From Old English to Middle English: The effects of language contact

In this video, you will find out how language contact and loan words contributed to the change from Old English to Middle English. This video was made as part of the Online Experience English language and literature of Leiden University. See: www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/...
Script and on camera: Thijs Porck
Camera and editing: Thomas J. Vorisek
For more on Old English, early medieval England and J. R. R. Tolkien, see www.thijsporck.com

[@54Gotland]

I'm currently learning Old English (as a German native speaker). It's fascinating to see how closely related they are. My goal is to become fluent until next summer and then move on to Middle English 🙂

[@thijsporck]

That's a great goal! Speakers of German (and Dutch) have a great advantage when it comes to learning Old English - I hope the videos help :)

[@georgemartin5980]

I thought it looked very similar to the limited German I know! I hope you're doing well.

[@sweiland75]

English and German have a common language ancestor, Proto-Germanic.

[@IchliebeHunde58]

I speak English as a first language and German as a second, and I find it fascination and fun that I can understand, about, 40-50% of spoke Old English and, about, 60-70% reading comprehension. I have studied a little bit of Old English grammar and alphabet pronunciation (at least the letters that aren’t found in English or German). I really enjoyed this video and I aim to study old English more in the future.

[@ariennedevreugd1775]

Great video! I also love the fact that the Normandy was named after the Vikings who settled there in the 9th century ("Northmen"). So England was invaded by Viking descendants once again in 1066, bringing in linguistic influences AGAIN!

[@johnbrereton5229]

Yes, and you have probably noticed that Norman or Northmen is not French, otherwise it would be Homme de Nord.

[@Ssj4vegeta212]

Another fact is a lot of French words do have a germanic origin due to the frankish influence and language

[@krisjustin3884]

Ironic how nordic descendants brought a heavy Latin influence into the English language.

[@Bjowolf2]

@@Ssj4vegeta212 Yes, France is even called "Frank-reich" ( = Frank-realm / -rice ! (OE) ) in German and similar names in other Germanic languages ( D&N Frankrig, S Frankrike etc. ).

[@Bjowolf2]

Check out the great video by Langfocus called "Viking Influence on the English Language" to see how this situation came about 😉 Melvyn Bragg's great TV-series "The Adventure of English" is also highly recommended - especially episodes 1 & 2 ( of 8 ) in this context.

[@milosit]

Fascinating and excellent video Dr. Prock. As a long-time reader of ME, there's much to be said about the temporal regionalization of M.E as there was no set standard of grammar, spelling, punctuation etc. after being displaced by written French and Latin between 1066 and early 12thC . Caxton must have had a heck of a job in 1474 trying to standardize the spelling. Having spent the majority of his working life in the Low Countries, one must suspect that there is a slight Dutch influence on Early Modern English.

[@Lebaneselinguist]

Amazing clarification, thank you ,and subscribed.

[@tyonglen6810]

Very informative and easy to understand, thank you !

[@elleeli21]

This video is very informative! Thank you for this, Sir!

[@martinemussies]

I'm excited about this! ☺️🙏

[@GregoryCordeiro]

Really love your work Dr Porck. Your blog is amazing. Thanks for this vid. It's a great introduction for students of English curious about the language's mediaeval heritage.

[@thijsporck]

That is very kind, many thanks!

[@payalchakraborty4512]

Very well explained. Thank you Sir. 🙏

[@strawberry.chaeyoung7896]

This helped me sooo much with my language arts project, thanks!

[@FredPauling]

Very accessible and clear.

[@veloboy]

Can't wait!

[@madcowfrombengal]

Keep posting and enrich us.

[@58andyr]

Well done! I think you make this understandable to those with no or little prior knowledge of the subject. I cover this in a class to students of advanced level English who express an interest in the origins and idiosyncracies of English. I enjoy doing this but you have shown me how I can improve my presentation! Thank you!

[@Bjowolf2]

When learning English as a Scandinavian (Dane), I was often very surprised by the many deep similarities between the basic vocabularies and several of the grammatical elements, which made English a fairly easy language for us to learn - as if already "knew" a simplistic older Germanic core English in advance and then "just" needed to fill in the gaps and climb a few hurdles here and there - for instance the peculiar use of the word "do" and how to use "-ing" with verbs in the progressive mood.

