Book
Book (English) Boc (German)
Book Tree Name
What is the commonality between these words?
In the places where the ancient Germanic tribes lived, there grew a tree called boc . The Germans made notches on it, which represented a type of writing. Later, they began to make tablets from this wood, on which our ancestors scratched inscriptions. Even later, such tablets began to be made from tree bark. In the 7th century, the ancient English learned about parchment and began to use it for writing. And the word, although it has lost its original meaning, is still used.
Paper
Paper (English) Papier (French) papyrus (Latin) papyrus (Greek)
Paper Reed native to Egypt
The ancient Egyptians used reeds that grew in Egypt when they needed to write something. To do this, they sliced the inside of the trunk very thinly, then laid these pieces side by side, and finally overlapped them crosswise with another layer of sliced pieces. When the sheet dried, it became very durable. On this sheet they wrote with a brush or reed, as on paper. Later, around 900, the Egyptians learned the Chinese method of making paper and stopped using papyrus for writing, but the name remained the same.
Map
Map (English) Mappa (Latin)
Map textile
What is the commonality between these words?
At first, cards were drawn on fabric. In Latin there even appeared such a phrase " mappa mundi ” - “canvas of the world.” Later, cards began to be made from paper, but the word remained.
Pupil
Pupil (English) Pupilla (Latin)
Student, pupil Little girl/boy, doll
What is the commonality between these words?
In Latin there were words " pupa ” (girl) and " pupus " (boy). If the ending was added to these words –illa , then the words meant “little boy” and “little girl.” Children start going to school at an age when they are still small, which is why they are called " pupils " Then what does the pupil have to do with it? The fact is that the word " pupilla ” there was a second meaning - “doll”. And when we look into the eyes of another person, what do we see? Your reflection, which is very, very small. Such a miniature picture reminded the Romans of a doll, so they called the small round black pupil " pupil ”.
Answer
In ancient English there was a noun andswaru and verb andwearing . As you can see, the verb consists of two parts - and And swear . Word and at that time it meant "against" ( against ), A swear - "to take a solemn oath." So the word andswaru was listed as a “solemn oath in response to the accusation.” A person had to swear a solemn oath in response to an accusation to prove that it was not true. In the course of historical development, the word has lost its solemnity and now it means “answer”, “to answer”.
Ink
A simple three letter word ink (ink) comes from an ancient nine-letter word that meant a branding iron (stamp, marking device). Let's take a few steps back from the ability to write to the ability to heal wounds. When we have a wound, we cauterize it with something hot or some kind of chemical to close it and thereby protect it from infection. The ancient Greeks used to heal wounds just like us, and the word cauterize (cauterize) comes from an ancient word kauterion , brand. The Greeks not only treated wounds with heat, but also used the same process in the fine arts to quickly dry the paints in their paintings. Later it became common to use wax paints fixed to the canvas by firing or, as they put it, encauston (encaustic). In Latin this word changed to encaustum and became the name of a certain type of purple ink ( ink ), which emperors used to sign official documents. In ancient French the word encaustum turned into a word enque . The British converted it into enke or inke , and is currently used to denote colored liquid for writing - ink .
Write
Word write in ancient English it looked like writan and meant “to scratch,” and this is exactly what ancient people did on wooden tablets with sharp objects to write down some information.
Pen
Pen (pen) with which we now write, in its Latin form penna , meant "feather". Such writing pens are still kept in ancient collections.
Pencil
Pencil (pencil) inherited its name from the Latin word penicillum , meaning "little tail", and dates back to the days when writing was done with a tiny brush that looked like a small tail.
Letter
The term " letter ", denoting a written symbol, a letter of the alphabet, is considered cognate with the Latin word linere , meaning “to smear, stain, leave a dirty spot on some surface.” Perhaps this is a good description of ancient writing.
Read, riddle
Word read derived from the Old English word raedan , which at first meant “to guess, to recognize.” And again this is exactly what you have to do to explain what is scratched on the wooden tablets. Everything that had to be recognized was called a word a raedels . Later people began to think that the word raedels - plural due to the letter "- s " at the end. This is how a new word in the singular was formed raedel , which is the predecessor of the modern word riddle (mystery). Finally the word read acquired its real meaning: if you can read, then you can look at the text and understand what is written there.
