The History of English

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The word “calendar” came to us from Latin. In the Latin there was a word
“calendarium”. It meant “a record-book”. Money-lenders kept a special book, in which they recorded to whom they lent money and how much interest they will get. This book was called “calendarium” because interest was paid on the “Calends”. By the Calends the Romans named the first day of each month.

Time passed, the old meaning was forgotten. “Calendar” began to mean the record of days, weeks, months within a year.
This is a story of the word “calendar”. But the story of how a calendar was made is still more interesting indeed. We know that a calendar provides an easy way to place a day within the week, month or year. But it is not easy to make a calendar. The trouble is that the length of a year is determined by the length of time the earth takes to revolve once on its own axis. But the earth does not take an equal number of days to complete its year. It needs 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds. Obviously you cannot divide a day of 24 hours into that. And the problem is further complicated because the month is determined by the length of time it takes the moon to go around the earth, which is 29 Ѕ days into 365 ј days, minus 11 minutes and 14 seconds. The result is that most calendars were messes.
The English got their calendar from the Romans. But at first the Romans had a very bad calendar. They had ten month of varying length, and then they added enough days at the end to make the year right. Besides the politicians changed the length of the months as they wished. They could change the length of the month to keep themselves in office longer and to leave less time for their opponents. I can’t imagine that somebody will reduce June, July, August to two weeks each, and will take away more than half my summer vacation? Will you like that? Of course, not.
The calendar varied so much that by the time of Julius Caesar January came in August.
Meanwhile a very good calendar had been worked out in Asia Minor and was in use in Egypt. Julius Caesar, a great Roman emperor, changed it a little to fit the Roman customs and introduced it in Rome. This calendar was called after him “the Julian Calendar”. As a matter of fact, Caesar only gave the orders; he had the advice of a Greek astronomer named Sosigenes. This calendar worked well for hundred years. But it provided only for exact figure of 365 days a year and an extra day in every four years, it did not count minutes and seconds. So, once more, the calendar year was getting farther and farther from the year of the earth’s revolution around the sun.
Then in 1582 another change of calendar took place. The Roman Pope Gregory
XII suppressed ten days in 1582 and started new calendar. The English people adopted the Gregorian Calendar in 1752. And for a time all dates were given two ways: one for the New Style, one for the Old Style.
Now nobody uses the Old Style any more, but of course the calendar is not quite accurate yet. Still it will be a long time before we have to add or subtract another day.
The year is divided into months and every month has its own name. Now we’d like to investigate how the names of months appeared. But first, let’s think of the word “month” itself.
A month is a measure of time. It is a very old word. It goes back to Indo-
European base. Long time ago people probably- had only three measures of time - year, which was the four seasons; a day which was the period from one sunrise to the next; and a month, which had the period from one moon to the next.
So, the Indo-European base “me-“ came into Old English, and became “mona”.
The word meant "a measure of time". Then it began to mean “moon”, since the moon measured time. Later suffix "-th" was added to the end of the word; the word "monath" meant the period of time which the moon measured. Still later the English people dropped the "a" and called it "month”.

And now, stories of the names of months. The Modem English names for the months of the year all come from the Latin. But before the English people adopted the Latin names they had their native names. And, in fact, in some cases the native names are more interesting than the Latin ones.

The first month of the year is January. January is the month of Janus.
Janus was a Roman God of the beginning of things. Janus had two faces: on the front and the back of the head. He could look backwards into the past and forward to the beginning year. January is a right name for the first month of the New Year, isn't it? On the New Year eve we always think of what we have done in the past year and we are planning to do better in the
New Year.

Now, the Old English had its own name for January. It was “Wulf-
Monath", which means “month of wolves". To-day England is thickly populated and a very civilized country and it is hard, to imagine that their was a time when wolves roamed the island. In the cold of the deep winter they would get so hungry they would come into the towns to look for food, and so January was called “the month of the wolves".

The name of February comes from the Latin “februa” - "purification". It was a month when the ancient Romans had a festival of purification.

Before the English adopted the Latin name, they called this month
“Sprate-Kale-Month”. “Kale” is a cabbage plant, "sprote" means to sprout.
So, it was “the month when cabbages sprout”

March is a month of Mar's, the Roman God of war. March was the earliest warm time of the year when the Romans could start a war. Before the time of
Julius Caesar the Roman year began with March which was then the first month of the year.

The Old English name for March was "Hlyd-Monath", which means "the month of noisy winds". March in Britain often comes with strong winds. By the way, this explains the saying: "If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb".

There are a few stories about the meaning of the name “April”! The most spread one is a pretty story that the month was named from a Latin word
“aperire" – “to open”. It is a month when buds of trees and flowers begin to open.