[@curtpiazza1688]

Excellent! ❤

[@benjiemaglinao4569]

This is also a challenge for me in creating my poems, but now I am writing in modern English because modern people are reading my works and we don't use old or middle English to converse today, but old and middle English was history and gold.

[@spunkychops7484]

Wankojuice 😂

[@user-xb3ux6uv5e]

Very informative vid. Thanks very much. But hope there is another one on how Norse and French influenced English syntax (definitely more complex and tedious tho)

[@RajaKhan-ol9vo]

Fantastic work 🤝❤

[@PeterGaunt]

Fascinating. Kind of ties together the bits of the history of English which I already had an idea of. PS have you done a video of why Dutch people often speak uncannily good English? I'm told there's a connection through Friesian but I don't know how reliable that is.

[@uzairhingorjo3274]

Great work ❤️

[@Bjowolf2]

When learning English as a Scandinavian (Dane), I was often very surprised by the many deep similarities between the basic vocabularies of English & Danish and between several of the grammatical elements as well, which all in all made English a fairly easy language for us to learn - as if we already by magic "knew" a simplistic older Germanic core English in advance and then "just" needed to fill in the gaps and climb a few hurdles here and there - for instance the peculiar use of the word "do" and how to use "-ing" with verbs in the progressive mood. So if you haven't tried it yet, Dr. Porck - and others here 😉 - , you should really try giving our three very similar Scandinavian languages a chance - it's very nearly a three for the price of one package. 🤗 The Norwegians and Swedes are just somewhat poor spellers, and they prefer to pronounce our otherwise typically mutual words in strange melodic ways 😂

[@johnough4893]

As an Englishman learning Swedish (a long time ago now though) I too was often surprised at how close the two languages were. I learnt French at school and, despite the many French words in English, it remains a foreign language. But I did not feel that with Swedish. In fact Swedish (apart from some pronunciations "sj" for example) was very easy to learn and did not appear foreign at all. I am not a linguist so I don't know how this would compare to say Dutch or Frisian, two other Western Germanic tongues.

[@joshadams8761]

I would add that contact with Old Norse may explain, to some extent, English’s loss of inflectional endings. I say “to some extent” because this loss has occurred in other Germanic languages to varying degrees.

[@thijsporck]

True! There are many factors, including the 'Germanic stress rule', which puts emphasis on the first syllable of the word (as a result the endings were less forcibly pronounced and that contributed to their decline in many Germanic languages).

[@marijntaal1531]

Nice!

[@milenaicic6335]

Hello! Could you write when and why the helping verb "do" started to be used in questions? Thank you!

[@valevisa8429]

Like everything else in the universe,a language evolves.

[@BernasLL]

I just want to say that it's quite something to find barely anything on this channel on celtic Britain and its connections to celtic Europe, and so much about much more tenuous middle-eastern links. Nothing wrong about also going through little explored venues of History, but this is pure xenocentrism.

[@LiamsLyceum]

I have a question; do you think there would be more French influence on English after 1066 or more after 1204? I honestly don’t know, any recommended reading on the subject?

[@harrynewiss4630]

The latter. Most French words came into English long after 1204

[@andreasfahlen4936]

Is there a possibility to learn future english?

[@noslohcinkin]

Examples of mid-transition (i.e. halfway between Old and Middle) English: do any exist? I've tried using Internet search engines to no avail.

[@SouthernersSax]

It would certainly be interesting to see an alternate history where the languages that mutated English from Old to Middle were instead themselves mutated by English in such a fashion.

[@Bjowolf2]

Yes, that would certainly explain, why Danish and the other Scandinavian languages Norwegian and Swedish ended up being very similar in many ways at the basic level to a simplistic Germanic core English - to such a degree that these originally Scandinavian cousins of (Old) English ( all three derived from the North Germanic Old Norse ) are even now often more similar to English in their basic vocabularies and their ( almost mutual ) grammatical structures than its original West Germanic - Frisian, Dutch and Low German ( from Saxon!) - sibling languages - and the half sibling (High) German - are, which is quite the opposite of what one would have naturally expected. Did this new Germanic creole language fusion between the West Germanic Old English / Anglo-Saxon & the related (!) North Germanic Old Norse, which over time became Middle English - a completely restructured, much simplified and now "all of a sudden" analytical language ( word order + preposition giving meaning to a sentence INSTEAD of the fairly free word order in combination with 4 - 5 cases for nouns, their articles and any associated adjectives of Old English ), perhaps also influence the Scandinavian languages back home across the North Sea profoundly? - maybe like some sort of a linguistic fashion phenomenon: "Listen, guys - if you just drop all that complicated old fashioned lingo stuff and speak this new way instead, like we do over in the Danelaw region of England, then everything will become so much easier ... " 😂