Language
Of course, the basis of any writing is language. But first of all, it's a conversation, so noun language comes from a word meaning the organ of speech involved in pronouncing words. This word was a French word langue , which goes back to Latin lingua (language).
Dictionary
The term " dictionary "derived from the Latin word dictio , from dico (talk, talk). A dictionary is really a record of what people say, pronunciation, spelling and the meaning they give to words.
Lunch
Regarding the origin of the word lunch there are some doubts. Some people believe that it comes from the old Latin word lonje ("piece of ham"). Others suggest that it came from the dialect form of the word lump ("piece of bread"), which was then distorted into lunch . At least one thing is clear: lunch means a piece of something to eat.
Breakfast, dinner
Words break fast And dinner mean about the same thing: stop being hungry. Breakfast is an Anglo-Saxon word, and it consists of two parts: break And fast . Fast in its old meaning in the word breakfast means "to be firm in your decision not to eat." Early Christians believed that people should not eat in the morning before church service (they should "fast"). After the service they were allowed to break their “firm decision not to eat” and have breakfast (to take " breakfast ").
Word dinner came to English from Latin via French. In medieval English it looked like " dinere "which was a modified form of Old French" Disney "from Latin" disjejunare ". The Latin word consisted of two parts: dis- (away) and jejunus (hungry), and meant "away from hunger."
Snack, bite
Snack And bite are a pair because they mean the same thing. Snack originates from medieval German snack (“close the jaws”, “bite” if we are talking about a dog). Bite in old English it was bitan and meant "to use teeth to tear off a piece of something." In reality, both words mean the same thing. Later they acquired the meaning of "biting off something to eat." Today snack And bite - This is a light, quick meal (“snack”).
Supper
Word supper was borrowed from French. There is an assumption that supper derived from sup , which has an Indo-European basis, and refers to drinking. Supper is the name for a meal at the end of the day. In ancient times, when people had little heat in their homes, they took hot drinks before going to bed. It was dinner supper ). So at first the word meant “to drink before going to bed,” and later came to refer to the last meal of the day.
Water, whiskey
As you already know, the Celts were the original inhabitants of the British Isles before the Anglo-Saxons settled there. The Celts retained their language in some parts of Britain, but did not add many words to the English vocabulary. Most of them are names of regions, cities, rivers. The Celts had several similar names for rivers, such as: Exe, Esk, Usk. All these words come from the word uisge (water -"water"). Later the word came to be used as the name of a strong alcoholic drink made from barley or rye. At first it was called “water of life”. Then the word changed its form and pronunciation, and today in the West in restaurants everyone can see whiskey on the menu among other drinks ( whiskey ), a Celtic word originally meaning "water".
Bread, cake
In old English there was a word hlaf , that's what the British called bread. But then, as a result of the Viking invasion, a new Scandinavian word with the same meaning entered the English dictionary: cake . Since the British already had their word hlaf , they began to use the word cake as the name of a special type of bread. At first it referred to a small loaf of flat or round shape. From the 15th century it came to mean sweet foods, as it does today.
Scandinavians living in Britain called bread by the word brauth . The British had the same word - bread , meaning "piece of bread". Influenced by the Scandinavian language, the word bread expanded its meaning (“bread in general”), while the word loaf (from Old English hlaf ) has narrowed its meaning to mean a large piece of bread that we cut before eating it.
Egg
In the English language of the Middle Ages the word egg had a spelling ey ; the plural form was eyren . Word egg Scandinavians brought with them to Britain. At first it spread in the north, while the southerners knew nothing about it and used their native word. Both words existed in Britain for a long time: native word eyren - in the south, and the Scandinavian word egg - in the north, but in the end the word egg "won".
Good day, dear readers. You have already made significant progress in learning English. But few people know where this language came from, how it appeared. It's time to find out. Everyone knows that Latin became the basis of modern European languages. So, for example, the German dialect is a cross between Latin and Gothic, French is Latin and Gaulish, and English appeared as a result of mixing Latin and Celtic.
