It has been a long time since the sun began to set in the British empire. After world war II, Britain had lost its position as one of the world’s major ruling powers in the scientific, economic, technological, industrial, and military spheres. The reins of the world have slipped out of Britain’s hands. Although the world is not ruled by Britain, the language that still rules is English, a language developed by Britain. The English language has played a significant role in uniting and strengthening the scattered people with a single language. No one can deny the role of English in turning scattered India into a single nation. This paper titled “English: A language that rules the world” aims to provide insight into the basics of the history of English.
What
is History? Oxford Dictionary refers history as “a relation of incidents”, “a
written narrative constituting a continuous methodical record, in order of
time, of important or public events, especially those connected with a
particular country, people, individual etc.”, “The formal record of the past,
especially of human affairs or actions.” (Oxford Dictionary). Language
is the discourse of people and society. History of a language is the history of
people and society. English as a
language was introduced by Britain long before English began to grow. Daniel
Defoe gave the language a strange adjective i.e., Roman – Saxon – Danish –
Norman English. According to him, Modern English is a mixture of all these
cultures. Linguists point to the English language as a cocktail made from a
variety of liquors. English became the culture of most languages in the world.
This is because the words and expressions of the English language were adapted
from many languages. The story of the birth and development of English is the
story of three submissions and one revolution. English has had a hybrid
character since the beginning of life. Its growth is a mixture of war and
peace. The language was first developed about a thousand years before the time
of the fathers of English literature. When St. Augustine and his followers
converted England to the land of Christianity, Latin and Greek came to influence
the language spoken there. Later, the Dutch made some additions to the
vocabulary.
Finally, when it becomes the time
of the French language speaking Normans, English language attains a pure form
as we see today. By the time of Chaucer, many dramatic events had taken place.
And old form modern English had emerged. The official study on the origins of the
English language began in the eighteenth century. Sir William Jones, a British man
serving in India began to learn Sanskrit to understand the early laws of India
reached to a great goal in language learning where he found a striking
resemblance of Sanskrit with Latin and Greek. The English word ‘brother’
resembles the Greek ‘phrater’ and Sanskrit ‘bhratar’. The word ‘pita’ in
Sanskrit is synonymous with ‘pitar’ in Greek and ‘pater’ in Latin. The Latin
word ‘mater’ is similar to the Sanskrit word ‘mata’ and the English word
‘mother’.
In
this way, Sir Jones discovered many words with almost identical pronunciation
and the same meaning. Even though many such similarities have been made before
him, Jones is the one who made a systematic study on it. He presented his findings in the Asiatic
Society Meeting conducted on February 2, 1786. He states that Sanskrit, Latin
and Greek have a spiritual connection; but it is not a coincidence. Probably
there is an unknown factor behind this resemblance and subsequent studies
confirmed his discovery as of right. Thus, the idea of an Indo-European common
origin was put forward that the history of a population can be traced back to
the language. These studies have revealed the way of life of the early
Indo-European society. They used the words that refer to winter and horse. From
this, it can be seen that these group of people led a nomadic and semi-settled
lifestyle. They have pets, used dried animal skins, wool clothes to wear, had
ploughed land and had a social life and family structure. It has not been
possible to determine exactly who they were and whom they lived with. They are
thought to have lived in some of the colder climates of the northern climate.
Because in their language there were words that meant snow, beach, tree, bee,
wolf etc. they then established the Indo-Iranian languages spoken in the Colosseum,
India, and Pakistan. Another group of Indo-Europeans travelled to the western
part of the country with a calm climate. Their successors formed Greece, Italy,
Germany, and the Baltic region.
The
history of the English language begins with the arrival of the three German
tribes into England: Angles, Saxons and Jutes. The history of English can be
divided into three periods:
1.
Old
English or Anglo-Saxon (AD 500 to 1100 AD),
2.
Middle
English or Medieval English (1100 AD to 1500 AD) and
3.