[@MrPeterpat]

Love your videos! But I'm really surprised that you didn't mention the influence of Greek words in the English language. Surely there's more Greek words in English thn hindi and Arabic?

[@haroldlaichar9691]

Greek loans are more the product of Renaissance humanism which occured when Early Modern English was spoken

[@thijsporck]

You are absolutely right, of course - way more Greek words (about 20 times as many by the OED's count), but the listing of languages in the video was not meant to be a complete and/or ranked overview, just a taste of the many diverse language that have contributed to English throughout its history!

[@johnjohnson3212]

Wait, an old english was one of old germanic language, anglo-saxons has a little influence by celtic and latin(romano-britains) before scandinavians, I guess

[@alistairmcelwee7467]

So sad that most schools in the Anglo world have never taught Old English, have looked only cursorily at Middle English, and now are no longer teaching Shakespeare.

[@yggdrasil7942]

It world look grand if you spelt OLDE the original way.

[@mothman9003]

thank u dr pork :)

[@alexshropshire4651]

Gaelic is one of the reasons our word order is different than any of those other languages. English is written in the same order as Gaelic. French and Norse are written in the same order but not English. We have many words from those influences but the order of operations is like Gaelic.

[@harrynewiss4630]

Rubbish

[@alexshropshire4651]

@@harrynewiss4630 ok linguist.

[@harrynewiss4630]

@@alexshropshire4651 yes I am

[@alexshropshire4651]

I don't believe you

[@InqvisitorMagnvs]

Gaelic did not have any significant impact on the English language, neither in vocabulary (

[@JoelAdamson]

Yeah, when are we giving back those borrowed words?

[@mehdiwadoud8098]

Why DO people always forget about the celtic influence I wrote do in capitals because it is one of the proofs english shares a grammatic shape with welsh

[@johnough4893]

English shares a grammatic shape with Swedish and other Scandinavian languages. Apart from a few words the Celtic languages had no influence on English.

[@patchy642]

Isle of Tenerife, Spain, Africa. So, which is closest to modern Frisian? Old English, Middle English, or modern English? Can you please do a video on that, preferably with the collaboration of a native speaker of Frisian?

[@mudhuthanudimmudkahagadulh4657]

I reckon in the case with French. I think that's more of a dominance and not an influence.

[@shannen22able]

I have the exam tomorrow! I feel so exhausted and tired

[@martinemussies]

Fingers crossed for you! ^_^

[@Nn-3]

"Language... language always changes"

[@dewilton7712]

I think it is weird that all of these language videos about the English language never speak about the simplification of Old English and the transition from Old English SOV to Norse SVO. This had to have happened during the decades of Danish rule. These videos only talk about the 1000+ Norse words introduced into the language and mainly focus on changes during the Norman conquest.

[@AethelwulfOfNordHymbraLand2333]

The syntax transition happened with Middle English, as it is based on the Eastern Midland Old English dialect that received Old Norse influence. West Saxon, West Mercian, and North Northumbrian dialects would have still used the Old English syntax as they were spared Norse subjugation.

[@dewilton7712]

​@@AethelwulfOfNordHymbraLand2333 That is interesting, but I would like to see an in depth breakdown even if it has slight speculation since there are very little records from that time. Like I said people always talk in depth about the changes the Normans brought. The transition to SVO was the largest change to the language which has nothing to do with the Normans.

[@Duck_The_Coloniser]

6:45 meanwhile tamil

[@billdyke9745]

And, of course, Inuit, without whom we anoraks would be..? Jerkins? Tabards? Doublets?..

[@konradadamowski818]

When he said Hwaet! I thought he said Twat :D

[@Banom7a]

isn't "with" a Norse loanwords too?

[@AethelwulfOfNordHymbraLand2333]

No, it's English.

