Origins of English

English is a young language, sprung from Old High German some fifteen hundred years ago. The Anglo-Saxons brought it with them when they emigrated from the continent to Britain (‘Angle-ish’). Most of the simple English words we use today were part of the early language, and many have cousins in modern German (e.g. book/Buch, house/Haus).

The Vikings added Norse words (e.g. happy, guess, law), and after England was again invaded, by the Normans in AD 1066, vast numbers of French words entered English and continued to do so for some hundreds of years.  Some of these are obviously French, like soufflé, etiquette and rendez-vous, but the majority have since settled and become thoroughly anglicised (menu, paper, police, restaurant, table, very).

Latin and ancient Greek were a rich source of new words from AD 1500 onwards (e.g. alphabet, computer, ego, genius, idea and video), and tended to be used in new scientific or intellectual developments. Many ex-Latin words are used (ad nauseam …) to create a sense of formality and importance (e.g. collaborative, appropriate, facility) while others have more sparkle: irate, succulent and virile.

As the British empire grew, and later when the American empire replaced it, words from all corners of the globe entered English and continue so to do. Travellers returned with unusual products which became household items (e.g. cigar, ketchup, tea, tomato).

Cultural influence was not all French. From Italian came fresco and opera, and from Dutch, easel, etching and landscape. Also from the Dutch sailors – smuggle, hustle, loiter and booze.

American English has kept alive the linguistic habit of early Anglo-Saxons who used to create new words by joining two together (e.g. answer from ‘and swear’, asked by the judge of a defendant about to make a reply). From America have come high-brow, know-how, law-abiding, strip-tease and up-tight. Some American objects have different names from their British counterparts (e.g. pants are trousers in America and underwear in Britain) and the cross-Atlantic spelling of a few words has deviated over the years.