TOPIC 41: Romanisation.
Latin influence on the English Language:Borrowings and Calques
INTRODUCTION
1. JUSTIFICATION AND IMPLICATIONS IN THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: THE CELTS
3. ROMAN BRITAIN
4. THE INFLUENCE OF LATIN: THE 3 PERIODS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
-The Zero Period / Continental Borrowing
-The First Period / Latin influence through Celtic transmission
-The Second Period / Christianising of Britain
5. BORROWINGS AND CALQUES AND AFFIXATION PROCESS
6. CONCLUSION
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION
-Beginnings in the development of British history…more specifically of the history of the
Romanisation of British culture and society.
-Britain a separate and inviolate island, difficulties to conquer: it has ever been conquered twice
55 B.C. by the Romans and in 1066 by the Normans
-Centre of attention of ruling governments in the continent because of: economic, political and
geographical interests.
-Lowlands more exposed to settlers than the rest of the country
-Number of invaders is quite small: Romans, Anglo Saxons or Vikings.
-For 400 years Britain was to be part of the great Empire of Rome, until Romans withdrew their
legions in the 5th century leaving the island unprotected.
-Willingness of English to take words from abroad they adopted several words from Latin but
also from more than 50 other languages by the 16th century, according to Baugh and Cable.
1. JUSTIFICATION AND IMPLICATIONS IN THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
The relevance of this topic and the didactic implications in our teaching practice can be supported
with our current legal background.
Chapter III LOMCE, Art.23:
-i) students “are able to understand and express themselves in one or more foreign
languages in a suitable way”
-j) “to know, value and respect on one´s and other´s culture and history”
Chapter IV, Bachillerato, Art.33:
-f) “express with fluency and correction in one or more foreign languages”
-d) “reinforce reading habits as means of personal development”
-h) “know and value the realities of contemporary world and its historical
background”
English Language Curriculum according to Royal Decree 1005/2014:
Linguistic competence, social and civil competencies, cultural expression and conscience.
This topic seems ideal to unify criteria with other cross curricular areas (history, geography or
Universal Literatura) and work on CLIL in bilingual section.
This type of knowledge, graded and revised in our syllabus, can teach them not only to develop
productive and receptive processes but also knowing other cultures and getting involved in the
multicultural and globalised world we all are immersed nowadays.
2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: THE CELTS
-According to archaeologists the early inhabitants of Britain might have lived there by 5000-4000
BC. Later in time, at about 1200 BC the Celtic peoples came to the island: first known civilization.
They lived unmolested for around 600 years when Roman occupation took place.
-Celts: tribes from the Upper Danube, they eventually settled in Italy, Spain and Britain.
-Agricultural people, lived in farms or villages, metalwork.
-Believed in supernatural spirits of wood, rivers, sea and sky. Powerful traditions transmitted
from one generation to the other by word of mouth.
-They used 2 main languages: Brythonic and Goidelic. They continued to speak their native
language even after the Roman occupation and still remain nowadays.
3. ROMAN BRITAIN (55 B.C.-440 A.D.)
Turning point: from prehistory into history. The Celts had been unmolested during 600years until
Julius Caesar decided to conquer them and extend the frontiers of the Roman Empire.
-1st Roman invasion: 55 B.C. He found little opposition so returned the following year.
-Period of quietness because Romans had other issues in the Gaul, until 40 A.D. when Claudius
decided to return: interested in the mineral wealth and corn production. Also, he was in urgent
need of military victory to secure his powers over the Empire. 40,000 men crossed the channel
and defeated the Britons, most Celtic kings surrendered and the Emperor left to Rome.
-Britons were reduced to subject people forced to pay sums to the Romans and becoming a
province of the Empire.
-Romanisation process: Roman soldiers could read and write, plan cities and design buildings so
a rapid transformation took place: system of government, construction of roads, introduction of
towns being self-sufficient, introduction of new vegetables, fruits, flowers and Christianity.
-410 A.D. the Roman Empire began to break up so the legions were called back to cope with
threats: Britain was left unprotected -> The Scots, the Picts and the Anglo-Saxons attacked
the island and by the 6th century a different map began to emerge, made up of a series of small
independent kingdoms: the Dark Ages.
4. THE INFLUENCE OF LATIN: THE 3 PERIODS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
-English -> Germanic family (also German, Scandinavian languages and Dutch).
-Dialect brought to England by the Germanic tribes of the Jutes, Saxons and Angles.
-Dealing with the Roman influence on the English language, we will take into account the great
number of loan-words and adaptations. ->mainly due to Romanization of Britain and especially
due to its subsequent Christianization by Roman missionaries.
-Latin was the language of a higher civilisation from which the Anglo-Saxons had much to learn.
Contact with that civilization: commercial and military, later religious and intellectual.
-According to Baugh and Cable, 3 periods when borrowings from Latin occurred before the
end of the Old English period:
>Zero Period / Continental Borrowings
First Latin words to enter the English language-> early contact between the Germanic tribes
and the Romans on the continent. Before the Anglo-Saxons invaded Britain. Communication
between the two parts was frequent and made possible the transference of Latin words.
-The adopted vocabulary was related to the main activities developed by both peoples:
war: camp (battle), trade: win (wine), domestic life: mese (table)…
>First Period / Latin influence through Celtic transmission
Celtic were first inhabitants of Britain and their language the 1st Indo-European language
spoken.
