English Language: The Roots
English did not originate in England. In Europe, languages are grouped into 'families' depending on the features of each member of the group. English belongs to the group known as the “Indo-European Family,” which includes most of the languages in Europe. Within the Indo-European family are other sub-groups called Italic and Germanic. Germanic is also known as Teutonic. Latin and French developed from Italic at different times. The Germanic group has three branches, namely North Germanic, East Germanic, and West Germanic. It is not certain whether North, East, and West Germanic represent actual languages. The North Germanic is the group where we find languages like Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic.
The West Germanic group developed into modern German, Dutch, Frisian, and English. In this group are still other sub-groups, namely High West Germanic and the Low West Germanic, due to their grammatical features. Both English and Frisian belong to the Low West Germanic and are therefore the closest of relatives. Frisian is spoken in North-west Netherlands. Remember that when we say that languages belong to one linguistic ‘family,’ it means that they share essential similarities in grammar and in their stock of words. English was separated from its Germanic root when some Germanic tribes: the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes migrated from their original home in North-western Europe to Britain, and English language began to develop into an independent language with new characteristics distinct from other Germanic languages. You shall know more about this in the next unit.
SELFASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1
1. Where did English language originate from?
2. Mention four (4) languages that belong to the West Germanic branch of the Indo-European family.
3. What do you think are the benefits of studying the history of English Language?
3.2 The Language Situation in England before English
English came to England only at about the middle of the 5th century, whereas men had inhabited Britain for thousands of years before then. Of course, you cannot imagine a place where people live without a functional language. So there must have been at least one language and its varieties, with which people communicated with one another. The first people known to have inhabited the island that was later to become England were the Celts and they spoke ‘Celtic.’ The Celtic language and its varieties were another branch of the Indo-European family. The Celtic languages were the most extensive groups in the Indo-European family to be spoken in England at that time and up till today a good number of people in some parts of Wales and Highlands of Scotland still speak it. When Latin was later introduced in Britain, Celtic remained the language of the populace, especially of the rural dwellers.
How the Celts came to England is not really known but history confirms that at the beginning of the Christian era, the Celts were found in Spain, West Germany, Italy, and Great Britain. In fact, they covered some greater part of Western Europe. Some centuries earlier they were said to have gained entry to Greece and Asia Minor. But how the Celtic languages increasingly declined over time is still quite surprising.
Today Celtic languages are found only in some remote areas of France and Britain as we said earlier. The impact of Celtic on modern English, however, has survived mainly on place-names. Names of cities like Belfast, York, London, Glasgow, or Cardiff are Celtic. Names of rivers such as Avon, Clyde, Dee, Don, Forth, or Usk also have the Celtic origin. Others are names of regions like Devon, Glasmorgan, Kent, Cumbria, and Argyll. The Celtic ‘cumb’ (i.e., a deep valley) is traceable in names like Dumcombe, Holcomb, or Winchcombe. What the original Celtic meaning for these place names are cannot be said for sure. Celtic remained the predominant language of England until the occupation of the Romans when Latin was introduced.
SELFASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2
1. Mention the first Germanic tribe to inhabit the Island that later became England.
2. Can you explain the functions of the Celtic language in the England of the 5th century?
3.3 The Roman Conquest
The Romans under Julius Caesar first invaded Britain in 55 B.C, but the actual conquest was in AD 43 under Claudius when the Celtic warriors could no longer resist the much stronger Roman army. The Roman occupation of Britain lasted from about AD 43 until 410. This was a very long period that invariably planted much of Roman occupation, civilization, and culture in Britain. Latin was the language of the Romans so it became the official language, in the Roman Britain especially in towns and cities. Celtic was spoken in the rural areas. In some localities outside the cities, Latin was spoken; workmen and artisans were familiar with the language as they often scratched Graffiti on tiles and some pieces of pottery. At this time, English had not come. Since Latin was not widespread enough it could not survive the later Germanic invasions. Latin began to wane around AD 410, the time the last of the Roman troops were officially withdrawn from Britain.
However, the Roman conquests have some linguistic contributions to the present-day English lexicon. For instance, the old English “Caestar” (an enclosed place) is from the Latin “casta” (camp). Today we have some English place-names like Chester, Dorchester, Manchester, and Lancaster. The Latin ‘portus’ (gate) gave English the following names: Newport, Portsmouth; from Latin ‘mons’ (mountain) we have Larchmont, and Oakmont, while the Latin ‘turris’ (tower) gave rise to Torrington, Torbridge. So you can see that Latin contributed to the development of English.
SELFASSESSMENT EXERCISE 3
1. Mention the two languages that were spoken in the Roman Britain between AD 43 and 410?
2. Describe the contributions of the Roman conquest to the development of the English language.
4.0 CONCLUSION
You can see that English has its root from among the dialects of Germanic tribes in North-western Europe. This is the area where you find the modern Germany, Poland, Russia, or Denmark. It belongs to the Indo-European language family and is grouped along with German, Dutch, Flemish, and Frisian as the West-Germanic. Before English was planted in Britain, the Celtic tribes who lived in the Isles then spoke their language Celtic and that became the first language in Britain. The Celts were defeated by the Romans and Britain came under the Roman government and for a very long time Latin, the Roman language was then planted as the language of communication and politics. But the Celtic language still survived especially in the rural areas.
5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit, you have seen where the English came from, i.e., in North-west Europe, from a dialect of the Germanic tribes. You will get to know more about these Germanic tribes in Unit 2. Latin and Celtic were spoken in England before the Germanic tribes brought in English. We can still find some of the marks of the Celtic and Latin languages in modern English place-names.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
1. Discuss the origin of the English language.
2. Describe the contributions of both Celtic and Latin languages to modern English.
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