THE ORIGINS OF MIDDLE ENGLISH

How Middle English came into existence

THE VERY BEGINNING

Middle English, just as Modern English and Old English, is an INDO-EUROPEAN language

That, however, doesn’t tell us a lot: Indo-European languages include 443

languages and idiom spoken by roughly three billion humans,

Indo-European languages include languages as diverse as Bengali, English, French, German, Hindi, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish

INDOEUROPEAN LANGUAGES (from 4000 BC up to 1000 BC)

CENTUM AND SATEM

There are two major groups of INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES

SATEM

CENTUM

INDO-

EUROPEAN

SATEM LANGUAGES

CENTUM LANGUAGES

CENTUM vs. SATEM

GERMANIC LANGUAGES

Between 1500 BC and 1000 BC: the Nordic Bronze Age develops the pre-Proto-Germanic languages.

Between 1000 BC–500 BC: the formative phase of Proto Germanic.

After 500 BC: we assume that the Proto Germanic language is now a separate language, which will later develop and diversify into the present-day Germanic languages

GERMANIC LANGUAGES

The most important sound change which made Proto Germanic different from all other Indo-European languages was the so-called GRIMM’S LAW: P>F , T>TH, K>X (later H): e.g. Latin

pes,pedis > MnE fot; Latin tertius > MnE third; Latin canis > MnE hound

B>P, D>T, G>K: e.g. Latin verber > MnE warp; Latin decem> MnE ten; Latin gelu > MnE cold

Bh>B, Dh>D, Gh>G: e.g. Sanskrit bhrata > MnE brother; Sanskrit dwar > MnE door; Russian гусь > MnE goose

TIMELINE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

ENGLISH IN ITS INFANCY

English is traditionally associated with the British Isles, however during the first four centuries of the first millennium AD there was no trace of English anywhere in the British Isles: 55 BC – ROMANS ARRIVE 410 AD – ROMANS DEPART C. 449 AD – JUTES SETTLE IN KENT 449 – ANGLES SETTLE IN NORTHUMBRIA AND

MERCIA 447 – SAXONS SETTLE IN SUSSEX, ESSEX,

MIDDLESEX AND WESSEXEACH TRIBE SPOKE A DIALECT OF INGVAEONIC, A

PROTO LANGUAGE WITHIN THE WEST-GERMANIC BRANCH OF GERMANIC LANGUAGES.

ANGLO-SAXON INVASION

THE CELTS

TWO LITTLE GUYS THAT MADE ENGLISH POSSIBLE

Two forms of the plague bacterium:

OLD ENGLISH

Four distinct dialects formed: Kentish (Jutes); few extant texts Northumbrian (Angles), dominant in late 7th century Mercian (Angles), dominant in early 8th century (West) Saxon, dominant in 9th& 10th centuries; most extant texts are Saxon

Northumbrian (8th C) :

Nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard,Metudæs maecti end his modgidanc,Uerc uuldurfadur, sue he uundra gihuaes,Eci dryctin, or astelidæ.

West Saxon (11th C) :

Nu we sceolan herigean heofonrices weard,Metodes mihte 7 his modgeþanc,Wera wuldorfæder, swa he wuldres gehwæs,Ece drihten, ord onstealde.

Translation: Now we shall praise the keeper of the heavenly kingdom,the power of the lord of destiny and his imagination,the deeds of the glorious father, when of every glorious thinghe, the eternal lord, ordained the beginning