English language
The history of modern English began back in the 8th century BC. During this period, the territory of modern Great Britain was inhabited by Celts who communicated in the Celtic language. So the word “Britain” itself comes from the Celtic - brith — painted. Also from Celtic came words such as "slogan" = sluagh + ghairm = battle cry, "whiskey" = uisce + beathadh = living water.
Afterwards, Britain was conquered by the great Caesar, and in the 1st century BC. it began to be considered part of the Roman Empire. Some Romans began to move to the province, who had to communicate closely with the local population, that is, with the Celts, which was reflected in the language. Thus, words with Latin roots have appeared in modern English.
For example, "street" = via strata = paved road, common nouns - “wine - vinum, pear - pirum, and many geographical names - Manchester, Lancaster. This is how the Romans and Celts interacted with each other, forming new English words right up to the 5th century AD, until the territory of Britain was invaded by Germanic tribes, and a new period began in the history of the development of English.
This period covers the period from 449 to 1066. In 449 AD. The ancestors of the English language, the Celts and Romans, were invaded by the Germanic tribes of the Angles, Saxons, Frisians and Jutes, who significantly outnumbered the local population. So the Anglo-Saxon dialect gradually began to displace the Celtic dialect, destroying or transforming existing words.
Only in the hard-to-reach and remote areas of Britain were the Germans unable to reach, and Celtic languages remained there to this day. These are Wells, the Highlands, Cornwall and Ireland. Therefore, if you want to touch the ancestors of modern English, then go there.
Celtic alphabet Thanks to the Germanic tribes, many words with common Germanic roots appeared in English, which were also borrowed from Latin at one time. These are words like " butter, Saturday, silk, mile, pound, inch". In 597, the Roman Church began to Christianize pagan Britain, and by the early 8th century AD. Most of the British Isles already professed the new religion.
The close interaction of these cultures was naturally reflected in the language. By borrowing words from Latin and assimilating them with Germanic dialects, many new lexemes appeared. Eg, "school" comes from Latin "schola", "Bishop"- from " Episcopus", "mount"- from "montis" and many others. It was during this period that over 600 words with Latin and Germanic roots came into the English language.
Then, in the second half of the 9th century, the Danes began to conquer Anglo-Saxon lands. The Scandinavian Vikings intermarried with the Anglo-Saxons, mixing their Old Icelandic language with the dialect spoken by the local peoples. As a result, words from the Scandinavian group came into English: amiss, anger, awe, aye. The combination of the letters “sc-” and “sk-” in English words is a clear sign of borrowing from Scandinavian languages: sky, skin, skull.
Middle English period of development of the English language
This is the period from 1066 to 1500. AD In the middle of the 11th century, during the Middle Ages, England was conquered by the French. Thus, in the history of the development of the English language, the era of three languages began:
- French - for the aristocracy and the judiciary
- Latin - for Science and Medicine
- Anglo-Saxon - for the common people
The mixture of these three adverbs gave rise to the formation of the English that the whole world studies today. Thanks to mixing, the vocabulary doubled. The vocabulary split into high (from French) and low (from German) variants of the language. The same distinctions can be traced in the semantic series of synonyms that arose as a result of the use of the languages of the aristocracy and peasants.
Map of Britain 11th century So, an example of social division can be the names of domestic animals that have Germanic roots, that is, worker-peasant: swine, cow, sheep, calf.
But the name of the meat of these animals, which the intelligentsia ate, comes from the French: pork, beef, mutton, veal.
However, despite not all the external factors influencing English, its core still remains Anglo-Saxon.
In the 14th century, English became literary, that is, exemplary, and it also became the language of education and law. In 1474 the first book in English appeared. It was William Caxton's translation of R. Lefebvre's A Collection of Stories of Troy. Thanks to Caxton's work, many English words have acquired completeness and integrity.
During this period, the first grammatical rules appeared. Many verb endings disappeared, adjectives acquired degrees of comparison. Changes are also taking place in phonetics. The London pronunciation became popular in Britain in the early 16th century. About 90% of the country's total population spoke this dialect.
With the beginning of mass migration from England to North America, the language there began to change in a different direction. This is how British, American and other varieties of modern English appeared, which today differ significantly from each other, both grammatically, phonetically, and lexically.
