10分钟了解英语发展历史

前几期，营长和大家分享了英文字母的发展演变史，今天我们继续来聊一聊英语发展史！

The history of English started from 410 AD when the Romans left Britain and a lot of Germanic tribes started to flooding in, tribes such as the Angles and the Saxons.

英语的发展要追溯到公元410年，罗马人离开不列颠之后，日耳曼部族包括盎格鲁、萨克逊开始涌入。

The Romans did not leave much of their Latin language. The Anglo-saxon however, did bring about many new vocab into daily life,including “woman”, “loaf” and “werewolf” . Four days of the week were named in honor of Anglo-Saxon gods.

罗马人走了，没有留下他们使用的拉丁语。反倒是实用的盎格鲁萨克逊语言进入到当地人的语言，带去了新的词汇，如“woman”，“loaf” 和“werewolf（狼人）”。一周中有四天都是依据盎格鲁萨克逊的神衹命名的。

Later in 597 AD, Christianity was brought to Britain by missionaries and so was Latin. Christianity became popular among the locals and made them happier to accept new words from Latin, such as “martyr”, “bishop” and “font”

公元597年，基督教传入英国。基督教的流行，使当地人更容易接受拉丁文的怪字，如“martyr（烈士）”, “bishop”和 “font”。

Around 800 AD, Britain was invaded by the Vikings who brought about their action-man words like “drag”,“ransack”,“hrust” and “die”. Other frequently used words such as “give” and “take” also came from the language of the Vikings. Altogether, the Vikings gave 2000 words to English.

公元800年，丹麦人入侵英国。维京语言给英语带来了好战意味明显的词汇，如“drag” （拖拽）,”ransack（劫掠）”,”thrust （刺）” 及“die （死）”。“give” 和“take” 也是来自于维京语言。英语中共有2000个词汇源于维京人。

In 1066, William the Conqueror invaded England, bringing the French Language into Britain. French became the language for all official business and the upper class. Words like “judge”, “jury”, “evidence”, “justice”, “beef”, “mutton” and “pork” came into the English language. Latin was still used in Church. The common man spoke English. All in all, the English absorbed about 10,000 new words from the Normans.

1066年,征服者威廉入侵不列颠，带来了来自海峡对岸的法语。法语成为了上层阶级与官方事务用语。英语中的“judge”， “jury” ，“evidence”, “justice”, “beef”, “mutton” 及 “pork” 就是来自于这个时候的法文。拉丁语仍然在教会中使用，老百姓讲英语。总的来讲，英文大概从诺曼语中吸收了一万多个单词。

In 1337, the Hundred Years War between Britain and France began. During the 116 years, the English took from the French language warlike lingo of “armies”, “navies” and “soldiers” and gradually became the language of power.

1337 年，英法百年战争开始。在这116年的争斗中，英语吸收了法语中的战争词汇，如“armies”, “navies” 及 “soldiers“， 并逐步取代法语，成为当权者的语言。

100 years after the war, William Shakespeare was born. As the dictionary tells us, about 2000 news words and phrases were invented by him, including handy words like “ eyeball”and “puppy-dog”, more show-offy words like “dauntless”, “besmirch” and “lacklustre” as well as many catchphrases. Shakespeare’s works showed the world that English was a rich vibrant language with limitless expressive and emotional power.

100年之后诞生了莎士比亚。字典告诉我们，莎士比亚大概发明了2000多个新字，包括好用的词汇如“eyeball”和“puppy-dog”，更华丽一些的词汇，如 “dauntless”, “besmirch” 和 “lacklustre” ，还有很多当时的流行词汇。莎士比亚的作品让世人知道英文是个充满生气的语言，有无限的表现力与情感张力。

In 1611, a new translation of the bible (The King James Bible) was created in a language even “the salt of the earth” could understand. “The writing wasn’t on the wall”. It was in handy little books with preachers reading it in every church. its words and phrases “took root” to ends of Britain. The King James Bible begat a whole glossary of metaphor and morality that still shapes the way English is spoken today.

1611年出现了詹姆士王版圣经。新圣经使用了所有人都能理解的语言，使得圣经中的教训不再是“王宫粉墙上”的文字，而是手中的小册，并有传教士在每间教堂宣传。这本书的词句在不列颠岛上生根发芽。事实上，詹姆士王版圣经产生了如此多的警喻和道德观，形塑了我们现今所用的英文。

In the 17th century, science was developing very rapidly in Britain. The scientists in the Royal Society first worked in Latin but later realized that speaking English would be easier for communication. The discovery of things brought about new vocabularies such as “acid”, “gravity”, “electricity” and “pendulum” as well as “ cardiac”, “tonsil”, “ovary” and “sternum”.

