CHAPTER 4

The Make-up of the

English Vocabulary
THE H IS TO R IC A L B A C K G R O U N D

It is time to pause in our exploration o f some o f the vagaries o f current

English usage. For one cannot give close attention to choosing the right
w ords w ithout becoming aware of w hat a remarkably rich vocabulary
English has. In order to understand why that is so, and also in order to
understand w hat kind o f variety it is that English has, it is necessary to
look briefly at the historical development o f the language.

Roman Britain
The Britons inhabiting our country, w ho faced the first Roman invasions
by Julius Caesar in 55 b c and then the actual conquest undertaken by the
Emperor Claudius some ten years later, w ere Celts. The Romanization of
the country, o f w hich w e still see so many rem inders in our roads and
in the scattered relics o f houses, baths and temples, had its effect on the
language spoken here. Many people m ust have used Latin. Natives w ho
prospered and took advantage o f Roman civilization in the form of
centrally heated country houses no doubt had to use Latin from time to
time. But whereas Latin replaced the Celtic language in Gaul, its use in
England seems to have been limited to a small section of the population.
The Romans w ithdrew , the last troops finally leaving round about a d
410. There followed the invasion o f Britain by tribes from Denmark and
the Low Countries. These w ere Teutonic tribes defined by early historians
as Jutes, Angles and Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons, as they came to be called,
no doubt settled dow n w ith the Celts comfortably enough in certain
areas. But elsewhere the Celts fiercely resisted the invaders and were
gradually driven west to settle in Wales and Cornwall. Roman towns were
destroyed and abandoned. A different kind o f social order developed. The