New England period of the formation of English
This period starts from 1500 to the present day. William Shakespeare is considered to be the founder of modern literary English. It was he who purified the language, gave it form, and introduced many idiomatic expressions and new words that English speakers now use to communicate. During the Age of Enlightenment, in 1795, L. Murray’s textbook “English Grammar” was published for the first time. For almost 200 years everyone studied from this book.
Lindley Murray Linguists argue that modern English is a mixture of different languages, and even today it is not static, but is constantly being updated. This is the main difference between this language and other European dialects. English not only allows, but welcomes neologisms, different dialects and variants. As we can see, he still preserves the tradition of “mixing dialects.”
At the beginning of the 20th century, the globalization of the English language occurred, which was facilitated by the colonial policies of the United Kingdom. In the middle of the last century, the global importance of the United States increased, which also contributed to the popularity of the American version of the language.
English has long become not only the No. 1 language of international communication, but also the language of science, media, education, and technology. Today it is difficult to calculate exactly how many people speak this language. Numbers are quoted from 700 million to 1 billion. Some people are carriers of it, and others, like you and me, are trying to learn it.
Many philologists and linguists divide the history of the English language into three periods: Old English, Middle English and New English. However, this division is quite arbitrary, because the language existed among the tribes that inhabited the British Isles long before the conquest of Britain by Caesar or the spread of Christianity throughout the country.
Celtic culture at the origins of the history of the English language
The first mentions in ancient chronicles of the inhabitants inhabiting the British Isles date back to 800 BC. At this time, a tribe of Indo-European people, the Celts, moved to the island. Those tribes that lived on the islands before the arrival of the Celtic people did not leave any traces in history.
From 800 BC The era of the British Celts and, accordingly, the Celtic language in Britain begins. Many linguists are of the opinion that the word "Britain" comes from a word with a Celtic root - brith "colored". In the chronicles you can find a mention that the Celts actually painted their faces and bodies when they were going to war or hunt. There are also mentions in the chronicles that the British Celts already at the time of the conquest of the British Isles by the great Caesar had a developed culture. Patriarchy flourished among the tribes. Men had 8-10 wives. Children were raised by women until a certain age, then the boys came under the care of men who taught them to hunt and wield weapons.
The chronicles also mention that the British Celts spoke a special dialect.
And words such as whiskey, plaid, slogan came into the English language much later from the Celtic languages, which were widespread at that time: whiskey (Irish uisce beathadh “living water”), slogan (from the Scottish sluagh-ghairm “battle cry” ").
The influence of the Roman Empire on the development of the English language
A century after Caesar conquered the British Isles, in 44 BC. The British Isles were visited by the Roman Emperor Claudius, after which Britain began to be considered a Roman province. During this period, there was close communication between the Celtic people and the Romans, which, of course, was reflected in the language.
Thus, many words in modern English have Latin roots. For example, the word castra (from Latin “camp”). This root is found in many place names in modern Britain - Lancaster, Manchester, Leicester.
There are also such common words as "street" (from the Latin expression via strata "paved road") and wall "wall" (from vallum "wall").
There are many common nouns borrowed from Latin: wine "wine" - from Latin. vinum "wine"; pear "pear" - from lat. pirum "pear"; pepper "pepper" - from lat. piper.
Old English period (450 - 1066) in the history of the English language
The immediate ancestors of the English people are the Germanic tribes of the Saxons, Jutes, Angles and Frisians, who entered the territory of Britain in 449. Since these tribes were much larger in number than the Celtic ones, gradually the Anglo-Saxon dialect completely replaced the Celtic dialect from use.
Thanks to the Anglo-Saxon tribes, many names of geographical objects appeared in the English language and have survived to this day. Also, words such as butter, pound, cheese, alum, silk, inch, сhalk, mile, mint have common Germanic roots, borrowed from Latin. Or the word Saturday - stands for “day of Saturn” - the father of the god Jupiter in ancient Roman mythology.
In 597 AD. The general Christianization of Britain begins. Before this, the Anglo-Saxon tribes were pagans. The Roman Church sent monk Augustine to the island, who through diplomatic means gradually began converting the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. The activities of Augustine and his followers brought tangible results: by the beginning of 700 AD. a significant part of the population of the British Isles professed Christianity.
