Does English come from Britain or America? Why is it so popular?

The pedigree of English

English is an Indo-European language family. Indo-European language family is the largest language family in the world, including most languages in Europe, America and Asia. The total number of Indo-European speakers is about1875 million, accounting for about half of the world's total population. As early as 1786, william jones, a British Sanskrit scholar, pointed out that most languages in Europe, India and Persia, including ancient Greek, ancient Latin and ancient Indian, belong to the same "language family".

What were the primitive Indo-Europeans like? Where do they live? What is their language contest like? We still lack literature research on these issues today. However, after a long period of research, linguists have come to an exploratory conclusion. They found that many languages belonging to the Indo-European family have words that mean "winter", "snow" and "cold", which shows that the original Indo-European language was originally used in areas with relatively cold climate. On the other hand, some tropical animal and plant names, such as lion, elephant, rice, bamboo and palm tree, do not exist in the original Indo-European language family. However, in Indo-European languages, there are similar words for the names of plants and animals, such as poplar, oak, willow, birch, bear, wolf, sheep, eagle and bee. Through such exploration and research, many people think that when mankind entered the Neolithic Age, there were already some nomadic tribes in Central and Eastern Europe. They raise sheep, dogs, cows, horses and other livestock, and use horses and simple carriages to gallop on the endless Yuan Ye. These nomadic tribes are primitive Indo-Europeans, and the language they communicate with is primitive Indo-European. Between about 3500 BC and 2500 BC, these primitive Indo-Europeans began to immigrate. Some migrated to the west, some to the east, and some to the south, reaching today's South Asian subcontinent. The migration of these tribes led to the gradual formation of Indo-European language family. This is the historical origin of the similarity between ancient Indian and ancient European.

Indo-European language family includes: (1) Indo-language family; (2) Iranian language family; (3) Slavic, (4) Baltic, (5) Germanic, (6) Latin (also called [Romance]), (7) Celtic, (8) Greek; (9) Albanian, (10) Armenian, (1 1) Tohoku; Tokharian) (12) Hittite. Germanic language family is a relatively large language family. It is further divided into three linguistic branches: (1) East Germanic language is mainly represented by the extinct Gothic language; (2) North Germanic language, mainly represented by old Scandinavian language, including Norwegian, Icelandic, Swedish and Danish today; (3) West Germanic languages include low German, Dutch, high German, English, Frisian, Flemish, etc. Therefore, we say that English belongs to the West Germanic branch of the Germanic family of Indo-European languages.

The formation of English

Britain faces France across the English Channel and Dover Strait in the south, and the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Norway across the North Sea in the east and southeast. It is only 30 kilometers wide from the Dover Strait, the narrowest channel on the European continent. The territory of Britain mainly includes the island of Great Britain and the northeast of Ireland. The island of Great Britain consists of three regions: England occupies the south and middle, Wales occupies the western mountain peninsula, and Scotland occupies the north; Britain is the most important. Great Britain is the largest island in Europe, and its coastline is very tortuous, reaching11450km. English is formed in such a geographical environment. In order to explain the origin of English, it is necessary for us to review the prehistory of Britain before the formation of English. The investigation of cultural relics proves that the nomadic tribes of ancient Indo-Europe had moved westward before the Paleolithic people lived in the British Isles today. At that time, the British Isles were connected with the European continent. Today, there is no English Channel and Dover Channel between Britain and France, and the Rhine and Thames are still connected by its tributaries. Today, Britain still belongs to the European continent. About nine thousand years ago; Due to the changes in the earth's crust, the islands of Great Britain were separated from the European continent. So it is not surprising that prehistoric Paleolithic people were able to settle in Britain. Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874? /FONT & gt； 1965), in his book A History of English-speaking People, once described the Paleolithic people living in Britain as follows: Obviously, those men and women who were naked or wearing only skins were foraging in virgin forests or playing with water in swamps and grass beaches. As for the language they speak, there is no historical data. Around 3000 BC, Iberians came from the Mediterranean to settle in Britain. They brought the Neolithic culture to Britain and conquered the Paleolithic people who lived there before. From about 500 BC, the Celts; (Celtic) invaded and occupied the British Isles from the European continent. Celts first lived in today's southern Germany. They were the first people in Europe to learn to make and use iron and gold decorations. Before conquering Britain, they conquered today's France and Spain: Portugal, Italy and other regions; After coming to Britain, some Celts settled in today's Ireland and Scotland, while others occupied the south and east of today's England. Everywhere they go, they kill Iberians in cold blood. Celts speak Celtic. Gaelic people living in the mountains of northern and western Scotland still use this language today. Before the formation of English, Celtic was the only earliest motto with historical basis that could be found on the British Island. In the summer of 55 BC, Julius Caesar of the Roman Empire came to Britain after conquering Gaul. At that time, his purpose was not necessarily to conquer Britain, but to warn the Celts not to support those Celts who lived in Gao Zhan and were enslaved by the Romans. Caesar's trip to Britain did not bring any benefits to the Roman Empire, but reduced his prestige to some extent. The following year, in the summer of 54 BC, Julius Caesar visited England for the second time. This time, he established himself in the southeast of England and had some conflicts with the local Celts. Julius Caesar won, but he didn't let the Celtics give in. Soon, he returned to Gaul; In the next hundred years, the Roman Empire did not pose a great threat to Britain. The real "Roman conquest" in British history began in 43 AD. At that time, the Roman Emperor Keraudy led 40,000 troops, and it took three years to finally conquer the central and south-central parts of the British Island. Subsequently, the whole of England was firmly controlled by Rome. With the military occupation, Roman culture and style and habits penetrated into Britain. Roman clothing, decorations, pottery and glassware spread rapidly in Britain; The beginning of social life: "Romanization" will inevitably lead to the spread of Latin in Britain. In the eyes of the Romans who claimed to be the winners, the Celts were undoubtedly "low" and naturally the Celts could not be "elegant". At that time, in Britain, official language, legal language and business language were all Latin; Latin became the second language of the upper Celtics. This is the historical reason why Celtic words rarely survive. In today's English, Celtic vocabulary elements remain only in some place names and river names. Such as Thames, Kamm, Dee, Avon, esk, Exe, Stowe, Ayr, derwent, House, Severn, Dis, Trent and Wye. Are all rivers named by Celts? In Duncombe, Winchcombe, Homs, Cumberland, Qom and other places, we can also see the composition of the word cumb(= deep valley:: deep valley) in Celtic, while in Torcross, Torrington and other places, Celtic Tol (= high rock or peak; The composition of the word "high rock or mountain top" The names of the famous British cities Dover and York are also derived from Celtic. The Romans occupied Britain for 400 years until AD 407. Due to the diplomatic difficulties within the Roman Empire, the Romans had to start to leave Britain.

