Tania Massad
Blog Entry 1
Self Portrait and some Ideas
My name is Tania and I am 20 years old.
I speak three languages, English, French and Arabic. I am studying Spanish in Dawson and I am trying to learn Turkish on my own.
I like helping people that is why I am applying for the Human Relations program in Concordia University. I enjoy learning new languages and I thought learning Spanish could really help me in my future career, that is why I am studying languages here in Dawson College.
Last semester, I had a brief lesson about how the meanings of some terms has changed during time and how, nowadays, some terms have different meanings other than what they actually mean in the dictionary. That is why for my research paper, I am thinking to write about The evolution of terms over time.
Blog Entry 2
Topic Choice
A lot changes over time including languages and the way we use words in our daily life. The English language has changed since the 5th century and had been influenced by many factors such as different cultures and different languages like German, Latin, and French. In my paper, I am going to write about how different culture exchanges helped the Old English evolve into Modern English.
The Influence Of Latin on English
My group gave me a lot of new ideas and helped me with finding some sources that I will be using in this research essay. They were very encouraging, and we had a great and interesting discussion because we learned this particular topic in two different classes last semester, and they had a lot of ideas to share.
First Source:
Nevalainen, Terttu. “Early Modern English.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics, 2017. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.264
The modern English era began in the 15th century. The printing revolution, which made books more affordable and accessible, was the most significant advancement. William Shakespeare, the great poet of the 15th century, was born in England. The United Kingdom possessed colonies in America, and English was spoken there as well.
Blog Entry 3
First Steps
Currently, I am still searching for sources that correspond to my topic. My paper is about the English language and its history. It is not easy to find the right sources because there are a lot of ideas that my paper could cover, and I am still not sure which way I want to follow. Moreover, the sources that I am finding seem interesting and contains a lot of information. Therefore, the more I read, the more uncertain I be of what I want to write about. Overall, the research is amusing and even if I do not get to use all of the information in my paper, I will still be learning new things about the language that I use daily.
Second Source:
Essberger, Josef. “History of English.” English Club, 2019, www.englishclub.com/history-of-english
English is a member of the Indo-European language family. It was born in the fifth century AD in Great Britain, when 3 distinct German attackers attacked the country. The Celtic language was spoken by the natives of Britain during the time. Invaders pushed the Celtic peoples to the west and north of Britain. Among the intruders was a group named as the Angles. They spoke a "Englisc" language because they're from "England." The words England and English were developed from there.
Blog Entry 4
More In Depth
Almost a month into my research, I have learned so many new information and facts that are hidden in the history of English. I have spoken English for most of my life and I am surprised that I have never had the curiosity to look up its history. I am enjoying this research and I decided to start writing my paper in order for me to get my ideas straight. Also, just for fun, I looked up some facts about English.
Some of the facts I found:
· English is the language that all pilots should identify themselves with and communicate in during flights.
· The word ( SWIMS ) is read the same way even when it is turned upside down.
Works Cited:
Author, Unknown. “10 Interesting Facts about the English Language That You Didn't Know.” 10 Interesting Facts About the English Language That You Didn't Know | Grammarly Blog, 16 May 2019, https://www.grammarly.com/blog/10-interesting-english-facts-guest/.
Third Source:
Evans, Elinor. “‘Green-Eyed Monster’ and 'Stiff Upper Lip’: The Evolution of the English Language.” HistoryExtra, 17 Jan. 2022,
When Britain was attacked by Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians in the fifth century, evolution began. Each intruder spoke German, but there were
differences in dialects. The mingling of various dialects resulted in the creation of a new language known as "Old English." Old English corresponds to
the time of English language history between 450 and 1100 AD. Old English is not the same as modern English. Almost half of primitive English has
been replaced, with just half of old terms remaining.
Blog Entry 5
Tentative Thesis Statement
The Modern English language has evolved from the Old English through Latin, French influences, and cultural exchanges.
Topic sentences
Body paragraph 1:
Evolution of English started in 5th century. English was a blend of four different dialects that created a new language now known as “Old English”.
