TOPIC 41

LA ROMANIZACION
INFLUENCIA DEL LATIN EN LA LENGUA INGLESA
PRESTAMOS Y CALCOS

The Roman Influence on the English Language was of a great importance and in
order to deal with it in a clear way I have decided to divide it into the following points:

1 - Introduction
2- Continental Borrowings
3- Latin Influence Through Celtic Transmission
3.1. The Roman Conquest
3.2. The Linguistic Influence of Romanization
4- The Christianisation of Britain
4.1. The Process of Christianisation
4.2. Early Linguistic Influences
4.3. The Benedictine Reform
5- Latin Influence on Middle English
6- Influence of Latin in Modern English
7- Conclusion
8- Bibliography

1- Introduction
The basis of English grammar and vocabulary were formed by the dialects brought
to England by the Germanic tribes of Jutes, Saxons and Angles.
However, in the Old English period (from 450 to 1150), the language was brought
into contact with three other languages: Celtic, Roman and Scandinavian.
 2- Continental Borrowings
The first Latin words to enter the English language did it not directly, but due to the
contact between Romans and the Germanic tribes of the continent.
After the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar, Roman merchants found their way to
have commercial relations with Germanic tribes. They even arrived at the Scandinavian
territories.
German tribes adopted some vocabulary related to the main activities developed by
both people.
Dividing the vocabulary acquired into semantic fields, we have:

War - pytt (pit), camp (battle)

Trade - mangian (trade)
Wine trade - win (wine)
Domestic life - mese (table)
Building arts - copor (copper)
Other words as cirice (church), mul (mule)

3 - Latin Influence Through Celtic Transmission

Celts were the first inhabitants of Britain and Celtic was the first Indo-European
language spoken in England.
When Britain became a province of the Roman Empire, Latin was introduced and
it was spoken for four centuries before the coming of English

3.1. The Roman Conquest

In 55 before Christ Julius Caesar decided to invade England after conquering Gaul,
but he did not succeed because the natives did not collaborate and they had difficulties
with the terrain.
 He made a second attempt in 54 before Christ establishing himself in the southeast
of England, but it had no consequences.
It was in 43 after Christ when emperor Claudius undertook the conquest of the
island with an army of 40.000 soldiers, which after four years, resulted in the
establishment of the Roman rule over the South of Britain.
Due to the strong opposition from the North (the Scots), the Romans decided to
build a wall stretching the east side to the west side of England, this wall was called the
Hadrian’s Wall, so the Romans couldn’t get to the territories of the north of Britain.

3.2. The Linguistic Influence of Romanization

During the Roman settlement, people adopted some characteristics of the Roman
way of life:
- construction of new roads
- foundation of the first cities (with baths, temples and other public
buildings)
- building style of the roman houses with heating apparatus and water
supply.
- foundation of “villas” (houses on the country-side)
- use of Roman dresses and ornaments.

But the process of Romanization was cut in the 5 th century by the invasion of
Britain by some Germanic tribes.
One of the consequences of the Romanization was the use of Latin in two ways:

1- it was the official language of the military

2- it was the adopted language of upper-classes and official classes

But Latin did not replace Celtic language and its use was not enough widespread
to make it survive during the Germanic invasion
However we can find some Latin roots referring to place names:
 - ceaster (enclosed community) Lancaster, Chester, Manchester
- port (harbour, gate) Newport
- wic (village) Norwich
- mun (mountain)
- torr (tower)

4 - The Christianization of Britain

4.1.The Christianization of Britain

The Christianization of Britain began when in 597 the Pope Gregory the Great sent
Saint Augustine and other forty monks to England with the mission of Christianization
Britain. They landed in the kingdom of Kent, when there was a small group of Christians.
Seven years later, the kingdom of Kent was Christian and the Christianization was a
gradual process northwards.
Christianization meant a change of the German philosophy which exalted physical
courage, extreme independence and loyalty to one leader, however Christianity preached
meekness and humility, patience and suffering.
The introduction of Christianity meant:

- construction of churches and monasteries

- Latin became the language of religious service
- establishment of schools in monasteries (Canterbury). Poetry, Arithmetic,
Astrology, Latin and Greek were taught in those places.
- development of a vernacular literature.
- development of arts.
- improvement of agriculture

4.2. Early Linguistic Influences

 The seventh century is considered the beginning of importation of Latin words into
English vocabulary.
Words were taken from Latin in answer to a definite need, they were adopted
because they express ideas that were new to the inhabitants of Britain.

