English and Its Roots

The English have changed and so has English. The powdered wigs have been replaced by thesalon- coloured natural or woven hair and the courteous expressions like ‘Dear Sire’ have been usurped (taken over) by the bland (plain) one word expressions like ‘Sir’.

So has English changed over a period of time? Of course it has—like everything else, it has gone through the usual upheavals and turmoil and its continuous interaction with the other languages has given it a new shape and recognition. Today the English we use is definitely not the English that was used some 200 years back; forget about 200 years—even 100 years back.

This language that has, over a period of time, become so important and commands such a venerable position the world over needs to have a closer look. So in the next few articles I shall take you on a journey backwards and then bring you back and let you have a peek into the progress of English and how it achieved this cult (out of ordinary) status that it has today.But I’ll keep it light and not go into the basics, lest (in case) I have poor attendance—for I know how tiresome (boring) history can be.

So shall we cruise backwards in time?

Long back, in around 1066 AD, there was a time when English was considered a language of the lower classes and thus called a vulgar language. Sounds incredulous, doesn’t it? It happens to be the truth, though. It so happened that when William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (a part of France) invaded England, he brought with him the French language and obviously gave French the status of the official language. Thus began the class distinction of languages- where those in power and rich used French to communicate and those from the lower classes spoke English; Latin was mostly used for writing. This part in the progress of English language is known as the Middle English.

Many words that we use today come from this period—these words which mostly show power and the class distinction are: crown, castle (palace), court, parliament, army, mansion (huge house), gown, beauty, banquet (formal meal), art, poet, romance, servant, duke (chief, prince),peasant (farmer), traitor (deserter, spy),governor…

How can I not mention Chaucer, when I talk of this period in history? This is the time, when Geoffrey Chaucer-- an author, a philosopher and a diplomat—wrote his famous (albeit) last work, ‘The Canterbury Tales’--a riveting (fascinating) collection of stories told by 30 characters on their journey to Canterbury.

An interesting fact- Chaucer’s name originates from the French word ‘Chausseur’, meaning a ‘Shoemaker’.

‘Englisc’ that’s what English was originally called; it comes from the name of ‘Angles’—which was one of the three Germanic tribes that came to England from Northern Germany and Denmark. The other two tribes were Saxons and Jutes. Over the period of many years, these three tribes mixed their own languages and formed a new one;this new dialect (language) came to be known as Anglo- Saxon or Old English.

Why these tribes invaded England is not very clear, some say they came to Britain looking for shelter as their own land mostly lay flooded, some others say that these tribes were invited to England to protect the people from brutal invaders from other countries. Whatever their reasons for inhabiting (making the place their home) England may have been, the fact is that they have a huge influence in shaping up the present day English.

Remember the movie ‘Beowulf’ starring Ray Winstone and Anthony Hopkins—it is based on the most famous piece of Anglo- Saxon literature a heroic epic poem written by an anonymous (nameless) poet. Watch the movie and you’ll get the feel of that period of history.

Now, what is ‘powdered wigs’, a term that I have used in the first paragraph?

In the 18^th century Britain, wigs were a part of fashion accessory—both men and women would wear it for social as well as public appearances. The term ‘powdered’ was used as these wigs were powdered to give them a white or grey look that was in vogue in those times. Interestingly, it is believed that King Louis XIII started this fashion of wearing wigs when he started sporting (wearing) one to hide his thinning hair.

‘Dear Sire’ was used when addressing a gentleman, so the term connotes respect for the person one is addressing.

English and Its Roots - 2

To continue with what I was talking to you all about: the Anglo- Saxons were heathens (people who believed in their ancestral Gods and Goddesses). Most of them believed in the earth mother goddesses- ‘Nerthus’ and worshipped the rains and the forests. A Roman historian called Tacitus wrote about almost every facet of these three tribes in his work called ‘Germania’.

Though the historians are of the opinion that the Anglo- Saxons were not exactly brutal, they did usurp the existing culture with their own—since they found it difficult to pronounce the names of places in Britain and the ‘Celtic language’ spoken by the natives was not easy on their ears; they replaced it with their familiar Germanic language. Even the word ‘England’ comes from the Germanic language, which means ‘the land of the Angles’. The Anglo- Saxons addressed the local Britons as ‘Wealas’ (foreigners or slaves), the modern word ‘Welsh’ comes from this Anglo- Saxon word- ‘Wealas’.

Though the language used by the Anglo- Saxons would be very difficult for us to understand today, nonetheless, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots. The words be, strong and water, for example, come from the Old English.

The names of the days of the week are also Anglo-Saxon in origin: (the ‘a’ was written as ‘æ’)

Monandæg (Monday) means the day of the moon

Tiwesdæg (Tuesday) means the day of the god TiworTig

Wodnesdæg (Wednesday) the day of the god Woden

Ðunresdæg (Thursday)the day of the godÐunororThunor

Frigedæg (Friday)the day of the goddess Friga

Sæternesdæg (Saturday) the day of the Roman god Saturn

Sunnandæg (Sunday) the day of the sun

The modern English that we use today has retained many words from the Old English, in fact, some of the words have even held on to their original Germanic spellings-- and, for, of, in, to, under, on. Some words have seen a slight change in the spellings, they are: æfter (after), beforan (before), behindan (behind), bi (by), eall (all), hwæt (what), hwy (why), ofer (over), uppan (up), æt (at), æg (egg), socc (sock), scoh (shoe), scyrte (shirt), hætt (hat), mete (meat), butere (butter), milc (milk), hunig (honey), cese (cheese) and many more beside.

