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Questions and Answers
What did King Alfred call the general language of England?
The term 'Old English' has advantages over 'Anglo-Saxon' as the name of the language.
True
What term is typically used to refer to the dialect of nearly all the important literature of the Anglo-Saxons?
South-South-West
The Old English term for 'street' is ______, which is derived from the Latin word 'strata'.
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What is the main reason that the English language has a wide appeal worldwide?
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English has become the most 'mixed' of languages due to its receptiveness and adaptability to foreign elements.
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What is a notable characteristic of English related to the relationship of words in a sentence?
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English uses ______ to take the place of lost inflexions.
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Match the following language characteristic with its description:
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What was the Old English word for the Latin word (originally Greek) 'Euangelium'?
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William Barnes tried to create modern English words by translating Latin terms directly into new English compounds.
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What Latin word did the Old English term 'prynes' translate to in English?
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In the Middle English period, a number of purely technical legal, scientific, and ecclesiastical terms were taken directly from the ______.
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Match the following terms with their language of origin:
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What is the name of the Renaissance-era writer whose prose style influenced English literature significantly?
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From which century onwards did Greek words mainly enter the English language through learned, technical, or scientific usage?
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Greek prefix 'anti' means _______.
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English became the accepted language for a large part of literature and speech among the upper classes in the thirteenth century.
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Match the following Greek-influenced technical terms with their meanings:
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The Germanic family of languages is believed to have originated in Northern Europe around what time period?
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What are two significant characteristics that mark off the Germanic family of languages?
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The Germanic languages have a strong tendency to fix the _____________ of a word on its root syllable or as near to its beginning as possible.
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The Germanic languages primarily use a free stress system, allowing stress to be placed on different parts of a word according to context and meaning.
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What distinguishes strong verbs from weak verbs in the Germanic languages?
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What type of influence did Arabs have on the English language?
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What Arabic word denotes 'the vault' and has been adopted into English?
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The Chinese word 'tea' entered English through the Dutch as ______.
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The English spelling tends to be purely phonetic.
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During which period did most common French words come into English?
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Whan that Aprill with his shoures sote, The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote, And bathed every veine in swich licotur Of which vertu engendred is the flour, Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breth Inspired hath in every bolt and heth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halve cours yronne, and smale foules maken melodye That slepen al the nyght with open ye, (So priketh hem Nature in hir corages,) Than longen folk to goon on ___
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French words borrowed in the earlier Middle English period became integral parts of the English language.
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What is the term used for a military engineering word connected with mining in the later nineteenth century, which later acquired a military meaning in the twentieth century?
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What was the term used for collections of glosses in the text?
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The Renaissance brought the need for Latin and Greek dictionaries.
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Who wrote 'A Table of Alphabeticall English Wordes' in 1604?
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Edward Phillips, Milton's nephew and pupil, published his New World of English Words in __.
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Match the following individuals with their contributions to etymological dictionaries:
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What is the chief objection to any phonetic reform of English spelling?
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Who adapted the Roman letters to create the Anglo-Saxon alphabet?
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French scribes used the symbol 'u' to represent the sound 'y' in Old English.
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The formative period of Modern English Spelling was the Early _____ period.
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Match the following terms with their description:
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Study Notes
Characteristics of English
- English is spoken by the largest number of people worldwide due to historical, political, and economic reasons.
- English has a wide appeal due to its characteristics, including:
- Receptive and adaptable heterogeneousness, taking in material from around the world and making it its own.
- Simplicity of inflexion, with a minimum of change in word shapes or variations in endings.
- Relatively fixed word-order, making the order of words important for meaning.
- Use of periphrases and compound tenses to replace lost inflexions.
- Development of new varieties of intonation to express shades of meaning.
Indo-European Family of Languages
- English belongs to the Indo-European family of languages, which includes languages such as Latin, Greek, Russian, and Sanskrit.
- Indo-European languages share a common ancestor and have similar structures and vocabulary.
- The Indo-European family is characterized by:
- Use of parts of speech (nouns, verbs, etc.)
- Shared vocabulary, including names of family relationships, domestic materials, and familiar animals.
- English is Indo-European because it uses parts of speech and shares a fundamental nucleus of vocabulary with other Indo-European languages.
Germanic Family of Languages
- English belongs to the Germanic family of languages, which includes languages such as German, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages.
- Germanic languages developed from a common ancestral language, known as Common Germanic or Primitive Germanic.
- Characteristics of Germanic languages include:
- Fixed stress on the root syllable of a word.