Modern
English (AD 1500 to Today)
The Old English:
The
first people in England are Celts, the early inhabitants of Britain. The Celts
are an Indo-European group of people who migrated to the west. They have
settled in the highlands of Scotland, Cornwall, Ireland, Wales, and the United
Kingdom. They were the first immigrants to England. The people of Wales still
use the word ‘Cynny’ to describe themselves believing that they, the Irish, the
Scotlandians, and the people of Cornwall are the real British. Wales is a
Celtic language which has not changed over time. Since the Cambrian mountains
isolated the country from a Celtic village, it has no influence of other
languages for four centuries. Despite many socio-economic changes, the Welsh
did not abandon their language. Although educational and industrial progress paved
the way for the introduction to the English language, the Welsh language
survived. From the beginning of the 20th century, the majority of
Wales began to use English among their mother tongue. But even today 20% of the
Welsh language can be seen in the English language in Wales. This variant of
English is more rhythmic. They contributed much to English literature as poets.
Since they lived in a fertile and mineral-rich region, they had to face a lot
of attacks for lands.
The Romans were the first invaders of Celts. Britain was invaded by Roman troops led by Julius Caesar in the 55 BC. Celts resisted bravely but could not hold out much longer. The Romans conquered Britain and the people in Britain embraced the roman culture. As part of this, some Roman words get translated to English. The place names Cher, Manchester and Winchester are derived from the Roman word ‘Castra’ which mean a camp or habitat. After the fall of Constantinople, the Roman army withdraws from Britain in 410 AD. With the collapse of the Roman empire, Roman influence in Britain also waned. After Roman rule, a new occupation team arrived. They are a Germanic group of Indo-European immigrants who migrated to the Baltic, Northern Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands. From these people came two linguistic branches in English: the Norse language of Scandinavian in the Northern region and the West Germanic language in the Western region. The West Germanic language is classified as ‘High German’ and ‘Low German’.
One
of the early historians of the Germanic tribes was the Roman writer Tacitus. He
recorded the history of people who claimed to be the first English men.
According to Tacitus, the Germanic tribes had many advantages over Romans. The
Germans were independent. They had no extravagant celebrations or festivals
which marks their culture. They lived in seven tribes who worshipped the earth
as a goddess. Angles are a group of these tribes. Tacitus says that there were
many primitive customs among them like human sacrifices to please the goddess
of the earth. They lived in an area known as Schell’s-Wig-Holstein. The
language used was Germanic. Freesia is a Germanic group that lives near the
coastal slums of the Netherlands. Their descendants are people living in the
area of Freesia or Freeman. They lived by raising sheep and cattle. They used
words like ‘kko’, ‘lam’, ‘goss’, ‘dong’, ‘rein’ etc. which are similar to
‘cow’, ‘lamb’, ‘goose’, ‘boat’, ‘dog’, and ‘rain’. Germanic roots point to the
similarity of English with the Persian language.
The Danish language has a similar
resemblance to English. Had it not been for the Norwegian occupation of 1066,
English would have born a striking resemblance to modern Danish. In 449, the
Angles, Saxons and Jutes arrived in Britain from Denmark and off the coast of
Germany. To this day, the area is known as the Lower Saxony. The English form was
a disorganised people who loved to kill and be killed. Arriving here, they
drove the locals to the western parts. The legendary King Arthur fought against
the invaders and Anglo-Saxons established seven kingdoms on the land –
Northamptonshire, Mercia, East Anglia, Kent, Essex, Sussex, and Wessex. They
called the British who had to flee away from the Anglo- Saxon territories
“Whales” which means foreigners and derived the word, Welsh. The Anglo-Saxons
and the people of Britain lived close together for centuries.
Old
English, the language of Anglo-Saxons, has barely crossed a dozen words. Few of
these words have become part of modern English. For example, the words like
‘brock’ (badger), ‘combe’ (a type of valley) etc. some places, rivers are named
after the Celtic language. Some cities had the Roman-British names. The name
London was derived from the Roman name ‘Londinium’. They did not own the
language of the territory conquered by Anglo-Saxons. Even today there is no
unity between the English, the Welsh, Scots, and Irish. But the language of the
Celtic community made many contributions to English literature and language.
Many prominent English writers like Swift, Robert Burns, Burke, Wild etc were of
Celtic descent. Not only that, the people from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales
have greatly contributed to the spread of the English language through their
travels to many parts of the world. The Celtics called all German invaders
Saxons. But gradually referred to the invaders as a whole.