The English before they adopted the Latin names, called April "Easter-
Monath”, the month of Easter.

“May” is named for the Roman goddess of growth and increase, Maia. She was the Goddess of spring, because in spring everything was growing, flourishing, increasing.

The English name is not so poetic. They called the month "Thrimilce", which means something like “to mi1k three times”. In May the cows give so much milk that the farmers had to milk them three times a day.

Month of "June" was so called after the Junius family of Rome, one of the leading clans of ancient Rome. Besides, the Roman festival of Juno, the
Goddess of Moon, was celebrated on the first day of the month.

We think of June as the month of brides and roses, but to the Anglo-
Saxons it was "Sere-Monath", the “dry month”.

“July” is the month of Julius Caesar. The month began to be called that in the year when Julius Caesar was killed.

The English called July “Maed-Monath”, “meadow month”, because the meadows are in bloom in July.

Now, comes “August”. This month was once called “sexillis”, as it was the sixth month from March, with which, as you remember, the year once opened. It was then changed into August in honour of the Roman emperor
Augustus Caesar, the nephew of Julius Caesar. This man was chosen by Julius
Caesar as his heir, he took the name Caesar, and was given the title
“Augustus” by the Roman Senate. This month was “a lucky Month” for Augustus
Caesar. By the way, Augustus refused to have fewer days in his month of
August than there were in the month of July. So he borrowed a day from
February and added it to August; that is why August has 31 days.

The Old English name for August was "Wead-Monath", the month of weeds.
You know, the Old English word "weed" meant vegetation in generale.

“September”, “October”, “November” and “December” are just "seventh",
"eighth", "ninth" and "tenth" months of the year. You remember that before the Romans changed their calendar, March was the first month.

The English had more descriptive names for these month. September was called "Harfest-Monath", "the harvest month". October was "Win-Monath",
"the wine month". November was "Bloo-Monath", because in November the
English sacrificed cattle to their gods. December was “Mid-Winter-Monath”, because this month was the middle month of winter.

C). Germanic tribes.

