1. Influence of Latin on
Old English
By Kenneth Estrada, Dave Hovemeyer, Liz Rozansky, and
Sarah Seitz
2. Pre-Germanic Migration
• Before the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes migrated to Britain, they
traded and fought with the Latin-speaking Roman Empire
(Gramley).
• As a result, the Germanic tribes adopted many Latin words for
common objects, food, trade, and military practices into their
vocabulary.
• Common objects: cup, dish, pillow, spoon, table
• Food: butter, cheese, mustard, onion, pepper
• Trade: bottle, coin, pound, tradesman, wine
• Military: camp, mile, pit, street, wall
• These words were later brought to Britain through migration
and incorporated into the English language.
3. Role of Christianity
• Anglo-Saxon period: 6th and 7th century (Gramley)
• Christian missionaries brought many Latin religious terms
to Britain.
• These words include angel, bishop, chalice, mass, myrrh,
nun, organ, pope, priest, psalm, sabbath (Macmillan).
• Catholic monks generally wrote texts in Latin.
• When translating the texts, monks tried to find suitable
Old English equivalents.
• When equivalents could not be found, the original Latin
words were incorporated into the Old English lexicon.
4. Latin as a Pervading Influence
• Sometimes, instead of Latin words, Germanic words
were adapted and given new meanings.
• Old Germanic: bletsian- to make ‘sacred’ or ‘holy’ with blood; to
consecrate by some sacrificial rite
• Old English: bless- to consecrate (a thing) by a religious rite, the
utterance of a formula or charm (OED)
• While the words adapted were Germanic, Old Germanic
contained Latin influences.
“Latin in German (2)”
5. Norman Conquest
• Occured in 1066 (Gramley)
• Aristocracy spoke Anglo-Norman while lower
class spoke English.
• Until Henry IV of England ascended the throne in
1399, the royal court spoke a Norman language
that became increasingly Gallicized through
contact with French.
• Norman influence caused a decrease in the
influx of Latin lexical borrowings.
• Latin-based Old Norse became more popularly
adopted.
6. Works Cited
Gramley, Stephan. "The origins of English (before 450)" The
History of English: An Introduction. London: Routledge,
2012. 52. Print.
"Latin in German (2)." About.com. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Macmillan, Palgrave. “Word Lists- Latin Loan Words.” Palgrave.
Web.
Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press, Web. 15 Feb.
2014.
