Rajarata
University of Sri Lanka
Department of
Languages
Faculty of Social
Sciences and Humanities
Online Lectures
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Year and Semester
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Year-3 Semester-1
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Subject
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History of English Language
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Subject Code
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ENGL 3112
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Course Unit
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Latin Influence on Old English
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Date
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10.05.2020
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Time
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Theory (9.00 am-11.00 pm)
Practical (4.30 pm-6.30 pm)
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Lecturer
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D.N. Aloysius
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Theory Hours
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02
Total No of Hours: 06
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Practical Hours
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02
Total No of Hours: 06
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Influence of Latin on Old English
During the Anglo Saxon period, Old
English was influenced much more than any other non-West Germanic language,
with which Old English came into contact. Influence of Latin on Old English can
be chronologically divided into three periods; the first period occurred on the
continent, prior to the arrival of Anglo-Saxons in England. The second period
was from the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in England up to their
Christianization. The last period spans from the time of Christianization up to
the arrival of the Normans in 1066.
Prior to the Christianization of
England, the English language didn’t have a proper alphabet and as a result,
runic letters were in use d. Much less is
known how the Runic alphabet originated. The word, rune means 'letter', 'text'
or 'inscription' in Old Norse.
Runic alphabet 
Ancient Latin alphabet
The most significant influence that Latin had on Old English
was the use of the ancient Latin alphabet.
Latin also held the most pervasive influence on Old English in the area
of vocabulary. It has been found that in
total approximately 450 Old English words, mostly nouns were borrowed from
Latin (Baugh: 106). Around 170 of these words entered the Old English lexicon
during the continental period (Hogg: 302; Williams: 57). They are related
mostly to plants, household items, clothing and building materials.
Accordingly, they represent the influence of spoken Latin rather than Classical
Latin.
The influx of such words clearly reflects the influence of
the literate, Classical Latin culture associated with the Church following the
Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons. A few words relating to Christianity such
as ‘church’ and ‘bishop’ were
borrowed earlier. The list of such loan words includes ‘abbot’, ‘alms’, ‘altar’, ‘angel’, ‘anthem’, ‘Arian’, ‘ark’, ‘candle’, ‘canon’,
‘chalice’, ‘cleric’, ‘cowl’, ‘deacon’, ‘disciple’, ‘epistle’, ‘hymn’, ‘litany’,
‘manna’, ‘martyr’, ‘mass’, ‘minster’, ‘noon’, ‘nun’, ‘offer’, ‘organ’, ‘pall’,
‘palm’, ‘pope’, ‘priest’, ‘provost’, ‘psalm’, ‘relic’, ‘rule’, ‘shrift’,
‘shrine’, ‘shrive’, ‘stole’, ‘synod’, ‘temple’, and ‘tunic’.
The church also exercised a profound influence on the
domestic life of the people during this period. This resulted in the adoption
of many new words, such as the names of articles of clothing and those in
household use; ‘cap’, ‘sock’, ‘silk’,
‘purple’, ‘chest’, ‘mat’, ‘sack’ words denoting foods, such as ‘beet’, ‘cabbage’, ‘lentil’, ‘millet’, ‘pear’, ‘radish’, ‘doe’, ‘oyster’, ‘lobster’,
‘mussel’ to which we may add the noun ‘cook’; names of trees, plants, and herbs such
as ‘box’, ‘pine’, ‘aloes’, ‘balsam’, ‘fennel’, ‘hyssop’, ‘lily’, ‘mallow’, ‘marshmallow’,
‘myrrh’, ‘rue’, ‘savory’ and
the general word ‘plant’. Some words related to education and
learning reflect another aspect of the church's influence. They are ‘school’, ‘master’, ‘Latin’, ‘verse’, ‘meter’, ‘gloss’, and ‘notary’.
A number of miscellaneous words were also found there , like ‘anchor’, ‘coulter’, ‘fan’ (for winnowing),
‘fever’, ‘place’, ‘sponge’,
‘elephant’, ‘phoenix’, ‘coin’ and some more or less learned or literary
words, such as ‘circle’, ‘legion’, ‘giant’, ‘consul’ and ‘talent’. The
words cited in these examples are mostly nouns, but Old English borrowed also a
number of verbs and adjectives such as ‘spend’,
‘exchange’, ‘compose’, ‘torture’, ‘weigh’, ‘prick’, ‘to dance’, ‘grind’,
‘turn’; ‘crisp’.
Latin also forms a familiar element in English place-names
such as Chester, Colchester, Dorchester, Manchester, Winchester, Lancaster,
Gloucester, Worcester and many others. The
words, port (harbor, gate and town) ‘portus’ and ‘porta’; ‘mûnt’ (mountain)
‘mons’, ‘montem’; ‘torr’ (tower, rock), ‘street’, ‘wall’,
‘wine’ were introduced through Latin language.
A lot of medical terms also originated from Latin language
such as ‘cancer’, ‘paralysis’, ‘plaster’ and
words relating to the animal kingdom, like ‘viper’, ‘camel’, ‘scorpion’, ‘tiger’, apparently
belonged to the same category of learned and literary borrowings.
Practical: Briefly explain the Latin
contribution to Old English.
References:
1.
A History of the
English Language by Albert C. Baugh
2. Old English: A Historical Linguistic
Companion by Roger Lass
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