罗马文明对英语语言的影响

罗马人在公元43年至410年间生活在英国。罗马人对英语语言的影响深远，直到今天，人们仍在使用一些由拉丁语衍变的词汇，尤其是与食物、饮品、建筑以及英国地名有关的词汇。

 

The Romans lived in Britain between 43AD and 410AD but their legacy¹ is still felt today and not just in physical ruins. The Romans left us language, including some common English words.

 

During the Roman Empire, Latin, an ancient language, was spoken in many parts of Britain. While the Romans wrote in classical Latin, they conversed² in vulgar Latin – colloquial³, everyday language that was used between soldiers and in trade. Because of trade, words that stuck often relate to food and drink, such as 'wine', which came from the Latin 'vinum'. Others relate to dwellings⁴ such as 'kitchen', derived⁵ from the verb 'cook', and 'wall', which originally referred to a stake or post outside a fort.

 

Settlements and roads in Roman times were extensive. The word 'street', used generally as well as being used for specific names of streets, originally came from 'strata⁶' which meant paved road. On a similar note, academic research from the field of linguistics⁷ indicates many well-known place names in the UK owe their origin to Latin. For example, the Romans used 'castrum' to refer to a city, which developed into the common place ending -chester, -caster or -cester. Consider Manchester. It is a former Roman fort which was known as Mamuciam. Other places with Roman derivations include Lancaster and Leicester.

 

A significant impact on English which came from the Romans is the use of the Roman alphabet. Manuscripts of Old English texts have shown a version not unalike written English today. Differences include some letters however, such as two symbols called 'ash' and 'eth'. Nowadays you are more likely to see these symbols in a guide to pronunciation.

 

So, even though 1,600 years have passed, the Romans live on.

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