INFLUENCES ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The English language belongs to the West Germanic branch of Indo — European family of languages. The history of English is conventionally divided into three periods usually called Old English (450–1100 AD), Middle English (1100–1500), and Modern English (1500–1800). Classical languages Greek (which is used by 22% people), Latin (used by 20% people ), and French have helped in the development of the English language as the making of Modern English. Another aspect that has helped in Modern English is ‘The Translation of Bible’ (from the 13 century). Creative writers like John Milton, William Shakespeare, and G.B.Shaw has enhanced the importance of English as a Modern English by their amazing and creative writings.

Biblical Influence on the English language is incredible in a large manner.

“No work, except Shakespeare has had so much influence on the phraseology of English as the Authorized Version of the Bible.”

-Prof. Ernest Weekly

The ‘power and beauty’ of the English language have been largely increased by the ‘Authorized Version of the Bible 1611’, which followed many earlier translations mainly of ‘Wycliff’, ‘Tyndale’ and ‘Miles Coverdale’. The biblical scriptures were originally written in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic around the 1340s. The earlier translations of the Bible belonged to the ‘teething period’ of the English language, which was suffering from lack of Vocabulary. One should remark that,

‘the language of sacred truths should be a little archaic — a little removed from the usage of the daily round of life, a little suggestive of mystery and should use a good deal of symbolizing imagery.’

The first translator of the Holy Bible was John Wycliff (1320 -1384) — 14 century. He was a religious reformer. The Latin language is mainly divided into two parts: Sophisticated and Vulgate (i.e. colloquial). He translated the Biblical scriptures from ‘Vulgate Latin’. He wrote in the dialect of the ‘East Midlands’. He had a genius for language and his Bible translations were ‘Landmark’ in the English language. He popularized the phrase ‘under the sweat of thy brow’. Over 1000 English words were first recovered in his Biblical translations. Most of these were Latin based, which entered English via French. He introduced words like ‘unsatiable’, ‘unglorious’, ‘undiscreet’, which were later replaced by the Latin prefix ‘in-’. On the model of Wycliff, we find ‘unpossible’ in the Bible Version of 1611, which was changed to ‘impossible’ in later editions.

Some other words used by him are listed below: ‘barbarian’, ‘envy’, ‘childbearing’, ‘glory’, ‘cradle’, ‘multitude’, ‘philistine’, ‘zeal’, ‘Emporer’ etc. Some of the well — known phrases, that have come from Wycliff’s translations: (1) ‘an eye for an eye’, (2) ‘woe id me’.

Tyndale’s (1484–1568) was one of the few scholars, who knew Hebrew. He was also an intelligent and knowledgeable ‘Priest’. He translated the Greek and Hebrew originals of the ‘New Testament’ and ‘Book of Prayers’. He had a talent for telling phrases and picturesque coinages. He invents new words and compounds to express the thoughts of the holy writers. His phraseological contributions are: ‘broken — hearted’, ‘peacemaker’, ‘long-suffering’, ‘mercy — seat’, ‘stumbling block’ etc. Although he made a mistranslation of phrase ‘scape-goat’. Another phrase, that was Biblical phrases and idioms drawn from the Hebrew and Greek expressions, they are…

There were two groups of translators: one was mentors and another one language masters. ‘King James’ Bible’ was the most significant translation. Bible’s influence on literature: English literature teems with Biblical expressions-

The ‘-th’ forms of verbs used with third person singular show the influence of the Bible. The second person pronouns’-thou’, ‘-thee’, ‘-thy’ are widely used in the Bible. According to Dryden, it is a “Perpetual Fountain”, from which people and movements draw inspiration. The Bible of 1611 is “a Milestone” in the making and enriching of Modern English. There were some writers and poets, whose literary works conduct direct influence of Bible: ‘ John Milton’, ‘Coleridge’, ‘Wordsworth’ ,’Hemingway’ ,’John Ruskin’ and ‘T.S.Eliot’.

Another phrases/words list that is the translation from the Bible:

‘“The end of the period of English and the beginning of Modern English, coincides with the appearance of the Authorized Version of the English Bible”.

Shakespeare’s influences on English

The English language has been in constant transition throughout its history, but the most significant transformation in modern English can be credited to William Shakespeare. Shakespeare has enriched the English language because, for him, the language was like a magician’s trick. The influence of Shakespeare as a ‘Maker of English Language’ can easily be compared with that of Bible Translations. With his invention of ‘commonly used expressions and creation of new words’, he was able to affect the language in a way that no person since has.

“He is famous for the effect he had on the development of the Early Modern English language.”

His contribution to the enrichment of the English language is immense. He was an embodiment of the genius of the language itself. He is the ‘most quoted writer’ in the English speaking world. Many of his quotations and neologisms have passed into everyday usage in English and other languages.

He experimented with all kinds of His linguistic innovations, dialectical adaptations, and archaisms. syntax, multiple negations, subject-verb agreement, word- formation, rhetoric, linguistics variety — develops his solid contribution to the enrichment of English. Thus he became an ‘Undying Source’ of inspiration to many writers.

One of his biggest contribution to the English language is the “Introduction of Vocabulary and Phrases, which enriched the language by making it colorful and expressive. Many of his phrases like “All’s well that ends well”, “To be or not to be” etc. have become an inseparable part of English. Some of the most popular phrases given by him are as follows: ‘A laughing stock’, ‘A sorry sight’, ‘Cruel, only to be kind’, ‘Green-eyed monster’, ‘More sinned against than sinning’, ‘Method in madness’, ‘What’s there in a name?’, ‘Milk of human kindness’. Some of Shakespeare’s sentences have become a part of daily life: ‘Brevity is the soul of Wit’, ‘All the world’s a stage’, ‘Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold’, ‘Better a witty fool than a foolish wit’.

He also invented many phrases, that are still in common usage today: ‘Brave new world’, ‘Break the ice’, ‘Come what may’, ‘Heart of gold’, ‘In my mind’s eye’, ‘Kill with kindness’, ‘Spotless reputation’. Shakespeare’s coinage of single words and phrases show his resourcefulness. With the help of the French prefixes like ‘em’ and ‘en’, he coined many words that proved handy and forceful:

Enact Empower

Enroot Empoison

Enfree Embattle

Endearment

Using the prefix ‘un-’ he, showed the way of a different method of using the language from its conventional method:

Unschooled

Unexpressive

Shakespeare mode ‘poetic and elegant’ compounds out of two adjectives,

(2)daring- hardy

(3)happy- valiant

(4)truly- falsely

From nouns, he made verbs such as,

Ex.-(1) fathered

He showed ‘flexibility’ in his approach to literature and language.

Ex. (1) My native English now I must forgo.

(2) The last leave of thee takes my weeping eye.

There is the avoidance of ‘do’ in a sentence like this:

Ex. ‘I slew him not’.

He is credited by the ‘Oxford English Dictionary’ with the introduction of nearly 3000 words into the language. Some of the most common techniques, he employed in creating new words:

*changing noun into verbs

*changing verbs into adjectives

*connecting words never before used together

*adding prefixes and suffixes

*designing of words wholly original

Some of the words that Shakespeare invented that are still in common usage today:

Thus, above all information shows that he surpasses any other writer in the vastness of his. He may not have invented all words, but he is responsible for many new compounds and beautiful phrases. He introduced style and structure to an otherwise loose language. He used the prosperity of the language in prose and poetry of his plays to reach the masses. And the result was-

“A constant two way the exchange between learned and the popular together producing the unique combination of racy tongue and royalism that describes the language of Shakespeare.”

Originally published at https://www.thelitthings.com.