1 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:07,120 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, there's Chuck. 2 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:11,800 Speaker 1: Jerry's here and if you'd never noticed before, we're speaking English. 3 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: So we're going to talk about the history of the 4 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:16,759 Speaker 1: English language, because that's the one we use right now. 5 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, the briefest history, because we certainly could have done 6 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:25,479 Speaker 2: like a really robust, full episode on this. Yeah, but 7 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 2: I like this short version. And we want to thank 8 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 2: English Club dot com and a particular The Conversation dot 9 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 2: com and a professor of litt at the University of 10 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 2: Bristol name ad Putter. 11 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,320 Speaker 3: Go fighting Abby's is that what it is? 12 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:44,240 Speaker 4: You got me again? 13 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,880 Speaker 2: But anyway, Putter wrote a really good article that helped 14 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 2: out with this one. But we're talking about the history 15 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 2: of the English language briefly because I was just kind 16 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 2: of curious, like, who are the first people to speak English? 17 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 2: And the first English is what you have to talk 18 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 2: about first, which is of course Old English, which came 19 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 2: about right after the Romans left Britain. This is you know, 20 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:10,679 Speaker 2: it was a very long time ago they colonized Britain, 21 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 2: but they were like things aren't going so great in 22 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 2: the Roman Empire, so we're gonna leave. 23 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, So it's just interesting that Romans spoke Latin, but 24 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: the Brits spoke Celtic. And then after the Romans left, 25 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: because their empire was crumbling around them, the Brits still 26 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: kept speaking Celtic, but not for very long because the 27 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:38,400 Speaker 1: Romans had basically been occupying Britain, but they'd also been 28 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:41,200 Speaker 1: in turn protecting it. But as the Roman Empire crumbled, 29 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 1: that left Britain totally vulnerable and open to invasion, and 30 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 1: in very short order that's exactly what happened. Three Germanic tribes, 31 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes, all basically came 32 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 1: down from northern Germany Denmark area and said, we own 33 00:01:57,160 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: this place. Now, you guys are going to start speaking 34 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 1: like us. 35 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, they spoke what's called North Sea Germanic, and those 36 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 2: Celtic speakers were kind of they ended up where they 37 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 2: ended up, which was north and west in what we 38 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 2: now call Ireland and Scotland and Wales. So the Angles, 39 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 2: which was one of those Germanic tribes like you've ever 40 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 2: heard Anglo Saxon, that was because they were the Angles, 41 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 2: and the Saxons and the Jutes. 42 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 4: Two of the three of those tribes were. 43 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:31,680 Speaker 2: The Angles and the Saxons, and once they got to Britain, 44 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 2: their language was referred to as what we would call 45 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:39,679 Speaker 2: Old English or Anglo Saxon, and it is is the 46 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 2: original form of English, and this was used in the 47 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 2: early Middle Ages. But this is not anything that you 48 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:49,080 Speaker 2: would recognize as English as we know it today, except 49 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 2: for just a few words here and there. 50 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:56,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, like his he some of these really really old words. 51 00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:00,360 Speaker 1: And remember he they think is possibly like as old 52 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:04,639 Speaker 1: as humanity, as far as words go. That was already 53 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: in use. But yeah, it didn't bear much of a resemblance, 54 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: and so old English chuck was in use I think 55 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:15,399 Speaker 1: from about four fifty to eleven hundred CE. 56 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, the original thing that got me 57 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 2: looking for this was if they could pinpoint, like not 58 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,800 Speaker 2: necessarily the people, but who the first English speakers were. 59 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 2: But our friend professor Putter here actually does name a 60 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,519 Speaker 2: couple of people, and this is you know, this is 61 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 2: sort of as legend goes. But when these Germanic tribes 62 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:40,160 Speaker 2: came through, they asked a couple of those leaders, Hingist 63 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 2: and Horsa to come in and help protect the country. 64 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 4: And they showed up. They and of. 65 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 2: Course again this is this is as the story goes, 66 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:52,280 Speaker 2: so we really don't know if it's true or not, 67 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 2: but they would have been the ones that brought in 68 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,840 Speaker 2: this Old English. So technically you could say that they 69 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 2: were maybe the first English speakers as know it as 70 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 2: Old English. 71 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 1: That's so fascinating, Like if these guys aren't legendary, they 72 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: are the first English speakers in England or Britain. Yeah, 73 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:12,600 Speaker 1: so Old English stuck around until the Normans came along. 