word origins

Anglo-Saxon Words

Old English, or Anglo-Saxon as it is also known, is the oldest form of English. The original speakers of ‘English’ came from the part of Europe that is now Germany and Denmark in the form of three tribes called the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. The three tribes had… Read More

Words from French

The Impact of French on English: Language of the Ruling Classes The main period for the introduction of French words into English was after the Norman Conquest of 1066. For the next 300 or so years, the language of the royal court, and therefore of authority, was Norman,… Read More

Words from Arabic

The Arabic influence on the English of science, mathematics and cuisine The Muslim conquest and settlement of al-Andalus came when Europe was in the Dark Ages after the fall of the Roman Empire when much of the knowledge of the ancient Roman and Greek worlds… Read More

Words from Hindi

Hindi is a member of the Indo-European family of languages, which means that it is a distant relative of English. Sometimes people in India speak a hybrid tongue that contains words from Hindi and from English. This is known as Hinglish. India and Britain down the years… Read More

Words from Latin

Britain was a province of Rome for almost 400 years but when the Western Empire collapsed Germanic invaders brought to these islands a language that eventually became English. Latin made a comeback, however. The British Isles converted to Christianity during the Dark Ages and Latin was the… Read More

Words from Sanskrit

Sanskrit: an ancient but still living language Sanskrit, unlike Latin, is still spoken to this day (although not by a huge number of people) but efforts are being made to increase its use as a spoken tongue. Many schools and universities teach Sanskrit, and anyone wanting to immerse… Read More