The
word English was used in the Latin work “The English Church and People” by the
8th century Priest Venerable Bede. According to Bede, the people of
Britain are ‘Angelcynn’, relatives of angels and their language is ‘Englisc’
i.e., English. By the turn of the millennium AD, the country came to be known
as England, the land of English. Gradually, the Anglo-Saxon settlers began to
make a living by farming. Many words in their language were associated with
agriculture. For example, sheep, shepherd, ox, ‘ng donos’ for the earth, ‘cwo’
for a dog, ‘anlod’ for the field, work, laughter, mirth etc. it became
difficult to write in English without a single word in old English, the
language of Anglo-Saxons. Many of the most commonly used words in English are
contributions of old English. Ancient English had many regional variations. The
Anglo-Saxon language was of a very high standard. But since most people do not
know how to read and write, they prefer to use words that are mostly spoken.
Though they are not developed like Romans, Anglo-Saxons acquired many
innovations through Roman invitations.
Many
words have come to English as part of Christianity. Most of these were Latin
words. Young men were taken from Britain to Rome for slavery. Pope Gregory sent
St. Augustine to England to Christianise society. St. Augustine with fifty
companions arrived at Kent and was accommodated at Canterbury. To help them, in
635 AD, an evangelist named Aidan arrived from Ireland to preach in the northern
part of the country. With the advent of Christianity, Churches monasteries were
established in the country. Thus, educational progress became possible in
England. Not only theology, but many other subjects including poetry and
astrology were taught in these monasteries. Christianity contributed about 400
words to the ancient English language, most of which are still in use today.
Until then, the old English language had the words to describe things that were part of ordinary life. Greek and Latin words like angel, litany, disciple, martyr, mass, shrift, shrine, psalm etc became part of the English language. Words related to churches, words and ideas from India and China were the impetus for the Anglo-Saxon people are borrowed from Latin, Greek and Hebrew. The words like priest (preost), bishop (biscop), nun (nonne), munk (munuc) are all Latin words. The Greek words include apostle, pope, psalter etc whereas the word sabbath is a contribution of the Hebrew language. Many words from the east like camel, lion, cedar, orange etc migrated to England as part of the bible. The word ginger is derived from Sanskrit. With the advent of Latin, English words began to take on new meanings. Words like god, heaven, and hell were already part of the ancient English language, but with the advent of Christianity, these words gained their current meaning. In the 8th century, as a result of the influence of Christianity, Anglo-Saxon developed a rich culture in England. It was during this period that words came to perfection. But at the same time, the country faced another threat. It was the arrival of the Vikings who had the second greatest influence on the formation of the language.
The
Vikings arrived in England in 793 AD to plunder churches and monasteries. By
the middle of the 9th century, half of the country was under their
control. They then attacked Wessex; the stronghold of England ruled by King
Alfred the Great. They signed the treaty of Vedmore according to which the
Danes retreated to the North. Alfred and the English-speaking Saxons conquered
the south. Alfred established his authority over nations like Mercia,
Worcestershire and Warwickshire outside the Commonwealth by using English as a
common language. Thus, king Alfred who united England came to be known as
Alfred the Great. He rebuilds churches and schools destroyed by the Vikings. He
who studied Latin translated many books to English. The poem Beowulf is the
best example of Saxon-Vikings relationship or connection in language. No one
knows about the origin of the poem as well as the author. The poem written in
old English refers to life at that time.
Middle English:
The
language in use from 1150 to 1500 AD was given a name in the 19th century as
Medieval English or Middle English. The most important change of this period
was the use of auxiliary verbs. The English used in Northern, West Midland,
East Midland, Southern and Kentish regions in England, is very similar to
modern English. Another important event in the history of the English language
and England was the Norman invasion and the coming of William of Normandy as
the ruler of England. He later becomes William the Conqueror. William bestowed
honours on those willing to stand with him and ordained Norwegian bishops and
priests in monasteries and cathedrals of England. Although he tried to learn
English, his efforts were unsuccessful into the midst of the hustle and bustle
of religion, judiciary, science and literature and French began to be used in
all areas. By 1154, Anglo-Saxon writers who were writing contemporary events as
a chronicle had given up their writing. French became the vernacular and Latin
became the official language. Except Henry I, who married an Englishwoman,
learned to speak English, whereas the Norman kings did not know English. Latin
was used for religious purpose but English became the language of the common
man.