Romanization: Latin was introduced and spoken extensively for 4 centuries. It was the language
for official and military purposes, but also farmers would use it at market.
Celtics never adopted Latin as their vehicular language, but they adopted a considerable number
of Latin words:
-Place names: ceaster (Chester, Manchester) torr (tower) and port (Newport, Portsmouth)
>Second Period / Christianising of Britain (Old English period) (6th century)
Greatest influence of Latin due to Christianisation of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain by St.
Augustine (+40monks) in the 6th century: Rome attempted to convert the inhabitants and make
England a Christian country. Words taken by the English to describe their new religion (angel,
cleric, nun, priest, poper, mass) but also domestic words (plant, cap, lentil, cook, sock), trees,
medicinal plants ( pine, balsam, lily) and related to education (school, master, pupil).
One circumstance in favour: when they arrived in England, they landed in the kingdom of Kent
where there was a small number of Christians, including the queen. The king was soon baptised
and his example was followed.
England was slowly won over to the faith and Latin became the language of the services and
ecclesiastic learning. Schools also studied Latin and Greek.
18th century: England held the intellectual leadership of Europe.
The extent of the Christian influence on Old English is mostly seen in the number of words
borrowed: about 450 words, being biblical names very numerous. Also inflectional elements were
assimilated.
>Third Period / Latin Influence on Middle English
Period started after the invasion of William the Conqueror: Norman [Link] the Middle
English period a number of Latin words were borrowed whether through French or directly from
Latin (difficult to decide): custody, testimony, testify, history, intellect, genius, pulpit…
Latin was no longer used as a spoken language by the English, but it continued to be used:
-in official texts and documents
-in literature
-on official occasions
-in social, educational and religious contexts
Aureate Diction
Poets used a language that is known as aureate diction. The use of these Latin terms was quite
artificial although some of them became part of the common speech.
As far as all three languages were used in England: English, French and Latin, it is easy to find
different words conveying the same idea in the Middle English language.
Richness of English in synonyms:
ENGLISH LATIN FRENCH
ask interrogate question
time age epoch
5. BORROWINGS AND CALQUES
-English shows a significant willingness to take in words from many different places: borrowings
and calques, neologism to create new linguistic meanings. One of the most recurrent phenomena
used in the process of a language is the introduction of terms which did not exist formerly in a
language, but can be adopted either by using the same word as it is written in the original
language or by adapting it to the new language.
-During the Renaissance, period of increased activity, the rediscovery of Latin and Greek
literature led to the creation of an English Grammar (copying the Latin Grammar). They had to
create vocabulary so many English words were introduced in English, most of them from Latin.
-Borrowing: may introduce either a new content together with a corresponding expression / just a
new expression
-Calque: use extant expressions single or in new combinations (without any modifications).
agenda, alias, area, circus, curriculum, delirium, ego, museum, pendulum, penninsula…
-Calque or Loan translations: a word or phrased borrowed from another language by literal,
word-for-word or root-for-root translation.
Adam´s Apple (Pomme d´Adam) by heart (par coeur)
General classification of these borrowings and calques:
-law, medicine, theology, science: immune, mechanical, tributary, legal
-Aureate terms: fecundius, laureate, meditation, oriental
-others: fast, holy, time, virtue, firm, terror, sacred
-science: anemia, appendicitis, egoentric, extrovert, introvert
Some words maintained their original form, some others underwent a change:
Latin -us -> -ous (conspicuus->conspicuous)
Latin -us -> -a (externus->external)
-tas -> -ty (celeritas->celerity)
-antia/-entia -> -once, -ence, -ancy, -ency (consonantia->consonance)
Borrowings have also lead to current misunderstanding when dealing with languages. This is the
case of false friends. They may be linked to a common originally root but evolved in a different way
-preservative: Spanish (condom) English (chemical substance)
AFFIXATION PROCESS
English has taken many prefixes and suffixes from Latin:
-Negative prefixes: A-, DIS-, IN-, NON-, UN-
amoral, asexual, atheist
-Number prefixes: BI-, DI-, POLY-, MULTI-, SEMI-, DEMI-, TRI-, UNI-, MONO-
demigod, tripod, unisex, bicycle, bilingual, polyglot, semicircle
-Miscellaneous: AUTO-, EXTRA- NEO-, PROTO-, TELE-, VICE-
autosuggestion, neo-Gothic, paleography, telephone, vicepresident
-Suffixes: -ISM, -OCRACY, -ANT, -AL, -ATION, -ITY
democracy, participant, dignity, idealism
6. CONCLUSION
-Roman conquest: control Britain in every cultural and social aspect. Influence of the language of
the Romans, Latin, introducing neologisms which have their roots in Latin. Calques and
borrowings, also affixation process.
-Important to make the students aware of the high amount of synonyms -> easier for them being
Spanish native speakers. Great help when acquiring new vocabulary.
-Make them sure that there are also false friends, risky because they lead to misunderstanding.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
-Baugh & Cable. A history of the English Language. Prentice-Hall Editions, 1993.
-Bauer, L. English Word Formation. Cambridge University Press, 1983.
-Bryson, B. Mother Tongue. Penguin Books, 1990.
-Morgan, K.O. (Ed). The Oxford History of Britain. Oxford University Press, 1991.
