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CHAPTER 3 (pages 95-116)
THE ORIGINS OF ENGLISH
Summary by: Kay Sterling
Leith begins chapter 3 by cautioning the reader that the authors of the early history of the English language not only describe events but also give them a particular interpretation and value. Therefore, the reader should be aware of who is telling the story and from what perspective the story is being told. He points out that the names used to describe people, places and languages often reflect the viewpoint of the person narrating the story of the English language. The first evidence of the language was through written texts in Old English produced in the eighth century.
The five major linguistic influences on Old English are Celtic, Latin, Anglo-Saxons, Scandinavian, and French. Celtic is the term used to describe the people and language that existed in Britain before the Roman invasion in the first century BC. Latin was introduced by the Roman invasion of Britain in the first century BC and remained an influence on the English language until the eighteenth century. The Anglo-Saxons were the settlers or invaders who arrived in Britain the fifth century AD from northern Germany. The Anglo-Saxons’ language formed the basis for English. The Scandinavians referred to as the ‘Vikings’ or ‘Norse’ invaded England from the eighth to the eleventh centuries. Finally, French was introduced by the Norman invasion of the eleventh century.
Pages 99 through 116 discuss external and internal evidence and external and internal history. External history is an account of who spoke the language, where and when. External evidence is non-linguistic historical information. External evidence often comes from archaeological sites or contemporary written histories. Internal history is the nature of the grammar and vocabulary at different points in time (linguistic). Internal evidence comes from texts and documents that give us examples of language at different points in time.
External evidence: Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People is the most famous piece of external evidence. It was written in Latin in the eighth century and was translated into Old English in the ninth century. The events that Bede describes took place 300 years before he writes about them. Bede belonged to the Roman Catholic Church so this is an ecclesiastical history. Therefore, we don’t know how well this writing reflected the spoken languages of the area. Before Bede’s History, there was an earlier Celtic account called On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain written in the 540s by Gildas. Each provides a different perspective on the external history of English.
Internal evidence: Internal evidences is provided by written texts. King
Alfred is credited with commissioning the translation of Latin texts into the
West Saxon dialect of Old English. Pages 110 through 116 looks at Old English
vocabulary, sounds, and grammar.
Study Questions:
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