The Celts.
The Celts were the first known inhabitants of the British Isles, living there before the Isles were occupied by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who were the first recognised speakers of Old English. Because of the invasion of these three groups of people, coming from West Germany and Southern Denmark, little influences from Celtic remain in the English language. Words we gained from Celtic include darn, drudge, mug, barrel, rogue, ribbon, gown and truant. For a
more extensive explanation on the influences of Celtic on English the link below will take you to the essay 'Celtic Influence on the English Language' by Claire Lovis (copyright 2001).
more extensive explanation on the influences of Celtic on English the link below will take you to the essay 'Celtic Influence on the English Language' by Claire Lovis (copyright 2001).
Angles, Saxons and Jutes.
As previously outlined on the English Throughout History page, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes were invaders from West Germany and Southern Denmark. They all spoke a mutually intelligible language known as Old English, they overran the Celts who had previously settled in the British Isles. Very little of the Celtic language was retained, as Old English had much more usefull words for everyday, household objects and acitvities including 'house', 'loaf' and 'woman'. They invaded the British Isles somewhere in the 5th and 6th centuries.
Influences of Christianity.
Christianity was introduced in the late 6th century and prompted the introduction of roughly 400 latin words to the Old English language, as well as even fewer Greek words. Latin words introduced with Christianity include 'school', 'paper', 'preist' and 'sponsor', while the few Greek words we have include 'apathy', 'harmony', and 'history'.
Old Norse Influences.
In the 10th and 11th centuries Old English was largely influeced by Old Norse, a North Germanic language spoken by Norsemen who settled in North East England. English borrowd approximately 2000 words from Old Norse, including 'anger', 'awkward', 'berserk', 'blunder', 'die', 'ransack' and 'slaughter'.