法律英语背诵经典.doc

/wiki/History_of_the_English_language visiting time: 2012-02-20 Proto-English The languages of Germanic peoples gave rise to the English language (the Angles, Saxons, Frisii, Jutes and possibly the Franks, who traded and fought with the Latin-speaking Roman Empire in the centuries-long process of the Germanic peoples expansion into Western Europe during the Migration Period). Latin loan words such as wine, cup, and bishop entered the vocabulary of these Germanic peoples before their arrival in Britain and the subsequent formation of England.[1] Tacitus Germania, written around 100 AD., is a primary source of information for the culture of the Germanic peoples (the ancestors of the English) in ancient times. Germanics were in contact with Roman civilisation and its economy, including serving in the Roman military, but retained political independence. Germanic troops served in Britannia under Roman command. Except for the Frisians, Germanic settlement in Britain occurred largely after the arrival of mercenaries in the 5th century as described by Gildas. Most Angles, Saxons and Jutes arrived in Britain as Germanic pagans, independent of Roman control. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relates that around the year 449 Vortigern, King of the Britons, invited the Angle kin (Angles allegedly led by the Germanic brothers Hengist and Horsa) to help repel invading Picts. In return, the Anglo-Saxons received lands in the southeast of Britain. In response came men of Ald Seaxum of Anglum of Iotum (Saxons, Angles and Jutes). The Chronicle refers to waves of settlers who eventually established seven kingdoms, known as the heptarchy. Modern scholars view Hengist and Horsa as Euhemerised deities from Anglo-Saxon paganism, who ultimately stem from the religion of the Proto-Indo-Europeans.[2] [edit] Old English The first page of the Beowulf manuscript Main article: Old English language After the Anglo-Saxon invasion, the Germanic language displaced the indigenous Brythonic languages and Lati