"eighth", "ninth" and "tenth" months of the year. You remember that before
the Romans changed their calendar, March was the first month.
The English had more descriptive names for these month. September was
called "Harfest-Monath", "the harvest month". October was "Win-Monath",
"the wine month". November was "Bloo-Monath", because in November the
English sacrificed cattle to their gods. December was “Mid-Winter-Monath”,
because this month was the middle month of winter.
C). Germanic tribes.
At the beginning of the 5th century the Romans left the islands, they had
tо save their own country from barbarians. If you want to know what events
followed after that, turn on the Time Machine again. So, here we are, in
the 5th century, This is the time of the birth of the English language. Тhe
Germanic tribes of Angles, Sаxоns and Jutes invaded thе misty fertile
island. Some of the native Britons were killed, mаnу others fled from the
invaders "аs from fire" into the hillу parts of the country. Anglеs, Saxons
аnd Jutes spread all over the fertile lаnds of the Isles. Gradually thеу
bесаmе one nation - English. They developed one language - English. As
historians write, "thе English language arrived in Britain on the point of
а sword"! The реорlе оf that timе of thе history аrе called Аng1о-Sахоns,
their language is оld English оr Ang1о-Saxon as well.
Тhе next destination оf оur Тimе Масhinе is the 7th century, when
Christiаnity was introducеd in Britain, monasteries with sсhools аnd
libraries were set uр all оver thе соuntry. Тhе English language was
considerably enriched bу the Latin woгds.
Now, with the help of the Тimе Масhinе we'll fly over into the 8th сеntuгу.
Аt this time the ancient Scandinavians, cаlled the Vikings, began to гаid
Britаin. Тhе Vikings continued thеir wars with the English until the timе
the Ang1о-Saxоn king Alfred thе Great made а treaty with them аnd gave them
а раrt of the country, that was саlled "Danelaw". Тhе Vikings settled
thеrе, married Еnglish wives аnd bеgan peaceful life on the territory of
Britain. Later military conflicts resumed again, but by the 11th century
they were over. The influence of these events оn the English lаnguagе was
great, indeed. А lаrge number of Scandinavian words саmе intо Еnglish from
"Danes" as thе Ang1o-Saxons called all the Vikings.
One reason why Roman Britannia disappeared so quickly is probably that its
influence was largely confined to the towns. In the countryside, where most
people lived, farming methods had remained unchanged and Celtic speech
continued to be dominant.
The Roman occupation had been a matter of colonial control rather than
large-scale settlement. But, during the fifth century, a number of tribes
from the north-western European mainland invaded and settled in large
numbers. Two of these tribes were the Angles and the Saxons. These Anglo-
Saxons soon had the south-east of the country in their grasp. In the west
of the country their advance was temporarily halted by an army of Celtic
Britons under the command of the legendary King Arthur. Nevertheless, by
the end of the sixth century, they and their way of life predominated in
nearly all of England and in parts of southern Scotland. The Celtic Britons
were either Saxonized or driven westwards, where their culture and language
survived in south-west Scotland, Wales and Cornwall.
The Anglo-Saxons had little use for towns and cities. But they had a great
effect on the countryside, where they introduced new farming methods and
founded the thousands of self-sufficient villages which formed the basis of
English society for the next thousand or so years.
The Anglo-Saxons were pagan when they came to Britain. Christianity spread
throughout Britain from two different directions during the sixth and
seventh centuries. It came directly from Rome when St Augustine arrived in
597 and established his headquarters at Canterbury in the south-east of
England. It had already been introduced into Scotland and northern England
from Ireland, which had become Christian more than 150 years earlier.
Although Roman Christianity eventually took over the whole of the British
Isles, the Celtic model persisted in Scotland and Ireland for several
hundred years. It was less centrally organized, and had less need for a
strong monarchy to support it. This partly explains why both secular and
religious power in these two countries continued to be both more locally
based and less secure than it was elsewhere in Britain throughout the
medieval period.
Britain experience another wave of Germanic invasions in the 8th century.
