9

CHAPTER II.

CONSTITUENTS OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY.

13. In the previous chapter we mentioned the leading events in the history of our country which have exercised an influence upon the formation of our language as it exists to-day. In this chapter we shall answer the question,— What sorts of words do we owe to these events in our history?

14. I. Keltic words in English. The Keltic words in our ordinary English speech are few. When we bear in mind that in some parts of our island the British inhabitants were nearly exterminated by their English conquerors and that British civilization was practically destroyed, we are not surprised to find that the influence upon our English speech of the intercourse between Britons and Englishmen was very slight. Keltic names of places indeed are numerous. Avon is a Keltic word for 'river,' and there are many Avons in England. Aber, as in Aberdeen, Aberystwith, Berwick (i.e. Aberwick), meaning 'the mouth of a river'; Pen or Ben, 'a mountain,' as in Penzance, Ben Nevis; Llan, 'a sacred enclosure,' as in Llandaff, Lampeter; Caer or Car, 'a castle,' as in Caermarthen, Carlisle,—all of these are of Keltic origin, and there are others besides, but geographical names have no claim to be reckoned as a part of our ordinary vocabulary. Several words which were formerly supposed to have passed from Keltic into English are now known to have

passed in a contrary direction from English into Keltic.

A

few Keltic words may have come to us through the Norman French. At a later date we borrowed a few more from Welsh, from Irish, and from Gaelic, the language spoken in the Highlands of Scotland, all of which belong to the Keltic group. But our indebtedness to Keltic is small. We may sum it up thus:

I. Geographical names, which are no part of our ordinary vocabulary :

2. A few words handed down from the original Britons, or introduced through the Norman French:

3. A few borrowed from Welsh (e.g. cromlech, flannel, flummery), from Irish (e.g. fun, shamrock, shillelagh), and from Gaelic (e.g. clan, gillie, whiskey).

15. II. The Latin Element in English. Though the Romans held this country for nearly four hundred years, they left us no Latin words in our vocabulary as a legacy from their occupation. But it must be remembered that the Romans never came in contact with the English after the English had established themselves here. The Romans took their final departure in A.D. 410, and it was not until A.D. 449 that the first English settlement was made. The Romans probably introduced many Latin words into the language of the Britons, but the Britons contributed very few words to our English speech, and of those which they did contribute none happened to be of Latin origin. We can trace the effect of Roman occupation however in several names of places. When we meet with a word like Don-caster, or Circen-cester, or Chester, we recognise the Latin castra and know that these places were once Roman military stations. So in Lin-coln we have colonia: in Wall's End and in Walton, vallum appears in disguise. When the English arrived and found a place called 'Chester,' they would continue to call it

'Chester,' just as when we occupied New South Wales and found a place called 'Wagga-Wagga,' we continued to call it 'Wagga-Wagga,' and in this way we may say that the Romans have left their mark upon our language. But their influence is seen only in a few geographical names. This Latin element is sometimes called the Latin of the First Period.

16. In A.D. 597, St Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory to teach Christianity to the English, and in the course of the next four centuries several Latin words, connected with the Christian faith and ritual, were introduced into the language. Translations from Latin originals brought in others. Commerce was extending also between England and other European nations, from whom were borrowed terms of Latin origin, new names for new things. Let us picture to ourselves the influence which a missionary settlement would have to-day upon the language of a tribe of African savages. From the Christian teachers they would borrow such words as bible, hymn-book, chapel, and add this English element to their African speech. Then after a while the trader would follow, and the language of the natives would be enriched with such words as rifle, gunpowder, gin. In like manner, between the years A.D. 600 and 1000, Roman ecclesiastics introduced words of which altar, creed, font, candle, are examples, while, in consequence of enlarged knowledge owing to extended trade, such words as cheese, cook, linen, poppy, pear, found their way into our language. This Latin is called the Latin of the Second Period.

17. We saw that Norman-French was in the main a language of Latin origin. Hence we may say that the words which we owe to our Norman conquerors are Latin words which have come into the language indirectly, Latin words 'once removed.' This Latin element is called

the Latin of the Third Period.

Now, if we consider how complete the Norman Conquest was and how rapidly it was effected, we may feel some surprise that it is an English language and not a French language which we speak to-day. Norman lords occupied the lands from which English owners had been ejected. Normans held the higher offices in church and state. Deliberate efforts were made to extend the use of the French language Boys at grammar schools had to turn Latin into French. Cases in the law-courts were carried on in French. Yet in spite of all, English survived and prevailed. One important event which contributed largely to this result was the loss of the French possessions in John's reign (1206). Norman barons had to make their choice between life in France and life in England, and those who settled in England at length threw in their lot with the English and ceased to be French. Then again the war with France in Edward III.'s reign made everything French unpopular. In this reign boys were no longer required to construe their Latin into French, and English was used instead of French in the law-courts.

To the Normans we owe many words which relate to (1) feudalism, chivalry and war; e.g. homage, fealty, banner, lance, battle, captain: (2) law, government and office; e.g. attorney, assize, reign, council, baron, duke: (3) the church; e.g. cloister, penance: (4) hunting; e.g. chase, leveret: and also (5) many abstract terms, e.g. nature, art, science, glory1.

The Normans gave us many more words which do not come under these heads. An interesting example of the way in which the language of a country illustrates its

1 Words of French origin introduced between 1250 and 1400 have been called Anglo-French, to mark the fact that they belong to a separate French dialect, developed in England and different from any of the forms of French spoken on the Continent. They constitute a valuable element of our vocabulary, many of them being as much required for daily use as the words of native origin.

history is supplied by the names of certain animals and of the meats which they furnish. When the beast is alive, we call it an ox, or a sheep, a calf, or a pig. These are English words. When it is cooked for the table, we call it beef, mutton, veal, pork. These are French words. From these facts we might draw the inference that the English peasant looked after the stock on the farm, and his Norman master ate the joints in the hall. Sir Walter Scott puts this point forcibly in Ivanhoe.

18. The Latin of the Fourth Period comprises those words of Latin origin which were introduced in swarms during the time of the Revival of Classical Learning, or have passed into our language since that date. The age of the Tudors was one in which men's minds expanded rapidly, and new ideas required new words for their expression. The Reformation in religion; the diffusion of literature owing to the recent invention of printing; geographical discovery; progress in science,-all these things rendered the old vocabulary inadequate, and the fashionable study of classical authors showed where fresh words were to be found. For one who has learnt a little Latin, it is an easy matter to identify a Fourth-Period word on the page of a modern book. From the same Latin original we may have another word, which has come to us through the Norman-French, disguised beyond easy recognition in the course of centuries of oral transmission. Compare the following: