WEBVTT - Short Stuff: History of English

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, there's Chuck.

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<v Speaker 1>Jerry's here and if you'd never noticed before, we're speaking English.

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<v Speaker 1>So we're going to talk about the history of the

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<v Speaker 1>English language, because that's the one we use right now.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, the briefest history, because we certainly could have done

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<v Speaker 2>like a really robust, full episode on this. Yeah, but

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<v Speaker 2>I like this short version. And we want to thank

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<v Speaker 2>English Club dot com and a particular The Conversation dot

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<v Speaker 2>com and a professor of litt at the University of

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<v Speaker 2>Bristol name ad Putter.

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<v Speaker 3>Go fighting Abby's is that what it is?

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<v Speaker 4>You got me again?

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<v Speaker 2>But anyway, Putter wrote a really good article that helped

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<v Speaker 2>out with this one. But we're talking about the history

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<v Speaker 2>of the English language briefly because I was just kind

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<v Speaker 2>of curious, like, who are the first people to speak English?

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<v Speaker 2>And the first English is what you have to talk

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<v Speaker 2>about first, which is of course Old English, which came

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<v Speaker 2>about right after the Romans left Britain. This is you know,

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<v Speaker 2>it was a very long time ago they colonized Britain,

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<v Speaker 2>but they were like things aren't going so great in

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<v Speaker 2>the Roman Empire, so we're gonna leave.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, So it's just interesting that Romans spoke Latin, but

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<v Speaker 1>the Brits spoke Celtic. And then after the Romans left,

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<v Speaker 1>because their empire was crumbling around them, the Brits still

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<v Speaker 1>kept speaking Celtic, but not for very long because the

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<v Speaker 1>Romans had basically been occupying Britain, but they'd also been

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<v Speaker 1>in turn protecting it. But as the Roman Empire crumbled,

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<v Speaker 1>that left Britain totally vulnerable and open to invasion, and

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<v Speaker 1>in very short order that's exactly what happened. Three Germanic tribes,

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<v Speaker 1>the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes, all basically came

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<v Speaker 1>down from northern Germany Denmark area and said, we own

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<v Speaker 1>this place. Now, you guys are going to start speaking

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<v Speaker 1>like us.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, they spoke what's called North Sea Germanic, and those

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<v Speaker 2>Celtic speakers were kind of they ended up where they

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<v Speaker 2>ended up, which was north and west in what we

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<v Speaker 2>now call Ireland and Scotland and Wales. So the Angles,

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<v Speaker 2>which was one of those Germanic tribes like you've ever

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<v Speaker 2>heard Anglo Saxon, that was because they were the Angles,

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<v Speaker 2>and the Saxons and the Jutes.

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<v Speaker 4>Two of the three of those tribes were.

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<v Speaker 2>The Angles and the Saxons, and once they got to Britain,

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<v Speaker 2>their language was referred to as what we would call

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<v Speaker 2>Old English or Anglo Saxon, and it is is the

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<v Speaker 2>original form of English, and this was used in the

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<v Speaker 2>early Middle Ages. But this is not anything that you

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<v Speaker 2>would recognize as English as we know it today, except

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<v Speaker 2>for just a few words here and there.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, like his he some of these really really old words.

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<v Speaker 1>And remember he they think is possibly like as old

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<v Speaker 1>as humanity, as far as words go. That was already

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<v Speaker 1>in use. But yeah, it didn't bear much of a resemblance,

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<v Speaker 1>and so old English chuck was in use I think

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<v Speaker 1>from about four fifty to eleven hundred CE.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and you know, the original thing that got me

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<v Speaker 2>looking for this was if they could pinpoint, like not

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<v Speaker 2>necessarily the people, but who the first English speakers were.

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<v Speaker 2>But our friend professor Putter here actually does name a

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<v Speaker 2>couple of people, and this is you know, this is

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<v Speaker 2>sort of as legend goes. But when these Germanic tribes

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<v Speaker 2>came through, they asked a couple of those leaders, Hingist

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<v Speaker 2>and Horsa to come in and help protect the country.

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<v Speaker 4>And they showed up. They and of.

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<v Speaker 2>Course again this is this is as the story goes,

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<v Speaker 2>so we really don't know if it's true or not,

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<v Speaker 2>but they would have been the ones that brought in

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<v Speaker 2>this Old English. So technically you could say that they

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<v Speaker 2>were maybe the first English speakers as know it as

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<v Speaker 2>Old English.