Body paragraph 2:
Latin influenced developing English in three different phases. Firstly, English adopted a few common Latin words. Secondly, Latin contributed some religious terms to the language. Lastly, English borrowed some old German terms which had a Latin influence.
Body paragraph 3:
The Modern English era started in the 15th century. By that time, many new words have been added to the English language. Also, William Shakespeare's poetry and writing added many terms and had a great influence on Modern English.
Peer Review:
I discussed my topic and my thesis with my two of my classmates, they were very helpful. They both gave me new ideas to add to my paper as well as my thesis. The group work was very productive and I enjoyed helping them with their topics by giving them some information that I have learned before.
Fourth Source:
Moore, Edward. “Chass.” The Influence of Latin on Old English, 2010,
http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/1001Moore.htm
Latin(vulgar) was the most influential, with little indication of classical Latin. Only a few words from Latin are used in old English literature. During the Anglo-Saxon period, when religion was widely practiced, old English borrowed many words from Latin. The use of loan words in that era was widespread, with words from Latin being borrowed and adapted to fit the English language.
Tentative Title
Old English, Modern English, The influence of Latin: The Evolution of the English Language.
Blog Entry 6
My Writing
When I write, I have difficulty starting the introduction and writing the conclusion. That is why I always start writing the body paragraphs at first, then the introduction, and after that the conclusion. It is also hard to find words that connect the sentences together, but I am using the documents that has been uploaded on Lea.
Fifth Source:
Literary Articles. “How Did Latin Influence Old English?” Literary Articles, 28 Feb. 2022, www.literary-articles.com/2013/03/how-did-latin-influence-old-english.html
The significance of Latin grows as a result of the Anglo-Saxon invasion. An earlier influence was the use of Latin Alphabets with slight adjustments. After alphabets, the other area where Latin had an impact was vocabulary. Latin supplied about 450 terms to the vocabulary of Old English, which appeared to be a relatively versatile language at the time. These words were associated to building structures, plants, food, everyday household goods, and, most significantly, our garments in the English language.
Blog Entry 7
My Thoughts
I have worked on my paper during spring break. I had a hard time starting to write, the most difficult part of writing a paper for me is the introduction and the first body paragraph.
Sixth Source:
Crystal, David. “British Library.” The British Library, 31 Jan. 2018, www.bl.uk/medieval-literature/articles/old-english#:%7E:text=Old%20English%20%E2%80%93%20the%20earliest%20form,the%20Norman%20Conquest%20of%201066).
Conquest of Normandy In 1066, the aristocracy spoke Anglo-Norman, while the poorer classes spoke English. Until the accession of Henry IV of England to the throne in 1399, the royal court spoke a Norman language that became progressively Gallicized through interaction with French. The Norman influence reduced the influx of Latin lexical borrowings. Latin-based Old Norse became increasingly widely used.
Blog Entry 8
My Thoughts
Writing the body paragraphs is going so well because now i know where to start and how to finish. I find it difficult to connect the ideas together but I think that it will be easier when I read it at the end and edit the errors.
Seventh Source:
Moore, Edward. “Chass.” The Influence of Latin on Old English, 2010, http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/1001Moore.htm
Latin(vulgar) was the most influential, with little indication of classical Latin. Only a few words from Latin are used in old English literature. During the Anglo-Saxon period, when religion was widely practiced, old English borrowed many words from Latin. The use of loan words in that era was widespread, with words from Latin being borrowed and adapted to fit the English language.
Blog Entry 9
My Thoughts
I am finishing my paper this week and it has been very difficult to figure out what to edit and how to end the conclusion. I am looking forward to review it next class and get more feedback.
Eighth Source:
Literary Articles. “How Did Latin Influence Old English?” Literary Articles, 28 Feb. 2022, www.literary-articles.com/2013/03/how-did-latin-influence-old english.html
The significance of Latin grows as a result of the Anglo-Saxon invasion. An earlier influence was the use of Latin Alphabets with slight adjustments. After alphabets, the other area where Latin had an impact was vocabulary. Latin supplied about 450 terms to the vocabulary of Old English, which appeared to be a relatively versatile language at the time. These words were associated to building structures, plants, food, everyday household goods, and, most significantly, our garments in the English language.
