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1、,Introduction,In the study of English vocabulary, it is important to know about the history of English. We will look at the major historical events that have shaped the English language. We pay special attention to the development of the native Germanic vocabulary, and to the forces that introduced
2、a large number of foreign words, especially from Latin, Greek, and French. This combination makes English vocabulary extremely rich and heterogeneous among the world languages.,The World Languages,It is estimated that there are about 5000 languages all over the world, which can be grouped into diffe
3、rent language families, such as Sino-Tibetan Family, Indo-European Family, Altaic Family, Austronesian Family, and so on. Chinese is a member in the Sino-Tibetan Family, while English is a member in the Indo-European Family.,The Indo-European Family,Linguists have divided the Indo-European languages
4、 into several groups, or branches. For example, the Italic branch includes Latin and its descendants the Romance (originating in Rome) Languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian), as well as other extinct languages. Other groups important in the history of English include Celtic (
5、e.g., Welsh, Irish, and Scots Gaelic), Hellenic (Greek), etc.,The Germanic Branch,The branch of Indo-European that includes English is called the Germanic group. Proto-Germanic was probably spoken in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia. Proto-Germanic developed into not only English, but also
6、several other languages we are familiar with. Some Germanic tribes moved eastward, into what is now Romania and Ukraine, and developed the language branch known as East Germanic. The most important language in this group was Gothic. All speakers of East Germanic languages eventually abandoned them i
7、n favor of other languages, so the East Germanic branch is now extinct.,The Germanic language that remained after the East Germanic split off developed into two new groups, North Germanic and West Germanic. The West Germanic group includes English. The North Germanic branch includes Viking Norse, wh
8、ich developed into Old Norse and eventually into modern Scandinavian languages such as Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish.,The Germanic Branch,Old English (450-1100),In the fifth century, the Germanic invaders conquered and occupied the eastern part of the British island. The Celtic language
9、originally spoken in that area was replaced by the West Germanic dialects spoken by the invaders, as the original inhabitants (the Celts) were killed, were relocated, or adopted the language of the now dominant society. Roughly speaking, the tribes that settled in Britain comprise three groups: the
10、Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. The Angles and the Saxons occupied the greatest part of the country, so that the Germanic civilization that emerged in Britain is often called Anglo-Saxon. The Angles lent their name to the languageEnglish, and to the land England (the land of Angles).,Old English
11、(450-1100),The period from 450 to 1100 is known as the Old English or the Anglo-Saxon period. In the sixth century, the Roman missionaries headed by St. Augustine brought Christianity to the Germanic tribes (mainly the Saxons). The English language adopted many words from Latin, the official languag
12、e of the church. Latin provided not only religious vocabulary (e.g., abbot, altar, disciple, hymn, nun, mass, pope, and priest) but also a surprising number of what are now everyday words (e.g., candle, cap, school, and spend).,Scandinavian Influences,Throughout the ninth and tenth centuries and int
13、o the eleventh, Norwegian and Danish Vikings invaded large parts of England. As a consequence, English borrowed words from the North Germanic tongue of the invaders, Viking Norse. This created an interesting mixture, because Old English was very similar to this close Germanic relative. For example,
14、Old English Norse loan shrub scrub lend loan rear raise shirt skirt craft skill,Many words beginning with sc-/sk- are borrowed from Scandinavian languages, e. g. score, scorch, skill, skin, skirt, sky.,Scandinavian Influences,Several hundred Norse words were borrowed into Old English, among them til
15、l, flat, they, skin, egg, etc.,Middle English (1100-1500),The Middle English period is from 1100 to 1500. The most important event to affect the history of English, the Norman Conquest (1066), took place at the end of the Old English period. The big changes that this invasion produced in the English
16、 society were accompanied by equal effects in the vocabulary of Middle English. After their victory in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings under William the Conqueror, the Normans quickly assumed leadership and privilege in England.,The Normans were originally Vikingstheir name comes from North man (i.e., Norse). In a sense, the Norman conquest can be seen as yet another Germanic invasion. But there was a difference this time. The Normans had earlier been given the control of a large piece o
