Etymological Survey of the English Word

Robert MacNeil, a writer of many great historical articles, was once, a journalist and news anchor. In his article, “English Belongs to Everybody”, MacNeil responds to the fear of many Americans who believe that Spanish will soon sweep over English. He argues that English can not be diluted by any other language as “it has prospered and grown because it was able to accept and absorb changes,”

“The History of the English Language”. http://www.uni-due.de/SHE/. Univ. of Duisburg Essen. April 2013. Web 4 Oct. 2013.

have you ever read an older piece of text and noticed anything different? such as the way the language was spoken/written. The reason our language differs from then is because of the influence of other languages around the English language its self. This influence help to create the modern English language we know today.

In more modern times the interaction of English speakers with other languages, through first colonialism, and later the emergence of English as a global language has enriched the vocabulary (‘pyjama’) and led to the evolution of different versions of English around the world, for example the hybrid ‘Singlish’ that has emerged in Singapore.

The Anglo-Saxons were Germanic tribes from the German regions of Angeln and Saxony that had moved over to Britain. They had conquered the Jutes and Frisians from Denmark. In the time period where the Anglo-Saxon’s were living and thriving (410-660 A.D.), glory was one of the more important points of their beliefs. They wanted glory for their king, glory for their warrior tribe, glory for themselves, and finally, glory for their ancestors. Glory was the thread that kept the Anglo-Saxon culture, the warrior clans, and epic heroes, such as Beowulf himself, truly glorious.

The organization known as the “disocen organization” was implemented to override the governmental and political barriers and bring unity in northumbria by establishing churches. The building of churches helped Anglo Saxon to gain spiritual and intellectual comfort. People were introduced with a new art of reading and writing to the early Anglo Saxon people .Through this it helped people to overcome the difficulties of life. But according to Bede in 734 northumbria needed more bishops and priest to teach “truth of faith” and the help to identify difference between evil and good. There were various pomes written in the name of God; which also furthermore helped to penetrated Christianity in the minds of people. Converting people created a new phase in the history of

In Andrew Clements’ 1998 children’s book, Frindle, Nick Allen, a troublemaking fifth-grader, spent a great deal of effort changing the word pen to the word frindle, exasperating his teacher and gaining national notoriety for his invented word, which, in the story, stuck and was introduced into the English dictionary. In Clements’ book, he questions who it is that decides that words mean what words mean. His teacher, Mrs. Granger, responds, “You do, Nicholas. You and I and everyone in this class and this school and this town and this state and this country. We all agree” (Frindle 197). Unfortunately, deriving the etymology of words is not as simple as Mrs. Granger made it sound. Change in words – their meanings, spellings, and pronunciations - takes place over the divides of continents, ages, and languages. So, the analysis of words is more than a quest for definition; it is an exploration of history. The word “drum” is a fitting example of one suddenly appearing in the English language without strong, direct, reliable linkage to previous tongues.

As Christianity spread through the Western world, it rarely followed a linear path: different pockets of faith and doctrine were developed by a variety of peoples in an even greater variety of locales. Nowhere is this more evident than in Roman Britain and the era of Anglo-Saxon migrations. In five centuries, English religious culture transformed from one of pagan worship to that of leadership in the Christian world. Controversies included more than merely pagan-Christian dynamics; the Christians were greatly divided, and Christian efforts went through many ebbs before becoming firmly established. One must evaluate the development of both Rome and England to gain an adequate understanding of early English Christianity.

The English language has been evolving since the fifth century (or 400 AD), and throughout history many different people from different countries attempted invasions. One being the Norman French, who made a very significant impact on the English language, as their unique French dialect allowed the people of England to flourish their language by borrowing terms from the French. Over 10,000 French words have been applied to certain areas of English, such as art, fashion and cuisine. Cuisine, in particular, has adopted many French terms that are still being used today to describe various food items, especially dessert items. In present times, at least “three quarters of these words” continue to be used for the various dessert items (Ager 2012). With that, the Norman French helped shape not only part of the French culture of cuisine, but was also integrated into the English language and expanded its lexicon.

The Anglo Saxons were invaders from the Baltic shores of Germany and Jutes from the peninsula of Jutland in Denmark, they actually settled the greater part of Britain. In England, there are still traces of their culture, especially their language can still be found. The most heroic Celtic leaders was called Arthur, who developed in legend as the “once and future king.” The life of the Anglo Saxons was not full of luxurious, and it was not dominated by scholarship and the arts. The leader had the responsibility to protect the given group and make law and order, whether family, clan, tribe, or kingdom. Fame and success, even survival, were achieved through loyalty to such a leader, especially during war times, and success was in gifts from the

``After the Norman Conquest, the British Isles were, with the exception of the Norman kingdom in Sicily, the most significantly multilingual and multicultural territory in western Europe`` (Crane 1999:35). Explain the background to this situation, and relate the changing uses of the different languages to the social and historical context.

The discoveries of Greek mathematicians such as Pythagoras, Euclid, and Archimedes, are still used in mathematical teaching today.

Quite a few of the Old English vocabulary can still be found in the Modern English we speak and read today, it is just the spelling that differ is some places. Therefore, if read from a vocabulary perspective, there are familiar words, for example, “awriten” which is “written”, “læst” is “last”, “forð” is “forth”, “steorra” is “star”, etc. These are words which seems familiar, but because of the various influences and where English comes from there is differences and unfamiliar words. Modern English differ from Old English because as the language grew it took in more words and replaced old versions of words (2011:22). For example, the word “sacerda” which means “priests” is from the Latin word “sacerdos” and “folc” and “ic” is Germanic words for “people” and “I”. There are also words from Anglo-Saxon, like “heretoga” which is now “leader or commander” and “tungelwitegan” which is now “wise

The word "druidae" is Celtic in origin. It is said to be derived from the Greek word "drus", meaning "oak", and the Sanskrit word, "Vid", meaning knowledge. The Oak tree was a sacred tree to the Celts. In the Celtic social class the title of "Druid" was

Think of things that morph over time. What comes to mind? People may think about a music artist’s change from YouTube videos recorded on iPhones to sold-out concerts. Or, they may think about the changes an athlete makes from childhood to becoming a professional athlete. However, did you think about how much a language changes over a couple of years? Every year words are added to and taken from the dictionary. Words are formed and forgotten. Language changes because of a person’s vocabulary and location, but what happens to a language, like the English language, that is spread across the whole world?