19/01/2014
The Vocabulary of English
------------------------------
In modern English, we can often express the same idea in different words. This is because English has over the centuries absorbed words from many different languages. for example : Fear, terror, alarm and fright all have the similar meanings but each came into English from a different language.
Anglo -Saxon :
------------------
English developed from Anglo - Saxon (also known as Old English), the language brought to Britain by Germanic tribes (the Angles,Saxons and Jutes) in the fifth century AD.These invaders gave England its name, "the land of the Angles", and provided the language with many common basic terms.
Latin:
-------
At the end of sixth century, a group of monks came as missionaries from Rome to strengthen Christianity in Britain. The words which came into English from Latin at this time are mainly connected with religion and learning.
Old Norse:
------------
In the ninth and tenth centuries, invaders came from Scandinavia and occupied a large part of eastern England.Many everyday words in modern English come from their language. Old Norse, which is related to Anglo-Saxon, and many place names end in - by, from their word for village.
French:
---------
When Britain was conquered by the Normans in 1066, french became the language of the ruling classes. Many words in the modern English which describe government and the legal system, as well as terms connected with cooking, came from French at this time.
Latin and Greek :
-------------------
Many words of Latin origin came into English through French, but the Renaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries brought a new interest in classical learning and an influx of words from Latin and Greek.
Worldwide:
--------------
Latin and Greek are still used as a source of new words,particularly in the field of Science, but English speakers today take words from a wide variety of other languages for phenomena that have no existing English name.
