Early inhabitants arrived from the continent

800,000 years ago. They were nomad people. It

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
was not until the stone age that they started to
live a more settled life.

At 1,200 BC the Celtic peoples arrive taking

over from the primitive people who were already
there and becoming the first civilization whose
CELTS
culture and lgg still survive in many ways.
Tribes from the Upper Danube. Spoke Brythonic
and Goidelic

Anti-Roman revolt led Julius Caesar to turn his

attention northwards. To conquer an island
would bring him immense prestige. He prepared
ROMANS
to cross the Channel

King of the Catuvellauni was his main opponent.

J.C. received envoys from other tribes who were
CASIVELLAUNUS AND OTHERS
eager to show their submission in order to
prevent their lands from being invaded.

J.C. set sail with a force composed of two

legions. However, the cliffs and beaches around
Dover where occupied by British defenders and
26TH AUGUST 55BC the ships were forced to run aground. Although
they were able to establish a beachhead, four
days later a storm scattered the ships which were
taking reinforcements.
 Deprived of cavalry, J.C was vulnerable, thus he
WHAT NEXT? decided to declare the expedition a success and
returned to Gaul.

He returned to Britain but this time his legions

did not find much opposition. Finally
6TH JULY 54BC
Casivellaunus sued for peace and J.C. accepted
and fixed a tribute to be paid by him.

It was not until 40AD that Claudius realised the

potential of the island in terms of mineral wealth
and corn production. Thus, 40,000 men led by
CLAUDIUS Aulius Plautius crossed the channel and defeated
the Britons who were reduced to being a subject
people and the country acquired the character of
province of the empire.

Their army was also a civilization on the move.

The soldiers knew how to write, read, plan cities
HOW DID ROMANS TRANSFORM CELTIC
and design buildings. With these abilities a rapid
CULTURE?
transformation took place in a process known as
ROMANISATION.

They established a system of government similar

to the one used in the Empire and constructed a
ROMANISATION system of roads to ensure the swift movement of
goods and commerce. They also introduced self-
sufficient towns and Christianity reached Britain.
 However, Roman Britain was a fragile
civilisation in the fringes of a mighty empire and
when it began to break up, the legions were
IN THE END… recalled from its frontiers to cope with other
threats. In 410 AD, Emperor Honorius told the
British that they must fend for themselves and
the last of the legions departed.

It was due to the Romanisation and especially to

INFLUENCE OF LATIN its subsequent Christianisation by Roman
missionaries.

The first Latin words to enter the lgg did so due

to early contact between romans and the tribes
on the continent. Thus, it took place on the
THE ZERO PERIOD (continental borrowing)
mainland through commercial relations. The
adopted vocabulary can be classified into
sematic groups related to their main activities

WAR (ZP) Pytt (pit), camp (battle)

TRADE (ZP) Mangian (trade), win (wine), eced (vinegar)

 Mese (table), teped (carpet), ciese (cheese), spelt
DOMESTIC LIFE (ZP)
(whealt)

BUILDING ARTS (ZP) Cealc (chalk), copor (copper)

Celtic was the first Indo-European lgg to be

spoken in Britain. However, when B. became a
province of the R.E. Latin was introduced and
THE FIRST PERIOD (Latin influence through
spoken extensively for a period of four centuries
Celtic transmission)
before de coming of English. Latin was used in
two ways: as the lgg of the military and official
class, as the adopted lgg of native Britons.

During this period the importance of Latin was

relative as the Celts never adopted it as their
THE FIRST PERIOD 2
vehicular lgg. However, they adopted a
considerable number of words.

From ceaster (designation for a town enclosed in

a community): Chester, Manchester, Lancaster,
PLACE NAMES (FP) and Gloucester.
Port: Newport and Portsmouth.
Muni or wick: Warwick, sandwich
 The greatest influence was occasioned by the
THE SECOND PERIOD (the Christianising of
introduction of Christianity into Britain in 597
Britain)
AD by St. Augustine.

This date marks the beginning of a systematic

attempt on the part of Rome to convert the
597 A.D.
inhabitants and make England a Christian
country.

They landed in the kingdom of Kent, where there

was a small number of Christians which included
ST. AUGUSTINE ARRIVAL the queen. The king was soon baptised and his
example was followed by many of his subjects. 7
years later, Kent had become wholly Christian.

England was slowly won over to the faith and

Latin became the lgg of its services and of
ecclesiastic learning. Schools were also
CHRISTIANISING established and classical lggs were taught in
main cities. All of this meant that in the 8th C.
England held the intellectual leadership of
Europe and it owed this leadership to the church.

As the carrier of roman civilization influenced

the course of English life in many ways, and
numerous traces of this are to be seen in the
vocabulary of Old English. From the intro of
THE CHURCH
Christianity to the close of the old English period
there is a stretch of over 500 years. Some latin
words came in almost immediately, others only
at the end of the period.

Words whose phonetic form shows that they

EARLIER BORROWINGS were borrowed early. Their adoption is provided
by the fact that they appeared in literature, taken
 in answer to a definite need. Adopted because
they expressed ideas which were new or bc they
were so intimately associated with an object or
concept that acceptance of the thing also
involved acceptance of the word.

Abbot, angel, cleric, litany, mass, nun, priest or

SPECIFIC RELIGIOUS WORDS(SP)
relic.

DOMESTIC LIFE (SP)

CLOTHING AND HOUSEHOLD ITEMS (SP) Cap, sock, purple

FOOD (SP) Lentil, oyster, cook or pear

TREES, PLANTS AND HERBS (SP) Plant, pine, balsam, lily.

EDUCATION AND LEARNING (SP) School, master, verse, pupil.

MISCELLANEOUS (SP) Anchor, fever, elephant, talent, crisp.

Contains words of a more learned character first

recorded in the 10th and 11th C. which owe their
intro to the religious revival that came along with
the Benedictine reform. The influ of latin on
LATER BORROWINGS
English rose and fell with the fortunes of the
church. As a result of the renewed literary
activity a new series of latin borrowings took
place.

Antichrist, cloister, idol, prophet

RELIGION (SP)
 Accent, decline, history, title

LITERARY WORDS (SP)

Plants  Cucumber, ginger, coriander

Trees  cypress, fig or laurel
Medical terms  cancer, paralysis, plaster
LEARNED WORDS (SP) Animals  camel, scorpion, tiger

LATIN INFLUENCE ON MIDDLE ENGLISH

(THIRD PERIOD)

BORROWINGS

CALQUES
 BORROWINGS AND CALQUES

LAW, MEDICINE, THEOLOGY, SCIENCE

AND LITERATURE

AUREATE TERMS

OTHERS

WORDS THAT UNDERWENT A CHANGE

 SCIENCE

LATIN INFLUENCE IN THE AFFIXATION

PROCESS

a-/an-
dis-
NEGATIVE PREFIXES in-/il-/im-/ir-
non-
un-

Uni-
Bi-/di-
NUMBER PREFIXES Tri-
Poly-/multi-
Semi-/demi-/hemi-

Auto-
Extra-
Neo-
Paleo-
MISCELLANEOUS
Pan-
Proto-
Tele-
Vice-
 -ism
-ocracy
-ant
SUFFIXES
-al
-ation
-ity