A brief analysis on the evolution of Old English and its Latin predecessor.

2. he earliest literary period which can meaningfully be called “English” is
Theevolution oftheEnglishlanguage.
Old English Middle English Modern English
6th-7th century 11th-12th century 16th century present
Anglo-Saxon settlement Normansettlement
development of the English language. Old English is the oldest form of the language
attested, and it was spoken by people known as Anglo-Saxons.
divided into two major periods, each of which describes the state of

3. The Anglo-Saxons were a mixed group (tribes
of Angles, Saxons and Jutes ) from North
Germany who originally spoke a wide variety
of dialects. The amalgamation of this group’s
languages and a considerable amount of other
influences (especially that of Latin, as we’ll
discuss) contributed to shaping what is
commonly referred to as Old English.
When the Anglo-Saxons conquered England in
the mid-fifth century, displacing the native
Roman Britons, they were heathen people.
However, they were missionized by Augustine
of Canterbury in 597, making them among
the earliest Germanic people to convert to
Christianity over the course of the sixth
century.
TheAnglo-Saxons’conquestof
Britain

4. ong before the Angles, Saxons and Jutes’ settlement of England (5th-11th century ), a lasting bond between
Latin and the aforementioned populations’tongues had been established insomuch that the former’s relevance within
a wide array of realms would play a determinating role in moulding Old English, hence its contemporary
descendant. According to scholars Albert Baugh and Thomas Cable, through their military and commercial
connection to the Roman Empire, Britain’s forthcoming inhabitants had “acquired a considerable number of Latin
words” which had entailed a significant change in their languages’ structure and lexicon.
As they came to England, they learned from local Celtic people a few additional Latin words which had been
assimilated by them (it shall be noted that the Romans had conquered the island in 43 AD). A century and a
half later (6th-7th century), more Latin elements were integrated into Old English by way of Roman
missionaries’ diffusion of Christianity (angel, pope, priest…). Christianization brought literacy to boot.
caseus cēse/cȳse cheese
vinum wīn wine
strāta (via) strǣt street
Latin Old English Modern English
puteus pytt pit

5. OldEnglish literature
All three chief instances on which borrowing from Latin occurred can be summarized as follows:
Pre-Germanicmigration Christianization
Celtic influence
5th century
Assimilation of trade/military-related
Latin words. Prose and poetry were
passed down orally.
Acquirement of additional Latin
elements through the Celts.
Aristocratic Britons probably used
the language as a medium of upper-
class communication.
6th- 7th century
Roman Britain
Transmission of religious Latin terms on behalf
of Roman missionaries. Initially, treatises
were written in Latin whereas OE was used for
law codes. King Alfred gave way to a vast OE
translation program in the 9th century.
It has been estimated that approximately 450 Old English words,
mostly nouns, were picked up from Latin; around 170 of these
entered the Old English lexicon prior to the Germanic migration
(that is, before the Angles, Saxons and Jutes takeover of Britain).
Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain
9th century
At the outset of the christianization period, Old English was a
language used for law codes. Philosophical or medical treatises
tended to be written in Latin, the international language of
learning in the Middle Ages.

6. This changed after the Viking invasions of the ninth
century left most religious houses too empty to produce
scholars with strong Latin skills. After warding off the
Viking threat, King Alfred of Wessex addressed this
educational lack with a large scale translation project
and book production program. A number of important
scholarly and religious works were translated into Old
English from Latin.
benedicere blodison blēdsian/blētsian
”tomarkorconsecrate
withblood”
“topraise,toworship” “tobless,toconsecrate,to
praise”.
Latin Germanic Old English
In some instances, Germanic words with slightly
different connotations were employed to translate
Latin elements, thus altering/expanding the former’s
meaning to suit its counterpart’s.
KingAlfredtheGreat
(849-899)

7. An excerpt from the Old
English copy of Latin author
Prudentius’ (5th century)
Psychomania.
“Ælfric's Colloquy”, a
dialogue between a teacher
and his pupils in both Latin
and Old English.
“Narratio metrica”, a
treatise in Latin by Anglo-
Saxon author Wulfstan of
Winchester.

8. ithout a doubt, the most overt bearing Latin had on Old English concerns the adoption of the Latin
alphabet. Up until the Anglo-Saxons’ christianization (6th century), literary componiments were written in
runic letters (futhorc alphabet). Via the final wave of L. influence, the L. alphabet was assimilated and
certain runes underwent changes in accordance with the new writing standards.
ð
d þ
Latin
Thorn
Old English
“th” as inthink
“th” as inthere
Modern English
//th//as inthing
//th//as infather
Example.
Etymologyofthe“þ”rune.
Due to the paucity of surving Old English texts, it is still unclear whether the two languages had the same
syntax. It has nevertheless been ascertained that the OE "dative absolute“ was modeled upon the L. “ablative
absolute” construct. Moreover, as in Latin, “Old English had three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) in
the noun and adjective, and nouns, pronouns, and adjectives were inflected for case. Nouns and adjectives
contained four cases—nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative”.

9. The usage of Latin would only decline through the Norman settlement of
Britain (1066), during which the royal court spoke a Norman language
influenced by French.
Williamthe
Conqueror
Normanconquestof
Britain(1066)