The role of French, Latin and Greek words in the evolution of the English language. You can find linked texts and activities here: http://englishlanguage.eslreading.org/english/vocabulary/latingreekfrench.html Brief introduction to this fascinating topic, ideal for teachers to use in English language classes. See http://englishlanguage.eslreading.org or more fun facts about the English language.

1. WHERE DO ENGLISH WORDS COME FROM?
Anglo Saxon Normans introduced a legal system
with its own vocabulary: words like jury
The grammar and key vocabulary of
and verdict. In a sense this was a
English comes from Anglo Saxon further expansion of the influence of
making English essentially a Germanic Latin, as what became know as Anglo-
language. Around 30% of the words Norman had Latin roots. Sometimes
we use in English are Anglo Saxon in the new anglo-norman words existed
origin and they tend to be the most alongside existing anglo-saxon ones:
commonly used – over 70% according beef and cow for example.
to most estimates. The top ten most Though the Norman dialect
commonly used verbs, for example, declined, French remained the
are all survivors from old English. language of court and learning. It had
What makes the English language a prestige which is still present today.
unusual is that its lexicon (vocabulary)
borrows heavily from other languages –
Greek
particularly Latin, Greek and French
The frequency of Greek terms in English
can again be traced back to the
Latin importance of Latin. Medieval scholars
Perhaps surprisingly the Roman learned Greek vocabulary by studying
occupation of Britain had little initial Latin texts.
impact on the development of the Words with a Greek origin are
English language. Only place names particularly common in medicine,
like London, Bath & Chester indicate science and education. Words with a -
the official language of the occupiers. phy or –gy suffix typically have Greek
It was with the arrival of Christian roots: geography, demography and
missionaries in the 6th and 7th centuries etymology, for example
that significant numbers of Latin words About 5% of commonly English
began entering the lexicon. Latin was words have a direct Greek origin but
the lingua franca or common around 25% come via Latin.
language of the Christian world, with
the mass or service being conducted
in Latin. Other religious words like
abbot, altar, apostle & candle
gradually came into common use.
French
The invasion of the Normans in 1066
greatly increased the number of
‘foreign’ words in common use. The
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