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 were included in English language much later from the Celtic languages ​​that were widely spoken in that period: whiskey (Irish: uisce beathadh " living water"), slogan (from 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 appeared in the English language geographical objects, preserved 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 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 this 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

Founder of English literary language rightfully considered the great William Shakespeare (1564-1616). 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 the pronunciation of words differs at the phonetic level, but there is also a complete difference different words, denoting 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.

Today English is an international means of communication. It is taught in schools, in various courses and people of all ages study it to broaden their horizons and become a free "citizen of the world." It wasn't always like this.

The emergence of English

The English language has its origins around 800 BC. It was then that the first mentions of Celtic tribes who settled on the territory of the British Isles appeared.

The chronicles of that time say that the British Celts communicated in their own dialect, had a fairly developed culture with patriarchal principles, men could have up to 10 wives, and children who reached a certain age were raised in a male society, learning the art of hunting and wielding weapons.

After the British Isles were conquered by Caesar, they became one of the Roman provinces. During this period, the Celts experienced the powerful influence of the Romans, which, undoubtedly, could not but be reflected in the language.

The presence of roots of Latin origin in many words English vocabulary. For example: street"street" (from lat. via strata"paved road") wall"wall" (from vallum"shaft"), wine"wine" (from lat. vinum"wine"), pear"pear" (from lat. pirum"pear"), pepper "pepper" (from Latin piper). Castra (from Latin 'camp') is today present in some modern British place names Lancaster, Manchester, Leicester.

English language development

Historically, it is believed that the ancestors of the British were the ancient Germanic tribes of the Saxons, Angles and Jutes, who appeared on the territory of Britain in 449 and gradually assimilated. Therefore, after the Anglo-Saxon conquest of the islands, very few Celtic words remained in English.

After the beginning of Christianization in 597 AD. Roman Church, by the beginning of the 9th century almost half of the population of Britain professed Christianity. During this time, the English language borrowed more than 600 words from Latin, most of which related to religion and politics. For example, school"school" (from lat. school"school"); Bishop"bishop" (from Lat. Episcopus"supervisor"); mount"mountain" (from lat. montis"mountain"); priest"priest" (from Lat. presbyter"presbyter").

The first translator of the Gospel into the Anglo-Saxon language was the English educator Bede the Venerable, whose work had a great influence on the further development of the language.

At the end of the 9th century, the conquest of British lands by the Danes began and their active assimilation with local residents. As a result, the English language has been replenished with many words borrowed from the Scandinavian group of languages. Very often this is indicated by the presence of letter combinations sk- or sc- at the beginning of words: sky"sky", skin"leather", sake"scull".

After the conquest of Britain by the peoples of northern France, starting in the mid-11th century, the era of three languages ​​began: French was considered the language of the aristocracy, Latin was the language of science, and ordinary citizens spoke Anglo-Saxon. It was as a result of the mixing of these three languages ​​that the process of formation of modern English began.

How did the English language originate?

Linguists around the world define English as a mixed language. First of all, this is evidenced by the fact that many words that have a similar meaning do not have a single root. So, if you compare a number of words that have a similar meaning, in Russian “head head head”, in English they will sound completely different.” chapter head chief". This is explained by the process of mixing languages ​​mentioned above. Thus, Anglo-Saxon words denoted specific objects, hence the word head. The word chapter, used in science, came from Latin, and from the French language of the nobility chief.

Similar phenomena can be found in other semantic series of the English language. Thus, the words denoting the name of the animal are of Germanic origin, and the name of the meat of this animal is Old French: cow cow, but beef beef; calf calf, but veal veal, sheep sheep, but mutton mutton; pig pig, but pork pork, etc.

After 1400, the English language underwent significant changes in grammar and pronunciation: many verbs lost their endings, vowel sounds began to be pronounced more briefly.

With the advent of the Renaissance, the English language was enriched with many new words, and the invention printing press only contributed to the development of the literary language. William Caxton is considered the first printer in Britain, who published the first book in English in 1474. While working, Caxton often invented his own rules of grammar, which after the publication of the book began to be considered the only correct ones. Thanks to this, many English words fixed their spelling and acquired a complete form.

By the beginning of the 17th century, the rules of grammar and spelling were fixed, and the London dialect became the standardized form of the language, which at that time was spoken by almost 90% of native speakers. In 1604, the first dictionary of the English language was published.

Modern English

Colonization of North America in early XVII centuries, the British contributed to the emergence of the American version of the English language. In part, American English is more similar to the language of Shakespeare's time than modern British. Many American words originated from British expressions and came into widespread use in the English colonies before disappearing in England. As the colonialists moved west, where Spain dominated, the language was replenished with new words. For example, alligator, anchovy, banana, cannibal, hurricane, potato, sombrero, tobacco and many others.

Linguists consider American English easier to understand and learn. Today it ranks second in the list of the most widely spoken languages ​​on the planet. According to researchers, it is spoken by between 600 million and 1.6 billion. There are also Canadian English, Australian English, and various dialects and dialects are common in Great Britain itself.