Nineth Source:
Gramley, Stephan. The History of English: An Introduction. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2018
Prior to their migration to Britain, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes dealt and battled with the Latin-speaking Roman Empire. As a result, many Latin words for ordinary things, food, commerce, and army procedures were absorbed into the Germanic tribes' language. These words were later brought to Britain by migration and became part of the English language. Many Latin religious phrases were introduced to Britain by Christian missionaries. The majority of materials written by Catholic monks were in Latin. Monks sought to find appropriate Old English equivalents when translating the texts. When no counterparts could be discovered, the original Latin words were added to the Old English lexicon.
Blog Entry 10
Peer Review
My classmate helped me figure a new title to my research paper and she had some notes that were very helpful. We ad a lot to discuss about our topics and we helped each other deliver a clearer context of the information in our texts.
Research Paper
Introduction
English belongs to the Indo-European language family. It was born in Great Britain during the fifth century AD when three different German invaders invaded Britain. At that time Britain native people used to speak Celtic Language. Invaders pushed Celtic to the west and North parts of Britain. Among invaders there was group known as Angles. They spoke language called “Englisc” because they were from “Englaland.” From there word England and English derived (Essberger). Latin also had a major influence on the evolution of the English languages and has added many vocabularies to the language as well.
Thesis Statement
Every modern language is a blend of multiple old languages and some of them are dead by now. English is one of those modern languages and it changed both the way we speak and write, over time as other things, and now modern English is quite different than old English. Although English is also a Germanic language, it is more inspired by Latin than any of its other family members. Old English had a strong Latin influence and English was inspired by Germanic Languages.
Influence of Latin
Latin influenced old English more than any other west German language. Latin influenced developing English in three separate phases. Before arriving to Britain Anglo-Saxon had a fight with the Romans where they adopted few common Latin words. In the second phase, Latin contributed to English in a religious era. Christian missionaries brought many religious terms to the Britain residents. Church monks were Latin speaker and during translation, when they did not find old English equivalent, they used original Latin texts. English also borrowed some old German words which had Latin influence (Gramley 54).
Latin had a major impact on old English due to the Roman influence and Celtic speech of Briton. Many Latin words fit very well into old English. Invasion of Anglo-Saxon increased the impact of Latin. Earlier influence was the adoption of Latin Alphabets with some modification. After alphabets the other area where Latin influenced was vocabulary. Latin contributed almost 450 words toward the Old English developing vocabulary, it seemed a very flexible language at that time. These words were related to building structure, plants, food, daily household items and most importantly clothing (Literary Articles). Vulgar Latin influenced English the most and there is less evidence of classical Latin. In literature, old English borrowed only few words from Latin. In religious learning, Old English borrowed numerous words from Latin during the Anglo-Saxon era because of the common religion. Loaning words in that era was massive and words from Latin were taken and modified according to the English language (Moore).
The language which adopted most Latin words was definitely English and by percentage it is 62%, which is far more than any other modern languages. It is due to the reason that England was once a part of the Roman Empire, and at that time, Latin was the official language of the Roman Empire. Moreover, scientific, and legal part of the English vocabulary consists mostly of Latin words. There are lots of “English” words that are Latin but pronounced differently in English (Literary Articles).
Furthermore, English Latin words were considered proper during that era while Germanic words were considered inappropriate and dirty. So, we have a population in which there is “doubled” vocabulary—first is native English words of a specific term (examples: craft, spit, food, smell…) and second, a non-native word from French or Latin for the same term (“l’art,” l’excrement,” “saliva,” “cuisine,” “fragrance.”). The Latinate term is the one you can use on the news. The native Germanic peasant’s term is the one that makes you blush when you say it in front of mixed company (Evans).
As Roman left Britain in the 10th century, the impact of Latin remained same, but at the end of the 11th century, the Latin impact started reducing. As the influence of monks started growing, the impact of Latinism on English started deaccelerating. In the 11th century, the Normans invaded England, which included an army of Normans, Bretons, and French. The Norman invasions reduced the impact of Latin and stopped the Latin borrowing. The Norman’s influence reduced the Latin popularity and in the following period, the French influence started increasing (Crystal).
