1. Invasions. The pre-Celtic period.
What makes the Scottish, Welsh, English and Northern Irish different from each
other?
About 2,000 years ago the British Isles were inhabited by the Celts who originally
came from continental Europe. During 1,000 years there were many invasions. The
Romans came from Italy in 43 A.D. and, in calling the country ‘Britannia’, gave
Britain its name. The Angles and Saxons came from Germany, Denmark and the
Netherlands in the 5th century and England got its name from this invasion (Anglelands).
The Vikings (Scandinavians) arrived from Denmark and Norway throughout the
9th century and in 1066 the Normans invaded from France.
These invasions drove the Celts into what is now Wales and Scotland, and they
remained, of course, in Ireland.
The English, on the other hand, are the descendants of all the invaders, but are
more Anglo-Saxons than anything else.
The various origins explain many of the differences found between England,
Wales, Scotland and Ireland – differences in education, religion and the legal
systems, but most obviously, in language.
As far as historical research could establish, the first inhabitants of the British Isles
were nomadic Stone Age hunters. Those newcomers must have been a
Mediterranean people. Their burial places in Cornwall, in Ireland, in the coastal
regions of Wales and Scotland are found to be either long barrows that is manmade
hills or huge mounds covering hutlike structures of stone slabs.
These people are thought to be settled on the chalk hills of the Cotswolds, the
Sussex and Dorset downs and the Chilterns. They were joined after a few centuries
by some similar southern people who settled along the whole of the western coast,
so that the modern inhabitants of Western England and Wales and Ireland have
good archaeological reasons to claim them for their forefathers (the time is usually
given as around 2400 BC.
2. The Celtic invasion. The Romans invasion. Anglo-Saxon invasion.
Celtic invasion
Around 700 BC, another group of people began to arrive. Many of them were
tall, and had fair or red hair and blue eyes. These were the Celts, who
probably came from central Europe or further east, from southern Russia, and
had moved slowly westwards in earlier centuries. The Celts were technically
advanced. They knew how to work with iron, and could make better weapons
than the people who used bronze. It is possible that they drove many of the
older inhabitants westwards into Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Celts
began to control all the lowland areas of Britain. the ancestors of many of the
people in Highland Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Cornwall today. knowledge
of the Celts is slight. At first most of Celtic Britain seems to have developed
in a generally similar way. The Celts were organised into different tribes, and
tribal chiefs were chosen from each family or tribe, sometimes as the result of
fighting matches between individuals, and sometimes by election.The last
Celtic arrivals from Europe were the Belgic tribes. to settle in the southeast of
Britain. Belgic tribes were different from the older inhabitants. The Celtic
tribes continued the same kind of agriculture as the Bronze Age people before
them. But their use of iron technology and their introduction of more
advanced ploughing methods made it possible for them to farm heavier soils.
they continued to use, and build, hill-forts. Celts were highly successful
farmers, growing enough food for a much larger population.
The Romans invasion
The Romans came from Italy in AD 43 and in calling the country “Britannia” gave
Britain its name. At the time of the Roman’s first expedition (Caesar’s expedition
in 55 BC when a 10-thousand strong Roman army was repulsed by the ironweapon-possessing Celts with the help of the Channel storms) the Belgic tribal
chief Cunobelin (Shakespeare’s Cymbeline) united the Celtic tribes of southern
Britain under his rule and called himself, after the Roman fashion, “Rex Britonum”
that is “King of the Britons” – a title which was impressed on the coins that he
struck in his capital, Camulodunum. It was this king who invited Roman traders
and craftsmen to come and settle in Britain. Some historians attribute the origin of
London to his reign (the Celtic phrase Llyn-din, “Lake-Fort” is believed by some
to have given the town its name) and archaeologists state that the wooden London
bridge was built at that time. The city was called Londinium, for this time when,
after Caesar’s first “reconnaissance” the Romans started infiltrating into the
country as immigrants and traders bringing in eastern luxuries and taking out corn,
metal and slaves. Thus, ground was prepared for the Roman conquest.
The decay of Roman power in Britain became apparent already at the end of the
4th century. The attacks of the wild Celtic tribes from behind the walls that had
sealed off those dangerous areas, were no longer so efficiently and promptly
repulsed in the latter part of the 5th century as it used to have been the Roman’s
way. The usual grainloaded ships were no longer sent to the metropolis. Finally in
407 orders came for the legions to return. Those historians who base their
observations on the data derived from town life, that is, the life of the romanized
upper layers of the British Celts, state that Romanization was completed and the
Celts forgot they were Britons. Romanization was nearly non-existent in Ireland
and Scotland. In the countryside, the old Celtic way of life was preserved. The
Celts continued living in their old Celtic way, suffering from the invaders’
exploitation, passing their native customs and traditions from generation to
generation and speaking their Celtic dialects enriched by some of Latin words like
“castra” – military camp (found now in names like Lancaster, Winchester,
Leicester, Chester, etc.).