[@nadirhikmetkuleli7335]

It is English. In Old English it meant "against, opposite, contrary to". However, it grdually replaced mid( compare to German mit, Dutch met, Scandinavian med) in Middle English period. So, with is an English word that went through a meaning shift.

[@michaelchen8643]

No, most of the old north speakers came to settle. This is what really happened in the Scandinavian countries they do not have as much sunshine and they do not have as much arable land and you have a decision making process where if a region or town became too overpopulated people would draw lots and the wrong lots would have to get an a boat and go elsewhere Because the Carrington Passing Island couldn’t support feeding them, and one of the most favorite places to go was the eastern coast of England so they came to settle and many of them were skilled tradesmen in town folks so they found in cities like York. They founded Dublin and cork , they brought a certain amount of urban organization that wasn’t seen since the Romans settled and somehow they couldn’t deal with the inflection of the old English language so they help simplify it ( something about a personal level I enjoy because I don’t like the inflections of old English either) this effect of old Norse was so complete that it is rendered English functionally a Scandinavian language that use as a secondary standard and adopted by Norway Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, as a means to communicate, because English has a lot of vocabulary, that these other languages lack Think about it if the old nurse came strictly to commit violence, they would’ve rated and never settled. No, they came with entire families they multiply they intermarried they were really the same stock as the same people as the old English came there six and 700 years before that point

[@7MPhonemicEnglish]

Weren't the Norman's / aka Norse men also Vikings? They invaded England like; 'We're Francophonic and not interested in blending in this time! Something about speaking French makes us want to tyranize you.'

[@schmozzer]

You cannot compare spoken English with Chaucer or Beowulf. Chaucer is the worst example you could give. He was a great writer, he knew what he was doing and his use of language was educated and his vocabulary chosen to suit the story he was telling.

[@alexshropshire4651]

You forgot to include the enormous contributions of the Celtics who spoke Irish Gaelic, Welsh, and Scottish Gaelic.

[@nadirhikmetkuleli7335]

Celtic contribution to English vocabulary is not enormous. But it can be claimed that Celtic speakers influenced English grammar.

[@egorsokolov6959]

Japanese, Hindi and Arabic not count as english effects of language contact

[@Eleanor54Cordelia]

Your accent is a little bit strange Are you Scottish??

[@no1cares403]

Old English = sounds european Modern English = sounds quite germanic

[@AethelwulfOfNordHymbraLand2333]

That's patently false. The predomination of French vocabulary in the modern English language has had an undeniable impact on English phonology wherein the word pronunciation is closer to that of French than it is to other Germanic languages.

[@Mx12b]

Can't not read this guy's name as "this pork" 😅

[@jeffersonaraujoelcristiano]

Medieval English is the Holy Enligsh.

[@brianlewis5692]

It bothers me when comparison is made between Old and Middle English when Canterbury Tales is used as the example for Middle English. It *is* Middle English, but it's biased for comparison in 2 ways. 1, it's very LATE Middle English, so it's only about 100 years away from being Early Modern English, and 2, it is in the dialect of Middle English from which Modern English immediately descends. This makes it seem much more like Modern English than it should, and unfairly distances Old English as some alien tongue from another planet. How about using Dan Michel of Northgate's 'Ayenbite of Inwyt' as the example for Middle English instead, which is closer to the midpoint between the two periods (1390), and in a different dialect (Kentish), and you'll arrive at a very different conclusion. You'll see more of a continuity in the language, and less of an abrupt change, and fewer French loanwords. You're cherry-picking certain texts and words that only perpetuate the old-established narrative of the early English upper classes and how they wanted to be perceived by people on the continent.

[@denniswilkerson5536]

For those of us that like English and Old English, can we all agree that Middle English sucks and sounds horrible?

[@nebuchadnectarthe2nd688]

You are way off the meter. alliterative verse matters. think of timing in comedy. It's important not to read it monodrone l, it's not followable.

[@os7184]

All these videos about the bloodline of the english tongue The borrowing of such a big amount of words from french makes me wanna throw up its shamefull how they allow such a large amount of words to enter a language just because of an outlandish kingdom ruling england for 300 years we the greeks were under the sway of the ottomans for 400 years and they only barely managed to lay their hands and language into ours