SOMETHING FROM THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH.

SOMETHING FROM THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH.

The history of the English language is divided into three periods usually called Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), Middle English, and Modern English.

First people used to speak Celtic and Latin in Britain. In the V-th century when Britain was populated by the Celts and partly by the Romans, three Germanic tribes invaded from the continent. The Germanic influence was so strong that soon the local languages were tiny erased. Only in distant areas of Britain people went on speaking Welsh (валлийский) and Gallic (галльский). These two languages are spoken nowadays – they are Celtic, not Germanic.

Then England was captured by the Frenchmen in year 1066. That’s why French had been the language of the English aristocracy for two centuries. The old English was spoken only by illiterate people then. French became a literary language and it made a big influence on English: the English dictionary twice increased, a lot of French words expanded it. Even today we can see a divide in the language. Some words come from Germanic:

cow – корова, calf – телёнок, sheep – овца, swine – свинья, - the names of cattle (домашний скот); while the names of meat, for example, are French by the origin:

beef – говядина, veal – телятина, mutton – баранина, pork – свинина. But the core (ядро) of the language is still Anglo-Saxon.

In the XIV-th century English officially became a literary language and also the language of law and school. This period is called in the history Middle English.

When lots of Britons migrated to America the English language brought there by them continued to be changed in a new direction sometimes keeping its British roots (корни) and sometimes changing a lot.

Nowadays we experience the period of Modern English. English has become an official language all over the world. It was used and is used in international conferences, in the League of Nations, it is used to negotiate. According to statistic datum English is the first language for more than 375 million people and it is used as a second language by almost 375 million people in the world. The majority of the English speaking people in the world live in the USA. English is a favorite language of most airlines and in international trade. More than 80 % of the world computer information is kept in English. 2/3 of scientists in the world speak English.

Besides English is often used for business, travelling, broadening one’s mind, communication and just for pleasure.