Ethnic hybrids increase

number of words in
English vocabulary
The Development of English Vocabulary

• 1 Old English or Anglo-Saxon period

(449-1100)
• 2 Middle English(1100-1500)
• 3 Modern English(1500-the present)
Old English or Anglo-Saxon period
The vocabulary of Old English contains some fifty
or sixty thousand words, which were chiefly Angl
o-Saxon with a small mixture of Old Norse( 古诺
斯语） words.
Old Norse words: are, they,call,die,give,ill,etc.
Latin words: cheap,bargian,inch,dish,wall,wine,etc.
Most of the Latin words borrowed at that time are r
elated to religion:candle,nun,priest,temple,etc.
 Middle English(1100-1500)

This period is characterized by the strong influence of

French following the Normans Conquest in 1066.
Law and governmental administration ； judge ,jury
Military affairs: conquer , sergeant victory
Clothing: coat, dress, gown （长袍）
Art : beauty, image
Literature: rime, chapter, prose
Science: surgeon, medicine
 Modern English(1500-the present)

• Latin borrowings : chemist, scientific, theory,

education…
• Greek borrowings: drama, comedy, criterion,
botany…
From the sixteenth century onward, English borr
owed words from an increasing number of lan
guages ,the major ones being the three Roma
ns languages, French, Spanish and Italian.
From French like attaché , chargé, café…
From Italian like concert, duet, piano, bust…
From Spanish like armada ([ɑ:'mɑ:də] 无敌舰队
),
cargo, vanilla(n. 香子兰，香草 )
 At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, as a res
ult of exploration , colonization, and trade, many
words came in from non-European languages. S
ome examples are :
Boomerang (['bu:məræŋ] n. 飞去来器；自食其果的行为
；回飞棒 ), kangaroo (n. 袋鼠 ) from Australian;
coolie (['ku:li] 苦力；小工 ) , cashmere (n. 羊绒 ), khaki f
rom Indian ;
yamen(n. 衙门 ), loquat (n. 枇杷 ) from Chinese;
Kimono(n. 和服 ), tycoon(n. 巨头；巨富 ) from Japanes
e;
• Champions of English language are about to
mark a momentous point in its 1500-year hist
ory----the creation of its 1 millionth word.
• 据《星期日泰晤士报》报道，全球语言监测中
心日前指出，由于中式英语 (Chinglish) 的广
泛使用以及其他“杂交”英语的与日俱增，具
有 1500 年历史的英语词汇不断得到丰富，预
计词汇总量将增加至 100 万。
 Payack believes that English has triumphed
because it is open to change.

“In the 1960s , 250 million people spoke Englis

h ,but now it’s closer to 2 billion, or one in thr
ee people in the world.”----Professor David C
rystal.