A Brief History of the English Language
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Old English, until 1066

Immigrants from Denmark and NW Germany arrived in Britain in the 5th and 6th Centuries A.D., speaking in related dialects belonging to the Germanic and Teutonic branches of the Indo-European language family. Today, English is most closely related to Flemish, Dutch, and German, and is somewhat related to Icelandic, Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish. Icelandic, unchanged for 1,000 years, is very close to Old English. Viking invasions, begun in the 8th Century, gave English a Norwegian and Danish influence which lasted until the Norman Conquest of 1066.

Old English Words

the Angles came from an angle-shaped land area in contemporary Germany. Their name "Angli" from the Latin and commonly-spoken, pre-5th Century German mutated into the Old English "Engle". Later, "Engle" changed to "Angel-cyn" meaning "Angle-race" by A.D. 1000, changing to "Engla-land". Some Old English words which have survived intact include: feet, geese, teeth, men, women, lice, and mice. The modern word "like" can be a noun, adjective, verb, and preposition. In Old English, though, the word was different for each type: gelica as a noun, geic as an adjective, lician as a verb, and gelice as a preposition.

Middle English, from 1066 until the 15th Century

the Norman Invasion and Conquest of Britain in 1066 and the resulting French Court of William the Conqueror1 gave the Norwegian-Dutch influenced English a Norman-Parisian-French effect. From 1066 until about 1400, Latin, French, and English were spoken. English almost disappeared entirely2 into obscurity during this period by the French and Latin dominated court and government. However, in 1362, the Parliament opened with English as the language of choice, and the language was saved from extinction3. Present-day English is approximately 50% Germanic (English and Scandinavian) and 50% Romance (French and Latin).

Middle English Words

Many new words added to Middle English during this period came from Norman French, Parisian French, and Scandinavian. Norman French words imported into Middle English include: catch, wage, warden4, reward, and warrant. Parisian French gave Middle English: chase, guarantee, regard, guardian5, and gage6. Scandinavian gave to Middle English the important word of law. English nobility had titles which were derived7 from both Middle English and French. French provided: prince, duke, peer, marquis, viscount, and baron8. Middle English independently developed king, queen, lord, lady, and earl. Governmental administrative9 divisions from French include county, city, village, justice, palace, mansion10, and residence. Middle English words include town, home, house, and hall.

Early Modern English, from the 15th Century to the 17th Century

During this period, English became more organized and began to resemble the modern version of English. Although the word order and sentence construction was still slightly different, Early Modern English was at least recognizable to the Early Modern English speaker. For example, the Old English "To us pleases sailing" became "We like sailing." Classical elements, from GREek and Latin, profoundly influenced work creation and origin. From Greek, Early Modern English received grammar, logic11, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Also, the "tele-" prefix12 meaning "far" later used to develop telephone and television was taken.

Modern English, from the 17th Century to Modern Times

Modern English developed through the efforts of literary and political writings, where literacy was uniformly found. Modern English was heavily influenced by classical usage, the emergence13 of the university-educated class, Shakespeare, the common language found in the East Midlands section of present-day England, and an organized effort to document and standardize14 English. Current inflections have remained almost unchanged for 400 years, but sounds of vowels15 and consonants16 have changed GREatly. As a result, spelling has also changed considerably17. For example, from Early English to Modern English, lyf became life, deel became deal, hoom became home, mone became moon, and hous became house.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Modern English

Modern English is composed of several languages, with grammar rules, spelling, and word usage both complimenting and competing for clarity. the disadvantages of Modern English include: an alphabet which is unable to adequately represent all needed sounds without using repeated or combined letters, a limit of 23 letters of the 26 in the alphabet which can effectively express twice the number of sounds actually needed, and a system of spelling which is not based upon pronunciation but foreign language word origin and countless18 changes throughout history. The advantages of Modern English include: single consonants which are clearly understood and usually represent the same sounds in the same positions, the lack of accent marks found in other languages which permits quicker writing, and the present spelling displays European language origins and connections which allows European language speakers to become immediately aware of thousands of words.

Modern English Words

British English, known as Standard English or Oxford19 English, underwent changes as the colonization20 of North American and the creation of the United States occurred. British English words changed into American English words, such as centre to center, metre to meter, theatre to theater, favour to favor, honour to honor, labour to labor21, neighbour to neighbor, cheque to check, connexion to connection, gaol22 to jail, the storey of a house to story, and tyre for tire. Since 1900, words with consistent spelling but different meanings from British English to American English include: to let for to rent, dual23 carriageway for divided highway, lift for elevator, amber24 for yellow, to ring for to telephone, zebra crossing for pedestrian crossing, and pavement for sidewalk.

American English, from the 18th Century until Modern Times

Until the 18th Century, British and American English were remarkably25 similar with almost no variance26. Immigration to America by other English peoples changed the language by 1700. Noah Webster, author of the first authoritative27 American English dictionary, created many changes. The "-re" endings became "-er" and the "-our" endings became "-or". Spelling by pronunciation and personal choice from Webster were influences.

Cough, Sought, Thorough, Thought, and Through

Why do these "ough" words have the same central spelling but are so different? This is a characteristic of English, which imported similarly spelled or defined words from different languages over the past 1,000 years.

