THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH VOCABULARY

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH VOCABULARY
When we talk about the history of English, it should start from the border incident that three Germanic tribes invaded Britainthe in the 5th century A.D. They are anglos, the saxons and the jutes,.They set off from Denmark and northern Germany(today), and then across the north sea. At that time, the local people of England spoke Celtic. But because of the intruders, they were all driven west and north - mainly now wales, Scotland and Ireland. The anglos came from Englaland and their language was called Englisc (old English) - these words were the precursors of England and English.The language that prevailed was that of victors.The Celts and their language were push to the margins.
The languages of Germanic tribes that invaded the United Kingdom, whose language was almost the same, formed the old language what we call now . The pronunciation and writing of Old English are different from that of Modern English. So even native English speakers have a lot of difficulties reading Old English. However, about half of the most commonly used words in modern English originated in Old English. For example, be strong and water. Old English has been used for about 1100 years.
So it is not surprising that there are a lot of common elements of the Germanic languages and English. For some examples, the word for family life(home, house, loaf, etc), the word for business (cheap, buy, ware, worth, etc.), and the words associated with the sea, like cliff, island, sea.
But the English vocabulary is not just from the Germanic.When the Germans settled in England for centuries, the French is coming. In 1066 William the duke of Normandy conquered England.The conquerors brought their language - French, which became the language of royalty, the ruling class and the merchant class.There was a time when there was a linguistic distinction between classes, the lower classes
spoke English, the upper classes spoke French.English was the dominant language in the English language in the 14th century, but it also added many French words, which is medieval English.The great poet Chaucer is such a language, but it is still very difficult for people living today.
In modern English, the French words still keep flowing into English.In 1660 the restoration, the nobility advocates French culture and speaking French is a sign of elegance。

A large number of French words were absorbed into English, and reflects the ruling class way of life, such as the dragoon, parole, decor, forte, soup
Besides,Latin has a profound influence on English vocabulary, especially during the Renaissance, European scholars devoted to the study of classical culture, according to the Oxford dictionary of data, during the Renaissance in English loanwords has more than twelve thousand, much of which comes from the Latin. These words are mostly academic words, such as words and technical terms that represent abstract concepts.
During the Renaissance, European scholars focused on the study of classical culture. Classical languages (Latin, Greek) and classical literature became the main content of education. From the 16th century to the eighteenth century, writers and scientists wrote in Latin, such as Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton.
American English began to form because of British colonies reaching in North America , which was becoming an unique variation of English. American English speakera is more than British English. Some British people say "American style" expression is actually the English expression, but because of its more ancient, these expressions they only were retained in the colonies.For example Trash, Loan, autumn. Spanish also has an influence on American English, such as canyon, ranch.These words were introduced to the United States by Spanish settlers in the American west. Some French words through Louisiana and some west African words (through the slave trade) also affect the development of American English.
Today, American English has a greater impact than you think, thanks to the advantages of the U.S. in movies, television, music, business and technology . But there are other English varieties in the world, for example, Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and the Caribbean.。