English Words Origins Test

25,000 new words

25k new words entered the English language during these years, more than during any prior period

28% of Modern English

28% of English words today are originally French.

60% Latin

60% of modern English comes directly or indirectly from Latin

King James Bible

8,000 word bible printing in 1611 preserved traditional phrasings, such as follow thou me, you follow me

PIE Root

A Proto-Indo-European root.

The Canterbury Tales

A famous medieval work by Geoffrey Chaucer.

Britannia

A roman colony, originally Celtic.

feudalism

A system of land ownership between nobles, lords, craftsmen, peasants, and slaves.

Grendel

A terrible monster described in the epic poem Beowulf.

Hundred Years' War

A war that lasted 100 years between England and France.

10,000 words

About 10,000 French words were added to English.

Beowulf

An epic poem of a warrior (Beowulf) who slays a monster, Grendel.

Printing Press

An invention by Johannes Gutenberg which allowed people to mass-produce books.

Idioms

Bible included these, phrases that have their own meaning apart from literal, (an eye for an eye)

language of church

Church officials spoke Latin.

language of common folk

Common people spoke the Anglo-Saxon language.

Angle-Land

England. The name that the Anglo-Saxons had given to it at the time.

synonym

English has a great number of synonyms, or words that have a similar meaning

350 million

English has over 350 million native speakers.

Germanic Branch

English is included in the Germanic Branch of the Indo-European family.

7,100 languages

English is one of 7,100 languages spoken all around the world.

language families

English is part of the Indo-European language family.

first global language

English is the world's first global language.

language of the enemy

English people called French the "language of the enemy."

official language

English was the official language of parliament.

Angle-ish

English. The name that the Anglo-Saxons had given it at the time.

Explorers

Explorers from Spain, France, and England traveled to Asia and North America.

St. Augustine

He converted the Anglish King to Christianity.

William Caxton

He used the printing press to print many books.

Harold Godwin

He was a rightly crowned king; however nobody liked him.

Geoffrey Chaucer

He was the greatest writer in Medieval England; he wrote the Canterbury Tales.

Alfred the Great

He won a decisive victory over the Vikings, pushing them out of Southern England.

12,000 new words

In the English Renaissance 12,000 new words are added

Indo-European family

Includes most of the languages in the Europe, America, Australia, India, and parts of Africa.

most words of any period

Industrial Revolution, 25k new words

Colonies

Jamestown and Plymouth are established and become the first colonies

100

Languages are classified into 100 different language families.

Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin Chinese has 1 billionspeakers.

j and v; i and u

Noah Webster added j and v which were just alrenated letters for i and u befroe, forming the Latin alphabet of 26 letters

tre to -ter -our to-or

Noah Webster changed the British word endings -tre and -our from theatre and colour to theater and color, dropped ck on some words, publick to public

standards in classrooms

Noahs changes became standard in a new set of schoolbooks for every school in America

4/5 1,000 common

Of the most common Modern English words, 80% or 4/5 are of Old English origin.

24,000

Old English included 24,000 words.

1,000 words

Old Norse added about 1,000 words to the English language.

English Renaissance

Period where 12,000 new words are added to the English Language

Thesarus

Peter Mark Roget published Roget's Thesaurus, first book of synoymns

Latin and Greek

Scientific, Medical, Mathematical, words from the Renaissance came from Latin and Greek

Julius Caesar

Started the colony of Britannia and was the leader of the Romans.

King Arthur Stories

Stories of a great king; orginally of Celtic origin

Robin Hood Stories

The Anglo-Saxon peasants began telling these stories during hard times.

most influential text

The Bible which was the only text people read regularly

Celts

The Celts were red-haired Europeans who settled in England and became the first Britons.

qu, ch, gh, ou

The French added these unique spelling combinations.

Old English Plurals

The Old English plurals were usually -en.

Latin

The Roman language.

hard g sound

The Vikings also introduced the hard g sound.

Scandinavian Vikings

The Vikings began to raid coastal cities, which infuriated the Anglo-Saxons.

days of the week

The Vikings introduced the days of the week.

sk sound

The Vikings introduced the sk sound.

Battle of Hastings

The battle in which William the Conqueror defeated Harold Godwin.

standardized spelling

The books that Caxton printed helped standardize spelling and grammar.

First britons

The first people to settle in the British area.

Saxons

The group that the Angles joined with- they created Angle-Land.

Anglo-Saxons

The group that the Anglo-Saxons made when they joined together, they spoke a Germanic language.

Inflectional Endings

The inflectional endings on English words were dropped.

Old Norse

The language of the Vikings.

Middle English

The period where the vowels changed but the spellings were kept.

William the Conqueror

The previous king had promised him the throne, however Harold Godwin took it and William defeated him in battle.

Christianity

The religion of the Romans- it helped add many new words to the English language.

Great Vowel Shift

The shift of vowels over the course of a century.

Angles

The spoke a Germanic language and considered themselves free men; they also built many kingdoms.

Old English

The start of the unique English sound.

Proto-Indo-Europeans

They came up with key roots of words that were most likely included in this language.

Indo-Europeans

They spoke a language, but never wrote it down.

Romans

They were led by Julius Caesar, and established the colony of Britannia.

20,000 books

William Caxton printed 20,000 books.

most quoted author

William Shakespeare is the most quoted author of all time

French

William demanded that everyone in his government speak French.

Normandy, France

William the Conqueror was from Normandy; they spoke French.

cognate

Words from different languages that have descended from the same PIE roots.

Scientific words

Words like biology, astronomy, are added during the Renaissance

Mathematical words

Words like pentagon, arithmetic, came into English from Latin and Greek during the Renaissance

Medical Words

Words like surgery are added during the Renaissance

first american dictionary

Written by Noah Webster who saw a need for an American English dictionary, contained 70,000 definitions

American English

birth of American English took place, adding new words that defined a new landscape like American Indians

Industrial Revolution

created the need to name many things that did not exist before

etymology

included by samuel johnson in the official English Dictionary, a words origin and development over time

William Shakespeare

most famous writer of all time, wrote in Early Modern English, plays and sonnets sometimes included the use of about 18,000 different words, coined 1,700 words, most quoted author and is famous for Romeo and Juliet

loan words

most words in the English language have been borrowed from other cultures

American Indians

natives that were named from the birth of American English

Peter Mark Roget

published Roget's Thesaurus, first book of synoymns

Samuel Johnson

published by Samuel Johnson, first authoritative English Dictionary that defined 43,500 words.

official English Dictionary

published by Samuel Johnson, first authoritative English Dictionary that defined 43,500 words.

Greek Mythology

received words like panic

Noah Webster

saw a need for an American English dictionary, contained 70,000 definitions,

-th to -s

th ending on verbs transitioned to -s (speaks)

French plurals

the French simply added an -s at the end to make a plural.

British Empire

the rise of the British Empire brought in thousands of loan words into English

Early Modern English

the time of William Shakespeare and when the th ending on verbs transitioned to -s

immigration

waves of immigration, missionary work, world trade, and leisure travel also enriched the fabric of Enligsh