1

TEMA 41 . LA ROMANIZACIN. INFLUENCIA DEL LATN EN LA LENGUA INGLESA. PRSTAMOS Y CALCOS. Good morning , my name is. And I have decided to deal with topic number 41 La Romanizacin . Influencia del Latn en la Lengua Inglesa. Prstamos y calcos. The Roman Influence on the English Language was of a great importance and in order to deal with it in a clear way I have decided to divide it into the following points: 1-INTRODUCTION. 2-CHRONOLOGICAL DIVISION ENGLISH. 2.1 THE ZERO PERIOD OR CONTINENTAL BORROWING. 2.2 THE FIRST PERIOD OR LATIN INFLUENCE THROUGH CELTIC TRANSMISSION. 2.2.1- The Romanization and its linguistic influence. 2.3- THE SECOND PERIOD OR THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF BRITAIN. 2.3.1 The Christianization of Britain and its effects. 2.3.2- Linguistic influence and borrowings. 3-LATIN INFLUENCE ON MIDDLE ENGLISH: THE THIRD PERIOD. 4-INFLUENCE OF LATIN IN MODERN ENGLISH PERIOD. 5-CONCLUSION. 6-BIBLIOGRAPHY. 1- INTRODUCTION. The basis of English Grammar and most part of its vocabulary were formed by the dialects brought to England by the Germanic tribes of the Jutes , Saxons and Angles. However, before and during the first period in the history of the English language , the Old English period . which lasted from about 450 to 1150 , the language was brought into contact with three other languages : Celtic , Roman and Scandinavian. These contacts show certain effects on the English language , specially additions to its vocabulary. We are going to deal here with the Roman influence on the English language , which was of great importance as is not only meant the introduction of a great number of loanwords and adaptations but it also extended the resources of the English Vocabulary. This linguistic influence was undoubtely due to the Romanization of Britain and specially to its subsequent christianization by Roman missionaries. Latin was the language of a OF THE LATIN INFLUENCE ON OLD

higher civilization , and its contact , at first commercial and military ,later religious and intellectual , extended over many centuries and was constantly renewed . Lets move now to point number 2: 2- CHRONOLOGICAL DIVISION OF THE LATIN INFLUENCE ON OLD ENGLISH. According to Baugh , there were three distinct occasions on which borrowing from Latin occurred before the end of the Old English period , and it is as follows: 2.1 -THE ZERO PERIOD OR CONTINENTAL BORROWING. 2.2 -THE FIRST PERIOD OR LATIN INFLUENCE THROUGH CELTIC TRANSMISSION. 2.3 -THE SECOND PERIOD OR THE CHRISTIANIZING OF BRITAIN. Therefore I will start explaining the first point,which is: 2.1 THE ZERO PERIOD OR CONTINENTAL BORROWING. The first Latin words to enter the English language did so due to the early contact between the Romans and the Germanic tribes of the continent. The number of Germans living in the empire by the 4th century is estimated at several million . The intercome between the two peoples was through commercial relations , such intercourse was certain to carry words from one language to the other . After the conquest of Gaul by Caesar , Roman merchants found their way into all parts of the Germanic territory, even into Scandinavia. Moreover, intercommunication between the different tribes was frequent and made possible the transference of Latin words from one tribe to another . The adopted words reflect the relations that existed between the two peoples and the new conceptions which the inhabitants acquired from this contact with a higher civilization . Apart from miscellaneous words like cirice ( church ) or casere ( emperor ) , the adopted vocabulary can be classified into semantic groups related to the main activities developed by both peoples. These semantic groups are the following: WAR : pytt ( pit ), camp ( battle ). TRADE: mangian ( trade ), mangunghus ( shop). Words related with wine trade: win ( wine ) , eced ( vinegar ). DOMESTIC LIFE: mese ( table ) , teped ( carpet ) , ciese ( cheese ) , spelt ( wheat ). BUILDING ARTS: cealc ( chalck ) , copor ( copper ). 0The next period to explain is:

