Page 25 - All About History 55 - 2017 UK

The Norman
The introduction William the
of the printing
French language William conquered
press dramatically not just the English
transformed language Conqueror
was very different from but English itself
general French. When NORMAN 1028-1087
Although never an educational reformer
many Normans moved like Alfred the Great, William transformed
to England after 1066, English simply by leading the Norman
it changed Conquest in the first place. Like the Roman
and Saxon invaders before them, the
even more Normans permanently made their mark
on the language. It is thought that of the
10,000 words introduced from Norman
Johannes GutenberG GERMAN c.1397-1468 French after 1066, some two thirds are still
Gutenberg’s achievement in creating the printing press impacted not just in use. This includes words as crucial as
‘justice’, ‘marriage’, ‘govern’ and ‘parliament’.
the English language but the world as a whole — he arguably created mass
communication at a stroke. That said, his influence on the English language is
irretrievably bound up with that of English merchant William Caxton who was, noah
after all, the man who brought the printing press to England and the first retailer
of books there. His achievement was undoubtedly enormous, too, but Gutenberg Webster
just pips him to the post as the actual inventor.
AMERICAN 1758-1843
Noah Webster was
daniel defoe a schoolteacher
ENGLISH 1660-1731 who revolutionised
English in the
In 1719, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe was
United States. While
published. The jury is still out as to
Americans had been
whether this was the first English novel
producing their
— some would claim John Bunyan’s The
own words — many
Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) or Sir Thomas
derived from Native
Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur (1485) as
American and
more deserving of this title. Regardless,
African languages —
whoever created it deserves credit for for some time, they
inventing a medium that has enabled Webster
transformed the did not necessarily
the likes of Austen, Dickens, Orwell and American lexicon,
all spell them the
300 years on, the novel
Rowling to use English so effectively to taking the ‘u’ out
continues to thrive of ‘colour’ same way until
reach so many people.
Webster’s 1828
American Dictionary
Guthrum Alfred Of The English Language. He also sought to rescue English from the
DANISH Unknown-890 the Great’s the “clamour of pedantry”, spelling many words in his new democratised
As important as Alfred’s efforts to boost the English phonetically — for example, ‘color’ instead of ‘colour’ and
English language were, his Viking enemies established English- ‘center’ instead of ‘centre’.
made their mark, too. Today, more than 1,400 language schools for
place names in northern England are of his own children, the
Scandinavian origin and words such as ‘leg’, tim berners-lee
‘skull’, ‘husband’, ‘sky’ and ‘take’ have Viking children of nobles and BRITISH 1955 - present
roots. Unlike the later Norman Conquest, other less privileged
however, it is difficult to attribute the Viking All revolutions in mass
raids to any one person. Alfred’s rival Guthrum, pupils communication from the printing
press and telephone to radio, film
ruler of the Danelaw, is a good a choice as any.
and TV have changed English
Berners-Lee’s
Norse influence on the language in their own way. Although still
legacy is the world in its formative stages, the world
is still clearly evident today
wide web
wide web and the proliferation
of mobile phone technology in
the last 20 years is undeniably
transforming the English
language in ways difficult to
fully absorb. One thing is clear,
however: the resilience of English
to adapt and evolve in a changing © Alamy, Getty Images
environment is considerable.
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