The Evolution of English

George Boeree


The English language begins with the Anglo-Saxons.  The Romans, who had controlled England for centuries, had withdrawn their troops and most of their colonists by the early 400s.  Attacks from the Irish, the Picts from Scotland, the native Britons, and Anglo-Saxons from across the North Sea, plus the deteriorating situation in the rest of the Empire, made the retreat a strategic necessity.  As the Romans withdrew, the Britons re-established themselves in the western parts of England, and the Anglo-Saxons invaded and began to settle the eastern parts in the middle 400s.  The Britons are the ancestors of the modern day Welsh, as well as the people of Britanny across the English channel.  The Anglo-Saxons apparently displaced or absorbed the original Romanized Britons, and created the five kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Kent, East Anglia, Essex, Sussex, and Wessex (see map below).  Notice that the last three are actually contractions of East Saxon, South Saxon, and West Saxon, and that the Welsh still refer to the English as Saxons (Saesneg).

The language we now call English is actually a blend of many languages. Even the original Anglo-Saxon was already a blend of the dialects of west Germanic tribes living along the North Sea coast:  The Saxons in Germany and eastern Holland, the Jutes, possibly from northern Denmark (the area now called Jutland), and the Angles, probably living along the coast and on islands between Denmark and Holland.  It is also likely that the invaders included Frisians from northern Holland and northern Franks from southern Holland (whose relatives gave their name to France).  The dialects were close enough for each to understand the other.



Later, in the 800s, the Northmen (Vikings) came to England, mostly from Denmark, and settled in with the Anglo-Saxons from Yorkshire to Norfolk, an area that became known as the Danelaw.  Others from Norway ruled over the people in the northwest, from Strathclyde to the north of Wales.  The Norse language they spoke resembled Anglo-Saxon in many ways, but was different enough for two things to happen:  One, there were many Old Norse words that entered into English, including even such basic ones as they and them;  And two, the complex conjugations and declensions began to wither away as people disagreed about which to use!



Last, William the Conqueror and his Norman supporters invaded England in 1066.  Although, as their name suggests, they were the descendents of the same Northmen that had invaded England earlier, they had been settled long enough in Normandy in the north of France to adopt a dialect of French.  They brought this Norman French with them to England and kept it as the language of their newly imposed aristocracy.  In the day-to-day need to communicate, the common language became English, but with a large number of French words, and still more withering of grammatical complexities.

English since then has been absorbing vocabulary from a huge number of sources.  French, the language of diplomacy for Europe for centuries, Latin, the language of the church, and Greek, the language of philosophy and science, contributed many words, especially the more "educated" ones.  Other European languages have left culturally specific words.  The American Indian languages, Australian Aborigine languages, and the languages of Africa and India gave us many hundreds of words, especially for the innumerable species of plants and animals of the world.  On top of all this, there is the steady creation of new words and new uses for old words by the many subcultures of the English speaking world.


English's closest relatives can be found right across the water in Holland and Germany.  It's very closest relative is Frisian, spoken in northern Holland and the islands running along the coast from Holland up into Denmark.  Notice some obvious similarities:
English        Frisian        Dutch        German

as             as             als          als   
bread          brea           brood        Brot            
chaff          tsjêf          kaf          Kaf        
cheese         tsiis          kaas         Käse                
church         tsjerke        kerk         Kirche              
cow            kou            koe          Kuh
day            dei            dag          Tag                           
dove           dou            duif         Taube        
dream          dream          droom        Traum           
ear            ear            oor          Ohr   
flea           flie           vlo          Floh        
flown          flein          gevlogen     geflogen                
fly            fleane         vliegen      fliegen            
goose          goes           gans         Gans        
great          great          groot        gross            
ground         groun          grond        Grund                      
hail           heil           hagel        Hagel            
head           haed           hooft        Haupt       
heap           heap           hoop         Haufe       
hear           hear           hoor         Hören   
him            him            hem          ihm
is             is             is           ist
it             it             het          es                      
lain           lein           gelegen      gelegen             
lay            lei            lag          lag        
nail           neil           nagel        Nagel                 
need           noot           noot         Not   
nose           noas           neus         Nase      
rain           rein           regen        Regen   
salt           sâlt           zout         Salz          
say            sei            zeg          sag            
seed           sied           zaad         Saat      
sleep          sliepe         slaap        schlaff            
soft           sêft           zacht        sanft            
think          tinke          denken       denken            
thought        tocht          dacht        dachte           
through        troch          door         durch        
thumb          tomme          duim         Daum        
to             to             toe          zu           
Tuesday        tiisdei        dinsdag      Dienstag               
under          ûnder          onder        unter           
us             ús             ons          uns          
way            wei            weg          Weg                
yesterday      juster         gisteren     gestern
From Brea en Griene Tsiis: Bread and Green Cheese by William Z. Shetter [http://home.bluemarble.net/~langmin/]