Around 449 AD, three Germanic tribes living in northwest Europe invaded Britain. They are angles, saxons and Jutes. They crossed the North Sea by boat and took advantage of the decline of the Roman Empire to "invade the British Isles in one fell swoop". They were stubbornly resisted by the Celtics, and the process of conquest was delayed for a century and a half: by the end of the sixth century, the original inhabitants of the island, the Celtics, were almost extinct in Great Britain, and the survivors either fled into the mountains or became slaves. This is the "Germanic conquest" in British history, also known as the "Teutonic conquest". This foreign invasion has played a key role in the formation of English.

The angles, saxons and Jutes belong to the ancient Germanic people. Sub-cities are located in Northern Europe, jutland, Danish Islands and the northwestern German coast. During the Roman Empire, they were generally referred to as "barbarian tribes". They are engaged in animal husbandry and hunting, live a semi-nomadic life, and have long known about farming. Their land is the public property of the clan, and agricultural management is primitive and mobile. With the development of society, the clan commune gradually disintegrated, and clan nobles and military leaders appeared. Their wealth and power have increased dramatically in frequent looting. Military leaders are nominally elected by the people's assembly, but in fact they all come from the same family. Engels once called this clan and tribe management system military democracy; He wrote: "It is called military democracy, because war and the organization that started it have now become the normal functions of national life. The wealth of neighbors stimulated the greed of all ethnic groups. These ethnic groups regard the acquisition of wealth as one of the most important purposes in life. They are barbarians. In their view, plunder is easier and even more glorious than creative labor. Previous wars were just to retaliate against aggression, or to expand the collar that was already insufficient; In view of the fact that war is purely for plunder, war has become a conventional occupation. " These so-called barbarians played a very important role in destroying slavery in the Roman Empire at that time and promoting the birth of feudal system in Western Europe. After the conquest of Britain, the Angles mainly occupied the area north of the Humber River. The Saxons mainly occupied the area south of the Thames; Jutes are mainly entrenched in Kent and southern Hampshire); At the southeast end of England. The Isle of Wight, located in the south of England, near Portsmouth today, has formed many small countries. At the beginning of the 7th century, these small gardens merged into seven kingdoms: Saxons in the south, Wessex, Sussex and Essex; Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia, with Angles in the northeast and middle; Kent kingdom with Jutes in the southeast. Countries have been fighting for hegemony for 200 years; In British history, it was called "Anglo-Saxon Seven Powers System". Although these three Germanic tribes have their own dialects, they all belong to Low West Germanic. There are many similarities. So the three tribes are basically similar in language. They all use a word called Runic. This kind of writing is commonly used by ancient Germanic peoples. Its letters are mainly composed of straight lines, so they can be engraved on wood or stone. It is a Nordic script developed from ancient Greek and Latin. With the development of human society, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes have gradually formed a unified English nation, and their dialects have gradually merged, resulting in a new language-Anglo-Saxon. This is old English. It was formed through a series of national migration and conquest in a specific geographical and historical environment.

So how did the names Britain and England come from? It turns out that Celts used to call the Angles, Saxons and Jutes who conquered them Saxons. Early Latin scholars imitated Celtic customs and called these three Germanic tribes Saxons. And called on Britain to conquer Saxony. In the seventh century, the political and cultural influence of the kingdom of Semberia and Mercia rose sharply, but here? What's the matter with you? Are you kidding? ⊙д?S？ /FONT & gt； Li Ang and Angles refer to all three tribes and the territories they occupy in Britain. Subsequently, Li Ang and Anglia replaced Saxony and Saxony respectively in Latin works. In 700 A.D., all the people called the language spoken on the British island Englisc (the Angles always called it the language they used), and the three invading Germanic tribes were collectively called angel cynn(= the kin of the Angles, that is, the "family of the Angles"). In the year 1000, the whole country was called England. Due to the evolution of pronunciation and spelling within the language, English and England have become English and England today.

Tracing back to the historical development of English, we usually divide it into three periods: (1) Old English, from 450 years to 1 150 years; (2) Middle English, from 1 150 to1500; (3) Modern English, from 1500 to the present. For the convenience of research, we often put 1500? /FONT & gt； 1700 English is called "early modern English", and 1700 English is called "late modern English". Of course, this stage is not absolute, but it helps us to understand and study the whole process of English historical development.

Because imperialism once had many colonies in the world, English was widely popular.

Most of the imperialist countries are economically developed, which leads to English gradually becoming the "official language" of the world.