THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH
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THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH |
TASK - Learn about the origin of our living language.
THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH The language we will concentrate on in this class is English, of course. But what is English and where do our words come from? After reading "Our English Language: One From All " in your Choices anthology (pp 265 -268 ), you may understand the complexity of our language and also why there are "so many exceptions to the rules."
Linguists who study languages divide the development of our language into three major periods: Old English, Middle English, and Modern English. Believe it or not, Shakespeare wrote in Modern English!
A. Examples of Old English words:
Werold nacht death wifmann thencan sonne wif
eorthe faeder slaep cald waeter cild
"Weorc Wuldor/Faeder swa he wundra gehwaes firum foldan Frea almihtig." - Caedmon’s Hymn. 660 AD.
B. Examples of Middle English words:
"Whan that April with his showres soote the droughte of March hath perced to the roote, and bathed every veine in swiche licour of which vertu engendred is the flowr." – Geoffrey Chaucer’s Cnaterbury Tales, 1300 AD.
C. Examples of Modern English – Shakespeare - "Word-Maker Supreme"
Shakespeare is considered one of the world's most successful word inventors of his time. He is credited with coining over 2000 new words and expressions.
assassination eventful "catch a cold" barefaced exposure "disgraceful conduct" baseless fitful "foregone conclusion" bumps fretful "shadow of a dream" countless gloomy "elbow room" courtship hurry "mind's eye" critic impartial suspicious critical inauspicious recall denote lonely dwindle
PROCEDURE
– Read "Our English Language: One From All" in your Choices anthology (pp. 265 -268 ).1. Approximately _____________ people speak English worldwide.
2. The rise of English (or Englisc) can be traced to the _______century AD and to these three tribes: ___________, __________. & __________. Some words from these tribes would include
_______, _________, ________, ________, ________.(Old English)
3. Examples of Danish words which entered the English language in the 9th century are: (Middle English)
_______, _____, ______, ______. _______.
4. When the Normans invaded England in 1066, French words such as
_______, _______, __________, _________, _________ were infused into English. (Middle English)
5. During the Renaissance when ancient Greece and Rome’s greatness was rediscovered, many Greek and Latin words merged with English.
Many of our learned and more formal words come from this period such as ___________, ____________, ____________, __________.
6. English is a "Borrower" language. It has been called "a mingle tongue," "a mongrel language," and a "lagoon of nations." Some words which we have borrowed from other nations include:
German = Chinese = Japanese =
Irish = Italian= Spanish =
Algonquian = Malay = Russian =
ASSESSMENT