Here is a sample of Frisian, the article on the Frisians from the Frisian Wikipedia:

De Friezen binne in Germaansk folk, troch Tacitus rekkene ta de Ingvaeones, de Germaanske folken oan de Noardseekust.

Oan it begjin fan ús jiertelling skreaunen de Romeinen fan de Friezen oan de kust fan de Noardsee. Om't de Friezen útwreiden nei it suden wylst de Romeinen nei it noarden kamen, moeten de twa folken inoar, en doe't de Romeinen in grins fêststeld hienen, wienen der Friezen binnen en bûten it Romeinske Ryk. De Romeinen hienen it oer Frisiavones foar de minsken dy't besuden de Ryn wennen, en dermei part fan it ryk wienen, en fan Frisii foar de lju oer de Ryn, dy't gjin fêst part fan it ryk wienen, al waarden se al troch de Romeinen betwongen. Sjoen troch de eagen fan de Romeinen wienen de Frisii in nuver folk, om't se libben yn in gebiet dat twa kear deis ûnder wetter rekke.

Meidat de Romeinen weifoelen, begûn de groei fan it Fryske gebiet op 'e nij. Mei it grutte folkeferfarren kamen se mei de Angel-Saksen nei Ingelân, dêr't se harren fêstigen yn de eastlike kriten. De Friezen gouwen yn dy tiid as in folk fan seefarders; sa lyk dat de Noardsee yn dy tiid de Mare Frisicum (Fryske See) neamd waard. It Fryske ryk woeks út oant it yn de 7e ieu rikte oan de Weser yn it easten ta, en oant Brugge yn it suden. Stêden as Utert en Dorestêd moatte wichtige Frykse hannelsstêden west hawwe.

Yn it lege lân libben de Friezen yn in altyd trochgeande kriich mei it wetter. Oan de iene kant wie dêr de see, oan de oare kant it fean, dat omleech gong as it bewenne waard. De Friezen bouden terpen, en letter ek diken as beskerming.


To understand these relationships better, here is the Germanic languages family tree:



You get a better sense of the relationships by looking at the numbers in some of the ancient and modern languages:

Proto-
Germanic
 Gothic 
Old Norse Old High German Old Low German Old Low Frankish
 Proto-
Anglo-
Frisian 
 Old West Frisian Old Scottish Old English
ainaz        
twai        
thrijiz      
fidwor       
fimfi        
sehs        
sibum     
ahto        
niwun    
tehun     
ains
twai
þreis
fidwor
fimf
saíhs
sibun
ahtau
niun
taíhun		 einn
tveir
þrir 
fjorir  
fimm
seks  
sjau
atta 
niu
tiu		 ein
zwa
drio
fior
fimf
sehs
sibun
ahto
niwun
zehan		 en
twa
drio
fiwar
fif
sehs
sibun
ahto
nigun
tehan 		en
twa
dri
ver
vif
sehs
seven
ahto
nigun
ten
 an  
twa
thre
fiowor
fif
sex
sewen
ahta 
nigun 
tehun 		an
twa
thre
fiower
fif
sex
sowen
achta
niogen
tian 		ane
twa
thrie
fouwer
fyve
sax
sieven
aught
nyne
tene		 an
twa
thri
feower
fif
sex
seofon
eahta
nighon
tyn

Icelandic
 Norwegian
 Danish
 Swedish
 German
 Low German
 Dutch
 Frisian
 Scots
 English
einn
tveir
þrír
fjórir
fimm
sex
sjö
átta
níu
tíu		 en
to
tre
fire
fem
seks
sju
åtte
ni
ti		 én
to
tre
fire
fem
seks
syv
otte
ni
ti		 en
två
tre
fyra
fem
sex
sju
åtta
nio
tio		 eins
zwei
drei
vier
fünf
sechs
sieben
acht
neun
zehn		 een
twee
dree
veer
fief
söß
söven
acht
negen
teihn		 een
twee
drie
vier
vijf
zes
zeven
acht
negen
tien		 ien
twa
trije
fjouwer
fiif
seis
sân
acht
njoggen
tsien		 ane
twa
thrie
fower
fyve
sax
seiven
aicht
nyne
ten		 one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten


Anglo-Saxon or Old English was pronounced quite differently from Modern English.  P, b, t, d, m, n, l, and r were pronounced as they are today.  The letters k, q, v, x, and z were not used.  But then the trouble begins:

A number of letters change pronunciation depending on what letters are around them.  F and s were pronounced as they are today, unless they were between two vowels or a vowel and a voiced consonant, in which case they were pronounced v and z respectively.  The same goes for the distinctly unmodern letters thorn (þ) and eth (ð).  Both were pronounced like the th in thin, unless between vowels (etc.), in which case they were pronounced like the th in then.

C and g had another set of variations:  Before back vowels (a, o, and u), they were pronounced like c in cat and g in guess;  before front vowels (y, i, e, and æ), they were pronounced like ch in chat and y in yes.  The same goes for h:  At the beginning of a word, is is pronounced like our h; otherwise, next to back vowels, it sounded like the ch in the German name Bach; next to front vowels, it sounded like the ch in the German word ich.

Plus, there were several double consonants:  sc was pronounced like sh in ship; cg was pronounced like the j and dg in judge; hl, hr, hn, and hw were pronounced like l, r, n, and w but unvoiced (breathy).

Vowels are actually pretty easy.  The short vowels were a as in Bach, e as in bet, i as in bit, o as in cot (pronounced as they do in England today), u as in book, y as in French tu or German ü, and æ (ash) as in bat.  The long vowels, often marked with an accent acute (´), were á as in father, é like the French é, í as in beet, ó as in French eau, ú as in boot, and y and æ as longer versions of themselves.

There were also three double vowels, each with short and long versions:  ea was eh or ay followed by ah, eo was eh or ay followed by a short o, and ie was ih or ee followed by eh.  But you can get a sense of the sound of Old English if you just pronounce the vowels as you might in Italian or Spanish.

Here are some samples of Anglo-Saxon, from Instant Old English, by Catherine N. Ball [http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/oe/old_english.html]:
[Note the letters thorn (þ) and eth (ð).  They should look like a b with a long downstroke and a d with a cross bar, in case they don't register on your browser!]


Here is the prologue of Beowulf, from the McMaster Beowulf site:
Hwæt! We Gardena         in geardagum,
þeodcyninga,         þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas         ellen fremedon.
Oft Scyld Scefing         sceaþena þreatum,
5
monegum mægþum,         meodosetla ofteah,
egsode eorlas.         Syððan ærest wearð
feasceaft funden,         he þæs frofre gebad,
weox under wolcnum,         weorðmyndum þah,
oðþæt him æghwylc         þara ymbsittendra
10
ofer hronrade         hyran scolde,
gomban gyldan.         þæt wæs god cyning!
Ðæm eafera wæs         æfter cenned,
geong in geardum,         þone god sende
folce to frofre;         fyrenðearfe ongeat
15
þe hie ær drugon         aldorlease
lange hwile.         Him þæs liffrea,
wuldres wealdend,         woroldare forgeaf;
Beowulf wæs breme         (blæd wide sprang),
Scyldes eafera         Scedelandum in.
20
Swa sceal geong guma         gode gewyrcean,
fromum feohgiftum         on fæder bearme,
þæt hine on ylde         eft gewunigen
wilgesiþas,         þonne wig cume,
leode gelæsten;         lofdædum sceal
25
in mægþa gehwære         man geþeon.
Him ða Scyld gewat         to gescæphwile
felahror feran         on frean wære.
Hi hyne þa ætbæron         to brimes faroðe,
swæse gesiþas,         swa he selfa bæd,
30
þenden wordum weold         wine Scyldinga;
leof landfruma         lange ahte.
þær æt hyðe stod         hringedstefna,
isig ond utfus,         æþelinges fær.
Aledon þa         leofne þeoden,
35
beaga bryttan,         on bearm scipes,
mærne be mæste.         þær wæs madma fela
of feorwegum,         frætwa, gelæded;
ne hyrde ic cymlicor         ceol gegyrwan
hildewæpnum         ond heaðowædum,
40
billum ond byrnum;         him on bearme læg
madma mænigo,         þa him mid scoldon
on flodes æht         feor gewitan.
Nalæs hi hine læssan         lacum teodan,
þeodgestreonum,         þon þa dydon
45
þe hine æt frumsceafte         forð onsendon
ænne ofer yðe         umborwesende.
þa gyt hie him asetton         segen geldenne
heah ofer heafod,         leton holm beran,
geafon on garsecg;         him wæs geomor sefa,
50
murnende mod.         Men ne cunnon
secgan to soðe,         selerædende,
hæleð under heofenum,         hwa þæm hlæste onfeng.

