II MA- HEL- THE INFLUENCE OF LATIN ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE- FINAL (if you don't want to study the highlighted, you can omit it)

            The phenomenon of borrowing words and word formation is the way of enriching one language. English is a Germanic language, having a grammar and core vocabulary inherited from Proto-Germanic. However, a significant portion of the English word-hoard comes from Romance and Latinate sources. The Latin (Classical) influence on the English Language is the earliest and perhaps the greatest of all the influences.

The First Phase or Continental Phase:

            The first Latin influence on Old English was due to England’s contact with the Roman Civilization. Romans were good traders and the Latin words borrowed in this phase belong to trade, agriculture, war and domestic life.

Subject	Latin Loan
Trade and Commerce	Wine (from Lat. ‘Vinum’) Mint (a place where something is manufactured) (from Lat. ‘mynet’) Mile (from Lat. ‘mile’) Camp, money, monger (dealer/trader), pound, finance, inch
Domestic	Kettle, Kitchen, cup, dish, cook etc.
Food	Pepper, cheese, butter, plum, milk etc.

The Second Phase of Latin Influence:

            The Romans held Britain under their control from 54 BC to 410 AD. The Second Phase of Latin Influence on Old English reached England during this period. The Roman rulers succeeded in teaching to the wealthier classes of Southern England. They built splendid roads, formed camps at important places, formulated laws and administered England. They left behind mainly prefixes and suffixes of the names of places. The six main contributions are

            1) castra (a camp) - Lancaster, Doncaster, Gloucester, Manchester, Winchester, Worcester

            2) strata (a paved road) - Stratford, Stradbroke, Stratford-upon-Avon

            3) Colonia (a settlement) - Colne, Lincoln

            4) fossa (a trench)  - Fossway, Fosbridge, Fosbrooke

            5) Portus (a harbour) - Portsmouth, Devonport

            6) vallum (a rampart) – wall, bailey, bailiff

The Third Phase of Latin Influence:

            The Third Phase of Latin Influence on Old English began with the introduction of Christianity around 596 A.D. It sets in another new chapter of Latin borrowing to define the new conceptions, new religion, new ideas and new faith.

            Old English

Biscop (Bishop, an overseer)

Postol (apostle, a person sent out)

Clerc (clerk, an ordained member of the church)

Preost (priest, an elder)

Munuc (monk, a solitary person)

Calc (cup)

Missa (mass, to send)

Subject	Latin Loan
Church	Angel, altar, anthem, apostle, alms, Bishop, candle, disciple, font, hymn, martyr, minister, monk, nun, Pope, psalm, shrine, etc.
Domestic Life	Fan, pea, pine, poppy, pillow, pin, radish, silk, etc.
Plant	Aloes, beet, pea, pine, poppy, plum etc.
Education	School, master, grammar, verse etc.
Animal	Doe, lobster, phoenix, turtle etc.
Verb	Offer, spend, stop etc.

            New terms were also created using native prefixes and suffixes. The reason behind exploiting the native word-stock was that few people knew Latin and words of native origin were easily acceptable.

Old English	New term
Eastron [named after Astro, the spring goddess/ pagan festival celebrated to  herald the onset of the spring season]	Easter (Resurrection Sunday)
Sun (sacred to the nature-worshipping pagans)	Sunday (the holy day)
Godspell	Gospel
þrīnes	trinity
Other examples: God, tithe, sin, etc.

Middle English Period:

In the Middle English period, Latin comes via French and through translation works. However, several legal, scientific and religious terms were directly taken from Latin. The translation of the Bible gives the English people words like- ‘generation’, ‘persecution’ and ‘transformation’. 

Subject	Latin Loan
Law	Client, conviction, conspiracy, custody, legal, legitimate, prosecute, testimony etc.
Theology	Diocese, incarnate, limbo, mediator, requiem, scripture etc.
Literature	Allegory, genius, intellect, prosody etc.
Science	Dissolve, immune, medicine, mechanical, rational, recipe, solar, zenith etc.

Modern English Period:

The Great Revival of Learning, Renaissance of the 15^th century influenced the English Language immensely. The Latin words borrowed during this period are often basic nouns, adjectives and verbs.

Noun	Allusion, atmosphere, area, bonus, folio, picture, pendulum, focus, axis, circus, complex, nucleus, radius, status, virus, specimen, etc.
Adjective	Appropriate, domestic, medieval, filial, perfect etc.
Verb	Assassinate, benefit, affidavit, harass, exit, emancipate etc.