These invaders, known as Vikings, Horsemen or Danes, came from Scandinavia.
In the ninth century they conquered and settled the extreme north and west
of Scotland, and also some coastal regions of Ireland. Their conquest of
England was halted when they were defeated by King Alfred of the Saxon
kingdom of Wessex. This resulted in an agreement which divided England
between Wessex, in the south and west, and the “Danelaw” in the north and
east.
However, the cultural differences between Anglo-Saxons and Danes were
comparatively small. They led roughly the same way of life and spoke two
varieties of the same Germanic tongue (which combined to form the basis of
modern English). Moreover, the Danes soon converted to Christianity. These
similarities made political unification easier, and by the end of the 10th
century England was one kingdom with a Germanic culture throughout.
Most of modern-day Scotland was also united by this time, at least in name,
in a Gaelic kingdom.
Paopla in Anglo-Saxon times. Living uncomfortably close to the natural
world, were wall aware that though creation is inarticulate it is animate,
and that every created thing, every “with”, had its own personality.
The riddle is a sophisticated and harmless for of invocation by imitation:
the essence of it is that the poet, by an act of imaginative identification
assumes the personality of some crested thing - an animal, a plant, a
natural force.
The specialists consider that they know not enough about The Exeter Book
collection of riddles. Ridding was certainly a popular pastime among the
Anglo-Saxons, especially in the monasteries, and there are extant
collections (in Latin, of course,) from the pens of Aldhelm, Bishop of
Sherborne, Tatwin, Archbishop of Canterbury and others.
The provenance and genesis of the collection are unknown, and from internal
evidence one can only draw the modest conclusion that the ninety-five
riddles were not written by one man.
In English a student and the little black circle in the center of the eye
are both called “pupils”? And the connection between them is a doll. Both
the words came into the English language through French from the Latin. In
Latin there was a word “pupa” – “a girl”, and “pupus” – “ a boy”. When the
Latin ending “illa” was added to “pupa” or “pupus”, the word meant “ a
little girl” or “ a little boy”. Since little girls and little boys went to
school, they became “pupils”.
But “pupilla”, a little girl, also meant “a doll”. It is easy to understand
why, isn’t it? Now, if you look into the pupil of someone’s eye when the
light is just right, you can see your reflection. Your figure, by the way,
is very, very small like a tiny doll. The Romans named the black circle in
the eye “pupilla” because of the doll they could see there. And the word
came into the English as “pupil” as well. And thus, we have in the English
language two words that are spelt the same and have the same origin, but
mean different things: “pupil” – a student, and “pupil” – a black circle in
the center of your eye.
Professor casts a quick glance at the wall and noticed a map there. “This
map is made of paper. But the word itself meant cloth once. This word came
into English from Latin, the Latin mappa was cloth. First maps were drawn
on fabrics. In Latin the combination of the words appeared: mappa mundi –
“cloth of the word”. It was the first representation of the world as a
drawing on the cloth. Later maps began to be made of paper, but the word
remained.
By another route the same word came into English for the second time. In
Late Latin this word was corrupted into nappa, and later, through French,
it entered the English language with the new meaning of napkin.”
“When a teacher asks you a question. She expects you will give a correct
answer. Answer is a very strange word. Its spelling makes no sense until
you know its origin. This is a very old word. In Old English the noun was
andswaru and the verb – andswearing. So, you see, it consisted of two
parts: and and swear. The word and at that time meant against; swear meant
to give a solemn oath. In the youth of the English language andswaru was “
a solemn oath made against an accusation”. A man had to pronounce a solemn
in reply to an accusation, to prove that it is wrong. In the course of
historical development the word lost its solemnity and it means now a
reply, to reply. Any little child answer you back today.”
Professor History remarks, “ I see that some of you write with a ballpoint
pen, others with a pencil, and there are some who write with a fountain
pen. So, you can’t do without ink, after all. A simple three-letter word
ink comes from a nine-letter ancestor that meant a branding iron. And now a
few steps away from the skill of writing towards the skill of healing
wounds. When we have a wound we cauterize it, we burn it with heat or with