02.2 THE FIRST PERIOD OR LATIN INFLUENCE THROUGH CELTIC TRANSMISSION. 0Although the Celts were the first inhabitants of Britain and Celtic was the first IndoEuropean language to be spoken in England and is still spoken by a number of people , when Britain became a province of the Roman Empire , Latin was introduced and spoken rather extensively for a period of four centuries before the coming of English. 0In 55 b.c Julius Caesar decided to invade England after conquering Gaul , he did not succeed and tried again the following year , however it had no consequences as it was not followed by a political occupation. It was in a.d 43 , that the Emperor Claudius decided to undertake the actual conquest of the island , with an army of 40.000 men , which after four years , resulted in the establishment of the Roman rule over the South of Britain . However, the Romans never penetrated far into the mountains of Wales and Scotland . The Roman rule lasted for three hundred years. 0
02.2.10The

The Romanization and its linguistic influence.

military conquest of Britain was naturally followed by the Romanization of the

province. The Romans built roads , small cities and towns and introduced their habits of life . By the 3rd century Christianity had made some progress in the island , but the process was cut short in the 5th century with the invasion of Britain by some Germanic tribes which would found the English nation. 0One of the consequences of Romanization was the use of the Latin language in two ways: 01-As the official language of the military and official class. 02-As the adopted language of the native Britons , although it was probably confined to members of the upper classes and the inhabitants of the cities and towns 0Certainly Latin did not replace the Celtic language and its use was not enough widespread to make it survive the Germanic invasions. However , it left traces in the Germanic language which can still be seen in the English language today . It is probably that the use of Latin as a spoken language did not long survive the end of the Roman rule in the island and the vertiges that remained for a time were lost during the Germanic invasions . Therefore there was no opportunity for direct contact between Latin and Old English in England and the Latin words that could have entered English would had to come in through Celtic transmission . The Celts had adopted a considerable number of

Latin words , but the relations between the Celts and the English were such that these words were not passed on.
0One

of the few words that the Anglo-Saxons seem likely to have acquired upon settling

in England is the word ceaster , which forms a familiar element in English place-names ( Chester ,Manchester, Lancaster..) , as it was the common desigantion in Old English for a town or enclosed community. Other words that are found also as elements in placenames are port ( harbour, gate, town), munt ( mountain ) or vic ( village ). However, the Latin influence of the first period remains the slightest of all influences which Old English owed to contact with Roman civilization. 0The third part and the last of this point is:
02.3

THE SECOND PERIOD OR THE CHRISTIANIZING OF BRITAIN. The Christianization of Britain and its effects. Linguistic Influence and Borrowings. lets move to The Christianization of Britain and its effects:

0I have divided this point in:

02.3.1 02.3.2

0Therefore

0The greatest influence of Latin upon Old English began with the introduction of Christianity into Britain in 597. Pope Gregory the Great sent St Augustine to England with forty monks with the mission of christianizing it , however, the task was far more difficult than that; they had to change the philosopy of a nation. Germanic philosophy exalted physical courage, extreme independence and loyalty to ones family or leader . Christianity preached meekness and humility , patience and suffering. This way it was not easy to change the minds of such a people. 0Fortunately when they arrived in England one circumstance was in their favour : they landed in the kingdom of Kent , where there was a small number of Christians , which included the Queen. Seven years after Augustines arrival , the kingdom of Kent had become wholly Christian. The conversion of the rest of England was a gradual process, starting with the conversion of Northumbria. There were periods of reversion to paganism, and some clashes between the Celtic and the Roman leaders over doctrine and authority, but England was slowly won over to the faith. At all events , within hundred years of the landing of Augustine in Kent all England was Christian. 0The effects of Christianity on English civilization were of great importance . The introduction of Christianity meant : The building of churches and the establishment of monasteries. The re-introduction of Latin as the language of the services and of ecclesiastical learning.

