For linguists and historians for a long time one of the most important was the question of how the English language appeared. Indeed, today it is considered international, it is known by almost all the peoples of the world from Japan to Hawaii. It is easy to learn, in pronunciation, has not too large vocabulary, which makes it easy to remember all the most important. Let's try to find out how the English language appeared . We will find out what peoples originally spoke it, what influenced its formation and what changed it over the centuries.
Celtic Dictionary Base
The first tribes that left a worthy legacy on the British Peninsula were precisely the Celtic. They settled these lands in about 800 BC and since then have made a huge contribution to the culture and development of the future peoples who lived and live here. It is with the Celts that one should begin the story of how the English language appeared. Of course, they didn’t communicate in English in the usual form for us, but many of their notes and documents were easily deciphered by modern archaeologists. The roots of the words that are now used in this speech were laid back in those distant centuries and have not changed much to this day.
Names and words
The Celts themselves, as history says, were a very developed people at that time. Patriarchy reigned in society, all the boys were under the strict care of their fathers. Everyone who belonged to this people knew writing, could read in their native language. The Celts also had one feature - the soldiers painted themselves with blue paint, which made them more scary in the battle with any enemy. They called this technique the word "brith" (brith), which translates as "painted." It was it that formed the basis of the name of the whole country and the peoples that populated it in the future. It would seem that at this stage it becomes extremely clear where the English language came from, but there are a couple of interesting points. Similarly, many names that are now widely used by the British and Americans migrated from the Celtic dialects. Words such as "whiskey", "plaid", "slogan" and many others have also retained their meaning and structure.
Roman conquest and speech assimilation
In 44 BC, the British Isles officially became a province of the Roman Empire, and Emperor Claudius ruled these lands. In the light of these events, there was a mixture of peoples - the Roman and Celts, due to which speech was also modified. It is worth noting that many historians who carefully study how the English language appeared are sure that it has exactly Latin roots. General grammar, many similar root words, as well as undeniable historical events speak in favor of this. Here we note that all of Europe at the turn of the eras was influenced by the Romans and the Latin language. Each individual people took from it something for themselves, and something was supplemented by the initial dialects. In the same way, English became an assimilation of Celtic and Latin words. But in the modern language, one can distinguish such words that came exclusively with the Romans. These are all that have the root "castra" (lat. "Camp") - Lancaster Leincester. Also, this word "street" ("street"), descended from lat. "Via strata" - "paved road". This also includes the words "wine", "pear", "pepper" and others.
The influence of Scandinavia
In the late 800s, Denmark conquered the British Isles. During the occupation, which lasted for more than one year, the population assimilated and, accordingly, speech changed. Therefore, it is Denmark that plays a large role in how the English language appeared. In addition to the many words that replenished the reserves of English speech at that time, letter combinations also fit tightly into it, which then formed independent, independent of Scandinavian words. In particular, these are -sc and –sk. They formed words such as “skin” - “skin” (with the original “hide”), “skull” - “skull” (with the original “shell”) and “sky” - “sky” (previously it was only “heaven” )
Is modern speech mixed?
Now we will consider the basics of the origin of that speech, which is understandable for modern man, and finally solve the question of how the English language appeared. Until the 11th century, English, as it turned out, was not spoken in principle. There were dialects called Anglo-Saxon, Romance, Celtic and so on. It was in this century that the French, under the leadership of King William, conquered Britain. Since then, the official language in the camp has become French. Courts, jurisdiction and other state affairs were conducted at it. At the same time, Latin was in use - it was considered the language of science. The common population spoke Anglo-Saxon dialects. It was from this stormy mixture that English was born, which modern man can already understand.
New England years: from the 1500s to the present day
The language finally formed in the 16th century. Its founder is the famous writer William Shakespeare. This man not only created written sources confirming the existence of competent speech in those times in Britain, he also came up with a lot of new words that we use today. One of the most amazing is the "swag" (swagger) - means a sprawling, depraved gait. Later, in 1795, the textbook “English Grammar” published by L. Murray was published. Until now, it is the basis for study guides.
Posting new lands
A very interesting question is how English appeared in America, because now all states speak it. Officially it is believed that he came to Novye Zemly in the 17th century along with the famous British colonies, who went there in search of a better share. It is important to note that at that time on the lands of America already established their settlements and other European nations - Romance speakers (Spaniards, French, Italians), as well as German speakers (Germans, Swedes, Danes). Among such national diversity, mainly the Spaniards who populated the southern part of the new continent stood out. In second place were the French, who migrated to the north of America. But the vast majority were British. That is why English began to spread in these lands.
American dialects
Another mixture of Scandinavian, Romanesque and British roots gave mankind a new language - American. In its structure, it is no different from the British, but in colloquial speech it is much simpler and more understandable. Americans do not use complex time structures; they always express themselves briefly and simply. In addition, they came up with many new words that for a long time were unclear to the British. Also, the American dialect is very rich in Spanish words. Many are used in their pure form, others are redone in their own way.
How did the English language appear in Russia
Each of us is well aware that in our native country no one ever spoke English. Over the centuries, our Slavic, then Russian speech has evolved, which acquired a modern look only in the middle of the 20th century. However, the elite of society began to learn this overseas language since the works of Shakespeare appeared in the country. Initially, they were translated into Russian, which also required knowledge of the source language. Later, people came to the conclusion that one should study the classics in its original form. Gradually, the Russian people learned this language, but such a privilege could only be enjoyed by nobles. Most of the population, which were peasants, could not read even in their native language. In this regard, so far our nation remains the least knowledgeable in foreign languages, even at the user level.