Dividing the words in semantic groups we have:

- religion - church, angel, candle, mass

- education - school, verse
- clothing - purple, sock, cap
- foods - lentils, oyster, cook
- plants - pine, plant, balsam
- other words - elephant, fever, anchor

4.3. The Benedictine Reform

At then end of the 8th century there was a decline ion the state of Church in
England, dues to the Danish invasions:

- monasteries were destroyed

- learning decayed

But the situation changed when King Alfred began a reformation of the Church by:

- restoring churches
- founding new monasteries
- spread education
- fostering learning

In the 10th century three religious leaders, Dunstan, Athewald and Oswald, with the
support of King Edgar arose in the Church and the Benedictine rule applied in England.
 The Benedictine rule was based on the vows of chastity, obedience and poverty.
Education was improved and monasteries were again centres of literary activity.
The literary activity was renewed because manuscripts written in Latin and
English were copied in order to popularize learning. As a result we have:

- New borrowings:
- religion - apostle, demon, prophet
- literary - paper, title, history
- plants - cypress, cucumber, fig
- medical - cancer, paralysis
- animals - camel, tiger, scorpion

- Words taken in their original form, for example catacumbas, basilica, cathedra,
prologus.
-Christianization of pagan words, for example Easter was a pagan festivity that
becomes Christian, and hell was a word that meant “the world of the departed”
- An old word is applied to a new concept instead of adapting a foreign word. For
example God and heaven were kept in their original form.

5 - Latin Influence on Middle English

After the Norman Conquest (1066), during the Middle English Period (from 1150
to 1500) a number of Latin words entered English language though French or directly
from Latin language.
With the Wycliffe’s translation of the Bible more than a thousand Latin words not
found in English previously entered in the English language.
Apart from religious words, we can also find words from fields of medicine, law
and science, for example: homicide, testimony, genus, custody.
We also find some typical endings:

- able as in innumerable
 - ible as in incredible
- ent as in incredible
- al as in legal
- ous as in nervous
- ive as in lucrative
6 - Influence of Latin in Modern English
Modern English period extends from 15th century until the present day.
The arrival of the Renaissance brought with it an interest in vernacular languages
and the rediscovery of Latin and Greek literature. However vernacular languages (as
English) was considered vulgar and Latin was used by upper classes and educated people.
So when English assumed the functions of Latin, many words had to be translated from
Latin and Greek and some of them were borrowed from these languages. For example:

- scientific vocabulary - atom, morphine, energy, theory, complex

- adjectives - agile, appropriate, external
- verbs - mediate, irradiate
- some words even retained their original from - climax, exterior, delirium

We also can see that some Latin ending were changed:

- us changed to ous as in conspicuous

- us changed to al as in external
- tas changed to ty as in celerity
- entia/antia changed to once/ence/ancy as in consonance

Some words borrowed from Latin were actually Greek words, for example: chaos,
anachronism.
Sometimes writers were responsible for introducing particular words, for example
Thomas Moore introduced words like absurdity or explain, Elyot introduced words like
experience or modesty and Shakespeare introduces words like assassination or obscene.
 7 - Conclusion
The Romanization brought to England not only a change in society but in language
too, and as a result of using other language some aspects of Latin still remain since then in
English language.
The Christianization also brought a change in the society and bought a second
wave of Latin borrowings.
Besides, Latin borrowings also entered in English language in the Middle English
period and Modern English period due to some translations of ancient texts or due to the
need of new words in some scientific or technological disciplines.

8 - Bibliography

- Baber C. - “The story of English”

- Baugh - “A history of the English Language”
- Strang - “A history of English”