The Anglo-Saxon invasion
During the next some centuries there were many invasions. The Angles, Saxons
and Jutes came from Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands in the 5th century,
and England gets its name from this invasion (Anglelands). The Germanic tribes of
the Jutes believed to have been a Frankish tribe from the lower Rhine reaches,
were the first to arrive. They seem to have been in contact with the Romans and
were certainly well versed in military matters since they used to serve as hired
soldiers in the Roman army. They settled in the southern part of the island for
good, founding their state of Kent later on.
Other Germanic tribes that followed in their wake, went about the business of
invasion in a very thorough fashion. They were the primitive Angles and Saxons,
backward Teutonic tribes from the so-called German coast, that is from the country
around the mouth of the Elbe and from the south of Denmark. The barbaric
invaders not only annihilated all the remnants of Roman culture, they killed and
plundered and laid the country waste. The Celts were mercilessly exterminated.
One of the tribal leaders, King Arthur, organized Celtic resistance so as to make it
a constant menace to the Anglo-Saxon invaders. King Arthur, the 6th c. hero of
Celtic Independence, became in the memory of the people a defender of the faith.
Thirteen centuries later Alfred Tennyson – a poet, described Arthur’s knights and
the tragedy of the conquered people.
Thus the resistance of the brave Celts protracted the conquest period, which to a
great extent determined the political structure of the conquerors’ society. Up to 829
English History is the struggle waged by one of the Anglo-Saxon states after
another for power over its neighbours.
The Anglo-Saxon society was in transition from a stage where the family group
was the basic unit to a state where the territorial unit, the village community or the
township as it was called, was coming to the fore as the elementary unit of society.
From the tribal organization the society was passing to the beginning of the feudal
class organization.
At the end of the 6th century (597) Roman Christianity was introduced. It was a
process that completed later in the 7th century.
3. The influence of the invasion by Germanic tribes on the English language.
The Germanic tribes who settled in Britain in the 5th century spoke the very
closely related Germanic tongues of their continental homelands. From these
developed the English language. In fact, the words English and England are
derived from the name of one of these early Germanic peoples, the Angles.
English has been spoken in England, changing gradually as languages must. Te
Earliest written records of the English language are all but incomprehensible to
the speaker of Modern English without special training.
As soon as the Britons were left to themselves, they had very little peace for
many years. Sea rovers came sailing in ships from other countries, and the
Britons were always busy trying to defend themselves. Among these invaders
were some Germanic tribes called Angles, Saxons and Jutes (who lived in the
northern and central parts of Europe). They spoke different dialects of the West
Germanic language from which modern English developed. A wild and fearless
race, they came in hordes from over the North Sea and, try as they might, the
Britons could never drive them away. And many battles were fought by the
Britons until at last they were forced to retreat to the west of Britain: to Wales,
Cornwall and Strathclyde. Those who ventured to stay became the slaves of the
invaders and were forced to adopt many of their customs and learn to speak their
languages.
The Angles, Saxons and Jutes were pagans, that is to say they believed in many
gods. The gods of the Anglo-Saxons were: Tu or Tuesco – god of Darkness,
Woden – god of War, Thor – The Thunderer, and Freia – goddess of Prosperity.
When people learned to divide up time into weeks and the week into seven days,
they gave the names of their gods. It is not hard to guess that Sunday is the day of
the Sun, Monday – the day of the Moon, Tuesday – the day of the god Tuesco,
Wednesday – Woden’s day, Thursday – Thor’s day, Friday – Freia’s day, and
Saturday – Saturn’s day (Saturn was the god of Time worshipped by ancient
Romans).
4. The Scandinavian invasion. The Norman Conquest.
Scandinavian Invasion
It is impossible to state the exact date of the Scandinavian invasion as it was a
long process embracing over two centuries, the first inroads of the
Scandinavian Vikings having began as far back as the end of the 8th century.
The Scandinavian invasion and the subsequent settlement of the Scandinavian
on the territory of England, the constant contacts and intermixture of the
English and the Scandinavians brought about many changes in different
spheres of the English language: word-stock, grammar and phonetics. The
influence of Scandinavian dialects was especially felt in the North and East
parts of England, where mass settlement of the invaders and intermarriages
with the local population were especially common.
