1. A Historical Overview

1. A Historical Overview

English has many more words than most other languages: for example, the Concise
Cambridge Dictionary has 300 pages for Italian-English, but 500 pages for English-
Italian. Why?
The wealth of vocabulary is the legacy of its history. The basis of the language is Anglo-
Saxon, a relatively obscure Germanic dialect brought to England in the 5th century. The
Norman Conquest in 1066 (the best-known date in English history) brought about the
defining influence of Norman French: over the next 200 years Anglo-Saxon (the
language of the peasants) absorbed a huge number of French words and became English.
Thus, it gained a large number of words from the mainstream Romance languages
descended from Latin.
By high medieval times* English had become the common tongue of nobleman and
peasant alike, but the languages of learning were still largely Greek and Latin. That is
why English absorbed large numbers of often technical and scientific terms from these
languages.

The spread of the British Empire gave English an influx of words from many languages.
Some, like char (dated Brit. infml. for „tea‟), brought back from India by soldiers,
remained colloquial, while others, like bungalow or khaki went directly or indirectly into
standard usage.
However, the greatest modern influence has been American. Especially in the last 70
years, there has been a lease-lend of words which has helped maintain the vigour and
versatility of the language. To it we owe hundreds of such useful expressions as boom,
slump, bulldoze, paperback, grapevine, commuter, breakeven, etc.
English is the most widely used language in the world: 60% of the world‟s radio
programmes and 70% of the letters written every day are in English. It is the international
language of air traffic and of the United Nations.
A vigorous language is constantly changing. New words come into use, new meanings
evolve (i.e. escalate, in the Vietnam war). Some words become archaic and disappear –
perhaps to reappear! Obscene, for example, was dismissed as somewhat archaic by the
Oxford English Dictionary in 1933, but was restored to general use recently.
The structure of the language changes, too, and there is no good reason for clinging to
rules of grammar which no longer reflect current usage. The function of the structure of
language is to support the meaning, not to restrict expression.
The English language, like society, manners and fashion, has become more informal
since the Second World War, and many words and constructions which would once have
been unacceptable in standard English are now established. For example, different to, and
different than, as well as different from, are now acceptable forms. The distinction
between due to and owing to has disappeared, and the rules about will and shall are fast
disappearing.

„Correct English‟ is, in short, whatever is widely acceptable in current usage. But „Good
English‟ is something else again. Despite the large vocabulary (the average vocabulary of
a person in Britain is 13,000 words), we still often have difficulty in expressing ourselves
clearly. We use the wrong words – those that do not express what we mean, those which
are not understood by our recipient, or which antagonize him. Sometimes we merely use
so many words that the meaning is lost in them: we can‟t see the wood for the trees. To
be aware of the many ways in which language can be misused is the first step towards
using the language more effectively.