History of The English Language, Part Two

Early-Late Modern Period. (1500’s-Today.)

            The next great wave of change in the English language came with the renaissance with Poets like William Shakespeare who actually wrote in modern English, also thanks to the many scholars, classical Greek and Latin words were added to the language. Later on in this era of innovation, spelling and grammar became fixed and the first English dictionary was published in 1604. Then in the Late-Modern English period, the Scientific and industrial revolution brought more change and perfection into this tongue. With the scientific revolution new words had to be brought in with Latin and Greek words such as “Oxygen” and “Protein” so many words were created thanks to the Greek and Latin roots. Then thanks to the rise of the English Empire, global trade served as a big way to spread English around the world. Finally at the turn of the 20th century military slang was integrated into the every-day English such words as “Blockbuster” and “Radar” or “camouflage”.

             “It is useful to compare various versions of a familiar text to see the differences between Old, Middle, and Modern English. Take for instance this Old English (c. 1000) sample:

Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum si þin nama gehalgod tobecume þin rice gewurþe þin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonum 
urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us to dæg 
and forgyf us ure gyltas swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum 
and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge ac alys us of yfele soþlice.

Rendered in Middle English (Wyclif, 1384), the same text is recognizable to the modern eye:

Oure fadir þat art in heuenes halwid be þi name;  
þi reume or kyngdom come to be. Be þi wille don in herþe as it is doun in heuene. 
yeue to us today oure eche dayes bred. 
And foryeue to us oure dettis þat is oure synnys as we foryeuen to oure dettouris þat is to men þat han synned in us. 
And lede us not into temptacion but delyuere us from euyl.

Finally, in Early Modern English (King James Version, 1611) the same text is completely intelligible:

Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name.  
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen. 
Giue us this day our daily bread. 
And forgiue us our debts as we forgiue our debters. 
And lead us not into temptation, but deliuer us from euill. Amen.” (Emerson 57)

            English as any other language out there has a great and complicated history and that history is still in the making. Who knows how English will be in five hundred years, what about a thousand? No one knew.