With
the advent of the French, English words came to have many synonyms. For
example, the word kingly had synonyms like royal, regal, sovereign etc. were
the two languages combined to form a new language. There are many reasons why
English survived the French invasion. English was spoken before the arrival of
the Normans. The spoken language and written language were perfect. With the
influence of the Scandinavian languages, English became a clear language.
French was regarded as the language of foreigners. Moreover, the people who lived
in England were not willing to give up their language, but they started
learning English, which became a prestigious issue among them. Thus, the French
aristocracy living in the countryside of England needed to learn English. In
1204, the Anglo-Normans lost control of the French territory beyond the English
Channel due to king John’s valiant military campaign. By 1244, the king of
franc had asked his people to abandon trade with other nations.
The
use of the English language began to be widespread again from the beginning of
the 13th century, beginning with the use of English for speaking and
writing. English began to be used to compose gospels, prayers and carols.
During the reign of Henry III, English appeared alongside Latin in the court
documents. Later the official documents began to be written in English. At the
same time, an anti-French attitude was taken by an Englishman in England. They
began to complain that London was full of foreigners. Henry III was a French descent.
Many of his admirers were French. The angry English lords prepared for a riot.
The priests in England were against Henry. At the end of the 13th
century, Edward I came into power. He placed great emphasis on the English
language, not only among the common people but also on the highly educated and
English becomes the third most popular language in England. Later, English
became a part of the French curriculum. It was at this time that an English
poem, The Cursor Mundi was written with many biblical stories and Christian
histories. In the meantime, the church and its students in the French and the
Latin American universities stood forward to maintain the French language.
Students in the universities of Oxford were requested to make French or Latin
as their communication language with a choice. But they often refuse to obey.
Although the century-long war i.e., the hundred years of war between the England and France and the terrible plague known as the ‘Black Death’ paralysed England, it can be said that it greatly contributed to the growth of England. Many priests died of the plague. Thereafter, the responsibility for the monasteries and churches fell into the hands of English-speaking people in England. In 1362, an English-speaking parliament was established. Records of Richard II’s resignation following the Labour Revolution of 1581 were prepared in English. Records of the reign of Henry IV were also in English. Thus, the dictatorship of English became complete.
Chaucer,
widely considered as the father of English literature, and the father of
English poetry, founded London’s English literature through his literary works.
He arrived in Italy, during the time of the great poets Petrarch and Boccaccio,
who dominated the literary scene. It was during that time he wrote many of his
best works among which the most famous or the one which is regarded as his
magnum opus is The Canterbury Tales. It is an old English poem which tells the
journey of a few pilgrims representing different sections of the society, to
the tomb of St Thomas Beckett at Canterbury. He chose a language that the
common man could understand from his poems. He embodied and applied the changes
that had taken place in the English language three hundred years after his time
in his works. He used words from ancient English and words derived from Greek
and Latin and contributed around 12000 words to the English vocabulary.
The
introduction of the printing press in 1476 by William Caxton had a great
influence on the development of the English language. Caxton had edited, printed
and published around hundred of books in east midland dialect. This had
established the east midland dialect as the standard form in English. Caxton’s
decision to print English in London and the south-east is an important
milestone in the history of English spelling, grammar, syntax and vocabulary.
London English was seen and highly acclaimed by his successors. The rise of the
printing press has greatly benefited the education sector. It can be said that
it became the cornerstone of the European renaissance. With the renaissance,
there was a flood of Latin words in the English language. Some scholars have
suggested that the literature of the 15th century may have contained
“half-chewed Latin words”. Bishop Reginald Picklock was the first to call for the
liberation of the English language from the spread of Latin. In order to
substitutes for many Latin words, he founded words which are similar to Latin.
No one took his efforts seriously, until in the late 18th century.
