The evolution of English - Early Modern English to our days - Part one

The English language had several stages throughout its evolution: the Pre-English period (c.450 AD), Early Old English (c.450 - c.850), Later Old English (c.850-1100) , Middle English (c.1100-1450), Early Modern English (c.1450-1750), Modern English (c.1750-1950) and finally over Late Modern English (c.1950).

In the past few lessons we approached the evolution of the English language, highlighting the Early Modern English. This phase of the English language corresponds to the Elizabethan era, which that matches the ascension of English drama with William Shakespeare.

Shakespeare wrote abundantly during the last years of 1500 and early 1600 and took the new language to literary and creative territories. He has never been surpassed and is still recognized as the most well known and read poet / playwright of modern English.

England began its age of colonization and with this the English language was spread on a global scale. The adaptation of new speakers to the language was easy since English is a easy reading language. But the new speakers were not the only ones who learn and collect a new language. This process has enriched the English language with a wide range of loanwords that are still in use today. This process of capture new words was gradual, it continues to happen and it is not a unique phenomenon of the English language, it is common to any language that is in its development process. The English received many words of completely distinct nationalities, such as:

> Arabic - alcohol, chemistry, algebra, apricot, assassin, candy, coffee, giraffe, guitar, harem, lemon, magazine, orange, safari, sultan, zero, etc;
> Chinese –  chi, chop chop, feng shui, ginseng, kung fu, silk, soy, zen, etc;

> French – able, abolish, age, base, baton, cabaret, caramel, discipline, funeral, juice, loyal, mint, nature, pause, real, trip, verb, war, etc;
> German – hamburger, muesli, nazi, etc;
> Indian – bungalow, guru, jungle, shampoo, etc;
> Portuguese – albino, banana, zebra, etc;
> Spanish – armada, bolero, chocolate, iguana, tango, etc;
> Turkic – vampire, yoghurt, etc
And many more….

Researches made at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_English_loanwords_by_country_or_language_of_origin

Text written by the authors of the Blog

Cristiana & Margarida