Introductory text. Countless tongues / languages – незліченні / численні мови

Notes to the text:

countless tongues / languages – незліченні / численні мови

to perish(ed) – умирати, гинути

humble and obscure in origin – скромного та нечіткого походження

pagan / German / Teutonic tribes – язичницькі / германські / тевтонські племена

to conquer(ed) the island – завоювати / підкоряти острів

Anglo-Saxon ancestors – англо-саксонські предки

to ravage(d) Britain – спустошувати / знищувати Британію

Roman Empire – Римська імперія

walled city – місто, обгороджене стіною

to worship(ed) in Christian churches – молитися в християнських церквах

to derive(d) from Latin – походити з латині / мати латинське походження

to flourish(ed) – процвітати

scholarship / scholarly influence – ученість / учений вплив

Northumbrian / Anglican dialect – нортумбрський / англіканський діалект

to acquire(d) – набувати, здобувати

to be utterly destroyed – бути повністю зруйнованим

to invade(d) / invasion of the Danes – втручатися / вторгнення данців

to be settled side by side – оселятися поряд

confused and blurred – заплутаний та невиразний

to promote(d) the revival of learning – сприяти відродженню навчання

preserved specimens – зразки / екземпляри, що збереглися

speech of uneducated peasants – мова неосвічених селян

cultivated classes – культурні / освічені прошарки населення

with great rapidity – дуже швидко

to be recorded in writing – бути зафіксованим / відображеним на письмі

fixed word order – сталий / фіксований порядок слів

inflexions – флексія, закінчення

to be distinguished – визначатися, розрізнятися

Among the many forms of human speech, and those countless tongues which have arisen and perished in the past, the English language, which has now spread over so large a portion of the world, is as humble and obscure in its origin as any other. It is, of course, in no sense native to England, but was brought there by the German tribes who conquered the island in the 5^th and the 6^th centuries. When Angle-Saxon ancestors came to ravage Britain and settled there, they found the island inhabited by a people weaker, but more civilized than themselves. The reason of it: for several centuries the Celts in England had enjoyed the civilization of the Roman Empire; they lived in walled cities, worshipped in Christian churches, and spoke the Latin language. That’s why a large part of English vocabulary derived from Latin sources. But in whatever part of Britain the Teutonic tribes settled, the Roman civilization and the Roman language perished.

In the North of the land, where Christianity and culture were introduced from Ireland, literature and scholarship flourished, and the local or Northumbrian dialect seemed likely to become the standard speech of England. It was from the Angles settled here and their Anglican dialect, that the language acquired the name of English. This Northumbrian civilization, however, was almost utterly destroyed by a new invasion of the Danes, pagan tribes from across the Herman Ocean. Their language was so like Angle-Saxon that it could be understood without great difficulty. So when the two races were settled side by side, the mixed dialects arose, mainly English in character, but with many Danish words, and with many different grammatical forms confused and blurred.

When the Northumbrian culture was destroyed, the kingdom of Wessex became the center of English civilization; and under the scholarly influence of King Alfred, and the revival of learning he promoted, West-Saxon became the literary and classical form of English. Almost all the specimens of early English that have been preserved are written in this dialect.

When for the third time a foreign race invaded England, the language of Wessex was almost destroyed. The Normans dominated by interrupting the traditions of the language, by destroying its literature and culture, by reducing it to the speech of uneducated peasants. English, being no longer spoken by the cultivated classes or taught at schools developed as a popular spoken language with great rapidity.

Each man wrote in the dialect he spoke, phonetic changes that had appeared in speech were now recorded in writing. This led to instinctivesearch for new means of expression. Word order became more fixed; the use of prepositions and auxiliary verbs to express the meaning of lost inflexions increased; some foreign pronouns were adopted from another language; from the north spread the use of the genitive and plural in s for nearly all nouns.

Although the development of English was gradual, it may be divided into three main periods – the Old, the Middle, and the Modern, which may be distinguished by their grammatical characteristics:

Old English (down to A.D. 1200)	period of full inflexions
Middle English (1200 – 1500)	period of leveled inflexions
Modern English (1500 till now)	period of lost inflexions

Дата добавления: 2015-10-24