The importance of the London language style can be seen in many plays written
in drama was widespread in England. The number of actors in these plays, which
were staged in the courtyards, was very small. It was easy for them to travel
all over the country and perform plays. Mankind was a popular play of the time,
and its language was mostly pure English and soon the era of ‘open-air theatre’
began in London.
Modern English:
The
modern English period begins in 1500 AD. Two events in the history of England
had influenced the growth of the language: Renaissance and Reformation. The
renaissance was a revolution in the field of arts, science, literature,
architecture etc. across Europe whereas reformation was a protest against the
values of the renaissance. With the advent of the printing press, society began
to see dramatic changes and without printing, reformation would have been
nothing. By 1500, the number of books printed in Europe was about 35000, most
of them were printed in Latin. However, between 1500 and 1640, around 20000
books were printed in England which includes pamphlets and the bible. With the
advent of the printing press, education became easier for the common people. By
1600, it was estimated that about half of the country’s population had received
a basic education. As book sales became more of a business venture, the spread
of the language accelerated and people outside of universities became more
interested in reading English works. At the same time, books for educational
purposes were also printed in English. England could not stay away from the
influence of classical works. The change in knowledge following renaissance and
the study of epic works combined to create an array of scholarly writers from
Thomas Moore to Francis Bacon.
Many
of the writers of the time, including Bacon, borrowed many words from Latin and
Greek and gave a classical touch to the language with the words like agile
(Latin), capsule (Latin), habitual (Latin), catastrophe (Greek), lexicon
(Greek), thermometer (Greek) etc. new words were added to describe the new
inventions. For example, atmosphere, pneumonia, skelton etc were about the
human body. The terms paradox, external, chronology was contributed to research
in physics. All these words were contributions of Latin and Greek. Even in
modern times, we seek the help of these languages to explain new inventions.
For example, video, television, synthesizer etc. the words bigot and detail are
derived from the French language. Contributions of Italian architecture are cupole,
portico and stucco. The words like desperado, embargo is a testament to the
Spanish strife. The words like smuggle, reef was coined by sea navigators.
Thus, the revival contributed 10000 to 12000 new words to the English language.
The
Tudor rule in England was marked by war and envy. Henry VIII questioned the
authority of the Pope in England. Queen Elizabeth, on the other hand, was
constantly threatened by the superpowers of the day, such as France and Spain.
The only thing that helped England was the defeat of the great fleet of Spain
known as Spanish Armada, at battle. The
conquests of that time increased the patriotism of the English. Many began to
think that the borrowing of words from the Spanish Armada language into English
should be stopped. This thought also prevailed in literature. Some opposed it
at this time. There were many changes in the language during that time. It was
a time of complete freedom of language. Shakespeare and others used adjectives
as nouns, adverbs as verbs, and nouns and adjectives as verbs and adverbs. Most
had the courage to come up with new words. The reign of Queen Elizabeth I was
regarded as the golden age of England. It was a time of universal prosperity
for the nation. The greatest progress was made in language and literature.
William Shakespeare, the greatest writer the world has ever seen, lived during
this time. It was also the beginning of the renaissance, the reformation, and
the britishization of England.
William Shakespeare is the magician of the language who opened a new world to the English people. His contributions to language are as great as his contributions to literature. At least one of Shakespeare’s expressions come across, even in ordinary English conversation. Even though he born in 1564 in Stratford, Avon, Warwickshire he had no university education, an innate genius can be seen in his writings. Shakespeare is considered as one of the richest English writers of the decade. Even today the average vocabulary of an educated person is 15000 words but Shakespeare used ad introduced about thirty thousand words. Those words include allurement, armada, antipathy, critical, demonstrate, dire, emphasis etc. he was second to none in creating unique sayings. Such expressions abound in his plays and poems. Shakespeare used many dialects of English in the dialogue of his characters.
Following
the death of Queen Elizabeth II, James IV of Scotland take over the throne of
England and becomes James I of England. The renaissance of the English
language, which began in the time of Elizabeth the Great, reached its peak
during the reign of James I. It was king James I who made English the world’s
most widely accepted language and sought to elevate it as a global language.
His greatest contribution was to produce an authoritative version of the bible.
The authentic translation of the bible was written as a result of the combined
efforts of many scholars during the time of James I in 1611. This clear and
poetic book, written in just 8000 words is still read today.
