Explain why different source languages contributed different types and different amounts of vocabulary to English before about 1600. Is English still borrowing from other languages? If not why not; and if so what is the main current source and which of th

Whilst the Anglo-Saxon invaders settled in what was to become England after the Romans had left it, they had had contact with the Romans while they lived in mainland Europe, and there was some borrowing both then, and from those Celts who had learnt Latin during the Roman Occupation although the latter represent few words. Later still, Roman missionaries who came to the island lent some words to the Old English, mostly of a religious variety.

In the last quarter of the first millennium, a new influence upon the English Language came from over the North Sea. The Viking raids had begun around 790, and the Norse influence on the language began to take real shape a century or so later when the Treaty of Wedmore established the Danelaw. When this was being reclaimed by the English kings, it was accepted that much of its population would be Danes. Many words were borrowed during the period of mixed populations during and after the Danelaw. This was helped by the fact that Norse and the Anglo-Saxon tongues were fairly closely related. The intermarriage of the peoples in the Danelaw, and the continuation of spoken Norse for some time also contributed to the borrowing, which is estimated to extend to about 900 words. Some of the words are for common actions or things, indicating further the closeness of the languages and the intimate contact of its speakers. Many Scandinavian place-names are also to be found north of the line of the Danelaw.

The year 1066 is one of the most important dates for the History both of England and the language of its people. In that year, William of Normandy defeated the English King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. This had a number of important consequences for the English language. The most notable of these was that a new nobility was created – a nobility of Frenchmen, speaking French. English was now the Language of the conquered people, much as had Celtic in an earlier invasion. Yet while the relationship between the two peoples may have been superficially similar, it was not, and this is borne out in the language influences. The Anglo-Saxons came to colonise what was to become England – the Normans conquered it. They did not, and could not, for they did not have the population, re-settle England solely with Frenchmen. So while much of the nobility and even some of the lower orders of society were Normans, the vast majority of the population were still English, although almost exclusively in the lower classes. This created a situation where the language of rule, and the rulers was French, and the language of the ruled was English. This dichotomy is evident in the somewhat hackneyed comparison of the different words still in use for beasts in the field and on the table. A sheep in the field becomes mutton on the table, a cow or bull, beef, a pig, pork. Many of the Englishmen that remained in any sort of position of power spoke French, as it was a language of considerable prestige.

By the 14th Century, English, though in a much changed form than that the Normans found upon their arrival, had once again become dominant. Almost all could speak it, right up to the highest ranks of the nobility – in 1337, Parliament addressed the King in English and in 1362, the Law courts adopted it as their official language for all but the enrolling of judgements.

French words were borrowed so profusely that but a tiny selection is given in Appendix A.

English, as do all languages, is still borrowing from other ones. Why, one needs only to think of such words as pukka, schadenfreude, pyjama, curry, and kangaroo, or some North American place-names like Massachusetts, Appalachians or Dakota. Yet the current borrowings are not the same as the earlier ones. No longer do we borrow such everyday common words as again and get. The words tend to be those for new concepts, such as scientific terms, taken from Latin or Greek, or new places, or single words for concepts that would take many in English. Thus the borrowing of our time is different from that of older forms of English. Our source languages also vary. No longer do we borrow from the language of the invader, mainly because there have been no invasions since the Norman one. English borrows from the countries that its people have themselves invaded, or from countries with which the new electronic media have made communications far simpler than in the preceding centuries. Yet one does see resemblances with some of the Latin borrowings of the early Christian era. These were not borrowings of simple words to describe actions or things common to the landscape or people – these were borrowed words used to describe much more complex, or even just novel, theological concepts and things, much as the scientists who used Latin or Greek to name their disciplines, instruments or findings.

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