This close fusion of cultures is reflected in the language. Many words appeared that were borrowed at this time. For example, school "school" - from Lat. schola "school", Bishop "bishop" - from Lat. Episcopus “supervisor”, mount “mountain” - from Lat. montis (Gen. Fall.) “mountain”, pea “peas” - from Lat. pisum "peas", Priest "priest" - from Lat. presbyter "elder".
According to rough estimates by linguists, in this era the English language borrowed more than 6 hundred words from Latin, not counting their derivatives. These are mainly words related to religion, church, as well as government.
The work of the Venerable Beda (Beda Venerabilis), the first English historian and educator, who was the first to translate the Gospel from Latin into Anglo-Saxon, dates back to this time. The work of the Venerable Bede had a significant impact on the development of the language and is an important step in the history of the English language.
Influence of the Scandinavian group of languages
In 878, the conquest of Anglo-Saxon lands by the Danes began. For many years, the Danes lived on the lands of Britain and intermarried with representatives of the Anglo-Saxons. As a result, a number of borrowings from Scandinavian languages appeared in English. For example, amiss "something is wrong", anger "anger", auk "auk", awe "awe", axle "axis", aye "always".
The letter combination sk- or sc- at the beginning of a word in modern English is also very often an indicator that the word is a Scandinavian loanword. For example, sky “sky” (from the original English heaven), skin “skin” (from the original English hide “skin”), skull “skull” (from the original English shell “shell; shell”).
Middle English period (1066-1500) of English language history
Development of the English language in the Middle Ages
In the middle of the 11th century, the inhabitants of northern France conquered Britain. William the Conqueror, a Norman by origin, becomes king. From this time on, the era of three languages began in the history of the people. French became the language of the aristocracy and courts, Latin remained the language of science, and the common people continued to speak Anglo-Saxon. It was the mixture of these three languages that gave rise to the formation of modern English.
Modern English - mixed
Linguists interpret modern English as mixed. This is due to the fact that many words, with a general meaning, do not have common roots. Let us compare, for example, a number of words in Russian: head - head - main. In English, the same series is represented by the words: head - chapter - chief. Why did it happen? Everything is explained precisely by the mixture of three languages. Anglo-Saxon words denoted specific objects, hence the word head. The word chapter remains from Latin, the language of science and education. What remains from French is the word that was used by the nobility, chief.
The same distinction can be found in many semantic series in English. For example, there is a difference between the words denoting the name of an animal (words of Germanic origin) and the name of the meat of that animal (these words come from Old French). So, ox - bull, cow - cow, calf - calf, sheep - sheep, pig - pig; but beef - beef, veal - veal, mutton - lamb, pork - pork, etc.
During this period in the history of the English language, changes also occurred in the grammatical structure. Many verb endings disappear. Adjectives acquire degrees of comparison, including suppletive degrees (with the addition of the words more, most). The phonetics of the language is also undergoing significant changes. By the end of 1500, the London dialect became increasingly popular in the country, and was spoken by 90% of native speakers.
First books in English
William Caxton is considered the first printer in Britain, who printed the first book in English in 1474. It was a translation of Raoul Lefebvre's Collected Stories of Troy. During his life, Caxton published more than 100 books, many of which were his own translations. It should be noted that thanks to his activities, many English words finally found their finished form.
As for grammatical rules, Caxton often invented his own rules, which, after publication, became publicly available and were considered the only correct ones.
New English period (1500-present) of the history of the English language
The great William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is rightfully considered the founder of the English literary language. He is credited with originating many idiomatic expressions that are still used in modern English. In addition, Shakespeare invented many new words that have taken root in the language.
For example, the word swagger "swaggering gait; swagger" is found for the first time in the history of the English language in Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream.
History of the English language during the Enlightenment
In 1712, for the first time in history, an image representing Great Britain and the national character of the British appeared. This year, the hero of John Abertnot's political pamphlets, John Bull, was born. And to this day, the image of Bull is a satirical depiction of an Englishman.