74 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:16,640 Speaker 1: So in ten sixty six, William the Conqueror, the head 75 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 1: of the Normans, he was the Duke of Normandy, which 76 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:22,839 Speaker 1: is in France today, showed up in England and said, 77 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:26,479 Speaker 1: hengist horsa, You guys are a few hundred years old. 78 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:28,159 Speaker 1: It's time for you to hand over the reins to 79 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: May William the Conqueror. And it just so happened, since 80 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: he was from what's today part of modern France, he 81 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 1: spoke what you would kind of recognize as a type 82 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: of French. 83 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:39,720 Speaker 3: And so the. 84 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:45,800 Speaker 1: Normans brought French to England, but rather than it becoming 85 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:50,679 Speaker 1: totally widespread, it actually became part of what Professor Putter 86 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: calls a linguistic class division, where the royal court and 87 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:57,839 Speaker 1: the upper classes spoke the King's French, and then the 88 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:01,240 Speaker 1: lower classes continued to speak Old English. 89 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:02,840 Speaker 4: Yeah, and what's going to happen here? 90 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 2: Of course, And as we'll see, as England got to 91 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 2: conquering for hundreds of years, you pick up on words 92 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:12,680 Speaker 2: as you move about the earth, and in this case, 93 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 2: a lot of French words were added to what was 94 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:18,799 Speaker 2: now known as Middle English. 95 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 3: Do you want to hear one that I guessed was right? 96 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:22,560 Speaker 4: Yeah? 97 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:27,840 Speaker 3: Sausage, Oh yeah, sausage sage. Yeah. 98 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:28,840 Speaker 4: Let's take a break. 99 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 2: When we come back, we'll talk about a big change 100 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 2: that happened to Middle English pronunciation that linguists are. 101 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:36,840 Speaker 4: Still trying to figure out right after this. 102 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 2: So this is like, if you've ever read Chaucer, which 103 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 2: I did in college, like the Canterbury Tales, this is 104 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 2: I thought, like, we read Old English some in college, 105 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:17,159 Speaker 2: but there's no way because when I saw examples of 106 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:21,279 Speaker 2: Old English, it's not even decipherable hardly. What I was 107 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:25,039 Speaker 2: reading was Middle English. And that's what Chaucer was, and 108 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 2: that was you know, that's a challenge as well. Yeah, 109 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 2: but it definitely wasn't Old English. And actually toward the 110 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 2: latter part of Middle English is when something called the 111 00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 2: Great vowel Shift happened, which basically shortened vowel sounds like 112 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:42,839 Speaker 2: a lot, and it happened pretty quickly apparently. 113 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:47,039 Speaker 1: Yeah, they used to say for sheep, they would say shape. 114 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:48,599 Speaker 4: Oh, I thought you were gonna say They said. 115 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,040 Speaker 1: No, no, And I didn't understand how we said that. 116 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:55,240 Speaker 1: It shortened from shape to sheep. Sheep sounds like it's 117 00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:58,920 Speaker 1: longer than shape. But there was a huge change in 118 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:03,359 Speaker 1: vowel pronunciation in English around this time. And from what 119 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 1: I saw, they're totally baffled as to why this happened. 120 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:09,200 Speaker 1: They just know that it did around this time, and 121 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 1: that actually contributed to another huge change in the English language, 122 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: at least spoken English, with this huge great vowel shift. 123 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 4: Yeah. 124 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:22,520 Speaker 2: And then then from there the changes were much more subtle. 125 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 2: It was, like I said, England was conquering from all 126 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 2: over the world, so little words got added here and there. 127 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 2: Printing was a thing now, so they're like, you know, 128 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 2: we need to kind of standardize everything because people are 129 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 2: reading for the first time and books are kind of 130 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:41,480 Speaker 2: cheap and they're more available. So the dialect of London, 131 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 2: which is where the printing industry was, you know, sort 132 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:48,040 Speaker 2: of lodged at first became the dialect of the English 133 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 2: language and the basis of the first English dictionary. This 134 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:55,120 Speaker 2: is what we would call basically early modern English, and 135 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 2: it's the English as we know it. The difference between 136 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 2: early modern and late Modern is just to a lot 137 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 2: more words, because as the world evolved and technology evolved 138 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:07,400 Speaker 2: and things like that, you just needed more words. 139 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:08,000 Speaker 3: Well. 140 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:12,080 Speaker 1: Plus also, the Brits were pretty firmly in charge of 141 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 1: the world for a while, and they picked up a 142 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:19,920 Speaker 1: lot of words from different corners of the British Empire. So, 143 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 1: for example, the word bandana comes from India. 