторический аспект развития европейской языковой культуры.

В реферате на первый план обосновано выдвигается вопрос о влиянии исторических событий и межкультурных связей на формирование современного английского языка. Структура реферата четко определена научно-практической целью, поставленной перед ученицей при подготовке и выполнении данной работы, и отражает  основные этапы формирования английского языка, начиная с древних времен до появления его современной версии.

Оценивая работу в целом, можно сказать, что тема раскрыта полностью. Суммируя результаты отдельных глав, напрашивается вывод о соответствии выбранной темы с ее содержанием – каждый блок реферата дополняет другой, наблюдается логичный переход от одной части к другой.

Таким образом, в рассматриваемой работе Алена Лысикова умело систематизировала материал и обобщила его. Благодаря этому данная работа углубляет представление об исследуемой теме и делает ее интересной для других учащихся с точки зрения истории языка.

В работе присутствуют незначительные недостатки, которые носят локальный характер и не влияют на конечные результаты работы, не снижают ее уровня. Их можно считать пожеланиями к дальнейшей работе. С одной стороны, было бы еще лучше, если бы автор привела больше  примеров словообразования, заимствования слов и обширного разряда синонимов. С другой стороны,  следует иметь в виду, что лимит объема реферата не позволяет увеличить количество примеров. Но даже приведенные ученицей примеры делают реферат ярким и интересным с практической точки зрения, демонстрируя процесс формирования языка.

В целом работа может быть оценена «отлично», так как удовлетворяет всем основным требованиям.

Рецензия выполнена учителем английского языка МБОУ — гимназии 17 Полиновой И.Э. _______________

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THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

THE THESES

INTRODUCTION

Now English is spoken  in more than sixty countries.  If you add to this the enormous number of people who learn to speak English, you will realize that English is, indeed, a “world language”. But how it all began is a long and adventurous story. Let me tell it to you.

 THE EARLIEST MEN

At the dawn of their history the British Isles were inhabited by a people known as the Iberians. We don't know much about these early people, but we can learn something from their weapons , tools and the remains of their dwelling which have been found.

 Thus, in English there are several rivers called “Avon” which in Celtic means a “river”. Some rivers have the name of “Derwent”, which means “clear water”.  “Coill” or “kil” means “wood” as in Kilbrook. The chalk highlands of England are called “the Downs”. It  comes from the Celtic word “down” ,that is “bare, open highland”. And they can be found in the towns’ names of Dunscore, Dunedin, Dumbarton.

(16) ROMAN BRITAIN.

In the 1st century B.C. the Romans invaded Britain and conquered the country for about 4 centuries. The Romans were practical men. They were clever at making hard roads and building bridges and fine tall houses. It was not so easy to conquer the Britons, and the Romans had to encamp troops all over the country. It is from these camps that some of the English cities later arose. The Latin word “castra”- “camp” became a suffix |keste|, |sheste| and |ste|. The names of many English towns have this Latin ending, as in Lancaster, Manchester.  The Romans made the Britons build roads and bridges, ports  and a high wall in the north to keep the savages out. It’s called  Hadrian’s Wall. Thus, the word “wall” comes from the Latin “vallum”, “street” from “strata” meaning “road”.

Towards the end of the 4th century the Romans were compelled to leave Britain to defend their own country. But still there are many things in Britain to remind the people of the Romans. The wells they dug and the chief Roman roads. Watling Street still runs from London to Chester. Long stretches of Hadrian’s Wall, the ruins of public baths and bridges have remained to this day. Besides, as you can see, many words of Modern English have come from Latin.

 THE INVASION BY GERMANIC TRIBES.

In the middle of the 5th century the Germanic tribes called Jutes, Angles and Saxons invaded Britain from Europe. They spoke different Germanic dialects. They came in hordes and the Britons could never drive them away. So the native population was forced to learn to speak their languages. These tribes were pagans. When they learned to divide up time they gave the days the names of their gods. It’s not hard to guess that Sunday is the day of the sun, Monday is the day of the moon, Tuesday – the day of the god Tuesco (god of Darkness), Wednesday – Woden’s day (god of War), Thursday – Thor’s day (the Thunderer), Friday – Freia’s day (goddess of Prosperity), and Saturday – Saturn’s day (god of time worshipped by the ancient Romans).

