The study of the history of words: How meaning develops Dr. L. CastaldoGreen

 The Indo-European Language: English Spanish Icelandic Romanian Hindi Bengali Persian  Began over 7,000 years ago in the Indus Valley and spread as people migrated throughout the world  Vowels changed; consonants didn’t change much

 Indo-European didn’t have a writing system  Pictographic forms of representation were used  Sumerians in Mesopotamia developed writing around 3,000 B.C.E. Created a logographic system Cuneiform Context is key to understanding meaning Syllabic system developed in Sumeria simultaneous to Egyptian, Phoenician and Greek systems All three of these use similar characters  The first alphabetic system developed in Greece The first technologic invention

 English has not changed much over the last several hundred years  Prior to that, however, “English” would be progressively difficult to understand  Greek and Latin roots Most English vocabulary comes from Classical Greek or Latin words/roots Prefixes and Suffixes are used to form thousands of words Connecting vowels are used to join morphemes  Influence began over 2,000 years ago “Vini, vidi, vici”

 Germanic Influence (by invasion)  Anglo-Saxon develops  All of the 100 most frequently used words in English come from Old English (e.g. the, is, on, in, for, go, run, I, we, me, he, she)  Inflection conveyed meaning  A.D. 597 – Augustine arrives Church Latin spread  Norsemen arrive – Scandinavian influence

 The Norman French arrive (1066) French “Latin” words pass onto English – leads to finer conceptual distinctions (e.g. swine vs. pork, sheep vs. mutton) Phrases are condensed (e.g. break the fast = breakfast)  Latter 14 th Century – Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is published Finest expression of Middle English  Printing Press – 1475 in England London dialect became “standard” dialect

 Hundreds of thousands of words  Spread of English through British Empire from the 17 th century onward  Spread of American English since WWII  Native American terms entered language  Contact with new cultures expanded language  Greek and Latin roots used to create new scientific terms  1755 – Dictionary of English Language published  1828 – American Dictionary of English Language

 Fundamentally the same – provide labels and the keys to understanding  Context will change idiomatic meanings  Digital Literacy will cause continual evolution of words and word usage “The long reign of black-and-white textual truth has ended” (Lanham, 1993).  Approach vocabulary instruction with the goal of providing students with the keys to understanding words