In 1795, the first textbook “English Grammar” by Lindley Murray was published. For almost two centuries, this textbook has been fundamental to English grammar. All educated people studied Murray's grammar.
Modern English
Modern language in the British Isles is by no means static. The language lives on, neologisms constantly appear, some words become a thing of the past.
However, the most important difference between English and many European languages is that in the UK there are no static norms. On the contrary, it is various dialects and adverbs that are in great use. Not only do the pronunciations of words differ on a phonetic level, but there are also completely different words that denote the same concept.
The media and government officials speak British English. But American English is considered the most popular. There are Australian English, Canadian English and many other dialects. Within the UK itself there are several dialects in use, spoken by residents of one province or another.
As you can see, the English language has retained its traditions of “mixing languages” to this day.
The popularity of the English language was greatly promoted by the colonial policy of Great Britain and the colonization of Australia and North America.
After the Second World War, the importance of a country such as the United States increased, which also contributed to the popularization of the English language.
In the modern world, the Internet community, people of science and culture mainly communicate in English.
It is difficult to name the exact number of people who speak English in our time. The results of various studies vary by tens of percent. The figures given are 600 million and 1.2 billion.
Undoubtedly, English is the most important means of communication in the modern world.
The history of the English language began with three Germanic tribes that invaded Britain in the 5th century AD. These tribes - the Angles, Saxons and Jutes - came from the territories of what is now Denmark and the northern part of Germany, crossing the North Sea.
At that time, the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language, but the invaders pushed the Celts to the western and northern edges of the island - essentially to what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles called their country "Englaland", and their language was called "Englisc" - this is where the words "England" and "English" came from.
Old English (450-1100 AD)
In the 5th century, Germanic conquerors entered Britain from the east and south coasts. The Germanic tribes spoke similar languages. On the island, their dialects formed a common language, which we now call Old English.
It bears almost no modern resemblance and would be very difficult for current English speakers to understand. However, about half of the most common words in modern English have Old English roots.
This is where words like be, strong and water come from, for example. Old English was spoken until around the end of the 11th century.
Middle English (1100-1500)
In 1066, Britain was invaded by William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy (now part of France). The Norman invaders brought with them French, which became the language of the royal court, as well as the ruling and trading classes.
This was a period of linguistic class division, with the lower classes speaking English and the upper classes speaking French. In the 14th century, English began to gain strength again, but...
This language is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poet Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340-1400), but would still be obscure to modern speakers.
Early Modern English (1500-1800)
At the end of the Middle English period, sudden and significant changes in pronunciation began (the Great Vowel Shift), with vowel sounds becoming shorter. Since the 16th century, Britain has had increasing contact with different peoples around the world.
This fact, as well as the advent of the Renaissance, led to the fact that many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also contributed to the development of a common language of literature. Books became cheaper, and more and more people learned to read and write. Thus, printing led to the standardization of English.
Hamlet's famous lines, "To be or not to be," were written by Shakespeare in Early Modern English.
The rules of spelling and grammar were fixed, the standard of which was the London dialect, since that was where most of the printing houses were located. In 1604, the first dictionary of the English language was published.
Late Modern English (1800–present)
The main difference between Early and Late Modern English is the vocabulary of the language. Late Modern English has many more words due to two key factors: first, the Industrial Revolution and the development of technology led to the need to create new words; secondly, the British Empire at its height covered about a quarter of the earth's surface, and the English language borrowed many words from other countries.
Varieties of English
Since the beginning of the 17th century, the colonization of North America by the British led to the emergence of. Some words and pronunciations were “frozen in time” when they reached America. In some ways, American English is even more similar to Shakespeare's language than modern British English.
Some expressions that the British call “Americanisms” are, in fact, originally British expressions preserved in the colonies (for example, rubbish instead of trash, loan instead of lend and fall instead of autumn; another word, frame-up - “falsification, juggling” - Britain re-adopted through Hollywood gangster films).
Spanish also influenced American English (and subsequently British). Words such as canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante are Spanish words that came into English during the development of the American West.
