Middle English Period

Middle English Period.

(11-15 centuries)

Historical conditions of the development of English during the period.

The Middle English period in the English history is marked by two important historical events which influenced the further development of the English language. These are:

1. The Scandinavian invasion;

2. The Norman conquest.

In the result of these 2 conquests English came into contact with:

1. Scandinavian dialects;

2. French.

As a result of this contact English underwent the influence especially of Scandinavian dialects ( Danish and Norwegian) . It is probable that the fusion of English with Scandinavian dialects brought to changes in the grammatical structure of English (especially of English morphology).

Scandinavian invasion. The first excursions of the Scandinavian warriors ( The so-called “Vikings”) began at the close of the 8^th century and continued until the 9^th c. when the Danes were established in Northumbria. At first the strangers came in small groups and disappeared as soon as they filled their boats with gold and other valuables. From the middle of the 9^th c. the character of the attacks changed. The petty squadroon which had till now harrassed the coast of Britain made way for larger armies. Occasional raids were replaced by the regular attacks of armies who marched into the country and whose aim was to settle on the land they won. Battles were fought with the variable success but on the whole the Scandinavians proved to be stronger and they rapidly spread to different parts of England. Soon they became so powerful that in the time of King Alfred they conquered all the area to the north of the Thames. The well-known is the English history struggle of Alfred the great with Danish invaders ended in 878 when the Wedmore peace was sighed.King Alfred was forced to leave the Danes more than half of what is now called England. All the was yielded to the Danes. East Anglia ,all Northumbria and half of the Central England made out the district called the “Danelaw”. The Scandinavian influence became even more strong during the years of rule of king Cnute (or Canute)-a Dane who achieved the union of the whole England into a peaceful country. This happened during the years of 1016-1042. Thus, beginning with the 9^th c. in the district of Danelow Scandinavians made the settlement in Britain and the population of the district became mixed, the relations between the inhabitants became more friendly. Good-neighbour relations brought to mixed marriages in the result of which father of the family spoke Danish, mother-English, children-both languages. This led to bilingualism and linguistic fusion.

Norman conquest took place in 1066. It was headed by the Norman Duke William, named after the conquest William the Conquerer. The Normans were Scandinavians by origin, during the 9-10 centuries, they raided the Northern district of France.In the areas of the heaviest settlement Scandinavians outnumbered the Anglo-Saxon population , which is attested by geographical names: in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire,Northumberland, Cumberland-up to 75% of place names are Danish or Norwegian.

Altogether more than 1400 English villages and towns bear names of Scandinavian origin(thorp-village: Woodthorp, Linthorp. Toft-a piece of land: Brimtoft, Lowestoft).

Eventually the Scandinavians were absorbed into the local population both ethically and linguistically. (They murged with the society around them, but the impact on the l-c situation and on the English language was profound).

Soon after Canute’s death( 1042) and the collapse of his Empire. The new king Edward the Confessor (исповедатель) (1042-1066) who had been brought up in France brought over many Norman advisors 2 favourites, distributed among them E.lands and appointed them to important positions in the government and church hierarchy. He not only spoke French himself,but insisted on it being spoken by the nobles at his court. William,Duke of Normandy,visited his court and it was rumoured that Edward appointed him his successor (преемник). However, the government of the country was still in the hands of Anglo-Saxon feudal lords, headed by Earl (граф) Godwin of Wessex. Norman Conquest.

In 1066, upon Edward’s death, the Elders of England (O.E.Witan) proclaimed Harold Godwin king of England.

As soon as the news reached William of Normandy, he mustered (набирать) a big army with the support of the Pope landed in Britain.

In the battle of Hastings, fought in October 1066,Harold Godwin was killed and the English were defeated. William the Conquerer made the Witan of England and the bishops at Westminster Abbey crown him king.

Here they occupied a considerable part of the land and in 912 king Charles the Simple of France in a peace treaty gave the Normans the land won by them. Here the dukedom was formed in the 10^th c. which very soon became powerful and rich. After several generations the Normans were romanized. Thus, having conquered the country they were also influenced by the conquered people as to the culture and language. They were cut off from the steady intercourse with their Scandinavian relations. They adopted the high culture of France and its language. Thus, in 1066 when they conquered England, they already spoke French and in linguistic respect the Norman conquest brought French influence upon the English.

After the Norman conquest there began in England a new considerably long period of bilingualism : the Normans spoke French people of upper classes whereas Anglo-Saxons spoke English.After some time the situation changed.

French was no longer the main language, the mother tongue, it gradually became the official language of the upper classes, court,church, but it was dropped out from everyday life. Already in the 14^th c.in connection with the growing influence of the gentries who spoke English. The prestige of English grew high. English became more widely used and at the end of the 14^th c. it excluded the French language from all the spheres of life.

Scandinavian and French Influence of English.

In the result of historically established conditions the English language underwent the influence of Scandinavian and French which were differing from each other by a number of reasons:

1. There was no great social difference between the Anglo-Saxons and the Scandinavians. This fact favoured the easy and rapid assimilation of the 2 groups whereas the social difference between the Anglo-Saxons and the French was rather strong.

2. There was much in common in the mode of life of Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. In fact the life of these Northern folk was in the main the life of earlier Englishmen. Their customs,their religion, social order were the same. Just for this reason the fusion of Scandinavian with English was rather peaceful and complete. The French differed from Anglo-Saxons in these 2 points.

3. The linguistic relation between the Scandinavian and English was also different as compared with that of the English and the French. A great number of words were identical in the 2 languages (English and Scandinavian) so that we are unable to tell from which language the word originated. For inslance,nouns: man,wife,father, mother,house,life,winter,summer,sorrow,folk.

Verbs:will,can,meet,bring,think,hear,stand, sit,set,smile,ride.

Adjectives: full, wise, well,better,best.

Prepositions: over,under.

Pronouns: mine.

All these words were common in English and in Old North because they both are Germanic languages. The consequence was that an Englishman would not have any difficulty in understanding a viking. The mutual influence between English and North took place in the course of lively communication. This accounts for the fact that the Scandinavian influence is often deep and rather difficult to catch. The difference of Scandinavian and French influence is clearly reflected in the vocabulary as well as in grammar.Among Scandinavian borrowings we find side by side with words relating to government and military affairs a great number of borrowings relating to everyday life, the latter prevailing over the former. Here belong such words as Middle English:

husband,fellow,knife,cast,call,take,they,them,their.

Considerable was the Scandinavian influence upon the English syntax: with this influence is connected the use of the auxiliary verbs

“ should,would” in the analytical moods as well as the spread of verb-adverb combinations (take up).

Quite different character had the French influence with its reflection both in vocabulary and in grammar.

From linguistic point of view those languages were different because people belonged to different social groups. This resulted in the fact that the words borrowed from French reflected tastes and lifestyle interests of the feudals and are as a whole of aristocratic character.Here belong various titles and terms of feudal rank, words relating to government and military matters, to culture,music,art as well as many words connected with religion.

1)Words denoting various titles –baron,duke,count,princess,pear,dutchess.

2)words related to government-to govern,government,parliament,court.

3) words connected with military matters-army,victory,battle.

4)words connected with culture-art,music,picture,colour,picturesque,pleasure,leasure.

5)words related to religion-religion,prayer,to pray.

6)words denoting various crafts-tailor,butcher,paintor (to paint walls), carpenter.

On the other hand,the French language had no influence whatever on the grammatical structure of the English language, some influence may be traced in English word-building. A number of prefixes and suffixes are found to have penetrated into the English language with the borrowed word itself.

-able- remarkable,passable,aimable.

By analogy with them,new words were formed from Anglo-Saxon roots by means of these suffixes: eatable,drinkable,understandable.

-ess-princess,actress,dutchess.

Anglo-Saxon-goddess,waitress,lioness

-re-return,refresh.

Anglo-Saxon-reread,rewrite,remake.

-in-,-il-,-im- inaccurate.

If French had no influence on English grammar, it had a great nfluence upon the English spelling : (night,right,love,bride,fur,come,sun,photo, child).