Modern English is Not 100% English

Modern English is not 100% English in its origin as some English words found in the dictionary show an appreciable influence on other languages. For instance, fear, alarm, fright and terror are all similar in their meanings and yet came from different languages that were later incorporated into English.

Modern English as a global language has over the centuries assimilated words from many different languages. Specifically, other languages have enriched and contributed the words to English. Latin, French and German are three of the most important words that were adopted into English.

Anglo-Saxon or more commonly known as Old English, was a language brought to Britain by Germanic Tribes of the Saxons, Jutes and the Angles in the 5th century AD. These invaders were said to name the England as “the land of the Angles” and simultaneously furnished the English with many common basic terms or terminology. Anglo-Saxon appeared as the first form of English which was spoken between the mid 5th century and mid 12th century. Some of the Old English are still spoken until today. The most used words came from Old English include to, should, not, from, but, father, and, fight, will, sky, ill, same, skirt, kid, law, knife, lift, raft, ransack, sale, rug, root, bag, birth, anger, both, cake, drag, wing, club, gear, want, tight, trust, ugly, wicker, get, hit, husband, call, dirt, take, leg, sly, snare, wise, wrong, they, though, till, weak, and love.

Oxford English Dictionary published in 2006 is packed with approximately 600,000 words from the Old English. Many words of the Old English are particularly notable in the works of Shakespeare. The early copy of Bede’s book which is now preserved in a library in Leningrad has the poem written in a version of Anglo-Saxon. Other good source of the Old English appeared in parts of the tale of Beowulf as: Hwat! wç Gâr-Dena in geâr-dagum, [What! We [of] Gar-Danes(lit. spear-danes) in yore-days,].

Old Norse (the ancient language of North Germanic) came into English during the 9th and 10th century, when the invaders came from Scandinavia occupied the eastern part of England. Old Norse which has a close relationship to Anglo-Saxon appears in many daily words and conversations in Modern English. Many place-names end in-by particularly found in England are originated from these invaders’ word for village. I also recommend the book written by Mary S.Serjeantson (1961, Barnes & Noble, NY) entitled “A history of foreign words in English” as it gives a lot of insight of Old Norse origin words that are no longer existed in Modern English.