- A two-tense system in the verb, with a present and past tense.
- Use of periphrases and compound tenses to replace lost inflexions.
- The Germanic family of languages has developed separately from other Indo-European languages, with distinct characteristics.
Development of English
- English has lost inflexions over time, leading to a simplified verb system and increased use of periphrases and compound tenses.
- English has developed a distinct vocabulary, with words borrowed from other languages such as Latin, Greek, and French.
- Intonation plays a significant role in English, with varying pitches and intensities used to express shades of meaning.### Weak and Strong Verbs
- Weak verbs are secondary or derived and do not change their root-vowel in conjugation, instead adding a suffix to the end (e.g., love - loved)
- Strong verbs, on the other hand, change their root-vowel in conjugation (e.g., buy - bought)
- However, this distinction is not always clear-cut, and the distinction has become blurred over time due to sound changes in the language
Old English and the Germanic Family
- Old English, also known as Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest form of the English language, spoken from the 5th to the 11th centuries
- It is a Low German dialect, closer to Dutch, Frisian, and Low German dialects than to High German dialects spoken in Germany and Austria
- Old English is characterized by special sound-changes that distinguish it from other Germanic languages
- The term "Anglo-Saxon" has traditionally been used to refer to the language, but "Old English" is a more common term used by scholars today
Latin Influences on Old English
- Latin had an impact on Old English vocabulary, especially in areas such as government, trade, and technology
- Many Latin words entered the English language through contact with Roman civilization and Christian missionaries
- Latin words were often adapted into English, such as "street" from Latin "strata" and "cheese" from Latin "caseus"
- The Christian church also introduced Latin words, such as "mæsse" from Latin "Missa" (mass)
Coining New Words
- Old English had the power to create new words from native elements, often by translating Latin compounds literally
- This method was used to create words for technical and scientific concepts, such as "Godspell" from Greek "euangelion" meaning "good news"
- This method was also used to create words for religious concepts, such as "blesian" (to bless) from Latin "benedicere"### Latin Influence on the English Language
- Latin has been an influence on English throughout its history, with many fluctuations
- In the fifteenth century, translation of Latin texts added to the number of direct Latin borrowings
- The Renaissance brought a direct influence from Classical Latin, especially in the fields of science and philosophy
- Many Latin words entered English at this time, especially in fields like law, medicine, and science
- The Renaissance also saw the remodelling of schools, with Latin as the primary language of instruction
- As a result, educated men used Latin terms and affixes unconsciously in their ordinary English speech
- Example of Latin words borrowed into English: exit, genius, area, fungus, miser, circus, vacuum, medium, species, ignoramus, vagary
Latin's Impact on English Grammar and Vocabulary
- Latin influenced the attitude to the language of its teachers and improvers in England
- The whole set-up and terminology of English grammar has been dominated by Latinate school masters
- The ghost of the Latinate tradition still haunts our classrooms
- Many words of Latin origin have been taken over unchanged, while others have been 'Englished' by taking on native endings or reductions
- Latin suffixes such as -ate (from -atus), -ic (from -icus), and -al (from -alis) have become part of the language
Greek Influence on the English Language
- Greek words came to English mainly through learned, technical, or scientific usage
- Many Greek terms were borrowed into English, especially in fields like medicine, philosophy, and science
- Greek prefixes and suffixes have become part of the language, such as graph (writing), phone (sound), and -ology
- Examples of Greek words borrowed into English: academy, atom, Bible, diphthong, harmony, ecstasy, nymph, tragedy, tyrant, theatre
- Many Greek words were borrowed through Latin, and later directly from Greek, especially in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
- Greek words have become part of the Common European vocabulary, and have been adapted with English prefixes and suffixes
French Influence on the English Language
- French influence on English began with the Norman Conquest, with the introduction of French words related to the new culture and way of life
- Before the Conquest, few French words were found in English, such as castel, capun (capon), and bacun (bacon)
- After the Conquest, French became the language of government, and many French words entered English related to law, church, and aristocracy
- Examples of French words borrowed into English: foreste, tur (tower), market, rent, justise, acorden, bataille, curt (court), cuntesse (countess), tresor, carited (charity), pais (peace), miracle, processiun
- French influence continued to grow, especially in the thirteenth century, with the loss of Normandy and other French possessions
- English eventually became the accepted language for literature and speech among the upper classes
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Description
Discover the characteristics that make English a widely spoken language, its historical and economic significance, and its unique features.
