Assess
the Latin influence on the English language.
Latin is one of the languages that has most influenced
English since its birth as a language. In this essay we are going to approach
the Latin influence in vocabulary along the periods of the English language to
see if, without the Latin influence it would be as rich as it is now with it
and if the language would be impoverished or not.
In its beginnings, Old English did not have the large number of words borrowed from Latin and French that now form part of English vocabulary. Old English was a very flexible language capable of using old words and giving them new uses.
Latin has been the second great influence on English. It
was the language of an educated and sophisticated civilization from which the
Saxon peoples wanted to learn. The contact between these people was at first
commercial and military but then it also became religious and intellectual.
Before going to England the Germans had already had contact with the Romans and
of course, from this contact they acquired some Latin words. When Christian was
introduced in England, the people living there adopted many Latin elements.
English borrowings from Latin came in three waves that
extended the resourced of their vocabulary.
“A connection between Latin and English is indicated by
such correspondences as pater with English father, or frāter with brother,
although the difference in the initial consonants tends somewhat to obscure the
relationship” (Baugh, Cable 1993:18)
Albert Baugh and Thomas Cable, in their book ‘A history
of the English language' divide the Latin influences in the vocabulary in three
stages: The continental borrowing, the Latin through Celtic transmission and
the Latin influence of the second period and the Norman Conquest..................................................................................................................................................
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