Scribd
Upload
11 views23 pages

Status of English

The document discusses the influence of Latin on the English lexicon during the Early Modern period, highlighting the rise of humanist study and the resulting etymological respellings. It also addresses the Inkhorn Controversy, showcasing the ambivalence between neologizers who embraced Latin and purists who advocated for a 'pure' English language. The gradual rise in the prestige of English is noted, influenced by nationalism, literacy, and significant authors, despite Latin's dominance in scholarship and education.

Uploaded by

stefangunthermd
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
11 views23 pages

Status of English

The document discusses the influence of Latin on the English lexicon during the Early Modern period, highlighting the rise of humanist study and the resulting etymological respellings. It also addresses the Inkhorn Controversy, showcasing the ambivalence between neologizers who embraced Latin and purists who advocated for a 'pure' English language. The gradual rise in the prestige of English is noted, influenced by nationalism, literacy, and significant authors, despite Latin's dominance in scholarship and education.

Uploaded by

stefangunthermd
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 23

Early Modern Disputes

on the Status of English


Latin Influence on Lexicon

• rise of humanist study of Latin classics


• loans were usually literary, scientific
• some overlap of French & Latin
Etymological respellings
descrive • describe
parfet/perfet • perfect
verdit • verdict
peynture • picture
avis • advice
aventure • adventure
Avril • April
Feoverrere • February
some did not lead
to a change in pronunciation

dette • debt
doute • doubt
vittles • victuals

Compare indict and verdict


French/Latinate alternates

certainty • certitude
genie • genius
base • basis
critique • critic
machine • machination
English nouns /
Latinate adjectives
nose • nasal
eye • ocular
son • filial
ox • bovine
house • domestic
town • urban
mother • maternal
moon • lunar
not just words, but also affixes
ex-boyfriend
bureau-cracy
talk-ative
starv-ation
anti-racist
read-able
dis-own
Age of Linguistic Anxiety

1. Prestige of English
2. Inkhorn Controversy
1500–1700
3. Desire to Regulate
1650–1750
Low Prestige of
English

Caxton: “symple and


rude englissh”
versus “the fayr
langage of frenshe”

Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye: 1476


The speche of
Englande is a base
speche to other
noble speches, as
Italion, Castylion,
and Frenche,
howbeit the speche
of England of late
dayes is amended.

Andrew Boorde 1550


Latin
Dominant in all fields of
scholarship in Europe:
Copernicus
Galileo
Descartes
Harvey
Newton
Bacon
Latin

the language of education


especially universities

John Locke 1693: Latin is


“absolutely necessary for a
gentleman”
Gradual Rise in Esteem
• nationalism
• literacy
• Reformation
William Lisle, 1623
“our language is improued aboue all others
now spoken by any nation, and became the
fairest, the nimblest, the fullest; most apt to
vary the phrase, most ready to receiue good
composition, most adorned with sweet
words and sentences, with witty quips and
ouer-ruling Prouerbes . . .”
Whence the change?
• Latin expanded the vocabulary
• classical rhetoric
• influential English-language authors
Inkhorn Controversy
ambivalence about Latin

1. Neologists
2. Purists
Neologizers
• Exulted in Latinity
• George Pettie: “for it is the ready way
to inrich our tongue, and make it
copious, and it is the way which all
tongues haue taken to inrich them
selues”
Purists
John Cheke “our tung shold be written
cleane and pure, vnmixt and vnmangeled
with borrowing of other tunges, wherein
if we take not heed bi tijm, euer
borowing and neuer payeing, she shall be
fain to keep her house as bankrupt.”
Thomas
Wilson

“An inkehorn
letter”
Ralph Lever:
The Arte of
Reason, rightly
termed Witcraft,
1573
Ralph Lever, 1573
logic v witcraft
conclusio v endsay
premissae v foresays
propositio conditionalis v ifsay
negatio v naysay
definitio v saywhat
affirmatio v yeasay
Age of Linguistic Anxiety

1. Prestige of English
2. Inkhorn Controversy
1500–1700
3. Desire to Regulate
1650–1750
If there’s time:
• Archaizers like Spenser

• Desire for Regulation

You might also like