Cough
From the Middle High German kuchen meaning to breathe heavily, to the French-Old English cohhian, to the Middle English coughen is derived the current word cough.
Sought

From the GREek hegeisthai meaning to lead, to the Latin sagire meaning to perceive keenly, to the Old High German suohhen meaning to seek, to the French-Old English secan, to the Middle English sekken, is derived the past tense sought of the present tense of the verb to seek.
Thorough

From the French-Old English thurh and thuruh to the Middle English thorow is derived the current word thorough.
Thought

From the Old English thencan, which is related to the French-Old English word hoht, which remained the same in Middle English, is derived the current word thought.
Through

From the Sanskrit word tarati, meaning he crossed over, came the Latin word, trans meaning across or beyond. Beginning with Old High German durh, to the French-Old English thurh, to the Middle English thurh, thruh, or through, is derived the current word through.



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1 conqueror PY3yI     
n.征服者,胜利者
参考例句:
  • We shall never yield to a conqueror.我们永远不会向征服者低头。
  • They abandoned the city to the conqueror.他们把那个城市丢弃给征服者。
2 entirely entirely     
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
3 extinction sPwzP     
n.熄灭,消亡,消灭,灭绝,绝种
参考例句:
  • The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
  • The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。
4 warden jMszo     
n.监察员,监狱长,看守人,监护人
参考例句:
  • He is the warden of an old people's home.他是一家养老院的管理员。
  • The warden of the prison signed the release.监狱长签发释放令。
5 guardian 8ekxv     
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者
参考例句:
  • The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
  • The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。
6 gage YsAz0j     
n.标准尺寸,规格;量规,量表 [=gauge]
参考例句:
  • Can you gage what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗?
  • It's difficult to gage one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。
7 derived 6cddb7353e699051a384686b6b3ff1e2     
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取
参考例句:
  • Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 baron XdSyp     
n.男爵;(商业界等)巨头,大王
参考例句:
  • Henry Ford was an automobile baron.亨利·福特是一位汽车业巨头。
  • The baron lived in a strong castle.男爵住在一座坚固的城堡中。
9 administrative fzDzkc     
adj.行政的,管理的
参考例句:
  • The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
  • He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。
10 mansion 8BYxn     
n.大厦,大楼;宅第
参考例句:
  • The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
  • The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。
11 logic j0HxI     
n.逻辑(学);逻辑性
参考例句:
  • What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑?
  • I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。
12 prefix 1lizVl     
n.前缀;vt.加…作为前缀;置于前面
参考例句:
  • We prefix "Mr."to a man's name.我们在男士的姓名前加“先生”。
  • In the word "unimportant ","un-" is a prefix.在单词“unimportant”中“un”是前缀。
13 emergence 5p3xr     
n.浮现,显现,出现,(植物)突出体
参考例句:
  • The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
  • Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生,随着社会的发展而发展的。
14 standardize UuMwl     
v.使符合标准,使标准化
参考例句:
  • We will extend and standardize legal services and provide effective legal aid.拓展和规范法律服务,积极开展法律援助。
  • There is a drive both to standardise components and to reduce the number of models on offer.正在为实现零部件标准化和减少推出的型号数量而努力。
15 vowels 6c36433ab3f13c49838853205179fe8b     
n.元音,元音字母( vowel的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Vowels possess greater sonority than consonants. 元音比辅音响亮。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Note the various sounds of vowels followed by r. 注意r跟随的各种元音的发音。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
16 consonants 6d7406e22bce454935f32e3837012573     
n.辅音,子音( consonant的名词复数 );辅音字母
参考例句:
  • Consonants are frequently assimilated to neighboring consonants. 辅音往往被其邻近的辅音同化。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Vowels possess greater sonority than consonants. 元音比辅音响亮。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
17 considerably 0YWyQ     
adv.极大地;相当大地;在很大程度上
参考例句:
  • The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
  • The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。
18 countless 7vqz9L     
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的
参考例句:
  • In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
  • I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。
19 Oxford Wmmz0a     
n.牛津(英国城市)
参考例句:
  • At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
  • This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。
20 colonization fa0db2e0e94efd7127e1e573e71196df     
殖民地的开拓,殖民,殖民地化; 移殖
参考例句:
  • Colonization took place during the Habsburg dynasty. 开拓殖民地在哈布斯堡王朝就进行过。
  • These countries took part in the colonization of Africa. 这些国家参与非洲殖民地的开发。
21 labor P9Tzs     
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦
参考例句:
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。
22 gaol Qh8xK     
n.(jail)监狱;(不加冠词)监禁;vt.使…坐牢
参考例句:
  • He was released from the gaol.他被释放出狱。
  • The man spent several years in gaol for robbery.这男人因犯抢劫罪而坐了几年牢。
23 dual QrAxe     
adj.双的;二重的,二元的
参考例句:
  • The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
  • He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。
24 amber LzazBn     
n.琥珀;琥珀色;adj.琥珀制的
参考例句:
  • Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗?
  • This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。
25 remarkably EkPzTW     
ad.不同寻常地,相当地
参考例句:
  • I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
  • He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。
26 variance MiXwb     
n.矛盾,不同
参考例句:
  • The question of woman suffrage sets them at variance. 妇女参政的问题使他们发生争执。
  • It is unnatural for brothers to be at variance. 兄弟之间不睦是不近人情的。
27 authoritative 6O3yU     
adj.有权威的,可相信的;命令式的;官方的
参考例句:
  • David speaks in an authoritative tone.大卫以命令的口吻说话。
  • Her smile was warm but authoritative.她的笑容很和蔼,同时又透着威严。
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