The Story of Old English
by David Crystal
Summarized by Parastoo Behroozi
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In "The Story of Old English" by David Crystal, the author gives a brief, but accurate history of the English language. Before the many ethnic groups invaded England, namely the Anglo-Saxons, the primary language spoken was Celtic. The Celts themselv
es had invaded several centuries before and were also influenced by the Romans, who brought Latin to the British Isles from mainland Europe. Except for a few place names, however, the Romans left no other permanent linguistic signs. With the Anglo-Sax
on invasions, the Celts were pushed back into areas we now know as Cornwall, Wales, and Cumbria where the Celtic dialects developed into Welsh and Gaelic. The Celtic languages had very little influence on the development of the English language.
There is very little known of the time between the Anglo-Saxon invasions and the first Old English manuscripts. Literacy came to England with the Roman missionaries who produced the Bible and other religious works in Latin. With the exception of B
eowulf, a heroic poem, very little material has survived from this early period. With the settlement of the different tribes came the division of several different dialects. There was Merican and Northumbrian, spoken by the Angles, Kentish, spoken by
the Jutes and West Saxon, which was spoken by the Saxons. Most Old English texts were written in West Saxon, however, modern English is descended from Merican, because it was the language spoken around the area of London, which became a powerful city du
ring the Middle Ages. Because of the history of England and its repeated invasions, there was a constant flow of different dialects, vocabularies and spellings that left their mark on the language. The two major influences were, first, from the Christ
ian missionaries, who not only brought literacy, but introduced about 450 new words into the language and second, from the Danish invasions, which brought many Scandinavian words into the language. All in all, there were about 1800 words of Scandinavian
origin which entered the language at this time. The contact between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danish lasted about 250 years and this is clearly evident by the extensive borrowing of Scandinavian words into English. But the most influential changes did
not come until the invasion of William the Conqueror, who came from Normandy in 1066 and whose arrival came to shape the second main period in the history of the English language, Middle English.
Study Questions:
How did the many invasions in England influence the formation of the English language?
Why did literacy have such a profound impact on the English language?
Why didn't the Celtic languages have a broader impact on English?
How do culture and language influence one another?