Prepared: student group 3 ES Gorokhov Max History of English Prepared: student group 3 ES Gorokhov Max

Celtic Culture The first mention in the ancient annals of the inhabitants inhabiting the British islands, refer to 800 BC. At that time the tribe of the Indo-European people, the Celts, migrated to the island. Those tribes that lived on the islands before the arrival of the Celtic people left no trace in history.

From 800 BC. The era of the British Celts and, accordingly, the Celtic language in Britain begins. Many linguists hold the view that the word "Britain" comes from the word with the Celtic root - brith "colored". In the annals you can find a mention that the Celts really painted their faces and bodies when going to war or hunting.

The influence of Rome on the development of English A century after the conquest of the British Isles by Caesar, in 44 BC. British islands were visited by the Roman emperor Claudius, after which Britain became considered a Roman province. During this period there is a close relationship between the Celtic people and the Romans, which, of course, is reflected in the language. So, many words in modern English have Latin roots. For example, the word castra (from the Latin "camp"). This root is found in many geographical names of modern Britain - Lancaster, Manchester, Leicester.

The Old English period (450 - 1066) The immediate progenitors of the English people are the Germanic tribes of the Saxons, Utes, Angles and Friezes, who penetrated into Britain in 449. Since the number of these tribes was much greater than the Celtic, the Anglo-Saxon dialect completely supplanted the Celtic dialect from use. Thanks to the Anglo-Saxon tribes, many names of geographical objects that have survived to the present day appeared in the English language. Also such words as butter, pound, cheese, alum, silk, inch, сhalk, mile, mint - have common German roots, borrowed from Latin. Or the word Saturday - stands for "the day of Saturn" - the father of the god Jupiter in ancient Roman mythology.

The influence of the Scandinavian group of languages In 878, the conquest of Anglo-Saxon lands begins with the Danes. For many years the Danes lived on the lands of Britain, marriages with representatives of the Anglo-Saxons. As a result, a number of borrowings from Scandinavian languages appeared in the English language. For example, amiss, anger, auk, awe, axle, aye.

Middle English period (1066-1500) In the middle of the 11th century, the inhabitants of northern France conquered Britain. The King becomes William the Conqueror, by origin of the Normans. Since that time, the epoch of three languages begins in the history of the people. The language of the aristocracy, the courts became French, the language of science was Latin, and ordinary people continued to speak Anglo-Saxon. It is the confusion of these three languages that gave rise to the formation of modern English.

Linguists interpret modern English as a mixed language Linguists interpret modern English as a mixed language. This is due to the fact that many words, in a general sense, have no common roots. Let's compare for example a number of words in Russian: head - head - main. In English, the same series is represented by the words: head - chapter - chief. Why did it happen? All this is explained by the blending of the three languages. Anglo-Saxon words denoted specific objects, hence the word head. From Latin - the language of science and education left the word chapter. From the French word remained, which was in the everyday life of the nobility, chief.

The first books in English The first printer of Britain is William Caxton, who in 1474 published the first book in English. It was the translation of Raoul Lefebvre's The Collection of Stories about Three. During his life, Caxton printed over 100 books, many of which were his own translation. It should be noted that thanks to his activities, many English words have finally found their final form. As for grammatical rules, Caxton often invented his own rules, which after publication became public and were considered to be the only true ones.

The New England period (1500 - our days) The founder of the English literary language is rightfully considered the great William Shakespeare (1564-1616). He is credited with the origin of many idiomatic expressions, which are also used in modern English. In addition, Shakespeare invented many new words that took root in the language.

In 1712, for the first time in history, appeared an image embodying Britain and the national character of the British. This year the hero of political pamphlets of John Abernot was born - John Bull. And until now the image of Bull is a satirical depiction of an Englishman. In 1795, the first textbook "English Grammar" by Lindley Murray is published. Almost two centuries this textbook is fundamental in the grammar of English. All educated people studied Murray's grammar.

In the modern world, the Internet community, people of science and culture, mostly communicate in English. The exact number of people who know the English language in our time is difficult. The results of various studies differ by tens of percent. The figures are 600 million and 1.2 billion. Unequivocally, English is the most important means of communication in the modern world.