Sources of English Vocabulary

From Small Beginnings

English had tiny beginnings. In 500 AD it was spoken by perhaps twenty thousand people; less than today speak Cherokee Indian, an endangered language

Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy

Anglo-Saxon helmet

Typical settlement

Old English Legacy

Old English provides all the most common words in modern English:

The, is, man, house, drink, here, there.

Prepositions.

Fundamental concepts:

life, death, day, night, month and year.

Anglo-Saxon Warrior

Extract from The Anglo- Saxon Chronicle

The first great promoter of English

Alfred the Great, king of Wessex translated St. Agustines Latin for his countrymen to read. He also made peace with the invading Vikings

King Alfred

The Dane invasion

Old English was enriched by Scandinavian words:happy, ugly, wrong, die.

This provided English with synonymous pairs

Anglo-SaxonNorse wishwantcraftskillrearraise

The Norman conquest influence

Food synonyms

NormanAnglo-Saxon

beefcow

porkpig

venisondeer

Places to live

NormanAnglo-Saxon

citytown

palacehouse

residencehome

Everything changed when the Norman invasion of 1066 subjugated the English.

Bayeux Tapestry

Other Norman synomyms

Professions

NormanAnglo-Saxon

carpenterbaker

painterbuilder

tailorfisherman

shoe-maker

Abstract

NormanAnglo-Saxon

libertyfreedom

affectionlove

truthveracity

Still today, people regard words of Anglo-Saxon origin as less intellectual than words with French and Latin origins and therefore, more trustuworthy

New Horizons

As the age of Colonialism brought English to a new shores, native languages from Canada, Australia, South Africa and India enriched it with new vocabulary

New AnimalsKangaroo, chimpanzeeNew plantstea, tobaccoClothespyjama, anorak

British Empire map from Wikipedia

Daughters of the British Empire

Modern English

Modern English is half Germanic and half Romance, but it has acquired the largest vocabulary of any language by freely adopting words from countless languages.

Old English (Anglo-Saxon)England, man, child, water, house

Old Norse (Viking)seat, window, ill, ugly

French: royal, beef, manu, hotel

Latin: family, wine, school.

Greek: telephone, grammar.

Italian: crescendo, vibrato, belvedere, grotto, estragaganza.

Spanish: cannibal, guerrilla, mosquito, tornado, vanilla.

Portuguese: mermalade, flamingo.

Dutch: yatch, boss, cookie, apartheid, commando, trek

Gaelic/Irish: hooligan, clan, slogan, whisky.

Japanese: kimono, tycoon, hara-kiri, samurai, tsunami.

Hindi: guru, jungle, cheetah, shampoo, pyjamas, polo.

Other examples

Persian: paradise, divan, lilac, bazaar, caravan, chess.

Aboriginal Australian: Kangaroo, wallaby, boomerang, budgerigar.

Hebrew: cherub, hallelujah, messiah, jubilee.

Arabic: alchemy, alcohol, assassin, cipher, syrup, zero.

Norwegian: ski.

Finnish: sauna.

Czech: robot.

Turkish: coffee, kiosk, caviar

Chinese: tea.

Malay: Ketchup, bamboo, junk, orangutan.

Polynesian: taboo, tattoo

Inuit (Eskimo): kayak, igloo, anorak.