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<v Speaker 1>That's so fascinating, Like if these guys aren't legendary, they

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<v Speaker 1>are the first English speakers in England or Britain. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>so Old English stuck around until the Normans came along.

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<v Speaker 1>So in ten sixty six, William the Conqueror, the head

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<v Speaker 1>of the Normans, he was the Duke of Normandy, which

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<v Speaker 1>is in France today, showed up in England and said,

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<v Speaker 1>hengist horsa, You guys are a few hundred years old.

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<v Speaker 1>It's time for you to hand over the reins to

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<v Speaker 1>May William the Conqueror. And it just so happened, since

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<v Speaker 1>he was from what's today part of modern France, he

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<v Speaker 1>spoke what you would kind of recognize as a type

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<v Speaker 1>of French.

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<v Speaker 3>And so the.

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<v Speaker 1>Normans brought French to England, but rather than it becoming

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<v Speaker 1>totally widespread, it actually became part of what Professor Putter

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<v Speaker 1>calls a linguistic class division, where the royal court and

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<v Speaker 1>the upper classes spoke the King's French, and then the

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<v Speaker 1>lower classes continued to speak Old English.

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah, and what's going to happen here?

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<v Speaker 2>Of course, And as we'll see, as England got to

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<v Speaker 2>conquering for hundreds of years, you pick up on words

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<v Speaker 2>as you move about the earth, and in this case,

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of French words were added to what was

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<v Speaker 2>now known as Middle English.

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<v Speaker 3>Do you want to hear one that I guessed was right?

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah?

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<v Speaker 3>Sausage, Oh yeah, sausage sage. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 4>Let's take a break.

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<v Speaker 2>When we come back, we'll talk about a big change

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<v Speaker 2>that happened to Middle English pronunciation that linguists are.

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<v Speaker 4>Still trying to figure out right after this.

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<v Speaker 2>So this is like, if you've ever read Chaucer, which

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<v Speaker 2>I did in college, like the Canterbury Tales, this is

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<v Speaker 2>I thought, like, we read Old English some in college,

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<v Speaker 2>but there's no way because when I saw examples of

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<v Speaker 2>Old English, it's not even decipherable hardly. What I was

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<v Speaker 2>reading was Middle English. And that's what Chaucer was, and

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<v Speaker 2>that was you know, that's a challenge as well. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>but it definitely wasn't Old English. And actually toward the

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<v Speaker 2>latter part of Middle English is when something called the

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<v Speaker 2>Great vowel Shift happened, which basically shortened vowel sounds like

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<v Speaker 2>a lot, and it happened pretty quickly apparently.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, they used to say for sheep, they would say shape.

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<v Speaker 4>Oh, I thought you were gonna say They said.

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<v Speaker 1>No, no, And I didn't understand how we said that.

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<v Speaker 1>It shortened from shape to sheep. Sheep sounds like it's

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<v Speaker 1>longer than shape. But there was a huge change in

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<v Speaker 1>vowel pronunciation in English around this time. And from what

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<v Speaker 1>I saw, they're totally baffled as to why this happened.

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<v Speaker 1>They just know that it did around this time, and

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<v Speaker 1>that actually contributed to another huge change in the English language,

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<v Speaker 1>at least spoken English, with this huge great vowel shift.

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>And then then from there the changes were much more subtle.

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<v Speaker 2>It was, like I said, England was conquering from all

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<v Speaker 2>over the world, so little words got added here and there.

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<v Speaker 2>Printing was a thing now, so they're like, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>we need to kind of standardize everything because people are

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<v Speaker 2>reading for the first time and books are kind of

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<v Speaker 2>cheap and they're more available. So the dialect of London,

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<v Speaker 2>which is where the printing industry was, you know, sort

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<v Speaker 2>of lodged at first became the dialect of the English

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<v Speaker 2>language and the basis of the first English dictionary. This

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<v Speaker 2>is what we would call basically early modern English, and

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<v Speaker 2>it's the English as we know it. The difference between

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<v Speaker 2>early modern and late Modern is just to a lot

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<v Speaker 2>more words, because as the world evolved and technology evolved

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<v Speaker 2>and things like that, you just needed more words.

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<v Speaker 3>Well.

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<v Speaker 1>Plus also, the Brits were pretty firmly in charge of

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<v Speaker 1>the world for a while, and they picked up a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of words from different corners of the British Empire. So,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, the word bandana comes from India.

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<v Speaker 3>Did you know that?

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<v Speaker 4>I did not know that that's.