Today, American English has great strength due to US influence in film, television, music, commerce and technology (including the Internet). But there are many other types of English - for example, Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and Caribbean English.
| Brief chronology of the English language | ||
| 55 BC e. | The Romans, led by Julius Caesar, invade Britain | Local residents speak Celtic language |
| 43 n. e. | Roman conquest. Beginning of Roman rule in Britain. | |
| 436 | The Romans finally leave Britain | |
| 449 | The beginning of the settlement of Germanic tribes in Britain | |
| 450-480 | Earliest known inscriptions in Old English | Old English |
| 1066 | William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, conquers England | |
| approx. 1150 | Earliest surviving manuscripts in Middle English | Middle English |
| 1348 | English is replacing Latin as the language of instruction in most schools | |
| 1362 | English is replacing French as the language of power. This is the first time that English is used in Parliament. | |
| ca.1388 | Chaucer begins writing The Canterbury Tales | |
| approx. 1400 | Beginning of the Great Vowel Shift | |
| 1476 | William Caxton opens the first English printing press | Early Modern English |
| 1564 | Shakespeare is born | |
| 1604 | The first English dictionary, Table Alphabetical, was published. | |
| 1607 | First permanent English settlement in the New World founded (Jamestown) | |
| 1616 | Shakespeare Dies | |
| 1623 | The first collection of Shakespeare's plays published | |
| 1702 | The first English-language daily newspaper, The Daily Courant, was published in London. | |
| 1755 | Samuel Johnson publishes The Dictionary of the English Language | |
| 1776 | Thomas Jefferson writes the American Declaration of Independence | |
| 1782 | Britain gives up its colonies, which will later become the USA | |
| 1828 | Webster publishes the American English Dictionary | Late New English |
| 1922 | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) founded | |
| 1928 | The Oxford English Dictionary has been published. | |
What fact in the history of English aroused your greatest interest or surprise? We are waiting for your answers in the comments.
One of the English etymological myths says that the prefix “step” in words stepmother"stepmother" and stepfather“stepfather” appeared due to the fact that on the family tree they are located one step further than the biological parents.
Unfortunately, this is nothing more than a misconception. Even though the English word step actually translated as “step, step”, the prefix “step” in these words comes from the Old English word step, which about ten centuries ago meant “loss, bereavement.” At that time the word stepchild(more precisely, stepcild) meant an orphan, and not just a child of one of the spouses from a previous marriage.
As you can see, in some cases only English etymology can save you from incorrect conclusions and guesses. We have selected 15 English words, the origin of which is not as simple and clear as it might seem at first glance.
- The “Quick” in “quicksand” does not mean “quick.”.
Could you now imagine the treacherous quicksand ( quicksand), which suck people in before they can escape, but quick in this word is not a synonym for the word fast"fast". The same thing is observed in the word quicksilver- an outdated name for mercury (which these days is most often called mercury). Adjective quick in this case it means “living, mobile” - one can trace the connection with the unstable soil of quicksand and nimble heavy drops of mercury in a liquid state. It is no coincidence that idioms have been preserved in English to have quicksilver in one's veins - “to be a very lively, restless, active person” - and to change like quicksilver - “to change instantly, to be changeable and impermanent.”
- The “Lolli” in “lollipop” is not related to the verb “to loll”.
One version of the origin of this word explains that the word lollipop"lollipop" was named after popsicles and popsicles, which fall from the stick when they melt, and is therefore somehow related to the verb to loll“fall apart, lie down, hang down.” In fact, lolly is an Old English dialect word meaning "tongue".
- The “Mid” in “midwife” is not short for “middle”.
By the way, and wife in a word midwife"midwife" does not mean "wife". Word wife originally meant “woman”, and mid was synonymous with the modern preposition with, that is, a midwife literally translated is a woman who is next to another woman during childbirth.
- The “Wilder” in “wilderness” is not related to the word “wild”.
At least not in meaning woods and wilds- “forests and wildlife”. Wilder- corrupted Old English wild deor, which meant "wild deer" or "wild animal", which can absolutely be found in wilderness- in the wild, in virgin nature.
- The “Cut” in “cutlet” does not mean the verb “to cut”.
From an etymological point of view, the word cutlet"Cutlet" does not refer to the fact that portions of meat are cut from a larger piece. This word came into English from Middle French costelette"baby rib", referring to rib chops.