144 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 3: Did you know that? 145 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 4: I did not know that that's. 146 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:29,000 Speaker 1: Considered an English word even though it wasn't originally an 147 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: English word. It just got absorbed into the English language 148 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: and it became a further addition to the modern, late 149 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:37,400 Speaker 1: modern English vocabulary. 150 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:41,199 Speaker 2: When you look at the word, though, it totally looks 151 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:45,200 Speaker 2: like an Indian word. Yeah, bandana was probably imagine that 152 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:46,360 Speaker 2: A was changed, right. 153 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:48,559 Speaker 1: And there's probably a y in there somewhere that really 154 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:50,079 Speaker 1: shift juiced it up. 155 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:53,880 Speaker 2: One more person we should shout out though, And this 156 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 2: was I just thought was sort of an interesting addendum 157 00:08:56,160 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 2: that doctor Putter had found was kind of shouting out 158 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:02,320 Speaker 2: the first poet, uh as far as English poet, and 159 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 2: this was someone named cadmon c A E D m 160 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 2: O n hail. And there was a historian monk named. 161 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 4: Uh b E d E. I don't I don't know if. 162 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 2: That's Bede or it's just be d. Oh it is 163 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:18,680 Speaker 2: bed I'm cute. 164 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 4: That's so cute. 165 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,600 Speaker 2: But I think b D is the one who committed 166 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 2: Cadman's story to history, which is pretty great because Cadman 167 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:31,959 Speaker 2: was someone who was illiterate basically, and as the story goes, 168 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 2: like got this gift of poetry from God and was 169 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 2: the first English poet as we know it, which means 170 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:42,760 Speaker 2: it's Old English, which means looking at these words is impossible. 171 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 2: It looks like someone was typing and like passed out 172 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:46,199 Speaker 2: or something. 173 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:49,160 Speaker 3: It does You're gonna You're gonna take a shot at it. 174 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:51,199 Speaker 4: I mean, I'll try. 175 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 1: Uh. 176 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:54,559 Speaker 2: These are the first lines of a poem, which translated 177 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:56,679 Speaker 2: would mean now we must praise the guardian of the 178 00:09:56,679 --> 00:10:00,440 Speaker 2: heavenly kingdom, the rulers might and his plan. But has 179 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 2: written in Old English as a poem was new as 180 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:11,920 Speaker 2: in you new scolgone hereon, Heophandris is weird, metodis mitt 181 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:15,800 Speaker 2: and his and his and I got that part and 182 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 2: his mud mudgia punk. 183 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:23,839 Speaker 3: So yeah, Moge, is it that weird? B? Is that? 184 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:24,880 Speaker 3: How do you pronounce the beat? 185 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:27,480 Speaker 2: I don't even know. It's the thing that's It's like, 186 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 2: am I A B or am I A P? I 187 00:10:29,559 --> 00:10:32,080 Speaker 2: can't decide, so I'll just I'll be both foren I'll 188 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:32,439 Speaker 2: write it. 189 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:35,240 Speaker 4: So it's confusing. I'm not sure what that even is. 190 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:39,640 Speaker 1: But moge, we'll say bank. Modge bank means plan in 191 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:42,280 Speaker 1: old English. So from now on, I'm going to say, 192 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: don't worry, I have a modge bank. 193 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:48,880 Speaker 4: Oh I hope you remember that. I want to say 194 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:50,480 Speaker 4: moge bunk from now on on the show. 195 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:51,920 Speaker 3: All right, we'll try to remember. 196 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:53,839 Speaker 4: All right, all right, so that's the modge bunk. That's 197 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:54,400 Speaker 4: what we're gonna do. 198 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: This is right, Okay, I think you just cemented it. 199 00:10:57,760 --> 00:10:59,880 Speaker 1: But it is interesting to say that and in his 200 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 1: is we're both. I mean, this is a thousand or 201 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:06,360 Speaker 1: almost two thousand years ago. This guy wrote this, and 202 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: you can look at it and say, oh, I noticed 203 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 1: those two at least and his Yeah, I don't know 204 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:14,280 Speaker 1: what the rest says, but and his is in there right. 205 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 1: So that was it, and we take our hats off 206 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,880 Speaker 1: to Professor Putter and the University of Bristol, whose mascot 207 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:22,720 Speaker 1: I still cannot find, even though I kind of looked 208 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 1: it up while we were recording. 209 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:27,200 Speaker 4: Do you have mascots if you don't have sports teams? 210 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:27,760 Speaker 3: Uh? 211 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think just to kind of create general goodwill 212 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:34,959 Speaker 1: among the student population. That's the real function of a mascot. 213 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 2: I just didn't know if that was an American thing 214 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 2: or what. 215 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:37,960 Speaker 3: I don't know. 216 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:40,320 Speaker 1: We'll find out if you go to University of Bristol 217 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:42,439 Speaker 1: or even just know what their mascot is right in 218 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:45,400 Speaker 1: and let us know. Okay, all right, good match punk Yeah, 219 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:48,720 Speaker 1: short stuff is out. 220 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:52,640 Speaker 4: Stuff you should know is a production of iHeart Radio. 221 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,640 Speaker 4: For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio. 222 00:11:56,080 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 3: App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.