The Adventure of English

EP1 summary

The first episode of the series reveals the whole story of English
language, which is “extraordinary and with the characteristics of a bold and
successful adventure”, covering the period from 500 A. D. to our times. During
the first 300 years it was the language spoken by underground. Now, in 21st
century, it became international official language of business and
communication. Melvyn Bragg says English language is the biggest success of
England.
It is said that Friesland, a province of the Netherlands, is the place where we
can still hear the modern language that is believed to sound closest to what
the ancestor of English sounded like fifteen hundred years ago. Frieslands
usually start their day by listening to the weather forecast from popular
weatherman Pete Polizman. Some words like three, four, frost, freeze, mist and
blue sound quite familiar because both modern English and Frisian can be
traced back to the same family – the Germanic family of languages, some of
the words stayed the same down the centuries
Butter, bread, cheese, meal, sleep, boat, snow, sea, storm – these words were
invented by West Germanic tribes, who were, quite frankly, were a warelike
adventurous people. They moved through Europe for the best part of a
thousand years and now have settlements in the lowlands of nothern Europe –
Holland, Germany and Denmark, but they were still hungry for land. In the 5th
century from the islands of Terschelling, a Germanic tribe, part of the family
that also contained Jutes, Angles and Saxons, made a sail to look for a better
life, taking their language with them.
They weren’t the first to invade english shores – more than 500 years before,
Romans did the same and had also come by sea to impose their will, but when
their empire had crumbled, they’d abandoned these islands, leaving the natiive
tribes to Britons or Celts. In the year 491, Germanic invaders slaughtered the
Celts, who had taken refuge in Pevensey castle, none of them was left alive.
Other Celts did survived the invasion – million or more of them in England, but
they were broken people. Their fate was described by the word Willis, which
was used by Germanic tribes. It still lives in the modern languages as Welsh.
Celts became the second-class citizens. The only way up was to become apart
of the invaders tribe and adopt their language and culture.
Only a couple of words from Celtic survived into modern English, like crag,
combe, brat, brach, caer, tor.
Nouns like youth, son, daughter, field, friend, home and ground; prepositions
like in, on, into, by, from and the; verbs like drink, come, go and sing are from
Old English, but they sounded different, for example: sun – soo, game –
garmin.
By the end of the 6th century Germanic tribes had divided mainland into a few
kingdoms: Kent, Sussex, Essex, Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia and Nothembria.
By the way, 25 000 words and endings -ing, -ton, -ham came to us from that
times.
In 597, the monk and prior Augustan led a mission from Rome to Kent, yet
around the same time Irish monks of the Celtic church were establishing their
influence and presence in the North. In the 7th century Christian missionaries
brought the international language of the Christian religion – Latin. Many Latin
terms became apart of modern English, like Altera, which became the word
altar, verse, monk and mass. This would become a pattern in English – the
layering of words taken from other source languages. The Angles, Saxons,
Frisians and Jutes invented the Runic alphabet – the symbols made from
straight lines, so the letters could be carved into wood or stones. Runes were
mainly used for short practical messages, or graffiti. The Latin alphabet was
different and was more suitable for writing with the usage of pen and ink on
two pages of parchment or vellum which gathered together into a book.
Christianity brought books to English shores, the flourishing of old English
language and culture started. In the late 8th century the latin-based culture of
scholarship, which had grown in the places like Lindisfarne and which also was
a cradle of old English, faced extintion from across the sea. In Lindisfarne there
was a monastery, which was sacked and burnt by the Vikings in 793. The
church became a treasure house and the jewels from church’s books became
baubles around the vikings neck.
Today the Vikings may seem romantic, but their arrival over 12 centuries ago
wasn’t cheerful at all, for many it seemed like a sign of the end of civilization.
Vikings returned and sacked Jarrow – the abbey with the greatest scholar in
one of the finest libraries in Christendom. This stronghold of the Latin word
was burnt down to shreds. The Vikings landed a great army in East Anglia and
they had the north and east of the country in full control within 5 years. The
Old Norse language was spreading througout the land.
Only Wessex still held, thanks to the king Alfred (the state to him was situated
in Winchester now). He is considered a defender of English language. In year of
878 the Danes appeared to be a decisive battle at Chippenham, in Wiltshire.
Alfred, alongside his few followers, was running free in the Somerset. If his
kingdom fell, the whole country would be controlled by conquerors, whose
language would inevitably crush English. But he proved to be an enterprising
warrior and stragegist. During his runaway in the Somerset Levels he
discovered the art of irregular warfare and guerrilla attacks against the
occupying forces, but he knew it wasn’t enough. So in the spring of 878 Alfred
sent a call for the Buckinghamshire armies to join him. Around 4000 men,
mainly from Wiltshire and Somerset, armed only with battle axes and throwing
spears, responded to that call. They mustered at Egberts stone where
trackways and ridgeways meet. 48 hours later, they started going against the
Danish army of 5000, holding high ground at Athens. The battle was described
as a slaughter by the contemporary English accounts with a rout of the Danes
by the West Saxons. Modern historians question that, but there’s still no doubt
that Alfred’s kingdom was secured, so is the English language (more
importantly for our story). Danes surrendered and Alfred was baptized as a
Christian.
Another wave of invaders began when in 1066 William Duke of Normand
sailed with his army to claim the English throne.
The rest laid after Edwardian period. Then Harold crowned himself. But
randomly he was fatally pierced. The next king was William and the English
language was influenced by French at that time (≈10 000 words, including
castle, which was the first English word brought by the French castel). The
native ruling classroom before the Congress had been slaughtered, banished or
disinherited in favour of William's followers. Half of the country was in the
hands of just 190 men and English had been forced underground in different
ways. It took 300 years to reemerge and when it did, it would have changed
dramatically
Vocabulary

Mist – a cloud of tiny water droplets suspended in the atmosphere at or near

the earth's surface that limits visibility (to a lesser extent than fog; strictly, with
visibility remaining above 1 km).
To impose – to force something into someone/something
Willis – slave, human of second sort. Also a name of Norman origin
Tribe – a social division in a traditional society consisting of families or
communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a
common culture and dialect, typically having a recognized leader.
Crag – a steep or rugged cliff or rock face.
Combe – a short valley or hollow on a hillside or coastline, especially in
southern England.
Brat – a child or a person, typically one that is badly behaved.
Caer – stronghold.
Tor – a hill or rocky peak.
To sack – to steal the valuable things from certain place and destroy it.