1) What languages were spoken in the British Isles before the Germanic

invasion? Which of their descendants have survived today?

Before the Germanic settlers arrived in Britain and became the first speakers of
"English," other peoples had claimed the island as their home. The first
inhabitants for whom we have linguistic knowledge were the Celts, who arrived
around the time of the Bronze Age (2000–500 B.C.). They were almost certainly
the first speakers of an Indo-European language to arrive. The Celtic languages are
descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-
European language family. Modern Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish, Breton,
Scottish Gaelic, Cornish, Manx) are mostly spoken on the north-western edge of
Europe, notably in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall, and the Isle of
Man, and can be found spoken on Cape Breton Island.
2) What historical events account for the influence of latin on old english?
Latin (L) influenced the development of Old English (OE) more than any other
non-West Germanic language with which OE came into contact. Most scholars
divide the influence of L chronologically into three time periods. The first time
period concerns such influence as occurred on the continent prior to the arrival of
Anglo-Saxons in England and which arose from contacts between West-Germanic
speaking peoples and L speakers. The second period of influence spans from the
arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in England up to their Christianization ca. 600/650.
The last period of influence spans from the time of Christianization up to the
arrival of the Normans in 1066.
The most readily apparent influence that L had on OE concerns the use of the L
alphabet. Prior to the Christianization of England, what little writing there was,
was written with runic letters. Collectively these letters comprised
the futharc alphabet (called so after its first six letters). Through the influence of
Irish insular script, OE scribes adopted the L alphabet. They did so with only slight
modification and the retention of certain runic letters. Modifications included the
use of L <d> with a line through it, <ð> ("eth"), to represent both /q / and /ð/.
Somewhat later, they also used the rune thorn, <þ>, to represent these two
phonemes. Finally, they incorporated the rune wynn, < >, to represent /w/.
It is more difficult to determine L influence on OE syntax. Naturally, our
knowledge of OE syntax is hindered by the general paucity of extant OE texts.
Furthermore, many of the surviving OE texts are translations of L texts, and even
when they are not, many nonetheless reflect a clear dependence on L models.
Consequently, it is difficult to account for the syntactical irregularities of OE texts
with any certainty. Such irregularities could represent the influence of L or – just
as likely – an otherwise poorly evidenced aspect of OE syntax. Nonetheless,
scholars agree that certain constructions – whether native to OE or not - likely did
find wider distribution in OE through the influence of L than would otherwise have
occurred. Such was likely the case, for example, with the OE "dative absolute"
construction as modeled on the L "ablative absolute." While this construction
appears rarely in the conservative prose of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, it is
ubiquitous in the highly Latinate translation of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History.
Not surprisingly, L held the most pervasive influence on OE in the area of
vocabulary. Moreover, this sphere of influence provides the clearest index of the
changing relationship between OE and L speakers. In total approximately 450 OE
words, mostly nouns, were borrowed from L (Baugh, 106). Around 170 of these
entered the OE lexicon during the continental period (Hogg, 302; Williams, 57).
These words pertain mostly to plants, household items, clothing and building
materials. As such, they represent the influence of Vulgar (i.e. spoken) L rather
than Classical (i.e. literate) L. It is uncertain how many words date from the second
period of L influence. In general though, scholars maintain that there are slightly
fewer borrowings dating from this period. With the exception of a comparatively
larger number of words having to do with religion and learning, borrowings from
this period pertain to the same subject matter as those of the first period (Hogg,
larger number of words having to do with religion and learning, borrowings from
this period pertain to the same subject matter as those of the first period (Hogg,
302-3). In strong contrast with the two preceding periods, the third period shows a
marked increase in words concerning religion and learning. The influx of such
words clearly reflects the influence of the literate, CL culture associated with the
Church following the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons. In addition to direct
borrowings, L also influenced the OE lexicon by occasioning the formation of
semantic loans, loan translations (or calques) and loan creations. Consider, for
example, the semantic loan OE cniht for L discipulus, in which native
OE cniht, "boy" or "servant," assumes the additional sense of L discipulus,
"disciple." Such translations are abundant in the OE lexicon. Equally prevalent are
loan translations, in which a L compound word is translated using morphologically
equivalent native elements: e.g. OE foreberan < L praeferre. Loan creations are
also numerous. Like loan translations, loan creations translate the L word using
native elements but with greater morphological freedom: e.g. OE restedæg for
L sabbatum.
The overall abundance of semantic loans, loan translations and loan creations
suggests a final and more general truth concerning the influence of L on OE.
Despite the relatively extensive influence of L on OE, OE clearly shows a strong
tendency to rely on native resources. That is to say, given the linguistic conditions
of OE period, one would expect L to have exerted a far greater influence than in
fact our knowledge of OE suggests.
