The aim of this essay is to present you with the etymology and history of three different words, each of one belongs to a different historical period. The periods which are to be presented in this essay are three. The first period is the one of Old English language which ranges from the middle of the 5th century till the mid-12 century A.D. The second period which is to be presented here is the period of the Middle English period which begins approximately in 1150 and ends in 1500. The third and last period is the period of the Renaissance which dates from the late 15th century and early 16th century and lasts till the early 17th century.
The words which have been chosen to be looked into as far as the period they represent is concerned along with their meanings and origins are the words window, crown and democratic. The research into these words will prove that the English language like any other kind of language goes through all the expected changes that a live language experiences, since there has always been interaction between different nations and their civilizations along with their languages.
Introduction
The English language belongs to the greater family of the Indo European languages. Its development has been affected by the history of the English nation and this is why the main historical periods in the evolution of the English language follow the evolution and development of the country’s history.
Language is the main communicational tool of people and like it has been said by Wittgenstein, the widely acknowledged linguist and researcher of great contribution in the field of language, ‘the limits of one’s language are the limits of this person’s world’. This is actually another way of saying that each language and its knowledge on behalf of people define the boundaries of their world. If one’s knowledge of a language is limited then not efficient communication can be achieved. On the contrary the more languages one knows, or the better one knows a language, then the communicational channels which are opened in front of this person are numerous and various.
Language also is a consistent living organization and this means that there has always been an effect of other languages to a language’s enrichment and evolution but there has always been a nonstop effect of a language’s historical context to the way it develops and evolutes. Language can be seen as a tree whose words who stop existing or being used are like the leaves which fall in autumn. The words which no longer help people in their communication are the ones which stop existing. There are also words which remain the same in pronunciation and/or spelling but they change meaning. This change happens as a result of the changes of the needs of the speaking community. Each language acquires words and new ways of functioning according to the needs of those who speak it.
Old English Language Period
The word which has been chosen to be presented as representative of the Old English Period is the word ‘window’. This is a word found first in the period of the Old English. It derived from the combination of the words ‘wind’ and ‘eye’ meaning the opening through which one can have a wide look. So the initial meaning of the word is the meaning which ahs remained unchanged till today. This word’s origins lie in the language of the Vikings.
The Old English period is a period which begins in around 597AD when St. Augustine came to England and brought the religion of Christianity into the Saxon England. The immediate effect on the language of the Saxon England people was the introduction of a number of words which had something to do or were somehow related to religion. There was a great effect of the Latin words on the Saxon English language and most of the words introduced to the language or first formed were closely related to the Church and the Church life. For example some words like presbyter or monk are words which make their first appearance in the language at that period.
The word ‘window’ though is a word which belongs to that period but comes from another effect, the one of the Vikings, Danes and Norsemen who invaded the country. Lots of the words used by the invaders were automatically adopted by the natives and used in their native language. The word ‘window’ is a Norse word which derived from the old Norse ‘vindauga’, a word compromising of ‘vindr’ which was the Nord word for the ‘wide’ and the Norse word ‘auga’ which was the word for the ‘eye’. The word window and its meaning actually existed in the Old English vocabulary but in another way. The Old English Vocabulary had the word ‘eagþyrl’, which was the word meaning ‘eye-hole’. The word ‘window’ as a meaning came from the Germanic languages and the need of a word which would depict the meaning of the hole up in the roof of their houses. Besides the Norse language which was the original language of the Vikings was in its origin mostly Germanic.
The Middle English Period
The word which has been chosen for the Middle English period is the word ‘crown’. This is a word depicting power and authority. How did this word come in the English language and what were the needs which gave birth to it? According to the historical context of the period, it was in the year 1066 when William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded the country of England. The result of the invasion was the king of Normandy to become the king of England as well. A new situation arose in the country of England since there was a new political state. The king of Normandy brought his army and his nobles, his followers to be with him and support him in his new duties. Since both the king and his followers coming from Normandy spoke French, there was a great turnover in the English Language. The Old French language turned out to be the formal language of all authorities such as the court, the Church, the fields of administration. As a result a lot of words related to authorities and power were imposed on the English language having originated from the French language, the language of the invaders. At the same time the English language started being treated as the inferior language which was not to be used in the written documents or in any official action. When in around 1200 new political events took place with France being left on its own and England gaining its independence, the Old English Language came back but with lots of changes in vocabulary, pronunciation and variety.
The word ‘crown’ belongs to this family and group of French words which had come from the French language and had been used to depict meanings which were related to the authority or the notion of power generally speaking.
The precise etymology origins of the word crown lie in the Old French word ‘corone’ which was the word coming from the Latin word of ‘corona’ which was what the king used to have on his head so that his authority was shown to everyone and evident to all.
The Period of Renaissance
Humanism is the spiritual – artistic movement born in the 15th-16th centuries, which influenced all cultural and educational fields. The words marking its identity are ‘revival of the classical values of Ancient Greece and Rome’. What did that revival stand for? Humanism brought human in the center of life. Having derived their principles from the emphasis given on progress, evolution and critical thinking during Renaissance years, humanists focus even more on the crucial role of education in one’s life. New schools, educational movements, theories and educations are founded focusing on reviving the studies of classical literature. The ideal of the classical civilization of Ancient Greece and Rome is now more necessary than ever. Humans need to be reborn in the sense of giving their lives a revived meaning. They need to enjoy life and at the same time work towards their becoming better people. So humanism refers to the classical values of being an active citizen, of learning and discovering, of offering to the evolution of society. ‘Homo Universalis’ is the ideal of humanism. A ‘homo’ seeking knowledge since he / she has realized that it is the knowledgeable background the one which ought to be the foundation of his / her personality’s evolution.
People’s destiny is to go after knowledge and share it so that they can contribute to worldwide progress. The importance of humanism is that it set the foundations of nowadays modernized, technologically advanced societies which face the danger of forgetting the importance of human beings and their universal ethical and spiritual values. Humanistic theory ought to be the compass of societies’ evolution since no progress exists if no inner happiness is achieved or at least sought.
Enlightenment was the wider philosophical and political movement developed within this movement of Humanism and Renaissance was the beginning of this movement. Due to the historical and cultural context new words entered the English language coming from the Latin and Ancient Greek language. The word which has been chosen to be presented here is the word democratic. The word focusing on the new way of thinking, the new mentality as far as the political status of people should be derives directly from the Latin and Ancient Greek ideas and mentalities of democracy. So what happens now is that a new word comes to depict the demand for a new kind of citizen. Democratic is the word deriving from the Ancient Greek words of ‘demos’ which is the Ancient Greek word meaning population and ‘cratic’ which is an adjective deriving from the Ancient Greek verb ‘crato’ which depicts the meaning of being in authority, of being in power. Therefore democratic is an adjective meaning any person who is an active citizen of the democracy, the political situation in which the power and authority is held by the citizens, the majority of the citizens.
As a result, all these new demands for the active citizen of the Democracy which was the deep desire of everybody living in Europe at that period of time, waiting for a drastic change of things and the efficient new way to fight against the huge gap existing between social classes is a word representing that time.
Works Cited
Jespersen , Otto (1905) Growth and Structure of the English Language, B.G. Teubner: New York, G.E. Stechert & Company
Wood, Frederic (1969) An Outline History of the English Language, Macmillan Publications
Wrenn CL (1977) The English Language, Methuen