  The flow of Latin borrowings has been going on incessantly even in the present day scenario. Words like 'neutron', 'mutant', 'penicillin', 'formula', 'column', have become the integral parts of English vocabulary. Undoubtedly, Latin loan words leave a huge mark to the English vocabulary.

Some native nouns have Latin adjectives:

Native Noun	Latin Adjective
Father	Paternal
Mother	Maternal
King	Royal
Mouth	Oral
Heaven	Celestial
Mind	Mental

  

I MA- LITERATURE AND GENDER- THE SECOND SEX- PPT

PART II ENGLISH- THE BOY WHO BROKE THE BANK

PART II ENGLISH- THE LOTTERY TICKET & THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

PART II ENGLISH- THE TOYS & MOTHER TERASA

PART II ENGLISH- THE POWER OF PRAYER

PART II ENGLISH- THE VILLAGE SCHOOLMASTER

The Village Schoolmaster

"The Village Schoolmaster" is an extract from a longer poem by Oliver Goldsmith called “The Deserted Village”. It conveys the speaker's sentiments about a teacher. The poem also reflects the changes that occurred in rural communities when land was divided and property was abandoned or claimed by private landowners. Many inhabitants then emigrated to find a home elsewhere.

            The village Goldsmith is writing about an imaginary ideal village called “Auburn”. The village he imagined is now deserted because all the people have emigrated, the main reason being the “enclosure”. There was a lot of land in eighteenth-century England that was either owned in common, or which didn’t have clear ownership, or which was just “waste” land. Gradually lots of it was taken into private ownership and fenced off, and in this process poor people could lose their precarious livelihoods or be displaced to towns, or overseas.

            Goldsmith returns to the village that he knew as vibrant and alive, and finds it deserted and overgrown. The poem first describes an abandoned schoolhouse that was once noisy and led by a stern schoolmaster who took education and teaching seriously. He remembers the good things of village life, including this affectionate if humorous portrait of the schoolmaster. The schoolmaster is a big presence in the village. In an age when literacy and numeracy were powerful things, when many were illiterate and innumerate, then the “rustics”, the ordinary working-class people of the village, look up to the school-teacher. He seems a kind of god. The children are quite scared of him. Yet, for all his severity, the schoolmaster was known to be kind. If he was an uncompromising teacher, it was only due to his commitment to education. They laugh at his jokes, even if they are not funny.

“Full well they laughed, with counterfeited glee,
At all his jokes, for many a joke had he: …”

            The village people stood in awe of him. He was literate and knowledgeable. He could write, do mathematics, and predict weather patterns and tides. It was also assumed that he was an accurate surveyor who could determine borders easily. It is apparent that he could also debate intelligently and be involved in discussions with the village parson, a person who was greatly respected by his parishioners. The teacher seemed to be a fierce opponent in such discourse, for he would continue arguing a point even after he had already lost the dispute. "In arguing too, the parson own'd his skill,/ For e'en though vanquish'd he could argue still". The master would use difficult words and emotive language to sound convincing and impress the poorly educated village folk.

            In one sense, of course, Goldsmith is gently mocking the schoolmaster. It’s very easy for him to impress the villagers with his learning, just because he can read a bit of Latin and knows how to do his sums. The parson, as the religious leader of the village, is of course the most respected man, but the schoolmaster loves a good argument with him, and keeps arguing even when he’s obviously lost.

            He is really modest and doing a good job in a quiet and simple place: helping to spread a little literacy and numeracy among the ordinary people of the village, helping them out in doing calculations about “terms” and so forth. He’s at the centre of a community – and Goldsmith is mourning the passing away of that community, the passing away of the village itself, now deserted. That’s why the lovely yellow flowers on the furze are “unprofitably gay” (2) – there is now no-one about to enjoy their beauty. The schoolmaster is gone long ago, with all the children of his school. A fine community has been lost.

            The schoolmaster is, no doubt, a little pompous, but – though he mocks that – Goldsmith shows us a good man, doing a good job and being quietly useful to the community about him. People in this rural community were in awe that the teacher could know so much. They could not understand how his small head could contain so much knowledge. The poem ends, however, on a sad and emotional note. The final couplet tells us that all the teacher's achievements have become a thing of the past. The place where he had enjoyed so much success has ceased to exist and has been forgotten.