History of the English Language by Sammy Stein

'Do you speak English?'

Probably one of the most commonly asked questions by tourists from England, Canada and America when they are abroad but what if the question back to them was, 'Do you speak French? Or Italian, Or Latin? Or Spanish?' The initial answer might be 'no' but chances are you probably do. No, not the full language but certainly odd words from it.

In this article Stein tries to show the changes in English explaining the conquest of Vikings, Romans and the enormous influence of Latin.

English is a mixture, because during its history it has been changing by many conquers and influences. In this article Stein tries to show the changes in English explaining the conquest of Vikings, Romans and the enormous influence of Latin. This text is for students, teachers and any kind of reader.

English is not as pure as we think. It has been changing during its history and it will continue changing. The first major change in our English language occurred when the Vikings came and conquered England. Some of the words they brought to our language are house, ocean, boat and many others that we use every day. Later, the Romans invaded England bringing words derived from Latin origins such as Judicial, centenarian, legion, villa, vineyard, etc.

For many time, Latin became the main language of scholars and educated people. Poor people would have spoken in their own local dialect, thus distinguishing the learned from the ordinary person. After 1066 French was spoken in parliament and other offices and became widely used because the rulers were from the French court. Then other rulers from Spain came and Spanish words were introduced into our language. During time, words become varied to become “English words”.

English is unique because over time the words have changed and become distinctly “English” in their usage and meanings so it is only linguists who give thought to the root of commonly spoken words, for example: garden which comes from jardin (in French). Swear words have their origins in other languages too with f.... being an old Roman word with similar meaning to how it is used now.       

English is a mish mash of other languages but it is also the second most common language in the world. Nowadays English has become the language of business and the media and wherever you go in the world you find signs in the local language and English. The history of English is still being written, so it in continuous changes. Words like byte, download and hyper drive are now in the dictionary. Other colloquial words like bro, phit, yo' are also appearing in the dictionary so the language is still evolving and hopefully will continue to do so.