In the course of a few centuries those tribes became one nation  and they are generally referred to as the Anglo-Saxons.  At first they spoke 4 dialects and divided Britain into 7 kingdoms. Their 1st king  was Egbert, king of Wessex. Most of the documents in Old English are written in Wessex.

That means that they already had letters called “runes” which they carved on stone and wood.

THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY.

The culture of the early Britons changed greatly under the influence of Christianity  which Constantine the Great made  the official religion of  the Roman Empire in the year 306. This religion was called the Catholic Church (“catholic” means “universal”). The Anglo-Saxon kings and nobles accepted Christianity first. The spread of Christianity promoted the growth of culture and a revival of learning in Britain. The monasteries became the centres of learning.

THE DANES.

The beginning of the 9th century was a troubled time for England. The Danes or  Norsemen, kept coming from overseas for plunder. And they were not driven out of the country but made subjects of Wessex. They submitted to the power of the Anglo-Saxon kings. And, actually, they influenced the development of the country greatly. They were good sailors, shipbuilders and traders and favoured the growth of towns.  Many Scandinavian words came from them into English. Among them  there are many adjectives, verbs, nouns. In the regions where they lived many town-names end in “-by” or “-toft”, meaning Danish settlements. For example, Derby |da:bi|, Lowestoft and others. The whole country formed a united kingdom. The Danelaw, a part of it, was divided into shires with a market town for its centre, and that is the reason why the midland counties are all named after their county towns. For example, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and others.

THE NORMAN CONQUEST (12-13 centuries).

When King Alfred the Great died, fighting with Danes began again.

They conquered the north of France and settled there.

In the next hundred years they came to be called Normans and their country Normandy.  

In the middle of the 11th century the internal feuds among the Anglo-Saxon earls invited a foreign conquest.

The Normans did not miss their chance. In the year 1066, William the Conqueror defeated the English at Hastings in a great battle. Thus, he became complete master of England. And the English became an oppressed nation.

Now, the Normans could not speak a word of English. They spoke the Norman dialect of French. But the Anglo-Saxon dialects were not suppressed. During the next 200 years communication went on in three languages:

- At the monasteries learning went on in Latin;

- Norman-French was the language of the ruling class and was spoken at court and in   official institutions;

- The common people held firmly to their mother tongue.

In spite of this, however, the language changed so much that I must speak about it.

3) What was particularly new was the use of French suffixes with words of Anglo-Saxon origin.   Norman –ment,  –age , –able  were used to form new words. Examples of such hybrids you can see on the screen:  fulfillment, bondage,  readable and others.

4) The French prefix dis- was used to make up words of negative meaning.

5) The indefinite article was coming into use.

       6) The struggle for supremacy between French and old English words went on in the following way:

6. If the French word meant something for which there was no name in English, then the French word came into the language. Such words were those relating to government, church, court, armour, pleasure, food, art.
7. If the object or idea was clearly expressed in English, then the English word remained.
8.  If both words remained, then it was because of a slight but clear-cut difference in the meaning. For instance, the Anglo-Saxon word “swine” means the living animals, while the French word “pork” is the name of the food. Other instances are on the display.

8. As a result of this process there appeared a large store of synonyms. Those of Anglo-Saxon origin (the first column) are used in conversation. The verbs of French origin (the second column) are used in formal speech:   to give up – to abandon, etc.

Now, in Modern English simple everyday words are mostly Anglo-Saxon. But the French language enriched English and added  10,000 loan words  characterizing the way of life and customs of the Norman aristocracy.

Gradually the Normans mixed with the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes and the English nation finally emerged. Norman-French and Anglo-Saxon were moulded into one national language only towards the beginning of the 14th century. It is called Middle English.

CONCLUSION.

 Today, English is represented in every continent. And it is probably the most insatiable borrower.

There were only 30,000 words in Old English. Modern English has the largest vocabulary in the world – more than 600,000 words.

So, why not learn it?