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

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 in contact, have had many results-- one among others, that of presenting us with contributions to our vocabulary. We found Kelts here; and hence we have a number of Keltic words in our vocabulary. The Romans held this island for several hundred years; and when they had to go in the year 410, they left behind them six Latin words, which we have inherited. In the seventh century, Augustine and his missionary monks from Rome brought over to us a larger number of Latin