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technology. The great German poet Goethe once said: “He, who
knows no foreign language, doesn’t know his own one”. That’s
why in order to understand oneself and environment one has to
learn foreign languages.
I think that to know English today is absolutely necessary for
every educated man, for every good specialist.
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
English is spoken practically all over the world. It is spoken as
the mother tongue in Great Britain, the United States of America,
Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A lot of people speak
English in China, Japan, India, Africa and other countries. It is
one of 6 official languages of the United Nations. It is studied as a
foreign language in many schools.
England’s history helps to understand the present condition of
English. Many English words were borrowed from the language
of Angles and Saxons. Hundreds of French words came into
English. These French words didn’t crowd out corresponding
Anglo-Saxon words. There exist “act” and “deed”, “beautiful”
and “pretty”, “form” and “shape”. Many new words were brought
by traders and travellers. These words came from all parts of the
world: “umbrella” – from Italian, “skates” – from Dutch, “tea” –
from Chinese, “cigar” – from Spanish. Some words came into
English directly from Latin, which was the language of the
churchmen and the universities in the Middle Ages.
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Some of the English words of today are derivatives. One way
of creating new words is to put together two or more older
English words. For example, the words “railway”, “football”,
“newspaper” are made in this way.
Many of the new English words – especially new scientific
ones – have been made from Latin and Greek words instead of
English ones. “Telephone”, for instance, was made from Greek
words “far” and talk.
ENGLISH HISTORY
The history of the English language is traditionally divides
into three periods: Old English – from the 5
th
to the 11
th
century,
Middle English - from the 12
th
to the 15
th
century, and New
English from the 15
th
century to the present day.
Since the year 787 England had been ravaged by Scandinavian
invaders.
The earliest raid of the Scandinavians (or the Danes) on
peaceful English coastal towns were simply predatory. In spite of
the resistance of the English the attacks continued with short
intermissions and by the end of the 9
th
century the Danes had
succeeded in obtaining a permanent footing in England. Many
Scandinavian settlements were set up in North East England.
After a few decisive victories over the Danes under King Alfred,
England was divided into two parts by the peace Treaty of
Medmore (878); the lands of the Anglo-Saxons united under
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Wessex and the territory ruled by the Danes known as Danelow
(OE Danelazu). In the following hundred years Danelow was
gradually reconquered. Its Scandinavian character, however, was
maintained as many Scandinavians had crossed the North, Sea to
make their permanent home in Britain.
The Scandinavians and the English lived close together and
did not differ either in social rank or in the level of culture.
The Scandinavian raids were renewed in the 10
th
century
under Sweyne king of Danmark and Norway; king Canute,
Sweyne’s successor managed to drow Britain into the Danish
Empire, although no economic or cultural unity was ever
achieved. The Anglo-Saxon lords had the actual control of
Britain and after Canute’s death (1042) his Empire broke up. The
lengthy contacts with the Old Scandinavian language and the
intermixture of languages in the regions of Scandinavian
settlement had a considerable effect on the English language,
which becomes apparent in Middle English records.
Soon after Canute’s death the old Anglo-Saxon line was
restored, but their reign was short lived. The new English king
Edward the Confessor (1042 - 1066), who had been brought up in
France at the Norman court, brought over many Norman nobles
and monks and distributed them English lands and wealth.
The government of the country was still in the hands of
ANGLO-Saxon feudal lords, the most powerful of them being
Earl Godwin of Wessex.
In 1066, upon Edward death, the Elders (OE Wittan)
proclaimed Horold, son of Earl Godwin, king of England.
The conquest of England by Normans began in 1066 in
October with the battle of Hastings where the English fought
against the Normans. Harold was killed and the English were
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defeated. The Normans occupied all the important posts in the
country. The conquest was completed in 1071.
The Norman Conquest was not only a great event in British
political history, but it was also the greatest single event in the
history of the English language.
The conquerors had originally come from Scandinavia. About
one hundred and fifty years before their Conquest of Britain they
seized. The valley of the Seine and settled in what was henceforth
known as Normandy. In the course of time they were assimilated
by the French and in the 11
th
century came to Britain as French
speakers.
For here hundred years French was the official language of the
king’s court, the language of the low courts, the church and the
castle. It was the everyday language of most nobles and of many
townspeople in the south-east. The intellectual life and education
were in the hands of French speaking people.
After the Norman conquest there were three languages in
England. There was Latin. Some people might know all these
languages, many knew two, but most of the people knew only
one. But there were some rich people who owned land the
landowners, often knew French and Latin. But poor people, the
peasants did not understand French or Latin, they speak only
English.
Two hundred years after Norman Conquest, in 1258, Henry III
issued a Proclamation to the counsellors elected to sit in
Parliament from all parts of England in three official languages:
French, Latin and English. This was the first official document
after the conquest to be written in English. In 1349 it was ruled
that English should be used in school.
In the same year Parliament, for the first time, was opened
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