Once Upon a Word: A Word-Origin Dictionary for Kids - Jess Zafarris 2020
All Words Tell a Story
Word jungle
Languages have a history of borrowing from one another. English has diverse origins, with words from dozens of different languages, but most words in English come from four languages: Greek, Latin, Old French, and Old English.
These languages (plus many others spoken in Europe, Asia, and the Americas) are called Indo-European languages. This means they all come from a very ancient single language called Proto-Indo-European. We don’t know as much about “proto” languages because there are no written records of them.
However, people who study languages have been able to piece together ideas of what these very early, unwritten languages may have looked like based on the similarities between the languages we speak today. Here’s a closer look at how older languages have branched into the modern ones spoken around the world now.
ANCIENT GREEK AND LATIN
Nearly half of all words in the English language have Latin origins. Latin was the language spoken in the ancient Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was very powerful and claimed lands throughout Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia.
When the Romans claimed these lands, their language and culture were often adopted by the people who already lived there. Italian, French, Romanian, Spanish, and Portuguese are all very closely related to the Roman language and are therefore called “Romance” languages. Would you believe that it goes back even further?
The Romans got many of their words from Ancient Greek. Ancient Greek culture played an important role in developing our modern-day sports, science, medicine, philosophy, and politics. The Roman Empire built upon these ideas and spread them throughout Europe. We can thank the ancient Greeks for many of the science and philosophy words we learn about in school today.
OLD ENGLISH
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who lived in Great Britain in the 5th century. Many of our common words come from the language of the Anglo-Saxons, which we call Old English. It originally comes from a much older language group called Germanic, which is also the ancestor of the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages.
Old English is an earlier version of our language, but many words in this language are spelled differently and are often unrecognizable to people who speak English now.
For example, the phrase “near and far” was spelled nean ond feorran in Old English. There were a few different symbols in Old English, too, like ð and þ, which are now spelled as the two letters “th” today.
OLD FRENCH TO MIDDLE ENGLISH
Between Old English and the English we speak today is Middle English. Middle English was the next stage of the English language that began after the Normans, or people from the region of France called Normandy, invaded England in the year 1066. They brought with them their language, Old French, which blended with the language and customs of the Anglo-Saxons, making Middle English.
Old French was a Romance language, getting most of its words from Latin. Whenever you see a word in this book that has a Latin origin, it’s most likely that it was brought to English from Old French. About 90 percent of the Latin-derived words in this book stopped in Old French before they got here!
Middle English words are pretty easy to read and understand if you speak English today, but the spelling was different and changed often because there were no English dictionaries yet.
MODERN ENGLISH
Next came Early Modern English, which was spoken from the 15th century until the 17th century. At the beginning of this period, the printing press made books more common and less expensive, so more people learned how to read and write. As a result, many important books, poems, and plays were created. This introduced new words and phrases into the language. (The first English dictionaries were also written during this time, which standardized spellings and definitions we use today.)
Modern Standard English is what we speak today. The kaleidoscope that is the English language isn’t just made up of words that come from Old English, Greek, Latin, and French. Hundreds of words we use come from Arabic sources, and hundreds more are from Native American languages. Everyday phrases and terms also come from Chinese, Japanese, Yiddish, German, Bantu, and so many more.
CHANGING LANGUAGES
Many languages around the world are interconnected—they have borrowed and continue to borrow from one another.
But the sharing of words has often not been a peaceful process. Wars spread the Roman Empire across Europe. And as European explorers sailed to Africa and the Americas, many people were mistreated in the process. Global exploration enriched the English language, but this blending was often the result of conquest. It’s important to remember that invaders often took language, culture, and resources in ways that harmed indigenous civilizations.
By studying word history, we learn more about important cultures that were lost or harmed during these conflicts. This knowledge helps us avoid future mistakes while celebrating different ideas, cultures, and languages.
Today, we continue to invent new words whenever we develop new ideas and technology, and even when we make up fun words with our friends. And because communication happens faster than ever, languages can grow and change overnight!