The establishment of schools in most of the monasteries and larger churches . Poetry, Astronomy,Arithmetics, Greek and Latin were taught in these places. Here we find the writings of Bede who wrote The Ecclesiastical History of the English people, in 731.
0This

process meant that in the 8th century England held the intellectual leadership of

Europe and it owed this leadership to the church . Other consequences were: The development of a vernacular literature. The development of arts . The improvement of agriculture in monasteries and domestic economy. 0In short, the church as the carrier of Roman civilization influenced the course of English life in many ways, and numerous traces of this influence are to be seen in the vocabulary of Old English . 0Therefore lets move to the next point: 02.3.2 Linguistic Influences and borrowings. 0From the introduction of Christianity in 597 to the close of the Old English period is a strech of over five hundred years. During all this time Latin words must have been making their way gradually into the English language. Latin borrowings of the second period can be divided into two groups ,equal in size but different in character: the earlier and the later borrowings. 0EARLIER BORROWINGS. 0This group represents words whose phonetic form shows that they were borrowed early and whose early adoption is also proved by the fact that they appeared in literature by the time of Alfred. Words are normally taken from one language to another in answer to a definite need , they are adopted because they express ideas that are new or because they are so intimately associated with an object or a concept that acceptance of the thing involves acceptance also of the word. 0Taking this fact into account , the Latin words first introduced into English can be divided into the following semantic groups: RELIGION; Abbot, angel, cleric, litany, mass, nun,etc.. DOMESTIC LIFE; Here we have: Articles of clothing and household use: Cap,sock,purple. Foods: Lentil,oyster,cook. Names of trees, plants and herbs: Plant,pine,balsam. Education and learning: School,master,verse. Miscellaneous words: Anchor, fever, elephant,talent.

0LATER BORROWINGS.
0This group

contains words of a more learned character first recorded in the 10th and 11th

centuries and owing their introduction to the religious revival that came along with the Benedictine Reform. 0 At this point I will briefly explain consequences.
0At

what is the Benedectine Reform and its

the end of the 8th century we find a decline on the flourishing state of the church ,

this was due to the Danes , who began their ravages upon the country, destroying churches and monasteries and causing the relaxation of the clergy. As a result of this, the work of education was neglected and learning decayed. King Alfred started restoring churches , founding monasteries and trying to spread education in his kingdom and foster learning , he did not have much succes though. It was in the latter half of the 10th that three great religious leaders arose in the church: Dunstan, Athewold and Oswald , with the support of King Edgar , these men effected a genuine revival of monasticism in England. The Benedectine rule was based on the vows of chastity, obedience and poverty . 0This effort towards reform extended from a general reformation of morals , which brought about a religious revival in the island , to the improvement of education, the establishment of schools and the encouragement of learning among the monks and the clergy. By the end of the century the monasteries were again centers of literary activity and works in English were prepared for the popularizing of knowledge. 0As a result of the renewed literary activity brought about by the Benedictine Reform , a new series of Latin borrowings took place . These later Christian borrowings were words of a less popular kind than the earlier ones , and express ideas of a scientific and learned character . In the works of Aelfric we can find examples of this movement and its Latin borrowings. The semantic groups of this later borrowings are:
00-

RELIGION: Antichrist, cloister,idol,prophet. LITERARY WORDS: Accent,decline,history.

0o 0o 0o 0o

0- LEARNED WORDS: Plant names: cucumber,ginger. Names of trees: cypress,fig,laurel. Medical terms:Cancer,paralysis. Names of animals: Camel,Scorpion.

7 0There

are also many words which were taken over in their foreign formand not

assimilated as : corporale,confessores,catacumbas,etc.. Although many of these words were later reintroduced into the language , they do not constitute an integral part of the vocabulary at this time.
0In

this period we also find the application of native words to new concepts . The words

which Old English borrowed in this period are only a partial indication of the extent to which the introduction of Christianity affected the lives and thoughts of the English people. The English did not always adopt a foreign word to express a new concept , often an old word was applies to a new thing and by a slight adaptation made to express a new meaning. In cases like God, heaven and hell, the English terms were kept. Instead of borrowing the Latin word praedicare ( to preach ), the English expressed the idea with words of their own , such as laeran ( to teach ), and bodian (to bring a message). 0Other native words are translations of their Latin equivalents and their vitality is shown by the fact that in many cases they have continued in use up to the present day. 0The extent of a foreign influence is most readily seen in the number of words borrowed .As a result of the Christianizing of Britain about 450 words appear in English writings by the end of Old English period , without including derivatives or proper names . However, about one hundred of these words were purely learned or retained so much of their foreign character as hardly to be considered part of the English vocabulary. 0Of the 350 words that can be so considered some were not generally used until later , on the other hand , a large number of them were fully accepted and thoroughly incorporated into the language .
0The