17世纪，科学得到了迅速的发展。皇家学院的科学家们一开始用拉丁文沟通，后来发现其实用自己的母语英文会更简洁。新事物的发现产生了许多新的词汇，如“acid（酸）“, “gravity”, “electricity” and “pendulum （钟摆） ” 以及“ cardiac （心脏）”, “tonsil（扁桃腺）”, “ovary （卵巢）”和 “sternum （胸骨）”。

During the great expansion of the British Empire, the English absorbed words and phrases from many different languages around the world, including “barbecue” from Caribbean, “yoga” and “bungalow” from India, “voodoo” and “zombie” from Africa, “boomerang”, “nugget” and “walkabout” from Australia. All in all, between 1815 and 1914, the British Empire gobbled up around 10 million square miles and 100 million people, leaving new varieties of English to develop all over the globe.

在日不落帝国迅速扩张时期，英语从殖民地不同的语言中吸收了许多新的词汇与表达，如加勒比海地区的“barbecue”， 印度的“yoga” and “bungalow”，非洲的“voodoo（巫毒）” 和 “zombie”，澳大利亚的“boomerang（回旋镖）“, “nugget”和 “walkabout”。据统计，在1815年到1914年期间，不列颠帝国吞下了四亿人民与四千万平方公里的土地，让新变种的英文得以在世界各地发展。

With English expanding in all directions, along came a new breed of men called lexicographers who wanted to put an end to the anarchy of word spelling. One of the most important work of this period is the compilation of “Dictionary of the English” by Dr. Johnson, which greatly contributed to the use of standard spelling. In 1857, editing of the Oxford English Dictionary was started. It was not finished until the year 1928 and has continued to be revised ever since.

随着英文向四面八方扩张，词典编纂者也随之出现，这些人想要解决拼字不统一的无政府状态。于是约翰逊博士花了九年编成了一本英文字典，促成了拼写的统一。1857年，牛津字典的编写工作开始，直到70年后的1928年才终于完成，且此后不断校订。

From the moment Brits first landed in America, they borrowed words from the Indian “raccoon” and “squash” to name all the newly discovered plants and animals. Waves of immigrants also added new words the English language, such as “cookies” from the Dutch, “pretzels” from the Germans, “pizza” and “pasta” from the Italians. America also spread a new language of capitalism, such as “breakeven”, “blue chip”, “the bottom line” , “merger” and “downsizing”. American English also drifted back to Britain, influencing the language on the island.

英国人踏上美国之后，吸收了原住民的部分词汇，如“raccoon （浣熊）” 和 “squash （南瓜）”，来命名新发现的动植物。一波接着一波的移民替美语增加了更多的词汇，荷兰人带来了“cookies”，德国人带来了”pretzels （椒盐饼干）”， 意大利人带来了“pizza”和“pasta”。美国人同时开始散播资本主义字汇，如“breakeven （保本）”, “blue chip （蓝筹）”, “the bottom line （底线）” , “merger （兼并）” 及 “downsizing （裁员）”. 美语扩散回海对岸，对英式英语产生了新的影响。

In 1972, the first email was sent. Soon the Internet arrived, a free global space to share information and ideas. New words concerning internet appeared, such as “firewall”, “ download” and “toolbar”. The net also brought typing back to fashion with conversations getting shorter and shorter. Abbreviations were largely employed in online chatting and spoken english, such as IMHO ( in my humble opinion”, btw (by the way), lol (laugh out loud), FYI (for your information).

人类在1972年送出了历史上第一封电子邮件。不久，网络出现了，让全球的人得以交换情报与信息。与互联网相关的词汇也随之出现，如“firewall”, “download”及 “toolbar“。网络让打字再一次成为风潮。谈话变的越来越短，缩写频繁地出现在网络聊天和日常对话之中，如IMHO ( in my humble opinion”, btw (by the way), lol (laugh out loud)以及FYI (for your information)。

In the 1500 years since the Romans left Britain, English has shown an unique ability to absorb, evolve, invade and, if we’re honest, steal. After foreign settlers got it started, it grew into a fully fledged language all of its own before leaving home and traveling the world, first via the high sea, then via the high speed broadband connection, pilfering words from over 350 language and establishing itself as a global institution.

在罗马人离开不列颠后的这1500年中，英文崭露了他吸收，成长，入侵和剽窃的能力。自外来移民开创它以来，它已经成长为独树一帜的语言，更向门外扩张，现实穿越大海，再穿越宽带网络，从超过350种语言中偷了字汇，奠定了国际语言的地位。

转自 语言研究