- The “Bel” in “belfry” is not “bell”.
In modern English the word belfry translated not only as “bell tower, belfry”, but also as “tower”, which may not have a bell. Originally the word belfry generally meant a mobile siege tower, which was rolled up close to the fortress walls during an attack - in French such a weapon was called berfrei, in German - bercfrit.
- The “Ham” in “hamburger” does not contain anything meaty.
Although the word ham and translates as “ham, ham”; it cannot be found in hamburgers, at least from an etymological point of view: Hamburger- is a native or resident of the German city of Hamburg - Hamburg.
- The “Jerusalem” in the word “Jerusalem artichoke” is not the city of “Jerusalem”.
Paradoxical but true: the English name Jerusalem artichoke evokes thoughts of Jerusalem, but the word Jerusalem here is a corrupted Italian word girasole"sunflower". As always happens in English, Jerusalem artichoke- not an artichoke at all, because it belongs to the same family as the sunflower, and is not at all Jerusalem. It’s easier then to use its other names - sunchoke or sunroot.
- The “Piggy” in “piggyback” is not a diminutive form of “pig”.
English expression to piggyback means "to carry vehicles" as well as "to carry on one's back" or "to carry on one's shoulders." There is an expression to ride piggyback - “to ride on someone’s back, on their backs.” It is believed that the word piggyback- this is a distorted expression pick-a-pack or pick-pack, which in the 16th century. meant “carrying something on your shoulders.” In the Middle Ages verb to pick meant “to shoulder, throw, get down to something”, and the word pack was synonymous sack"bag" or satchel"bag".
- The “Sand” in “sand-blind” is not sand.
Sand-blind- a word that appeared in English in the 15th century. and nowadays it is found, perhaps, only in poetry collections. It means “blind, with weak eyesight.” You can imagine for a moment that weakened vision is associated with poor visibility during a sandstorm. But the etymology of this word is much more prosaic: initially this word was written as samblind, and the prefix “sam-” was analogous to the modern prefix “semi-”, meaning “semi-”, “half”.
- The “Curry” in the expression “to curry favour” is not curry sauce.
Expression to curry favor with smb translates as “to ingratiate yourself with someone, to suck up to someone.” Strange looking verb to curry comes from a Middle English verb meaning "to look after a horse", and the word favor in this case - distorted Fauvel, the name of a bay horse who was the main character in the French poem “The Romance of Fauvel” and wanted to overthrow his master and seize power in his kingdom. At the end of the poem, he manages to achieve his goal, and he is surrounded by a new circle of obsequious courtiers. So currying favor literally means something like “slavishly brushing a bay horse.”
- The “face” in “shamefaced” does not indicate facial expression.
Modern English shamefaced“bashful, bashful, timid” was originally written a little differently - shamefast, and the suffix “-fast” in this case meant “constant, unchanging, motionless” - this suffix was preserved in the word steadfast“unshakable, persistent” and the expression to stick fast“hopelessly stuck, thoroughly bogged down.” Perhaps the word has changed over time due to the fact that a person's shame is usually “written” on his face.
- The “chock” in the adjective “chock-full” does not mean “wedge.”
Adjective chock-full means "full to capacity, crammed," but it has nothing to do with the wedge that is driven tightly under the door, or the stop that is placed under the wheel of the car. Chock in this case it comes from the word choke"suffocation", indicating that something is filled to the point where it is impossible to breathe.
- The “D” in “D-Day” is not short for “disembarkation.”
And not the shortened version deliverance, Germany, doomsday, decision or any other word proposed by historians with imagination. In fact, the letter D does not refer to any specific word: D-Day was simply a placeholder name during the planning of the Normandy landings and the determination of the start date for the operation. Interestingly, this designation was first used in 1918, 26 years before the Allies first set foot on the Normandy coast.
- “Good” in the word “goodbye” does not mean “good”.
Goodbye- shortened version of the phrase “God be with you”(“May God be with you”), which was used when saying goodbye and wishing all the best. Over time, the phrase became simpler, and God transformed into good by analogy with expressions good day And good morning. By the end of the 16th century. The standard farewell in English has taken on the form we are familiar with.