The period of Middle English is roughly from 1150 to 1475.  The main dialects of Middle English were:
Northern (corresponding to the original Northumberland)
Midlands (the original Mercia)
Southern (the original Wessex)
Some of the main characteristics of these dialects follow.  Notice how modern English takes some things from northern Middle English (the plural of nouns and the third person singular of verbs, for example) and some from southern Middle English (the long o in words like stone and the ch sound instead of the k in words like church).  Some of these choices were conscious ones, made by scholars in the service of the King.
     
Plural pronouns
Northern they, their, them
Midlands they, hir, hem
Southern hi, hir, hem
Verb third person singular
Northern -s (hits)
Midlands -th (hitteth)
Southern -th (hitteth)
Verb plural
Northern -s (hits)
Midlands -en (hitten)
Southern -eth (hitteth)
Old English long o
Northern a (stan)
Midlands o (stone)
Southern o (stone)
Old English c
Northern k (ik, kirk)
Midlands ch (ich, chirch)
Southern ch (church)
Old English f
Northern f (fox)
Midlands f (fox)
Southern v (vox)

Here is an example of Middle English:  The first paragraphs of the Tale of the Wife of Bath, from the Librarius Chaucer site.  The words in blue link you back to their glossary.

Heere bigynneth the Tale of the Wyf of Bathe.


        In th'olde dayes of the Kyng Arthour,

Of which that Britons speken greet honour,
865 All was this land fulfild of fayerye.

The elf-queene, with hir joly compaignye,

Daunced ful ofte in many a grene mede.

This was the olde opinion, as I rede;

I speke of manye hundred yeres ago.
870 But now kan no man se none elves mo,

For now the grete charitee and prayeres

Of lymytours and othere hooly freres,

That serchen every lond and every streem,

As thikke as motes in the sonne-beem,
875 Blessynge halles, chambres, kichenes, boures,

Citees, burghes, castels, hye toures,

Thropes, bernes, shipnes, dayeryes,

This maketh that ther been no fayeryes.

For ther as wont to walken was an elf,
880 Ther walketh now the lymytour hymself

In undermeles and in morwenynges,

And seyth his matyns and his hooly thynges

As he gooth in his lymytacioun.

Wommen may go saufly up and doun.
885 In every bussh or under every tree

Ther is noon oother incubus but he,

And he ne wol doon hem but dishonour.

       And so bifel it that this kyng Arthour

Hadde in his hous a lusty bacheler,
890 That on a day cam ridynge fro ryver;

And happed that, allone as she was born,

He saugh a mayde walkynge hym biforn,

Of whiche mayde anon, maugree hir heed,

By verray force he rafte hir maydenhed;
895 For which oppressioun was swich clamour

And swich pursute unto the kyng Arthour,

That dampned was this knyght for to be deed,

By cours of lawe, and sholde han lost his heed -

Paraventure, swich was the statut tho -
900 But that the queene and othere ladyes mo

So longe preyeden the kyng of grace,

Til he his lyf hym graunted in the place,

And yaf hym to the queene al at hir wille,

To chese wheither she wolde hym save or spille.


The evolution of the personal pronouns gives you a sense of the changes from Anglo-Saxon through Middle English to Modern English (oblique replaces accusative and dative):

Anglo-Saxon

nom      ic     wé    þú      gé       hé      héo     hit    híe
acc      mé     ús    þé      éow      hine    híe     hit    híe
dat      mé     ús    þé      éow      im      hire    him    heom
gen      mín    úre   þín     éower    his     hire    his    hira/heoras

Late Middle English

nom      I     we     thou    ye      he      she    hit     they
obl      me    us     thee    you     him     hir    hit     hem/them
gen      my    oure   thy     your    his     hir    his     hir/their

Modern English

nom      I      we     -      you     he      she    it      they
obl      me     us     -      you     him     her    it      them
gen      my     our    -      your    his     her    its     their

The Great English Vowel Shift

From Old English to Middle English to Modern English, the vowels have obviously shifted.  This accounts for a great deal of the difference between English words and their Frisian and Dutch counterparts.  For better or worse, our spelling still reflects these earlier pronunciations.  The most dramatic changes occured between the late part of Middle English and the early part of Modern English, and didn't stabilize until about 1600.  This is known as the Great English Vowel Shift!

