ENGL 303 Background Lecture Notes PDF

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BACKGROUND ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND WHERE IT CAME FROM/HOW IT WAS DEVELOPED ...

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ENGL 303 BACKGROUND LECTURE NOTES

Old English Introduction “Britain is the larger unit-an island that now contains 3 major political units: England Scotland Wales “Great Britain” is a modern (post 1703) term Included Ireland at one point, now Northern Ireland “Britain” 5th-6th cent. AD “The land of the pointed ones”, from old Brittonic, a pre-English language used on the Island

English and England In the tine we’re looking at (500-600), there is no “England” The term does not yet exsist as we understand Nobody calls that island “England” No people call themselves “english” The people are known as “celts”

Celts and Germanic Tribes Romans leave in 410 (but some latin and Christian influence remains) Celts (the people and their languages) are not a ‘nation” No central authority Germanic tribes migrate from Europe One tribe is the “Angles” and the other is the “Saxons”

Anglo-Saxon German tribes either dislocate or overwhelm celts (thus Gaelic) By 800-900 “engla londe” (land of the angles)

But don’t forget the Saxons-their works dominate the language “old English” (aka “AngloSaxon”) Celts replaced as rulers; Celtic replaced as language...