 | This article includes a list ofgeneral references, butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations. Please help toimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(October 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Latin influence in English" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(October 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
AlthoughEnglish is aGermanic language, it has significant Latin influences—primarily in itslexicon. Its grammar and core vocabulary are inherited fromProto-Germanic, but a significant portion of the English vocabulary comes fromRomance and Latinate sources. A portion of these borrowings come directly fromLatin, but some also fromItalian,Portuguese, andSpanish; or from other languages (such asGothic,Frankish orGreek) into Latin and then into English.
TheGermanic tribes who later gave rise to the English language traded and fought with the Latin speakingRoman Empire. Many words for common objects entered the vocabulary of these Germanic people from Latin even before the tribes reached Britain:anchor,butter,camp,cheese,chest,cook,copper,devil,dish,fork,gem,inch,kitchen,mile,mill,mint (coin),noon,pillow,pound (unit of weight),punt (boat),sack,street,wall,wine.
Christian missionaries coming to Britain in the 6th or and 7th century brought with them Latin religious terms. Some of these words areultimately of Greek origin, as much of the technical language of Christianity developed from the Greek of the New Testament and the works of those fathers of the Church who wrote in Greek.
During this time, Catholic monks mainly wrote or copied text in Latin, the prevalent medieval lingua franca in Europe. When monks occasionally wrote in the vernacular, Latin words were translated by finding suitable Old English equivalents. A Germanic word was often adopted and given a new shade of meaning in the process. Such was the case with Old Englishgōdspell ("gospel") for LatinEvangelium. Previously, the Old English word simply meant "good news", but its meaning was extended in Old English to fit a religious context. The same occurred for the Old Germanic pagan wordblētsian, which meant "to sacrifice, consecrate by shedding blood". It was adapted by Old English scribes and Christianized to become the wordbless. Similarlyfullwiht (literally, "full-being") and the verbfullian came to mean "baptism" and "to baptise" respectively, but probably originally referred to some kind of rite of passage.
Whenever a suitable Old English substitute could not be found, a Latin word could be chosen instead, and many Latin words entered the Old English lexicon in this way. Such words include:biscop "bishop" from Latinepiscopus, Old Englishtepid "carpet" from Latintapetum, and Old Englishsigel "brooch" from Latinsigillum,culcer andlæfel "spoon" from Latincoclearium andlabellum beside Old Englishspōn andhlædel (Modern Englishladle); Old Englishforca from Latinfurca "fork" next to Old Englishgafol; Old Englishscamol "chair, stool" from Latinscamellum beside nativestōl,benc andsetl. All told, approximately 600 words were borrowed from Latin during the Old English period.[2] Often, the Latin word was tightly restricted in sense, and was not widely used by the general populace. Latin words tended to be literary or scholarly terms and were not very common. The majority of them did not survive into the Middle English Period.
TheNorman Conquest of1066 gave England a two-tiered society with an aristocracy which spokeAnglo-Norman and a lower class which spoke English. From 1066 untilHenry IV of England ascended the throne in 1399, the royal court of England spoke aNorman language that became progressivelyGallicised through contact withOld French. The Norman rulers did not try to suppress the English language, apart from not using it at all in their courts. In 1204, theAnglo-Normans lost their continental territories in Normandy and became wholly English. By the timeMiddle English arose as the dominant language in the late 14th century, the Normans had contributed roughly ten thousand words to English, three-quarters of which survive. Continued use of Latin by the Church and centres of learning brought a steady, though dramatically reduced, influx of new Latin lexical borrowings.
Since subjects like science and philosophy, includingrhetoric andethics, were communicated in Latin, the Latin vocabulary that developed for them became the source of a great many technical and abstract words. English words likeabstract,subject,communicate,matter,probable and theircognates in other European languages generally have the meanings given to them in late Medieval Latin, and often terms for abstract concepts not available in English. Translated works that contributed significantly includedChaucer'sBoece andTrevisa's translation ofBartholomaeus Anglicus'sDe proprietatibus rerum.[3]
During theEnglish Renaissance, from around 1500–1650, some 10,000 to 12,000 words entered the English lexicon, including the wordlexicon. Some examples includeaberration,allusion,anachronism,dexterity,enthusiasm,imaginary,juvenile,pernicious,sophisticated. Many of these words were borrowed directly from Latin, both in its classical and medieval forms. In turn,Late Latin also included borrowings from Greek.
The dawn of the age of scientific discovery in the 17th and 18th centuries created the need for new words to describe newfound knowledge. Many words were borrowed from Latin, while others were coined from Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes, and Latin word elements freely combine with elements from all other languages including native Anglo-Saxon words. Some of the words which entered English at this time are:apparatus, aqueous, carnivorous, component, corpuscle, data, experiment, formula, incubate, machinery, mechanics, molecule, nucleus, organic, ratio, structure, vertebra.
In addition to a large number of historical borrowings and coinages, today Latinate words continue to be coined in English – seeclassical compounds – particularly in technical contexts. A number of more subtle consequences include: numerousdoublets – two or more cognate terms from both a Germanic and Latinate source (or Latinate sources), such as cow/beef; numerous cases of etymologically unrelated terms for closely related concepts, notably Germanic nouns with a Latin adjective, such as bird/avian or hand/manual; complicated etymologies due to indirect borrowings (via Romance) or multiple borrowings; and usage controversies over the perceived complexity of Latinate terms.
As withGermanic/Latinatedoublets from the Norman period, the use of Latinate words in the sciences has created pairs with a native Germanic noun and a Latinate adjective:
Thus Latin constitutes alinguistic superstratum for English just asJapanese has aChinese superstratum andHindustani has aPersian superstratum.
It is not always easy to tell at what point a word entered English, or in what form. Some words have come into English from Latin more than once, through French or another Romance language at one time and directly from Latin at another. Thus there are pairs like fragile/frail, army/armada, corona/crown, ratio/reason, and rotund/round. The first word in each pair came directly from Latin, while the second entered English from French (or Spanish, in the case ofarmada). In addition, some words have entered English twice from French, with the result that they have the same source, but different pronunciations reflecting changing pronunciation in French, for example, chief/chef (the former a Middle English borrowing and the latter modern). Multiple borrowings explain other word pairs and groups with similar roots but different meanings and/or pronunciations:canal/channel, poor/pauper, coy/quiet, disc/disk/dish/desk/dais/discus.
David Corson in The Lexical Bar (1985) defended the thesis that the large portion of Greco-Latinate words in Academic English explains the difficulties of working class children in the educational system. When exposed at home mainly to colloquial English (primarily Anglo-Saxon words), children may have more difficulty at school than their peers who have more access at home to academic words (often longer, more Greco-Latinate). This difference tends not to become less by education but greater, potentially impeding their access to academic or social careers. In various experiments and comparative studies Corson measured fewer differences between 12 year olds than 15 year olds due to their unfamiliarity with Greco-Latinate words in English and the way teachers deal with them.Corson's views were not always represented correctly. In his totally revised Using English Words (1995) the linguistic, historical, psychological and educational aspects have been integrated better.
