(Advanced - Lecture notes) The History English Part 2 (14th Century - 1616)

14th Century England

In 14th Century England, power in words lay in the Bible, but the Bible was in Latin.

The stories of the Bible were shared through plays like the Mystery Plays – a sort of Biblical soap opera or cartoon strip.

They were performed in the language of Chaucer.

In God’s house Latin ruled. Church was compulsory. Everything was in Latin.

The English wanted a Bible in English. 

John Wycliffe

John Wycliffe was an anti-Clerical "scripturist". 

He believed the Church was deeply corrupt. 

He believed everyone should have the right to read the word of God for themselves. 

1380 – beginning the translation from Latin to English.

Many phrases we use to today were read first in Wycliffe’s Bible.

Such as....

An Eye for an Eye

Birthday

Frying pan

Childbearing

Madness

There were still a lot of Latin words and Latin word order. They were still nervous about using English.

The Lollards, followers of Wycliffe. 

They were banned. 

The English Bible was banned.  

Wycliffe was condemned as a heretic.

Ouch

 Early 15^th Century

Early 15^th Century (The Battle of Agincourt etc)

Henry 5^th ‘s campaign dispatches written in English. 

Anti-French fervor.  Brexit!

When Richard returned from his campaign he started to make English the language of government.

There were big problems in standardizing it.

These are variations on a single word:

Kirk

Kyrke

Kyrk

Kerk

Kerke

Kirc

Cherche

Cherch

Chirche

Chyrche

Chyrch

Cherge

Schyrche

Churche

Church

OMG!

Slowly, under the influence of the Chancery, English began to look more like it does today.

Iche became I

Lond became land.

Enig became any

Xal became schal became shall

Hath and doth became has and does

“traditionalists” determined a lot of our spellings and formations – they tried to reflect the origins of words.

For example, words that were thought to be of Greek origin were given special spellings. I.e. the ‘h’ in Theatre and rhythmn.

The Great Vowel Shift - 1350 to 1600

Through the Great Vowel Shift, all Middle English long vowels changed their pronunciation.

Might sounded like meat.

“I might go and buy some meat.” Probably sounded like “I meet go and boy some mit”.

But it didn't change the spelling.

The influence of the Traditionalists and the Great Vowel Shift go some way to explaining why English spelling is so characteristically non-phonetic and illogical, although apparently some of the other inconsistencies are to do with the licenses taken by early printers who were paid per letter and regularly added letters! (An example of this is the word "tongue"). 

Movable Type

Printing invented by Guttenberg in in Mainz in the 1440s

(This marvel of German precision was apparently inspired by the grape press used in wine making.)

With the introduction of moveable type printing, it became hard to control the spread of ideas and written language.

William Caxton introduced printing to England.

Printers like Caxton began shaping the form and usage of the written word.

Henry 8^th 1491 – 1547

During this era William Tyndle finished Wycliffe’s project of a popular English Bible, but translating it from Hebrew and Greek.

We get many well-known phrases from Tyndle

Let there be light

The powers that be

The apple of my eye

A man after my own heart

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

Sign of the times

Ye of little faith

Eat, drink and be merry

Broken-hearted

Beautiful

Fisherman

Seashore

The state imprisoned then murdered Tyndle. :(

But then...

Henry 8^th’s mood changed when he wanted a divorce. 

He split with Rome himself and executed his own Catholic enforcer Thomas Moore.

Eventually Tyndle’s Bible formed the basis for the King James Bible, the version of the Bible that by 1611 became the standard.

By the end of Henry's reign the Reformation was if full swing across Europe. 

Elizabeth I (1533 – 24 March 1603)

Elizabeth 1^st spoke 6 languages and wrote poetry.

The English vocabulary was rapidly expanding in this period

The repulsion of the Spanish Armada in 1589 started a new chapter. 

No longer was English to be changed and expanded by invading languages.

A cargo of vocabulary was imported alongside the goods that came with the trade that came with naval supremacy. 

