Always in Flux: A Brief History of The English Language

English is a fascinating language that seems to go by its own rules. But, have you ever wondered how English came to be English? This blog explores the history of the English language and demonstrates how it changed over the centuries to become the language that it is today.

This blog is written in English, and the words in this sentence make sense to you. That seems like an obvious thing, but it's pretty remarkable when you think about it; we know nothing about each other, and yet, because of a set of agreed-upon symbols, meanings, and sounds, we can understand each other. English didn't occur in a vacuum. The language has a history as unique as the people who speak it.

Celts and Romans

The Celts were the original inhabitants of the isles now known as the United Kingdom. Remarkably little is known about them. A few Latin words and phrases did make their way into the Celtic language at this point, but with minimal effect.

5th Century: Angles, Saxons, and Jutes

Saxons and the Jutes were all so-called "barbarian" tribes from across the channel. Around the 5th century AD, they decided to expand their territory, and so they invaded what would come to be known as England, bringing their language with them. Because it was much like modern German, some believe that a German today could easily understand 10th-century English! (Interestingly enough, the Angles spoke Anglish or English, and so Anglish/English existed before Angleland/England.)

The Celts, unfortunately, were taken as slaves, and their impact on the English language was minimized. A few places in England have retained their original Celtic names; otherwise, most of the language has been lost. Not so the Germanic languages brought by the barbarian tribes. Contrary to popular belief, English is not a Romanic language, but a German one. The language of the conquerors became the backbone of modern English. Much of modern grammatical structure was brought by these tribes, along with quite a few words - for instance, "Ich" became "I," "ihm” became "him," and "ihr" became "her."

1066: William the Conqueror and the Norman Invasion

Normandy, which many saw it as something of the red-headed stepchild, was located just across the channel from England. Although technically a part of France, the language is a combination of the West Germanic speech of the Franks, which was quite similar to that of the Germanic tribes above and Vulgar Latin. ("Vulgar" here means ""of the people,"" not ""obscene."" In contrast to the pure, written form of Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin evolved into the three Romanic languages with which we are familiar.)

Because of their proximity to the neighboring Barbarian tribes the Norman dialect of Old French bore many similarities to Old English. In response to a royal dispute over inheritance, William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066. The feudal system of the time required that in times of need, all lords and landowners had to go to the battlefield and function as an army of sorts. When William won the Battle of Hastings, he virtually slaughtered all of the English nobles. French nobles then came to England and claimed land, and for the next 250 years, the language in England would be split by class. The royalty spoke French, the clergy and schools spoke Latin, and the primarily illiterate lower class spoke English. The emerging middle class, which was mostly made up of artisans and merchants, often had to be proficient in both English and French to conduct business.

The Middle Ages: A Period of Great Change

Up until the late 13th century, there was little pride in English as a language, as the upper classes viewed it in much the way that the Southern dialect of the United States is today.  However, the 1330s saw the start of the Hundred Years' War and the beginning of a period of intense rivalry between the French and the English that remains unresolved.

The English, wanting to distinguish themselves from the French, started to embrace their own language. The 200 years of French influence altered the way people pronounced words, however, and there was an influx of added vocabulary (nearly 1/3 of the English language derived from French).

Consequently, the language of the Middle Ages differed from the English spoken only a couple of centuries earlier. For demonstration, here are the first 11 lines of Beowulf, (c. 1000 AD) and then the first 18 of The Canterbury Tales, (c. 1390):

Beowulf

Liuzza’s literal word-for-word translation (The italicized words are  implied by the inflectional endings in original Old English.)

 

What! We of the Spear-Danes in days-of-yore

of the people-kings glory heard,

how the noblemen valor did.

Often Scyld son-of-Sceaf from enemies’ troops

from many tribes mead-benches took away 5

terrified nobles. After first he was

destitute found, he for-that comfort awaited,

grew under the skies, in honors prospered

until to him each of the surrounding ones

over the whale-riding obey had to, 10

tribute yield. That was a good king.