Page 24 - All About History 55 - 2017 UK

The WriTTen Word

Hall of Fame

WRITERS AND WORDSMITHS

Today, English is spoken by over 300 million people. But who were

the key figures that made the language we know so well?

WILLIAM

SHAKESPEARE
ENGLISH 1564-1616
Although his inclusion here might
seem like a foregone conclusion, the
Bard’s enormous impact on the English
language is obvious not just in famous
quotes like “to be or not to be”, but
also in the many phrases he coined
Alfred was a keen
that we now consider commonplace,
early champion of
such as ‘lily-livered’, ‘bated breath’ and, the English language
indeed, ‘foregone conclusion’. But his
influence is greater still. As the creator
of an estimated 2,000 words, including ALFRED THE GREAT
‘amazement’, ‘bedroom’, and ‘fashionable’, ENGLISH 849-899
it’s impossible to imagine what English Often regarded as the first true English king, Alfred’s reign
Shakespeare: Despite would be like without him. His was dominated by a seemingly endless series of battles with
the man who ‘monumental’ position as a Viking raiding parties. But Alfred’s well-deserved nickname
changed the word their influence master of English is ‘secure’. ‘the Great’ does not just stem from his military victories
on the English over the Danes. Deeply concerned by the impact the Danish
GEOFFREY language, not a single “I never raids had on standards of education and aware that levels
of literacy had fallen dramatically, Alfred pushed hard
original manuscript
CHAUCER by either Chaucer or desire to for primary education to be taught in English instead of
Latin. He also ensured several major texts of the time were
ENGLISH 1343-1400 Shakespeare converse translated into English, probably ensuring the survival of
Like Shakespeare, the language in the process.
Chaucer is a writer whose still exists with a man
words not only had a literary
impact, but who transformed the who has written more
nature of the English language
forever. Chaucer’s writing made than he has read”
it acceptable for the aristocratic Samuel Johnson
nobility to speak Chaucer’s Middle
English (essentially a mix of
Anglo-Saxon, Danish and French) SAMUEL JOHNSON ENGLISH 1709-1784
instead of the French they had
Contrary to popular belief, Dr Johnson was not the first man
spoken since coming over
to compile an English dictionary. Robert Cawdrey, for example,
with the Norman Conquest.
produced one, the Table Alphabeticall in 1604, a full 150 years
Indeed, a year before
before Johnson produced his famous Dictionary Of The
Chaucer’s death, the
succession of Henry Chaucer made English Language in 1755. Johnson’s work is rightly
English literature held in higher regard, however, partly because he
IV ensured that, for
acceptable cleverly used quotations to demonstrate how to
the first time since
correctly use many of the words, but mostly
1066, England had a
because it was both more influential and, quite
king whose mother Johnson’s dictionary was
simply, it contained so many words. Cawdrey’s
tongue was English, completed single-handedly
book had defined barely 2,000 — Johnson’s over seven years
rather than French.
included well over 40,000.
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