At the beginning of the 5th century the Romans left the islands, they had tо save their own country from barbarians. If you want to know what events followed after that, turn on the Time Machine again. So, here we are, in the 5th century, This is the time of the birth of the English language. Тhe
Germanic tribes of Angles, Sаxоns and Jutes invaded thе misty fertile island. Some of the native Britons were killed, mаnу others fled from the invaders "аs from fire" into the hillу parts of the country. Anglеs, Saxons аnd Jutes spread all over the fertile lаnds of the Isles. Gradually thеу bесаmе one nation - English. They developed one language - English. As historians write, "thе English language arrived in Britain on the point of а sword"! The реорlе оf that timе of thе history аrе called Аng1о-Sахоns, their language is оld English оr Ang1о-Saxon as well.
Тhе next destination оf оur Тimе Масhinе is the 7th century, when
Christiаnity was introducеd in Britain, monasteries with sсhools аnd libraries were set uр all оver thе соuntry. Тhе English language was considerably enriched bу the Latin woгds.
Now, with the help of the Тimе Масhinе we'll fly over into the 8th сеntuгу.
Аt this time the ancient Scandinavians, cаlled the Vikings, began to гаid
Britаin. Тhе Vikings continued thеir wars with the English until the timе the Ang1о-Saxоn king Alfred thе Great made а treaty with them аnd gave them а раrt of the country, that was саlled "Danelaw". Тhе Vikings settled thеrе, married Еnglish wives аnd bеgan peaceful life on the territory of
Britain. Later military conflicts resumed again, but by the 11th century they were over. The influence of these events оn the English lаnguagе was great, indeed. А lаrge number of Scandinavian words саmе intо Еnglish from
"Danes" as thе Ang1o-Saxons called all the Vikings.
One reason why Roman Britannia disappeared so quickly is probably that its influence was largely confined to the towns. In the countryside, where most people lived, farming methods had remained unchanged and Celtic speech continued to be dominant.
The Roman occupation had been a matter of colonial control rather than large-scale settlement. But, during the fifth century, a number of tribes from the north-western European mainland invaded and settled in large numbers. Two of these tribes were the Angles and the Saxons. These Anglo-
Saxons soon had the south-east of the country in their grasp. In the west of the country their advance was temporarily halted by an army of Celtic
Britons under the command of the legendary King Arthur. Nevertheless, by the end of the sixth century, they and their way of life predominated in nearly all of England and in parts of southern Scotland. The Celtic Britons were either Saxonized or driven westwards, where their culture and language survived in south-west Scotland, Wales and Cornwall.
The Anglo-Saxons had little use for towns and cities. But they had a great effect on the countryside, where they introduced new farming methods and founded the thousands of self-sufficient villages which formed the basis of
English society for the next thousand or so years.
The Anglo-Saxons were pagan when they came to Britain. Christianity spread throughout Britain from two different directions during the sixth and seventh centuries. It came directly from Rome when St Augustine arrived in
597 and established his headquarters at Canterbury in the south-east of
England. It had already been introduced into Scotland and northern England from Ireland, which had become Christian more than 150 years earlier.
Although Roman Christianity eventually took over the whole of the British
Isles, the Celtic model persisted in Scotland and Ireland for several hundred years. It was less centrally organized, and had less need for a strong monarchy to support it. This partly explains why both secular and religious power in these two countries continued to be both more locally based and less secure than it was elsewhere in Britain throughout the medieval period.
Britain experience another wave of Germanic invasions in the 8th century.
These invaders, known as Vikings, Horsemen or Danes, came from Scandinavia.
In the ninth century they conquered and settled the extreme north and west of Scotland, and also some coastal regions of Ireland. Their conquest of
England was halted when they were defeated by King Alfred of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex. This resulted in an agreement which divided England between Wessex, in the south and west, and the “Danelaw” in the north and east.
However, the cultural differences between Anglo-Saxons and Danes were comparatively small. They led roughly the same way of life and spoke two varieties of the same Germanic tongue (which combined to form the basis of modern English). Moreover, the Danes soon converted to Christianity. These similarities made political unification easier, and by the end of the 10th century England was one kingdom with a Germanic culture throughout.
Most of modern-day Scotland was also united by this time, at least in name, in a Gaelic kingdom.
Paopla in Anglo-Saxon times. Living uncomfortably close to the natural world, were wall aware that though creation is inarticulate it is animate, and that every created thing, every “with”, had its own personality.
The riddle is a sophisticated and harmless for of invocation by imitation: the essence of it is that the poet, by an act of imaginative identification assumes the personality of some crested thing - an animal, a plant, a natural force.
The specialists consider that they know not enough about The Exeter Book collection of riddles. Ridding was certainly a popular pastime among the
Anglo-Saxons, especially in the monasteries, and there are extant collections (in Latin, of course,) from the pens of Aldhelm, Bishop of
Sherborne, Tatwin, Archbishop of Canterbury and others.
The provenance and genesis of the collection are unknown, and from internal evidence one can only draw the modest conclusion that the ninety-five riddles were not written by one man.

In English a student and the little black circle in the center of the eye are both called “pupils”? And the connection between them is a doll. Both the words came into the English language through French from the Latin. In
Latin there was a word “pupa” – “a girl”, and “pupus” – “ a boy”. When the
Latin ending “illa” was added to “pupa” or “pupus”, the word meant “ a little girl” or “ a little boy”. Since little girls and little boys went to school, they became “pupils”.