Originally, the long vowels were literally long versions of the short vowels, that is, they were held longer, as they are still in Dutch.  These long vowels shifted "up," that is, they were pronounced with the tongue higher in the mouth, so that long e (like French é) shifted to its present ee position, and long o (like French eau) went to its modern oo position.  Long i (which was pronounced like ee today) and long ou (like oo in boot today) had no where higher to go, so they became the diphthongs they are today (as in bite and bout).  The short vowels, on the other hand, moved very slightly "down."  The original diphthongs ai (then pronounced like our long i in kite) and au (then like our ou in house) became our long a (as in bate) and aw sound.  In some positions, long u (our oo in boot) became our long u (as in mute).  Note also that the "silent e" was not originally silent!  It was originally pronounced like a short e, became the nondescript "schwa" (like the a in ago), and then finally disappeared, but not before defining the preceding vowel as long!

Consonants also changed, but not as dramatically.  In fact, it was the Frisians and Dutch who changed their consonants more!  One change was the dropping of l's between vowels and consonants (so talk became "tawk").  Another is the way that gh -- originally pronounced like the ch in Bach -- became y after front vowels and w after back vowels (so night > niyt and through > throuw), and by the 1500's disappeared altogether.  One more is the silent k in words like know and knight, which was originally pronounced.  Knight, in fact, was originally pronounced as spelled, which makes it much closer to the Dutch knecht, meaning man-servant!  Finally, several dialects began to drop r's after vowels until, by the 1600's, r-dropping was the standard for the Queen's English.

Here are the changes in IPA:



The grammar of English is perhaps the most interesting story:  It went from a typical old Indo-European language, with many complex and irregular verb conjugations and noun declensions, to arguably the most isolating Indo-European language to date.  (Afrikaans - a close relative of Dutch spoken in South Africa - probably beats it by a smidgen.)

Anglo-Saxon nouns, their articles, and even adjectives were complex.  There were three genders, masculine, feminine, and neuter:

Stone
 singular
 plural
nominative
 se stan
 þa stanas
accusative
 þone stan
 þa stanas
dative
 þæm stane
 þæm stanum
genitive
 þæs stanes
 þara stana

Tale
 singular
 plural
nominative
 seo talu
 þa tala
accusative
 þa tale
 þa tala
dative
 þære tale
 þæm talum
genitive
 þære tale
 þata tala

Ship
 singular
 plural
nominative
 þæt scip
 þa scipu
accusative
 þæt scip
 þa scupu
dative
 þæt scipe
 þæm scipum
genitive
 þæs scipes
 þara scipa

As in most Indo-European languages, gender had little to do with reality:

Masculine
 Feminine
 Neuter
wifmann (woman)
stan (stone)
aþ    (oath)
bat (boat)      
hlaf (loaf) )
mete (food)		 glaf (glove)
ecg (edge)
hwil (a while)
sceadu (shadow)
miht (might)
tid (time)		 mægden (girl)
scip (ship)
ban (bone)
bedd (bed)
wedd (pledge)
spere (spear)

Anglo-Saxon verbs were a bit easier, as they had already evolved away from older Indo-European traditions along with the other Germanic languages.  There were only two tenses, a present and a past.  Here is the word for kiss:

present singular
 present plural
 past singular
 past plural
ic cysse
thu cyssest
he cysseth
 we cyssath ic cyste
thu cystest
he cyste
 we cyston

Modern English only really has six grammatical affixes left:  -s for plural nouns, -'s for genitive nouns, -s for third person singular verbs, -ed for the past tense, -ed the past participle, and -ing for the present participle.  Unfortunately for learners of English, it still has several irregular verbs (e.g. to be and to have) and a large number of strong verbs (e.g. sing-sang-sung), plus a few irregular plurals (e.g. child-children, man-men...).  Nevertheless, people around the world find English relatively easy, with one huge exception:  English has the worst spelling of any language using the Latin alphabet!  Unlike most other European languages, we have not had any major updates in spelling since Shakespeare's time, despite dramatic sound changes and innumerable borrowings from other languages.


© Copyright 2004, C. George Boeree