Vocabulary Introduction:

Vocabulary Introduction:

The Indo-European family of languages

Guess this word…Latin mater

Greek meter

Irish mathair

Sanskrit matr

Persian madar

German mutter

Dutch moeder

Danish moder

Guess this word…Latin Pater

Greek Pater

Irish Athair

Sanskrit Pitr

Persian Pidar

German Vater

Dutch Vader

Danish Fader

Guess this word…Latin Frater

Greek Phrater

Irish Brathair

Sanskrit Bhratr

Persian Biradar

German Bruder

Dutch Broeder

Danish Broder

What causes the similarities in these languages?

• Hypothesis: Borrowing?

• Spoken by people living relatively close to one another

• Unlikely, because these are fundamental words.

What causes the similarities in these languages?

• Most likely: Descendants of a single parent language

• “Proto-language”

• Proto-Indo-European

The family tree…

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Cognate languages

• All come from a common ancestor

• Can have similar– Vocabulary– Elements of grammar

Development of English Vocabulary

• Most of our “English” words are not native to English at all.

Romano-Celtic period: 50 B.C. to A.D.410

• Began with Julius Caesar’s invasion

• Latin spoken in town, Celtic spoken in farmland.

• Blend of both languages spoken in villages



Old English: 450-1066

Anglos and SaxonsWest Germanic

dialects

Basic vocabulary established

Love say livehave own do be

will burynamereach longstrong highquick sun foodhand fingerfriendbrotherfathermotherstoneearth

Middle English

1066 to 1500

Battle of Hastings

English became a fiefdom of France

Hut (Engl) vs. cottage (Fr)Bill vs. beakClothe vs. dressFolk vs. people



Middle English

Invention of printing:• Phonetic spelling• Pronunciation has

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The Canterbury Tales: Prologue

P

WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote The droghte 2 of Marche hath perced to the roote,And bathed every veyne in swich licour,Of which vertu engendred is the flour;Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heethThe tendre croppes, and the yonge sonneHath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne, And smale fowles maken melodye,That slepen al the night with open ye, (So priketh hem nature in hir corages: Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,

And palmers for to seken straunge strondes, To ferne halwes, couthe in sondry londes;And specially, from every shires ende Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,The holy blisful martir for to seke,That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seke.

When fair April with his showers sweet,Has pierced the drought of March to the root's feetAnd bathed each vein in liquid of such power,Its strength creates the newly springing flower;

When the West Wind too, with his sweet breath,Has breathed new life - in every copse and heath -Into each tender shoot, and the young sunFrom Aries moves to Taurus on his run,And those small birds begin their melody,(The ones who 'sleep` all night with open eye,)Then nature stirs them up to such a pitchThat folk all long to go on pilgrimage

And wandering travellers tread new shores, strange strands,Seek out far shrines, renowned in many lands,And specially from every shire's endOf England to Canterbury they wendThe holy blessed martyr there to seek,Who has brought health to them when they were sick.

Modern English: 1550 to present

3 great developments in 1500s:

• British colonialism (political)




Word trading goes both ways:• Spanish: sherry patio anchovy matador cordovan

lime• Italian: pasta balcony sonnet corridor grotto

opera fascist• German: pretzel delicatessen kindergarten

noodle• Russian: steppe samovar vodka• Arabic: sherbet caraway sash alcove hashish

harem assassin zero algebra alcohol chemistry zenith


• Renaissance and Enlightenment– “Latin worship”




• Economic and technical development




• 70% of the words in the dictionary can be traced to Latin or Greek.

• Only 10% of those words do NOT have a French intermediary.

Documents

Vocabulary Introduction: