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1. Brief Introduction.
The English language is not merely the product of the dialects brought to
England by the Jutes, Saxons and Angles. There were other elements which entered into
it. In the course of the first seven hundred years of its existence in England, it was
brought into contact with three other languages: the language of the Celts, the Romans,
and the Scandinavians, meaning each of these contacts additions to its vocabulary. The
nature of the contact with the Romans and the changes that were effected by their
In the summer of 55 B.C., Julius Caesar, having completed the conquest of Gaul,
the island; probable his chief purpose was to discourage the Celts of Britain from
coming to the assistance of their kinsman in Gaul. The resistance of the natives was
unexpectedly spirited.
It was with his second expedition, after much more elaborate preparations, when
he this time succeeded in establishing himself in the southeast, to later returned to Gaul.
He had perhaps succeeded in his purpose, but he had by no means struck terror into the
hearts of the Celts, and Britain was not again troubled by the Romans arms for nearly a
hundred years.
It was in A.D. 43 that the Emperor Claudius decided to undertake the actual
conquest of the island. With the knowledge of Caesar’s experience behind him, a
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massive army was sent to Britain and within three years had subjugate the tribes of the
The progress of Roman control was not uninterrupted. A serious uprising of the
natives occurred in A. D. 61 under Boudicca, the widow of one of the native chiefs
(70.000 Romans and Romanised Britons are said to have been massacred). Under the
Roman Governor Agricola (78-85) the conquest may be said to have been massacred.
The Romans never penetrated far into the mountains of Wales and Scotland. They
protected the northern boundary by a stonewall being the district south of this line under
It was inevitably that the military conquest of Britain should have been followed
Four great highways soon spread fanlike from London to the North, the
northwest, the west and the southwest. Numerous lesser roads connected important
military or civil centres (form the main highways). A score of small cities, and more
than a hundred towns, with their Roman houses and baths, temples and occasional
theatres, testify to the introduction of Roman habits of life. Roman dress, Roman
ornaments and utensils, and Roman pottery and glassware seem to have been in general
use. By the third century, Christianity hade made some progress in the island. Under the
relatively peaceful conditions that existed everywhere except along the frontiers, there is
every reason to think that Romanization had proceeded very much as it had done in the
other provinces of the empire. The difference is that in Britain the process was cut short
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2.4. The Latin language in Britain.
Among the other evidences of Romanization must be included the use of the
Latin language. A great number of inscriptions have been found, all of them in Latin.
The majority of these proceed no doubt from the military and official class and, were in
Latin did not replace the Celtic language in Britain as it did in Gaul. Its use by
native Britons was probably confined to members of the upper classes and the
Tacitus tells us that in the time of Agricola the Britons, who had hitherto shown
only hostility to the language of their conquerors, now became eager to speak it. On the
whole, there were certainly many people in Roman England who habitually spoke Latin
or upon occasions could use it. Nevertheless, its use was not sufficiently widespread to
cause it to survive, as the Celtic language survived the upheavals of the Teutonic
invasions. Its use probably began to decline after 410, the approximate date at which the
last of the Roman troops were officially withdrawn from the island.
The 2nd (the 1st one was the Celtic) great influence exerted upon English was that
of Latin. Latin was the language of a higher civilization, at first commercial and
military, later religious and intellectual, extended over many centuries and was
constantly renewed. It began before the Anglo-Saxon come to England and continued
throughout the Old English period. The Teutons, for several hundred years, before
occupying the English territory, had various relations with the Romans through which
they acquired a considerable number of Latin words. When they came to England they
learnt from the Celts a few additional Latin words which had been acquired by them.
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There were thus three distinct occasions on which borrowings from Latin
occupied before the end of the Old English period, (and it will be of interest to consider
Several hundred Latin words found in the various Teutonic dialects at an early
date testify the extensive intercourse between the two races. Found in all ranks and
classes of society, German were scattered all over the empire but most numerous along
But after the conquest of Gaul by Caesar, Roman merchants quickly extended
into the Germanic territory, so that the Teutons living in these remoter sections received
the influence of the Romans. Also intercommunication between the different Teutonic
tribes was frequent and made possible the transference of Latin words. Some fifty
words from the Latin can be credited with a considerably degree of probability to the
Teutons.
Next to agriculture, the chief occupation of the Germans in the empire was war,
and we find this experience reflected in words like camp (battle), weall (wall).
Connected with trade, ceap (bargain), or foods, ciese (cheese), piper (pepper).
3.1.2. Latin through Celtic transmission (Latin influence of the First period).
From what has been said above about the Roman rule in Britain, the extent to
which the country was romanised and the employment of Latin by certain elements of
the population, one would expect considerable number of Latin words to have remained
in use and to appear in the English language today, but this is not the case. Not five
words outside of a few elements found in places-names can be really proved to own
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Such vestiges were lost in the disorder that accompanied the Teutonic invasions,
and such Latin words would have had to come in through Celtic transmission. The Celts
had adopted a considerable number of Latin words- over six hundred have been
identified, but the relations between the Celts and the English were such, that these
Among the few Latin words that the Teutons seem likely to have acquired is
ceaster. It is the Latin “castra”, (camp) a common designation in Old English for a town
Dochester, Manchester.
The greatest influence of Latin upon Old English was occasioned by the
introduction of Christianity into Britain in 597. This date marks the beginning of a
systematic attempt on the part of Rome to convert the inhabitants and make England a
Christian country.
Agustine was inspired by the Pope Gregory the Great. The problem was to change the
and loyalty to one’s family or leader. Christianity preached meekness and humility and
learning, was once more heard in England. Schools were established in most of the
monasteries and larger churches. The beginning of this movement was in 669 and was
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time and energy to teaching. In the eight century, England held the intellectual
leadership of Europe, and it owed this leadership to the church. In like manner
vernacular literature and the arts received a new impetus. The Church as the carrier of
Roman civilization influenced the course of English life in many directions, and many
of these numerous traces of this influence are to be seen in the vocabulary of Old
English.