Modern English, and in particular its American version, is the language of international communication. It is fixed as official language 53 countries of the world, as well as the language of the United Nations. Politicians, cultural figures, scientists, members public organizations communicate in English. Knowledge of the language allows you to freely travel around the world, communicating with representatives of any nationality.

• • Previously, the English alphabet had 1 letter more. The 27th letter was the symbol The word queue will sound the same even if the last four characters are removed from it;
  • Punctuation marks in English appeared only in the 15th century;
  • The most commonly used letter in the English alphabet is "e";
  • Starts with the letter "s" in English more words than with any other;
  • The English language is rich in various synonyms. The word drunk has the most synonyms - the state of alcoholic intoxication can be conveyed using about 3000 words and expressions;
  • Sound in English can be represented by various letter combinations. For example: He believed Caesar could see people seizing the seas;
  • Offer " The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" contains all the letters of the English alphabet;
  • Due to an error made in the printing house, from 1932 to 1940 the word existed in the English dictionary dord, which didn't matter;
  • Most often, errors in pronunciation are made precisely in the word pronunciation, which is translated as “pronunciation”;
  • The word bride comes from a Germanic verb meaning the process of cooking.
  • One of the most difficult tongue twisters in the English language is " Sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick";
  • The word set has 68 meanings and two hundred different variations;
  • The longest word consisting of one syllable is screeched "squealed";
  • The word mortgage came into English from French and is translated as “lifetime contract”;
  • Every year, the English dictionary is replenished with approximately 4,000 new words, that is, approximately 1 word every 2 hours;
  • There are more English speakers in Nigeria than in the UK;
  • There are about 24 different dialects of English in the United States.

The history of a language always helps to better understand it when studying and increase the efficiency of its assimilation. We will be glad if our article is not only informative for you, but also strengthens you in your desire to learn this beautiful language or improve your skills.

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.

Old English period in English history

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. For example, "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 ah - 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 everything 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 appeared in English. 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 grammar rules. 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 began to change there 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 say modern English is a mixture different languages, and even today it is not static, being constantly 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.

Latin is considered the founder of all languages. Therefore, it is not surprising that many modern words so similar to Latin ones. And many languages ​​are similar to each other, since they originated from the same base. For example:

1. German occurred as a result of a mixture of Latin and the language of the Gothic tribes;

2. The French language appeared as a result of a mixture of Latin and the language of the Gaul tribe;

3. The English language appeared as a result of mixing Latin and the language of the Celtic peoples.

Don't forget about Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. They all come from Latin, and therefore are incredibly similar to each other. When communicating, Italians, Spaniards and Portuguese can speak their native languages ​​and will understand each other.

A little history

The emergence of the English language dates back to the 8th century BC. At that time, modern Britain was inhabited by Celtic people. Even the name of the country itself comes from their language, because in Celtic “brith” was translated as “colored”. In addition, several other words came from the Celtic language that are still used today. After 7 centuries, Caesar declared the territory of Britain part of the great Roman Empire and began to populate these lands with the Romans. Willy-nilly, the Celts had to communicate closely with the Romans, so Latin was added to the Celtic language, which greatly influenced it in the future. Many modern words were borrowed from the Latin language. Both peoples communicated with each other until the 5th century AD, creating new words for the future English language. In the 5th century, Germanic tribes invaded Britain, so a completely new stage began in the development of the English language.

Formation and development of the English language. Three periods of formation.

The emergence of the English language took quite a long time. Its formation was created by mixing several languages ​​and dialects and went through three stages:

1. Old English period. This stage lasted from 449 to 1066. At this time, the invasion of Germanic tribes led to the fact that the number of Celts was exaggerated by the invading tribes. Over time, the dialect of the Anglo-Saxons began to displace the dialect of the Celts, transforming already established words into their own language. Many areas of Britain that are located in hard to reach places, were not subject to the Germanic tribes, so the Celtic language was perfectly preserved there. These areas are considered to be Ireland, Cornwall, Wells and Scotland. If you want to feel the atmosphere of the development of the English language, then you should visit this country. Thanks to the invading tribes, many words with common Germanic-Latin roots remained in the language.
In 597, Rome began to Christianize all the countries under its control, including Britain. This had a great impact on the language, since many lexemes (Latin words assimilated by Germanic dialects) appeared. In those days, the English language was replenished with about 600 new words that had both Germanic and Latin roots.
In the 9th century, the Danes began to seize the lands of the Saxons. As a result, the English language was replenished with the dialect of the Scandinavian Vikings.

2. Middle English period. It lasted from 1066 to 1500 AD. In the 11th century, England was invaded by the French. This led to the so-called era of “three languages” beginning in the development and formation of the language:

1) French, which was used for communication between aristocrats and the judicial system;

2) Anglo-Saxon, which was spoken by ordinary people;

3) Latin, which was used by doctors.

