A Brief History of the English Language and Literature, Vol. 2 | Page 6

+William Shakespeare+. Of pure poetry perhaps the
greatest writer was +Edmund Spenser+. The greatest prose-writer was
+Richard Hooker+, and the pithiest +Francis Bacon+.
8. +Modern English, 1603-1900.+-- The grammar of the language was
fixed before this period, most of the accidence having entirely vanished.
The vocabulary of the language, however, has gone on increasing, and
is still increasing; for the English language, like the English people, is
always ready to offer hospitality to all peaceful foreigners-- words or
human beings-- that will land and settle within her coasts. And the
tendency at the present time is not only to give a hearty welcome to
newcomers from other lands, but to call back old words and old
phrases that had been allowed to drop out of existence. Tennyson has

been one of the chief agents in this happy restoration.
CHAPTER II.
THE HISTORY OF THE VOCABULARY OF THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE.
1. +The English Nation.+-- The English people have for many centuries
been the greatest travellers in the world. It was an Englishman-- Francis
Drake-- who first went round the globe; and the English have colonised
more foreign lands in every part of the world than any other people that
ever existed. The English in this way have been influenced by the
world without. But they have also been subjected to manifold
influences from within-- they have been exposed to greater political
changes, and profounder though quieter political revolutions, than any
other nation. In 1066 they were conquered by the Norman-French; and
for several centuries they had French kings. Seeing and talking with
many different peoples, they learned to adopt foreign words with ease,
and to give them a home among the native-born words of the language.
Trade is always a kindly and useful influence; and the trade of Great
Britain has for many centuries been larger than that of any other nation.
It has spread into every part of the world; it gives and receives from all
tribes and nations, from every speech and tongue.
2. +The English Element in English.+-- When the English came to this
island in the fifth century, the number of words in the language they
spoke was probably not over +two thousand+. Now, however, we
possess a vocabulary of perhaps more than +one hundred thousand
words+. And so eager and willing have we been to welcome foreign
words, that it may be said with truth that: +The majority of words in the
English Tongue are not English+. In fact, if we take the Latin language
by itself, there are in our language more +Latin+ words than +English+.
But the grammar is distinctly English, and not Latin at all.
3. +The Spoken Language and the Written Language-- a Caution.+--
We must not forget what has been said about a language,-- that it is not
a printed thing-- not a set of black marks upon paper, but that it is in

truest truth a +tongue+ or a +speech+. Hence we must be careful to
distinguish between the +spoken+ language and the +written+ or
+printed+ language; between the language of the +ear+ and the
language of the +eye+; between the language of the +mouth+ and the
language of the +dictionary+; between the +moving+ vocabulary of the
market and the street, and the +fixed+ vocabulary that has been
catalogued and imprisoned in our dictionaries. If we can only keep this
in view, we shall find that, though there are more Latin words in our
vocabulary than English, the English words we possess are +used+ in
speaking a hundred times, or even a thousand times, oftener than the
Latin words. It is the genuine English words that have life and
movement; it is they that fly about in houses, in streets, and in markets;
it is they that express with greatest force our truest and most usual
sentiments-- our inmost thoughts and our deepest feelings. Latin words
are found often enough in books; but, when an English man or woman
is deeply moved, he speaks pure English and nothing else. Words are
the coin of human intercourse; and it is the native coin of pure English
with the native stamp that is in daily circulation.
4. +A Diagram of English.+-- If we were to try to represent to the eye
the proportions of the different elements in our vocabulary, as it is
found in the dictionary, the diagram would take something like the
following form:--
Diagram of the English Language.
+-----------------------------------------------------+ | ENGLISH WORDS. |
+-----------------------------------------------------+ | LATIN WORDS | |
(including Norman-French, which are also Latin). |
+--------------+--------------------------------------+ | GREEK WORDS. |
Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, | | | Hebrew, Arabic, Hindustani,
Persian, | | | Malay, American, etc. etc. |
+--------------+--------------------------------------+
5. +The Foreign Elements in our English Vocabulary.+-- The different
peoples and the different circumstances with which we have come