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest began in 1066. The Normans were by origin a
Scandinavian tribe who two centuries back began their inroads on the Northern
part of France and finally occupied the territory on both shores of the Seine.
The French King Charles the Simple ceded to the Normans the territory
occupied by them, which came to be called Normandy. The Normans adopted
the French language and culture, and when they came to Britain they brought
with them the French language.
The heritage of the Norman Conquest was manifold. It united England to
Western Europe, opening the gates to European culture and institutions,
theology, philosophy and science. The Conquest in effect meant a social
revolution in England. The lands of the Saxon aristocracy were divided up
among the Normans, who by 1087 composed almost 10% of the total
population. Each landlord, in return for his land, had to take an oath of
allegiance to the king and provide him with military services if and when
required.
5. Historical background from the 12th to the 14th century. The struggle between
English and French.
Historical background from the 12th to the 14th century.
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 (compare “Norman” and
“Northmen”). About one hundred and fifty years before their Conquest of Britain
they seized the valley of the Seine and settled in what henceforth known as
Normandy. In the course of time they were assimilated by the French and in the
11th century came to Britain as French speakers and as bearers of French culture.
They spoke the Northern dialect of the French language, in some minor points
differing from central French. Their tongue in England is usually referred to as
Anglo-Norman; for the present purpose we shall call it “French”.
One of the most significant consequences of the Norman domination in Britain is
to be seen in the use of the French language in many spheres of British political
and social life. For almost three hundred years French was the official language
of the king court, the language of the law courts, the church and the castle. It was
the everyday language of the most nobles and of many townspeople in the southeast. The intellectual life and education were in the hands of French-speaking
people, and boys at school were taught to translate their Latin into French instead
of English.
The lower classes and especially the country people, who made up the bulk of the
population, held fast to their own tongue. Thus the two languages coexisted and
gradually permeated each other. Translators of French books used a large number
of French words in their translations and imitated the sentence structure of the
original, unable to find good English equivalents.
In the course of the 14th c. the English language gradually took the place of
French as the language of literature and the official language of the government
and ousted French from all the social spheres.
Two hundred years after the Norman Conquest, in 1258, Henry II 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 schools. In1362 Edward III gave his consent to an
Act of Parliament ordaining that English should be used in the law courts, since
“French has become much unknown in the realm”. In the same year Parliament,
for the first time, was opened with a speech in English.
Thus in the late 14th century English was re-established as the official language of
the country.
The three hundred years of domination of the French language in many spheres of
life affected the English language more than any other single foreign influence
before or after. The greater French influence in the south and in the higher ranks
of the society led to greater dialectal differences both regional and social.
A more specific influence was exercised on the alphabet and spelling. The
tremendous number of French borrowings adopted by the English language
indirectly affected even the phonetic structure of the language, especially word
accentuation.
The struggle between English and French.
1. English began to use French words in current speech. Probably many people
became bilingual and had a fair command of both languages. The struggle between
French and English was bound to end in the complete victory of English. The
earliest sign of the official recognition of English by the Norman kings was the
famous PROCLAMATION issued by
Henry 3 in 1258 to the councilors in Parliament. It was written in 3 languages:
French, Latin and English. During this period such changes were in English: there
appeared prepositions and conjunctions, but the grammar was saved unchangeable.
Such words as servant, prince, guard – (connected with life of royal families) were
borrowed. With life of church – chapel, religion, prayer, to compress; with city life
– city, merchant, painter, tailor. The names of animals were saved, but if their
meanings were used as meal – the Norman’s names were given to them (beef,
pork, veal, mutton).
2. The dialect division which evolved in Early ME was on the whole preserved in
later periods. In the 14th and 15th c. we find the same grouping of local dialects: the
Southern group, including Kentish and the South-Western dialects (the SouthWestern group was a continuation of the OE Saxon dialects), the Midland or
Central (corresponding to the OE Mercian dialect – is divided into West Midland
and East Midland as two main areas) and the Northern group (had developed from
OE Northumbrian). And yet the relations between them were changing.
3. The most important event in the changing linguistic situation was the rise of the
London dialect as the prevalent written form of language. The history of the
London dialect reveals the sources of the literary language in Late ME and also the
main source and basis of the Literary Standard, both in its written and spoken
forms. The Early ME written records made in London – beginning with the
PROCLAMATION of 1258 – show that the dialect of London was fundamentally
East Saxon. Later records indicate that the speech of London was becoming more
fixed, with East Midland features gradually prevailing over the Southern features.