Interestingly, most of the swear words in the modern day English come from the Old English. Nope! I’m not going to list them down here. But, yes, this is worth a mention—the Old English has given to the modern English all the words that describe close relations- faeder, moder, sunu, dohtor, sweoster, brother.

English is ‘Learnable’

Employees of a popular hair salon wish their customers and each other ‘Happy morning’ instead of the customary ‘Good morning’, interesting isn’t it? Etymologists believe that ‘good morning, good evening and good afternoon’ have been taken from the word ‘God’ and stand for ‘God be with you’.

Who are ‘Etymologists’? Etymologists are those who study etymology. The word ‘Etymology’ has been taken from Greek, which means ‘true sense of a word’. It studies the history of words and how they change in form and meaning over a period of time.

Interestingly the ‘Etymology’ of the word ‘God’ is not very clear. In fact, the word ‘God’ is comparatively a new word and it is believed that it has been taken from the Sanskrit word ‘hu’, which means to ‘call upon’ or ‘to invoke’.

Let’s discuss about something new…something other than words, something more than just words…

Do you know that you can create a new word on your own? Okay, let me tell you more about this. Have you heard the terms ‘facebookable’ (something that can be put on the facebook) or ‘smspectation’ (to expect an sms)? Don’t laugh, I’m not joking; you can really create your own words and these new words start getting recognition, depending upon their need.

How do you form new words? Here you are:

1.     When you add a prefix or a suffix to a word. Like- semi celebrity (which would mean, someone who is not exactly a celebrity, but is on his way to becoming one). This process is known as Affixation.

2.     Look at these words- ‘enthuse’, ‘univ’, the affix has been removed from these words to form new words. This is known as Back Formation.

3.     Blending is when you mix two existing words to make a new word—‘fantabulous’ from fantastic and fabulous.

4.     When you shorten a word to make it more manageable, it is known as Clipping. Zoo is taken from Zoological Garden or blog is taken from Web Log, the two are examples of Clipping.

5.     Compounding is when you make a fresh expression by combining two independent words. Party animal, college buddy, Herculean task…

6.     When you change the grammatical function of already existing words, it is called Conversion. Example: Internalize (from ‘internal’), accessorize (from ‘accessory’).

Oh, and by the way, this process of making new words out of the old ones is called ‘Derivation’.

Indian English

Travelling is a learning experience in itself. I being a teacher of English tend (have a tendency to) to concentrate more on the English people use in different places-- diction, pronunciation and accent. It’s amazing how people within India speak English so differently from each other.

Very recently a gentleman who was arranging my transportation to reach to a workshop sweetly said, “Madam, please give me the good news of your arrival when you arrive.”  I couldn’t help but laugh.

We, Indians have given a new shape and form to this language which is called English, we speak it in our own unique way, irrespective of what the others think about us. The native speakers or shall I say the ‘original’ native speakers may smirk (sneer, turn their nose up) and look down upon our English, but as long as we understand each other, it’s perfectly alright. What do you say? After all isn’t language all about communicating?

Javed Jaffery speaking in his extremely funny English is not just a joke to evoke mirth (laughter), that kind of English is actually spoken by so many of us.

“I ams goings tos the parks to sits ons the benches ands looks ats the girls.” (I am going to the park to sit on the bench and look at the girls.)

I think, first of all you should ask yourself this question, whether you really want to learn English? Then if the answer is yes, the task becomes easier because no matter how hard you try if the inclination (liking, preference) to learn is not from within, you will just keep finding excuses.

A few pointers, maybe these will help:

1.     Learning English should be fun and not a chore (unpleasant task). Enjoy yourself while you learn.

2.     Be positive about learning English; don’t go around saying, “It is difficult to learn English.” It isn’t, it’s only challenging to learn a new language, in your case it happens to be English.

3.     Think of all the advantages of learning English and inspire (encourage) yourself.

4.     Keep aside sometime everyday to learn and read English.

5.     Try using flash cards- flash cards are square or rectangular pieces of hard paper. You can write down a difficult word or expression on each card and the meaning on the reverse of the cards. You can even carry these cards with you and have a look at them whenever you’re free.

Since I keep getting this query repeatedly, I am taking it up again- ‘the hundredth time…’

How do I improve my vocabulary?

“The” only way to improve your vocabulary is by reading and reading a lot.

…and if you don’t have the time to read then please forget about learning English! Till date there is no gadget that can be fitted on to your head and English language skills can be transferred automatically into your brains. I am saying, till date. Who knows very soon someone may invent something as exclusive as this gadget, until then put your dream of speaking in English inside a box as I can give you no better suggestion than this. Sorry!