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<v Speaker 1>Considered an English word even though it wasn't originally an

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<v Speaker 1>English word. It just got absorbed into the English language

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<v Speaker 1>and it became a further addition to the modern, late

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<v Speaker 1>modern English vocabulary.

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<v Speaker 2>When you look at the word, though, it totally looks

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<v Speaker 2>like an Indian word. Yeah, bandana was probably imagine that

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<v Speaker 2>A was changed, right.

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<v Speaker 1>And there's probably a y in there somewhere that really

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<v Speaker 1>shift juiced it up.

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<v Speaker 2>One more person we should shout out though, And this

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<v Speaker 2>was I just thought was sort of an interesting addendum

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<v Speaker 2>that doctor Putter had found was kind of shouting out

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<v Speaker 2>the first poet, uh as far as English poet, and

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<v Speaker 2>this was someone named cadmon c A E D m

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<v Speaker 2>O n hail. And there was a historian monk named.

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<v Speaker 4>Uh b E d E. I don't I don't know if.

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<v Speaker 2>That's Bede or it's just be d. Oh it is

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<v Speaker 2>bed I'm cute.

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<v Speaker 4>That's so cute.

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<v Speaker 2>But I think b D is the one who committed

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<v Speaker 2>Cadman's story to history, which is pretty great because Cadman

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<v Speaker 2>was someone who was illiterate basically, and as the story goes,

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<v Speaker 2>like got this gift of poetry from God and was

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<v Speaker 2>the first English poet as we know it, which means

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<v Speaker 2>it's Old English, which means looking at these words is impossible.

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<v Speaker 2>It looks like someone was typing and like passed out

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<v Speaker 2>or something.

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<v Speaker 3>It does You're gonna You're gonna take a shot at it.

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<v Speaker 4>I mean, I'll try.

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<v Speaker 1>Uh.

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<v Speaker 2>These are the first lines of a poem, which translated

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<v Speaker 2>would mean now we must praise the guardian of the

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<v Speaker 2>heavenly kingdom, the rulers might and his plan. But has

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<v Speaker 2>written in Old English as a poem was new as

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<v Speaker 2>in you new scolgone hereon, Heophandris is weird, metodis mitt

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<v Speaker 2>and his and his and I got that part and

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<v Speaker 2>his mud mudgia punk.

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<v Speaker 3>So yeah, Moge, is it that weird? B? Is that?

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<v Speaker 3>How do you pronounce the beat?

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<v Speaker 2>I don't even know. It's the thing that's It's like,

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<v Speaker 2>am I A B or am I A P? I

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<v Speaker 2>can't decide, so I'll just I'll be both foren I'll

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<v Speaker 2>write it.

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<v Speaker 4>So it's confusing. I'm not sure what that even is.

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<v Speaker 1>But moge, we'll say bank. Modge bank means plan in

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<v Speaker 1>old English. So from now on, I'm going to say,

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<v Speaker 1>don't worry, I have a modge bank.

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<v Speaker 4>Oh I hope you remember that. I want to say

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<v Speaker 4>moge bunk from now on on the show.

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<v Speaker 3>All right, we'll try to remember.

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<v Speaker 4>All right, all right, so that's the modge bunk. That's

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<v Speaker 4>what we're gonna do.

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<v Speaker 1>This is right, Okay, I think you just cemented it.

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<v Speaker 1>But it is interesting to say that and in his

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<v Speaker 1>is we're both. I mean, this is a thousand or

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<v Speaker 1>almost two thousand years ago. This guy wrote this, and

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<v Speaker 1>you can look at it and say, oh, I noticed

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<v Speaker 1>those two at least and his Yeah, I don't know

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<v Speaker 1>what the rest says, but and his is in there right.

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<v Speaker 1>So that was it, and we take our hats off

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<v Speaker 1>to Professor Putter and the University of Bristol, whose mascot

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<v Speaker 1>I still cannot find, even though I kind of looked

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<v Speaker 1>it up while we were recording.

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<v Speaker 4>Do you have mascots if you don't have sports teams?

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<v Speaker 3>Uh?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think just to kind of create general goodwill

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<v Speaker 1>among the student population. That's the real function of a mascot.

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<v Speaker 2>I just didn't know if that was an American thing

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<v Speaker 2>or what.

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<v Speaker 3>I don't know.

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<v Speaker 1>We'll find out if you go to University of Bristol

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<v Speaker 1>or even just know what their mascot is right in

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<v Speaker 1>and let us know. Okay, all right, good match punk Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>short stuff is out.

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