The big influence was still French. But sailor talk and trade terms also came from Low Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese including..

Fokkinge

Krappe

Bugger

 (from Low Dutch)

Yes! The Dutch gave us the F-word!

The 'UK' was only very new. English had only just begun spreading to Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

Trading expeditions effected the language at the most domestic of levels:

Apricots

Bananas

Limes

Cocoa

(Through Spanish)

Lychees (Chinese)

Bamboo (Malay)

Curry (Tamil)

Yoghurt (Turkish)

Bizarre, Turban (Farsi)

Coffee, Magazine, Alcohol (Arabic)

Of course, lots of words came from Italian because of the Renaissance

Opera, Balcony, violin etc.

Universities were on the rise. 

Latin was the language of scholars across Europe

Latin helped to described new intellectual concepts, techniques and inventions 

Skeleton

Excavate

Radius

Submerged

Concept

Technique

Invention

Temperature

Thermometer

Even now we go to Latin and Greek to name new concepts:

Audio

Video

Internet

Elizabeth's courtiers were all poets as well as diplomats

“English hath it equally with any other tongue in the world”

- Sydney

Phillip Sydney is the best example. His poetry was well informed about other European cultures and literature, but he explored English as a literary language. 

Poets like Sydney saw it as their role to invent or introduce new phraseology.

My better half

Far-fetched

Conversation

 Shakespeare 1564 – 1616

 

Shakespeare was not a courtier. 

He was born and educated in Stratford. A middle class boy. He had a Stratford accent - in other words a country rather than a city accent. 

He picked up French and Italian late. 

He didn’t go to university

David Tennant Explains Why Shakespeare Still Matters

1. What does David believe makes Shakespeare so relevant today?
2. What are some of the phrases of Shakespeare mentioned?
3. What might have been the motivation for the author of Shakespeare's plays to hide their identity?
4. Why does David feel the conspiracy theories are snobbish?
5. What kind of accent does David have?
6. Who was the special guest at the commemoration of Shakespeare's death?
7. What was David's final joke referring to?

 The London theatres, like the Globe, were located in the red light areas of London.

Shakespeare combined the language of the courtiers with the language of the street.

There were no props or scenery so language was the primary means of conveying the scene.

The theatres attracted enormous crowds.

1 in 2 Londoners would see a successful Shakespeare play.

Over 2000 words derive from Shakespeare's works. 

He didn't always invent them, but he used them in a way that gave them currency in the language.

Obscene

Advertising

Courtship

Reliance

Eventful

Shakespeare’s vocabulary was huge.

Any reasonably educated native speaker of English will quote Shakespeare, often without realising it.

As good luck would have it

In my mind’s eye

To be cruel to be kind

Watch:

Quoting Shakespeare 

0:00 - 1:00

"It's _____ to me."
"More s_____ against than s______"
"S____ days"
To act "more in s____ than in a____"
"Your ____ is father to the th____"
"________ into thin air"
To refuse to "____ an inch"
"____-eyed jealousy"
To "play ___ and loose"
"tongue-____"
"a tower of _____"
"hood_____ed"
"__ a pickle"
to "k___ your brows"
to "make a v_____ of necessity"
to insist on "f___ play"
Sleep "___ one wink"
to "stand on c_______y"
to "dance attendance to your lord and m______"
to "_____ yourself into stitches"
to "have sh____ shrift"
"___ comfort"
"___ much of a good thing"
"seen _____ days"
"___'s paradise"
"be that as it ___"
"the __ fool you"
a "foregone c_____"
"as ___ ___ would have it"

Like the writer of Beowulf, Shakespeare loved compound words – often ones that were unique to him:

Baby-eyes

Fair play

Half-blown

Ill-tuned

The power of his plays comes from the interplay of the high and low words.

He loved insults. 

“I’ll tickle your catastrophe!”

 “Thou art as loathsome as a toad.”