Chapter3theDevelopmentoftheEnglishVocabulary.docVIP

Chapter 3 the Development of the English Vocabulary In the study of words, it is of great importance to know something about the origin and growth of the vocabulary. The English language is not the language of the early inhabitants of the British Isles. Then where does it come from? In what way is English related to other languages? A synchronic overview of the Indo-European Language Family will answer these questions. 3.1 The Indo-European Language Family The world has 3,000 (some put it 5,000) languages, which can be grouped into roughly 300 language families on the basis of similarities in their basic word stock and grammar. The Indo-European, one of these, is made up of most languages of Europe, the Near East and India. Most of the Indo-European languages are dead. The surviving Indo-European languages fall into ten principal groups, which fall into an Eastern set: Balto-Slavic, Indo-Iranian, Armenian and Albanian; a Western set: Celtic, Italic, Hellenic, Germanic, Hittite, and Tocharian. The Germanic family, which is our chief concern as English and its nearest relations are all members of this family. First, we have the four Northern European Languages: Norwegian, Icelandic, Danish and Swedish, which are generally known as Scandinavian languages. Then come German, Dutch, Flemish and English. 3.2 Three Phases of the Historical Development of English English has been the language of England for a comparatively short period. Since its introduction into the island about the middle of the fifth century it has had a career extending through only fifteen hundred years. The first peoples known to inhabit the land were Celts. Their languages Celtic were dialects of still another branch of the Indo-European language family. The second major language known in England was the Latin of the Roman Legions. 3.2.1 Old English (450-1150) The withdrawal of Roman troops virtually invited the invasion of the rich lowlands by the Picts and Scots from the North. The Celts appe