ENGLISH LANGUAGE 



2051 



ENGLISH LANGUAGE 



sary to transport troops to France during the 

 War of the Nations, which began in 1914. 



ENGLISH LANGUAGE. The familiar say- 

 ing that the sun never sets on England's pos- 

 sessions could truthfully be applied to the 

 people who use the language developed in 

 England, for this tongue is spoken throughout 

 the British Empire. It is also the national 

 language of the United States of America. It 

 is estimated that it is spoken by over one 

 hundred fifty millions of the human race. 

 Among the languages of the world, the Eng- 

 lish is unique in that it is the most composite 

 of them all. From the beginning of its his- 

 tory it has shown a peculiar readiness to take 

 up and make its own many words and forms 

 from other languages, and in none other do 

 foreign terms play so important a part. Dr. 

 Frank H. Vizetelly, in his history of the Eng- 

 lish language, has expressed this thought in 

 these picturesque words: 



As the land of the Angles developed so the 

 speech of the people grew, and he who wishes 

 to seek that growth must be prepared to traverse 

 the globe. From Scandinavian fiords, he must 

 sail to the shores of Denmark and, journeying 

 over these, must cross the frontier and pene- 

 trate the very fastnesses of the German Father- 

 land. Next his steps must turn to the flowery 

 fields of France whence came the Norman con- 

 queror, and, sauntering along its leafy high- 

 ways, learn from his surroundings that the 

 noble spires which dot this land, have their 

 very counterpart in the cradle of the English 

 tongue. Even here his journey is far from 

 ended. From the shores of sunny Spain to the 

 lands of the Great White Czar ; from the Cres- 

 cent City on the Golden Horn to the coral 

 strands of India ; from the land of the Ibis and 

 the Lotus to the sun-baked veldt of the African 

 Union ; from the golden shores of Australia to 

 the fertile fields of New Zealand ; from the Land 

 of the Rising Sun to the Land of the Morning 

 Calm ; from the Flowery Land of China to the 

 dreary Siberian steppes from each, from every 

 one has English speech drawn tribute. 



This language has been aptly compared to 

 a mighty oak tree, the trunk and bare branches 

 representing the native language forms, which 

 give the tongue its simplicity, directness and 

 force, and the leaves and blossoms representing 

 the foreign element, which gives grace, variety 

 and ornament to the speech. Because of this 

 admirable blending of the native and foreign 

 elements, the English language is unsurpassed 

 in its possibilities for richness, power and va- 

 riety of expression. No harmony or sweetness 

 or elevation of language is beyond its scope; 

 it has proved a worthy medium for such world- 

 famous writers as Shakespeare and Milton. 



History. The English language belongs to 

 the Teutonic branch of the Indo-European 

 family. It is a subdivision of Low German, 

 which in turn is a division of the West Ger- 

 manic branch of the Teutonic group. It is 

 customary to divide the development of the 

 language into three periods, Anglo-Saxon, or 

 Old English (449-1066), Middle English (1066- 

 1500) and Modem English, from 1500 to the 

 present. The year 449 marked the invasion 

 of Britain (England) by the first of those 

 Teutonic (Low German) tribes who overran 

 the island in the fifth and sixth centuries (see 

 ANGLO-SAXONS). These hardy invaders found 

 in Britain a race of people who spoke a Celtic 

 dialect; the latter, after 150 years of inces- 

 sant fighting, were driven into Wales and 

 Cornwall. The conquerors' speech, to which 

 the name Anglo-Saxon is usually given, became 

 the language of the country and the founda- 

 tion upon which modern English is built. The 

 name Old English, preferred by modern schol- 

 ars, is synonymous with Anglo-Saxon. 



During the centuries before the Norman 

 Conquest (1066), which closes the early period, 

 many new words were added to the native 

 vocabulary. A few of these were taken from 

 the speech of the Celtic tribes. In the sixth 

 century came Saint Augustine to convert the 

 people to Roman Christianity, and as a result 

 a number of Latin terms and grammatical 

 forms were adopted. Altar, mass and psalm 

 are among the words of Latin origin intro- 

 duced at this time. A second important influ- 

 ence was the Danish conquest of the island, 

 through which a considerable Scandinavian 

 element was added to the vocabulary. Four 

 distinct dialects were spoken Kentish, Mer- 

 cian, Northumbrian and West Saxon; the 

 Northumbrian was the form used by three of 

 the most important of the early writers, Bede, 

 Caedmon and Cynewulf; West Saxon was the 

 literary medium used by Alfred the Great in 

 his translations, and by the writers of the first 

 history of the English people in their native 

 tongue, the Anglo-Saxpn Chronicle. 



While the Anglo-Saxon vocabulary furnished 

 the bony framework for the Modern English 

 vocabulary, grammatically Old English had 

 many points of difference. There were many 

 more inflections than at the present time, for 

 nouns, pronouns and adjectives had compli- 

 cated declension systems. Gender, too, was 

 fixed by arbitrary rule and not by meaning, 

 woman and maiden being neuter, hand, fem- 

 inine, and \oot, masculine. In general, Anglo- 



