History of the English Lauguage.pptVIP

History of the English Lauguage The English people are of a mixed blood. The early inhabitants in the island now we call England were Britons, a tribe of Celts. From the Britons the island got its name of Britain, the land of Britons. The Celts were a group of peoples loosely tied by similar language, religion, and cultural expression. They were not centrally governed, and quite as happy to fight each other as any non-Celt. They were warriors, living for the glories of battle and plunder. They were also the people who brought iron working to the British Isles. Celt (language) There was a written Celtic language, but it developed well into Christian times, so for much of Celtic history they relied on oral transmission of culture, primarily through the efforts of bards and poets. These arts were tremendously important to the Celts, and much of what we know of their traditions comes to us today through the old tales and poems that were handed down for generations before eventually being written down.? In 55 B.C. , Britain was invaded by Julius Caesar, the Roman conqueror. The Roman occupation lasted for about 400 years during which Only around 200 Latin loanwords are inherited from the Romans?- although by the 6th?century the Church will have brought many more. In 410 A.D. , all the Roman troops went back to the continent and never returned. Then West Germanic tribes from Jutland （日德兰半岛） and southern Denmark (Norseland) invaded the British Isles. These tribes--which included the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes--spoke a Germanic language now termed Old English, a language which is similar to modern Frisian（弗利然语）. Out of these tribes, four major dialects of Old English emerged-- Northumbrian in the north of England, Merican in the Midlands, West Saxon in the south and west, and Kentish in the Southeast. Beowulf lines 1 to 11, approximately AD 900 Hw?t! Wē Gār-Dena in geārdagum, Tēodcyninga trym gefrūnon, hū eā ?telingas ellen fremedon. Oft Scyld