History Revealed

Every word I type to you now, every syllable, every sound, a product of nations and invasions alike. A developed and refined communication of every race to have set foot on British soil. Language that we use today as a nation has generally been subject to at least four changes in its lifetime, though through years of study, a common conclusion found is that there is a staple and core language. This language had such influence that it shaped English as we know it today, and it belonged to the Anglo Saxons, who gave to us 'Old English'.

 

Old English is well known for its construction of locational names, being the tongue to have created Wessex, Northumbria and Kent etc. but where did it all begin? Aware that the Saxons were not the first inhabitants of the British Isles, I understand that there must have been a language prior, and so we begin with the Celtics. 'Celtic' is a name given to the people and language that made up the majority of Britain before Roman Invasion. There were two strands to the Celtic language; Brythonic, being native to the Welsh and Cornish; and Goidelic, native to the Irish and Scottish settlers.

The Celtics, first to name the British villages, chose one situated in northeasterly England to call Caer Ebruac. It was taken by the following settlers, the Romans, who brought Latin influence with them. They took this name and proclaimed the same village to later be called Eboracum. Next the Anglo Saxons took their turn in developing the area, they are said to have substituted 'Ebor' for the Saxon word 'Eofor' meaning boar, creating Eoforwic. After this, subject to Viking pronunciation 'wic' then became 'vik' in 'Jorvik', which in modern English gives us the translation 'York'. The Names of most any county, town, or village in Britain, is likely to be the product of such borrowings, clippings, formations and blends.

 

Philologists have shown cohesive patterns between German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. Modern English seems to harbor these same fundamental rules, telling us that English is in fact a Germanic language; leading researchers to believe that these languages must be strands from a common ancestral tongue. These findings have helped to aid the estimations of Old English pronunciation, although of course there is no certainty without any hard evidence to go on. Spelling pronunciation should theoretically have a stronger form in written representation, as it is unlikely that Old English used 'silent letters'. Another way we can try to emulate the soundings of the Anglo Saxon language is by using the Latin alphabet, something the Saxons would have studied and taught.

 

Our Language as we know it may come across as a typically structured pattern of words, but there is more then what meets the eye. Although evidence is not in plentiful supply to support claims for the English language, it is unquestionable that it is built upon layers and reformations. Every word has a story.