real test of a foreign influence is the degree to which the words that it brought in

were asimilated . It is not a question of the power to survive , it means how completely the words were digested and became indistinguishable from the native word stock, so that they could enter into compounds and be made into other parts of speech, just like native words. An example of this is: Latin noun planta , it comes into English as noun plant , and later is made into a verb by the addition of the infinitive ending ian (plantian), and other inflectional elements , therefore the word has surely been assimilated . Other examples are: culpian or fersian.
0Assimilation is also 0dom,

indicated by the use of native suffixes , like in the cases of martyr-

martyr-ung and so on. The use of a foreign word in making compounds is

evidence of the same thing, for instance , the word church enters into more than forty compounds and derivatives.

0In short, the Latin influence of the second period was not only extensive but thorough and marks the real beginning of the English habit of freely incorporating elements into its vocabulary. 0The next point of the topic is: 03- LATIN INFLUENCE ON MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD. THE THIRD PERIOD.
0Toward

the close of the Old English period an event ocurred that had a greater effect

on the English language than any other in the course of its history. This event was the Norman Conquest in 1066. After the Norman Conquest, during the Middle English period ( 1150-1500 ) a number of Latin words borrowed through Frenchor directly from Latin were introduced through the written language , specially in the 14th and 15th centuries. Many of them have passed into common use thanks to the Wycliff translation of the Bible. These borrowings can be divided into two groups: Borrowings relating to law, medicine, theology,science and literature as: inmune, index,legal,testify,etc. Aureate terms: introduced by poets following the tendency to use unusual words as a stylistic device. 0The next and last point to deal with is: 04- INFLUENCE OF LATIN IN MODERN ENGLISH PERIOD.
0The

Modern English period extends from the end of the 15 th century until the present

day. The early Modern English period witnessed the arrival of the Renaissance from the continent. This cultural movement brought with it an interest in vernacular languages. The rediscovery of Latin and Greek literature led to a new activity in the modern languages and directed attention to them as a means of literature expression.
0In

the 16th century modern languages had to face some problems: Recognition in the fields where Latin had been supreme for ages. The establihment of a more uniform orthography. The enrichment of vocabulary.

Beside the classical languages, the vernaculars, in this case English, were criticised for being vulgar, unpolished and short of words. Latin was considered to be the language capable of handling all scholarly concepts and it had the advantage of universal currency because the educated could freely communicate with each other in the same language .Its exclusive use in many areas in Middle English deprived the vernaculars of the opportunity to develop their own vocabulary. So, when the vernaculars assumed the

functions of Latin in the 16th and 17th centuries, many words had to be translated from Latin and Greek and some others were borrowed from these languages. This borrowing of words did not meet with universal favour and purist carried out a rigorous campaign for over half a century againts borrowings, John Cheke, insisted on using any English term wherever possible, Roger Ascham considered the use of borrowings mere pedantry and called them inkhorn terms. Some of the Latin words which were introduced at this period were often basic words such as: alusion,capsule,expectation,excursion Regarding adjectives we have: abject,agile,appropiate,external Regarding verbs: adapt,eradicate.mediate Some words, in entering the language retained their original form: climax,appendix,exterior,delirium. Others underwent change.Thus the Latin ending us in adjectives was changed into ous, as in conspicious,or it was replaced by al as in external. Latin words ending in tas were changed to ty as celerity, the endingentia/antia appear in English as once/-ence/-ancy . as consonance. On the other hand , a number of words borrowed from Latin were actually Greek words which found their way earlier into that language and via Latin came finally into English: anachronism,chaos And finally: 5- CONCLUSION. To conclude with the topic, I will say that the Roman and Latin influence on the English language was of a great importance as it not only meant the introduction of new words and adapation but it also extended the English vocabulary. This is a good topic to show our students the flexibility and richness of the English language. 6- BIBLIOGRAPHY. Baugh, A. and Cable,T. A History of the English Language. 3rd edition.Routledge and Kegan Paul. Morgan,K. The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain.Oxford University Press.1987 Strang ,B. A History of English. Methuen.1970.