Lesson 1: History of English

UNIT 1: Where it all started...

Wes hāl. Lange iċ ne ġeseah þē! Hu eart þú?

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This may sound like a foreign language, but it is not! It is English, in fact, Old English. It means ‘Hello. Long time, no see! How are you?’ You could reply “Iċ mæġ wel”, which means ‘I’m fine’. Even if it sounds unfamiliar to you, many Old English words have survived in Modern English, such as butter, beer, drink, fish, and foot.

These short phrases make it clear that English has evolved significantly since its beginnings. It is a basic rule that languages change over time. We consider this as neither good nor bad, it is just a natural process. Every part of a language can change, but it depends on the situation: what changes exactly, and how does it change? Looking at language change, we can look at it from two perspectives: on the one hand, there is variation at the same time (= synchronic variation); on the other, we can look at change over time (= diachronic variation). 

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So, let us go back to the beginning and have a look at the most important stages. The history of English can be seen as a history of invasions that strongly influenced it. 

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Firstly, in AD 410, the Romans withdrew from Britain, but their presence is still noticeable in English; many words have Latin roots, for example “village”, “town”, and “street”. They made way for numerous Germanic tribes such as the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes, all of whom started to settle in. In doing so, they imported their languages, which would constitute the basis of Old English as they brought useful vocabulary for everyday life, e.g., “house”, “loaf”, and “woman”. Moreover, did you know that Germanic gods lent their names to the four days “Tuesday”, “Wednesday”, “Thursday”, and “Friday”? 

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Secondly, around AD 787, the Vikings carried out raids (= attacks) from Scandinavia and left up to 900 Scandinavian words, especially place names, which are still in use. Amongst them, the common verbs “give” and “take” may stand out to you.

At this stage, Old English was primarily a Germanic language that was influenced by some Old Norse (= Viking) vocabulary. Within this group, it belonged to the family of Indo-European languages. Look at the family tree and discuss the following questions with a partner: 

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1. Which are the major six language families?

2. Which language family does English belong to, and what are its closest ancestors?

3. Do you speak other languages, and do they belong to the same family?

4. What do you think the asterisk * next to “Germanic”, “West”, “East” and “North” means?

Answers

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You have just learnt that English belongs to the “Anglo-Frisian” branch. There is only one other member: Frisian. Even though it is one of the closest relatives of the English language, we know little about it. Do you want to get to know it? Watch the video up to 1’20. Can you understand parts of what is said? What languages does it remind you of?