The beginning of this era led to the final formation of the English language exactly as we know and teach it today. Due to the fact that several languages ​​participated in its formation, its vocabulary has almost doubled. There is no doubt that traces of the past division remain in the language. For example, you can notice that animals are translated into English as “cow”, “calf”, “sheep” - these are words from the dialect of the “common people”. The name of the meat of these animals has already come to us from the aristocracy, so it sounds differently - “beef”, “veal”, “mutton”.
At the beginning of the 14th century, the language acquired literary features, and therefore became the main language of education of people and the formation of law. Also, at this time the first English book appeared. At this time, the English language acquired the first rules in grammar and phonetics, adjectives acquired degrees of comparison, and the endings of verbs disappeared.
Later, when the mass migration of the British to America began, the language underwent a change towards the British and American dialect.

3. New England period. It dates back to 1500 and continues to the present day. Many consider W. Shakespeare to be its founder. Thanks to him, the English language was “cleansed” of impurities and acquired its own form and vocabulary.

It is believed that the English language appeared by mixing different languages, and even in our time it does not stand still, constantly developing and modernizing. English is the official language in many countries. These include India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Jamaica, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Rwanda, Ghana, etc. As you understand, in all these countries people communicate in their “own English”. There are many phrases from other languages, the accent changes, and sometimes even the rules of grammar. England and America still have a huge influence on the formation and development of the language. Of course, it is Britain that is the example of pure English, but “American English” is still considered international. The USA has greatly influenced modern world, and if we teach English in schools and universities, then it is the American dialect. Of course, England and America greatly influence each other. They exchange their vocabulary, as a result of which the language is constantly updated with new expressions and names. Bottom line: English became the main means of communication during the formation of the world, so it is generally accepted that it is an international language. It can be used to communicate with people from the most different countries and continents. Therefore, without him modern society there's no way around it.

The article was prepared by the website of the company I-Polyglot -

The history of the emergence and development of the English language, as in the case of any other language, cannot be considered in isolation from the history of the emergence and development of the state whose inhabitants speak this language. So, England.

Initially, the territory of the British Isles was inhabited by Celts who spoke Celtic. By the 5th century, conquerors from Rome successfully coexisted with them, bringing the Latin language to these lands. However, it was in the 5th century that several Germanic tribes came to British territories, so successfully gaining a foothold here that the original Welsh and Gaulish languages ​​have remained to this day only in territories not conquered by the Germans - in Cornwall, the mountains of Scotland, Ireland and Wales, distant and extremely difficult to achieve. Modern English is Germanic English, which has very little in common with Celtic and Latin.

However, it did not end with the Germans. British territories were for some time attacked by Vikings who came from Scandinavia and spoke Old Icelandic. And in 1066, under the rule of the French, England began to farm out its native language to the uneducated lower strata of the population, recognizing only French, the language of the conquerors, as the language of the high society. Thanks to this, by the way, the vocabulary of modern English has significantly expanded: the system of synonyms in the language is truly extensive. However, in many cases, the same division into higher and lower languages. So, for example, cattle - the topic of conversation among peasants - has German names (cow - cow), but dishes prepared from it were discussed in the world, which is why they have French names (beef - beef). Exactly the same pair of names exists for calf - calf and veal - veal and other concepts.

Here are a few more examples:
sheep- sheep, but mutton- mutton;
swine- pig, but pork- pork.

Such external influences certainly have a significant impact on the language. But underneath the veneer of changes that have been introduced there is still a solid Anglo-Saxon foundation.
Some time passes, the culture of England develops, and the English language naturally finds literary use, and in the 14th century it was the language spoken by lawyers and specialists in various fields of science. A little later, thanks to mass migrations to the New World - America - the language received a new direction of development, now changing simultaneously, but not always equally in different territories.

Spread around the world

The opportunity to travel around the world and the need to build relationships not only with the closest neighbors on the continent has caused a rather significant problem to arise: what language should we speak among ourselves? English, along with some other languages, has been used for political negotiations and conferences since the beginning of the 20th century. There is a need to teach it, study it, and formalize it. It is the English language that is still one of the main subjects of close attention of linguists around the world.

Where does learning begin? foreign language? Of course, from the dictionary. Grammar, style, punctuation make no sense without vocabulary. According to scientists, the modern English dictionary contains more than a million entries. How many of them do you need to learn to become confident in the language?

The earliest grammar textbooks were created to help students studying Latin and foreigners studying English. That is, the task of teaching the British their native language was not installed. This problem began to be solved only in 1750, and, like many pioneers, linguists made mistakes. In particular, Latin was adopted as the standard language. And grammatical rules were considered universal and applicable to all languages. This sometimes led to absurd attempts to adapt one language to another.

In addition to attempts to Latinize the language, scientists also resisted the course of its natural development towards simplification, considering this process to be degradation. For example, the endings of verbs died out. Conservative teachers and their textbooks, distributed throughout the country as part of widespread educational programs, have preserved for posterity - that is, for us - many more irregular constructions, irregular verbs and exceptions than could have been left without them external influence. But who knows, it is likely that in a few generations English will turn from a synthetic language into an analytical one? The process of change, although slowed down, did not stop completely. The only things that don't change at all are dead languages ​​that no one speaks.

Despite all the specific features, the English language in our time remains simple enough to learn and at the same time a full-fledged, rich and colorful language to be successfully used as a truly universal language. international language communication.