But “pupilla”, a little girl, also meant “a doll”. It is easy to understand why, isn’t it? Now, if you look into the pupil of someone’s eye when the light is just right, you can see your reflection. Your figure, by the way, is very, very small like a tiny doll. The Romans named the black circle in the eye “pupilla” because of the doll they could see there. And the word came into the English as “pupil” as well. And thus, we have in the English language two words that are spelt the same and have the same origin, but mean different things: “pupil” – a student, and “pupil” – a black circle in the center of your eye.
Professor casts a quick glance at the wall and noticed a map there. “This map is made of paper. But the word itself meant cloth once. This word came into English from Latin, the Latin mappa was cloth. First maps were drawn on fabrics. In Latin the combination of the words appeared: mappa mundi –
“cloth of the word”. It was the first representation of the world as a drawing on the cloth. Later maps began to be made of paper, but the word remained.
By another route the same word came into English for the second time. In
Late Latin this word was corrupted into nappa, and later, through French, it entered the English language with the new meaning of napkin.”
“When a teacher asks you a question. She expects you will give a correct answer. Answer is a very strange word. Its spelling makes no sense until you know its origin. This is a very old word. In Old English the noun was andswaru and the verb – andswearing. So, you see, it consisted of two parts: and and swear. The word and at that time meant against; swear meant to give a solemn oath. In the youth of the English language andswaru was “ a solemn oath made against an accusation”. A man had to pronounce a solemn in reply to an accusation, to prove that it is wrong. In the course of historical development the word lost its solemnity and it means now a reply, to reply. Any little child answer you back today.”
Professor History remarks, “ I see that some of you write with a ballpoint pen, others with a pencil, and there are some who write with a fountain pen. So, you can’t do without ink, after all. A simple three-letter word ink comes from a nine-letter ancestor that meant a branding iron. And now a few steps away from the skill of writing towards the skill of healing wounds. When we have a wound we cauterize it, we burn it with heat or with a chemical in order to close it and prevent it from becoming infected. The ancient Greeks used to cauterize a wound as we do, and the grandparent word of cauterize is kauterion, a branding iron. The Greek not only sealed wounds with heat, but they used much the same process in art for sealing fast the colours of their painting. It was customary then to use wax colours fixed with heat or, as they expressed it, encauston, burned in. In
Latin this word changed to encaustum, and it became the name for a kind of purple ink that the emperors used when they signed their official documents. In Old French encaustum became enque. English adopted the word as enke or inke, that is how today we have our ink, coloured liquid used for writing or printing.”
“The start of spoken language is buried in mystery and in a tangle of theories,” Professor History begins his lecture. “The history of written language also disappears in the jungles, in the deserts and far fields of unrecorded time. But at least the words that have to do with writing tell us much about the early beginning of the art and the objects that were used to record the written symbols.
The word write was spelled writan in Old English. It first meant to scratch, and it is exactly what the primitives did on their birch-bark or shingles with sharp stones and others pointed instruments. In the more sophisticated lands that surrounded the Mediterranean the papyrus plant was used instead of the bark of the trees; as you already know, that gave us the word paper.
Pen with which we write now, in its Latin form penna, meant a feather and in some ancient collections you can still see quill pens. And pencil that we hold inherits its name from the Latin penicillum, meaning a little tail, and this refers to the time when writing was done with a tiny brush that looked indeed like a little tail.
The term letter designating a written symbol, a letter of the alphabet is thought to be relative to the Latin word linere, to smear, to leave a dirty mark on some surface. Isn’t it a good description of some of the early writing?
But what is written should be read. In read we have an odd little word, from the Old English raedan, which meant first to guess, to discern. And again it is just what you had to do to interpret what was scratched on wooden shingles. Anything that had to be interpreted was called a raedels.
Later on people began to think that the word raedels was a plural because of the “s” on the end. A new singular, raedel was formed and here is the ancestor of our word riddle. Finally the word read took on its modern meaning: if you can read, you have the ability to look at and understand what is written.
Of course the basis of all writing is language. But it is first of all, a spoken activity, and hence this noun is derived from a word referring to the organ of speech primarily involved. In this case it is the French word language, which goes back to the Latin lingua, tongue. The English, though, retained their native word to name that soft movable part inside your mouth whish you see for tasting and licking and for speaking”, a tongue.
Sometimes you may hear the word tongue used in the meaning of language, but it is an old-fashioned and literary use.
If you want to read what is written in a foreign language, you need a dictionary. The term dictionary comes from the Latin word dictio, from dico, say or speak. A dictionary is really a record of what people say, of the pronunciation, spellings, and meanings that they give to words.”
In Old English there was a different word with which the Englishmen called bread, it was half. But then as a result of the Vikings invasion and
Scandinavian influence on the English language a new word of the same meaning entered the English vocabulary from Scandinavian: cake. Since the
English had already their own word (half), they started to use the word cake for a special type of bread. First it referred to a small loaf of bread of flat and round shape. From the 15th century it began to mean sweet food, as it does now.
To the Scandinavians, living in Britain, called their bread by the word brauth. The English had a similar word – bread meaning a lump, a piece of bread. Under the influence of the Scandinavian language the word bread widened its meaning and began to mean bread in general, while the word loaf
(from Old English half) narrowed its meaning, now it is a large lump of bread which we slice before eating.
The Great Englishman Caxton, who introduced printing in Britain in 1476, wrote in a preface to one of the books about a funny episode with egg. The thing is that in Old English the word egg had a different form which spelled as ey in Middle English; its plural form was eyren. And again the
Scandinavians brought with them to Britain their word egg. It first spread in the northern English dialects, the southerners did not know it and used their native word.
Caxton tells the readers that once English merchants from the northern regions were sailing down the Thames, bound for the Netherlands. There was no wind and they landed at a small southern village. The merchants decided to buy some food. They came to a house and one of them asked a woman if she could sell them eggs. The woman answered that she did not understand him because she did not know French. The merchant became very angry and said that he did not speak French either. Then another merchant helped. He said they wanted eyren, the woman understood him and brought them eggs.
For rather a long period of time two words existed in Britain: a native
English word eyren was used in the South, and the Scandinavian borrow eggs in the North. The Scandinavian word has won after, as you can see.

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