- [Instructor] This is
"The History of English." If you haven't already
subscribed to the channel, make sure you do and
also check out my courses in the link in the description. (upbeat music) The English language is
a big, beautiful mess. Few languages are as diverse and unexpected in their history. And few have undergone changes
so dramatic and so violent. Welcome to "The History of English." Let's begin. (gentle music) We can categorize the
development of English into three distinct eras: Old English from 450 to 1100, Middle English from 1100 to 1500, and Modern English from about
1500 up until the present. And if you didn't notice, I'm actually speaking
Modern English right now. (record scratches) Can I just stop here and remind everyone that languages change
and evolve over time. I just want to make sure
we're clear on that. Just like animals, languages
fade and go extinct. One language may spread
so wide, for example, that in specific regions,
local dialects creep in and those become new languages. That's what happened to Latin basically. It's a very natural process and it's very similar
to evolution in animals. Some languages are pretty different just like some animals
are pretty different. Here's an African click language. (speaking foreign language) Here's a barreleye fish. (soft percussive music) (record scratches) Right, well, back to the topic. - You make me sad. - [Instructor] English
is a Germanic language. What does that mean? Does that mean English is German? No, it doesn't. Germanic is a word used
for a group of people from a particular part of the world who once probably spoke the same language, a language which doesn't exist today. Germanic languages now include
German, English, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, and quite a few more. So think of all of these modern languages as having a great-great grandma in common called Proto-Germanic,
Grandma Proto-Germanic, something like that. To be clear, English does
not come from German. English and German are basically cousins. The history of the English language is a history of invasion
and the movement of people, and the beginnings are no different. During the time England
was under the control, or protection, whatever you
want to call it, of the Romans, a few Latin words stuck
with the Celtic locals, the people who were
living there at the time. We use prefixes like pro and sub in Modern English as a result. The Romans left Britain around 400 A.D., leaving the Celtic Britons, the locals, now pretty vulnerable. This allowed Germanic
tribes, remember Germanic, Germanic tribes to come in and settle. In fact, it happened over a
fairly long period of time so it wasn't exactly an invasion. So what I mean is it
didn't happen on a Tuesday. The Germanic tribes pushed
most of the Celtic Britons out and settled in modern day England. Old English grew out of this period and, from the early 6th
century to about 1100, we have Old English. From that, we get works like "Beowulf." So let's listen to some
Old English from the 700s. (speaking foreign language) If you couldn't understand
that, don't worry. I couldn't understand a single world. Well maybe I can hear words
like an sometimes, I think, but really, it's so far
away from Modern English. Basically, it's another language. So what's next? Well, everything was going fine in Britain until those damn Vikings invaded, bringing with them another
language called Old Norse. It's another language. From there, we get words
like reindeer, dirt, choose, egg, and kindle. The word Thursday means,
does anybody know? Thor's Day. Thursday means Thor's Day. It comes from Old Norse. To put that into perspective, about 1% of Modern English
comes from Old Norse. That's about 2,000 words. (dramatic string music) The next important event in the history of the English language was the Norman invasion
or the Norman Conquest. This was an invasion led by a guy who was basically a French-speaking Viking named William the Conqueror. After William took over Britain in 1066, French started sneaking
into the English language. French words were spoken
more by the upper class, the wealthy people, and
Old English was spoken more by common people, by people
in the lower classes. So today we have pairs of words that have almost the same meaning, one from Old English
and one from Old French. Words like lawyer and
attorney, deem and judge, hunt and chase, pig and pork, cow and beef, freedom and
liberty, weird and strange. I could go on for days. Now we don't make the distinction,
but the Norman Conquest resulted in a much more colorful language that allowed for more creative expression. Over 7,000 English words that we use today are from French, basically,
the Norman Conquest. So this invasion gave us what
we now call Middle English. Let's listen to a bit of
"The Canterbury Tales" from about 1400. (speaking foreign language) - [Instructor] Next is
Early Modern English, and there's no real invasion here, only important people and events. First, Shakespeare. Shakespeare is credited
with creating a huge number of English words and phrases, and his plays are extremely
influential to this day. From him we get words like
assassination, cold-blooded, manager, uncomfortable,
and many, many more. Whether you know it or not, you're probably quoting
Shakespeare on a daily basis. Here's a little Shakespeare. - A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
signifying nothing. - [Instructor] The other
really important event that helped to shape Modern English was the Great Vowel Shift,
which was in the 15th century. Now this was essentially a
change in English pronunciation. Vowels are A, E, I, O, and U and you can say them different ways. Sometimes we say A as ay and sometimes we say A as ah. Well, it didn't used to be like that so there was a major shift
in the way that vowels and many other sounds in
English were pronounced. A word like knave, K-N-A-V-E,
would've been pronounced something like ke-nah-veh, ke-nah-veh. Now we have a silent K,
so we don't say ke-nah, we say n, know, knowledge, knave, knives. We say just n. And we also have long vowels
like ay instead of ah, and we have a silent E,
which makes no sound, but changes the short A to a long A. The rules of spelling
were being written down around the same time, and unfortunately, the writing people, the spelling people didn't seem to be talking
to the pronunciation people. So the pronunciation changed, but the spelling hasn't really changed. We say K-N-A-V-E, knave,
like nave, N-A-V-E, but still spell it in the
most ridiculous possible way. I have a feeling that's
starting to change, but if you ever get confused
with English spelling and you want to shout at someone about it, get in a time machine and yell
at someone writing down words in the 15th century. I would be remiss not
to mention the influence of the King James translation
of the Bible as well. Apart from strengthening
these strange word spellings, many new phrases and idioms were created for that translation and we still use those today, phrases like by the skin of your teeth and a broken heart and
a sign of the times. There are a ton of modern expressions that come from the King James Bible. Finally, we come to Modern English, and an ironic reverse invasion as Britain began to explore the world by sea and colonize. As English spread to
places like India, Africa, North America, and Australia
via trading and colonization, some words began to trickle
back slowly to England. We get pajamas from
India, trek from Africa, and ketchup from China. Of course, English also
spread to those colonies and new dialects began to
take shape in those places. So who knows, maybe
California English will become a completely new language some day. I think it's pretty close. - My American accent that
you heard on The Terminator kinda changes a little bit
into Cali from the Valley. (audience laughs) It's like this, she's like
this whole, like, situation. (audience laughs) That was amazing. - [Instructor] The English
language continues to evolve, and someday, the words
I'm speaking right now will sound as old and
strange to future listeners as Old English sounds to me. That's just how it goes. - You make me sad. (rhythmic electronic music)