3) Describe linguistic situation in Britain before and after the Germanic
settlement
4) Explain the origin of the following name places
Britain" comes from Latin: Britannia~Brittania, via Old French Bretaigne and
Britain" comes from Latin: Britannia~Brittania, via Old French Bretaigne and
Middle English Breteyne, possibly influenced by Old English Bryten(lond),
probably also from Latin Brittania, ultimately an adaptation of the Common
Brittonic name for the island, *Pritanī.[1][2]
An early written reference to the British Isles may derive from the works of the
Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia; later Greek writers such as Diodorus of
Sicily and Strabo who quote Pytheas' use of variants such
as Πρεττανική (Prettanikē), "The Britannic [land, island]", and nēsoi brettaniai,
"Britannic islands", with *Pretani being a Celtic word that might mean "the
painted ones" or "the tattooed folk", referring to body decoration (see below).[3]
The modern Welsh name for the island is (Ynys) Prydain. This may demonstrate
that the original Common Brittonic form had initial P- not B- (which would give
**Brydain) and -t- not -tt- (else **Prythain). This may be explained as containing
a stem *prit- (Welsh pryd, Old Irish cruith; < Proto-Celtic *kwrit-), meaning
"shape, form", combined with an adjectival suffix. This leaves us with *Pritanī.
"Scotland" comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels. Philip Freeman has
speculated on the likelihood of a group of raiders adopting a name from an Indo-
European root, *skot, citing the parallel in Greek skotos (σκότος), meaning
"darkness, gloom".[32] The Late Latin word Scotia ("land of the Gaels") was
initially used to refer to Ireland.[33] By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was
being used to refer to (Gaelic-speaking) Scotland north of the River Forth,
alongside Albania or Albany, both derived from the Gaelic Alba.[34] The use of the
words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became
common in the Late Middle Ages.
Great Britain - The archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over
2000 years: the term 'British Isles' derives from terms used by classical
geographers to describe this island group. By 50 BC Greek geographers were using
equivalents of Prettanikēas a collective name for the British Isles.[13] However,
with the Roman conquest of Britain the Latin term Britannia was used for the
island of Great Britain, and later Roman-occupied Britain south of Caledonia.[14]
[15][16]
The earliest known name for Great Britain is Albion (Greek: Ἀλβιών) or insula
Albionum, from either the Latin albusmeaning "white" (possibly referring to
the white cliffs of Dover, the first view of Britain from the continent) or the "island
of the Albiones".[17]
The oldest mention of terms related to Great Britain was by Aristotle (384–322
BC), or possibly by Pseudo-Aristotle, in his text On the Universe, Vol. III. To
quote his works, "There are two very large islands in it, called the British Isles,
Albion and Ierne".[18]
Pliny the Elder (AD 23–79) in his Natural History records of Great Britain: "Its
former name was Albion; but at a later period, all the islands, of which we shall
just now briefly make mention, were included under the name of 'Britanniæ.'"[19]
The name Britain descends from the Latin name for Britain, Britannia or Brittānia,
the land of the Britons. Old FrenchBretaigne (whence also Modern
French Bretagne) and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The French form
replaced the Old English Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten (also Breoton-lond,
Breten-lond). Britannia was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the
British Isles taken together. It is derived from the travel writings of the Pytheas
around 320 BC, which described various islands in the North Atlantic as far north
as Thule (probably Norway).
Marcian of Heraclea, in his Periplus maris exteri, described the island group as αἱ
as Thule (probably Norway).
Marcian of Heraclea, in his Periplus maris exteri, described the island group as αἱ
Πρεττανικαὶ νῆσοι (the Prettanic Isles).[20]
The peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called the
Πρεττανοί, Priteni or Pretani.[17] Priteni is the source of the Welsh
language term Prydain, Britain, which has the same source as
the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic-speaking
inhabitants of Ireland.[21] The latter were later called Picts or Caledonians by
the Romans.
Derivation of Great[edit]
The Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great
Britain (µεγάλη Βρεττανία megale Brettania) and to Ireland as little Britain (µικρὰ
Βρεττανία mikra Brettania) in his work Almagest (147–148 AD).[22] In his later
work, Geography (c. 150 AD), he gave the islands the names Alwion, Iwernia,
and Mona (the Isle of Man),[23] suggesting these may have been the names of the
individual islands not known to him at the time of writing Almagest.[24] The
name Albion appears to have fallen out of use sometime after the Roman conquest
of Britain, after which Britain became the more commonplace name for the island.
[17]
After the Anglo-Saxon period, Britain was used as a historical term only. Geoffrey
of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136) refers to
the island as Britannia major ("Greater Britain"), to distinguish it from Britannia
minor ("Lesser Britain"), the continental region which approximates to
modern Brittany, which had been settled in the fifth and sixth centuries by
migrants from Britain.[25] The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474,
in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Cecily the
daughter of Edward IV of England, and James the son of James III of Scotland,
which described it as "this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee". It was used again in
1604, when King James VI and I styled himself "King of Great Brittaine, France
and Ireland".