This
was a time in the language where the people who learn English finds it
difficult to read and pronounce certain vowels which had different sounds with
different words. For example, the ‘ea’ in the word ‘bread’ pronounced as same
as the ‘e’ in ‘bred’, and differs in the ‘ea’ in the word ‘break’. English
pronunciation attained a drastic change when it reaches the modern period and
the scholars in English named it as “The Great Vowel Shift”. Some historians
have pointed out that there are eight stages for vowel shift in English and its
origin is remarked to the medieval period where the Black Death is regarded as
the reason for the great shift in English when people from different regions
emigrated to south-east England and when their accents were combined, it
created new pronunciations in English.
English
decide to seek new countries in the United States to increase their religious
freedom. Their goal was to establish the kingdom of God in the new world, and some
travelled for commercial interests. The group was back in Virginia. It was
originally planned to sail on the ship Mayflower. They were received by
American English, these immigrants came to America in 1620, settled in Plymouth
Rock, Makkah. Some of the American Indians who lived there knew very little
English. English ships were anchored on the east coast for trade and fishing.
They got this ‘room’ of English from their acquaintance with their passengers,
and the black slaves who arrived there before Mayflower landed on the American
coast played their part in promoting English. Immigrants adopted into their
language about fifty words thus owing to the English language. For example,
moose, hickory, oak, sweet potato, squash etc. Many words have been changed
with their daily usage.
Early
American life was very different from that of England. There they found new
plants, trees and animals. They need new words to refer them. Moreover, they
gave new meanings to many old words. This is how words like bluff, divide, gap
etc. got new meanings. American English still has dialects of the 16th
and 17th centuries. For example, the word ‘gotten’ is still used by
Americans instead of the word ‘got’. Mad is also used to mean angry. English
and American English today differ in the pronunciation and manner of ‘a’ and
‘r’. Moreover, American English does not use the sophisticated spelling of the
original English. Americans like to write as they are pronounced. Englishmen
are very fast speaking. The United States pays more attention to pronunciation,
on the other hand, the English people use different tones in pronunciation and
rhythm. American English is influenced by the languages of Spain, Dutch and
later French who arrived in the United States before the English.
Blacks
are the people who came to the United States as slaves from Africa. Later, many
of them rise socially and eventually, all became free. The language they used
in those days was their language. They were able to know their heritage. The
English language, pronunciation, and cultural characteristics of the blacks
were considered as Lazy English. The Englishmen called it Ungrammatical
English. Today no one sees any flaw in this language style. The upper classes
in Europe contributed some words to the English language through the cruelty of
slavery. Words like juke, tote, banana etc. are all part of the English
language. Bad-mouth, a high five, yum yum etc. are borrowed from the African
language.
The
English who came to India entered into the daily life of the common people in
India. With that, it became their need to learn the language of the natives.
Many of these words became the property of the English language. Many Indian
words were familiar to the English during the reign of Queen Elizabeth such as
brahmin, tiffin, curry, rajah and at the end of the seventeenth-century words
like coolie, juggernaut, bungalow, cheroot etc. entered to the world of
English. The Englishmen were interested to adopt words like chutney, guru,
kamar bhant, purdah into English by the end of the eighteenth century. Today,
thousands of English words are part of the English language. British colonies all over the world also had a
great role in spreading the language.
One of the most amazing facts about English is that it is still evolving and continues to change with new portmanteaus, findings and developments. Even though the had different phrases in its emergence, the old English is the best out of the three and will remain as the heart of language since it is the root from which English had become a giant tree of knowledge. This study is an attempt to bring forth the story of English, a language that ruled the world.
(1)
Barber,
Charles, Joan C. Beal and Philip A. Shaw. The English Language: A Historical
Introduction, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, 2009.
(2)
“History”.
Oxford Dictionary, 2018.
(3)
Mugglestone,
Lynda. The Oxford History of English. Oxford University Press, 2006.
(4)
Short,
Daniel M. The Indo-European Family of Languages. Web.cn.edu.in, 2002.
(5)
Varghese,
Susan. The Shapers of Destiny. Thrissur: Current Books, 2014.
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