Influence of Germanic Languages
Germanic Languages are a branch of the Indo-European family of languages. All west Germanic languages have Latin influence, which include English, German, Swedish, Norwegian Dutch, Danish, Faroese, and Icelandic. Germanic Languages are mostly spoken in Scandinavian countries such as Africa, and Europe. Raise of Vikings (Warriors from present day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) started in eighth century. They invaded Britain in the 1780s and it was the time when the influence of Germanic languages started on Old English. Later on, they signed a treaty with Anglo-Saxon’s leader, King Alfred, and split the Britain in two territories. Vikings took control of today’s western England because that area was subjected to Danish Laws. Almost two thousand Scandinavians places names were found in western England, and this was the start of the linguistic development of that time in Britain (Crystal).
Despite the long settlement period of the Vikings in Britain, Danish remained the most powerful language for generations. Yet, the number of Scandinavians words denoted by Vikings to the Old English were limited to 150 which was surprising. However, the development of modern English penetration of the Scandinavians words started developing and increasing. English vocabulary was being filled with Scandinavians words, but there are no written records of these penetrations because the earliest middle literature shows that there were thousands of Norse words being used. Northern and Eastern part of the country produced texts (such as the Orrmulum and Havelock the Dane) that has shown Norse words. Most of the Norse words were over-developed to the point where they started replacing Anglo-Saxon words. For example, the word “take,” in Old English was Niman. During the late 11th century, Old Norse taka was first recorded in an English form toc (‘took’) (Crystal). In the middle of modern English, the word (take) started to completely being used instead of Niman.
English grammar had a strong impact from the Old Norse, and it was introduced to a new set of third person plural pronouns “they and them.” They replaced hi or hie(they/them), hira or heora (their, of them) and him or heom (to them, for them). The word “nay,” which is use for negative response, also have Old Norse roots. In present tenses we use “s” with third person singular (he climbs), this was also Scandinavian’s feature. Among other Scandinavian grammatical features, there are the pronouns both and same, and the prepositions til ('till’ or ‘to') and fro ('from') (Crystal).
West Germanic languages contain Latin influence which include German and Dutch along with English itself. Germanic languages contain 20% Latin Vocabulary, which later on, increase the Latin effect on English (Crystal).
Conclusion
The English language is mostly inspired by Latin and after Latin it is inspired by Germanic Languages. Latin provided initial vocabulary to English along with religious terms. English alphabets are inspired by Latin alphabets. In science and technology, we still see lot of Latin terms. Basic daily life item names were directly adopted from Latin which definitely changed with time. Surprisingly, some German words that influenced English had Latin influence. Along with Latin, Germanic Languages significantly affected the Old English. Germanic languages directly influenced grammar and sentence structure. In the Middle English era, Germanic languages were affected, yet still less than Latin. Many other languages affected English other than Latin and Germanic, and nowadays, English is considered the universal language that almost everyone speaks.
Works Cited
Ø Crystal, David. “British Library.” The British Library, 31 Jan. 2018, https://www.bl.uk/medieval-literature/articles/old-english
Ø Essberger, Josef. “History of English.” English Club, 2019, www.englishclub.com/history-of-english.
Ø Evans, Elinor. “‘Green-Eyed Monster’ and 'Stiff Upper Lip’: The Evolution of the English Language.” HistoryExtra, 17 Jan. 2022, www.historyextra.com/period/norman/how-english-language-evolved-inkhorn-controversy-shakespeare-phrases-in-use-today-who-invented-english.
Ø Gramley, Stephan. The History of English: An Introduction. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2018
Ø Literary Articles. “How Did Latin Influence Old English?” Literary Articles, 28 Feb. 2022, www.literary-articles.com/2013/03/how-did-latin-influence-old-english.html.
Ø Moore, Edward. “Chass.” The Influence of Latin on Old English, 2010, http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/1001Moore.htm.