História da Língua Inglesa - 29 -01-13

How Extensive is the Use of Latin and Greek in English Vocabulary?

For hundreds of years after the fall of the Roman Empire, Latin and Greek were used throughout Europe as the languages of education and knowledge.

European scholars wrote their works in them and educated men corresponded mostly in Latin, with some Greek, with other educated men of their own or different nationalities.

As late as the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, Francis Bacon wrote his scientific works in Latin. This despite the fact that he was one of the most accurate and precise writers of English the English race has ever produced.

In fact, the writing of works in Latin and Greek in order to secure an international audience continued up into the eighteenth century.

The perspective that Latin and Greek were the languages of the educated accounts for the fact that practically any term we use connected with knowledge or any of the arts, or with religion, science, or education, is of Latin and Greek origin.

Even Anglo-Saxon words were influenced by Latin

The terse simple words in English, referring to the "home", the "family", or the "farm" are mostly from the Anglo-Saxon, but even here there is an important Latin influence.

We must remember that the Romans were in Britain for nearly 400 years and left a strong influence on the local speech, so that the Anglo-Saxons, when they arrived, also picked up and incorporated a great many Latin words into their own language.

An everyday Anglo-Saxon-sounding word; such as, plum comes from the Anglo-Saxon pluma; but pluma is merely an Anglo-Saxon mispronunciation of the Latin pruna (plum) from Greek, prounon, a later form of proumnon; which, by the way, comes to us also, through the French, in the form prune.

Again, take the familiar word bishop which is derived from the Anglo-Saxon biscop; but biscop in its turn is only an amputated form of the Latin episcopus (overseer, superintendent), and when we want to form an adjective from bishop we have to go straight to Latin for episcopal; which comes from the Greek word episcopos (watcher, overseer) from the Greek elements, epi-, "over" and -scope, "watcher, examiner". Many other examples of this kind may be cited ad infinitum.

The history of English was Strongly influenced by French

Not only did Latin come into English directly and through the medium of Anglo-Saxon, but it also came in a copious stream through French.

When William the Conqueror defeated the English at Senlac, in 1066, and established a Norman aristocracy in England; French became the language of the court and of the landed proprietors and of the upper classes in general, and French was itself a language of almost pure Latin origin.

Above all, it must not be forgotten that Latin was the language of churchmen and of the services of the Church from the ninth century to the sixteenth century.

As a result of this continued influence of Latin (as well as Greek elements) from so many directions, English vocabulary is simply saturated with both of these classical sources.

The Importance of Latin and Greek etymologies in English words

Classical Greek has contributed significantly to the richness of English vocabulary

For speakers of English, Greek has been traditionally perceived as remote, esoteric, and yet worth a great deal of respect.

Greek word-forming patterns, words, and word elements were adopted and adapted into Latin over 1,500 years, and passed through Latin into many European and other languages, being used in the main for scholarly and technical purposes.

The flow into English was at first limited and largely religious. The significant influx was in the late Middle ages and the renaissance.

The spelling of Greek words in English was shaped by the orthographics of Latin and French: Greek kaligraphia bacame Latin calligraphia, French calligraphie, and English calligraphy.

Occasionally, a more Greek look survives; as with, kaleidoscope, not calidoscope, and kinetic, not cinetic.

English is much richer as a result of Classical Greek contributions

The word-creating capacity of Greek, while prodigious, is not unique; nor has it usually had a direct channel into the Western European languages; as a result, even the most rigorous scientific terminologies are hybrid.

One example includes the names of the geological eras, created in English as an ad-hoc system unlikely to have been a classical Greek scholar's choice.

The Greeks were the first Europeans to use an alphabet, to theorize about language, and to frame language categories.

Most of the literary genres of the western world were invented or formalized by the Greeks and many of the names they used have passed with only minor adaptation to many successor languages. Etymology of words or their "true meanings"

People's interest in the history of words and their meanings dates at least from the time of the Stoics of Ancient Greece.

For them, to trace the history of a word back to its origin was the best guide to its "true meaning" or etymon.

This position still is prominent in arguments about words today, but the term etymology, derived from the Stoics' search for "the true and original meaning", is now understood simply as the search for the historical explanations of how a word came to have its present form and meaning.

The more successful and scholarly the search is, the more one becomes aware not only that the ultimate "origin" of a word can rarely be found but also that a determination to use a word in its oldest known sense would result in total confusion for today's user.

The argument that a word means what it did originally may be justly labeled, for all its attraction, an "etymological fallacy".

Tracing how a word came by its present meaning/meanings is NOT a futile project!

Once a person abandons the search for "ultimate truth" and concentrates on how meanings have evolved, the explanations become fascinating, if not stranger than the imagination one could have predicted.

The first impression someone may have is that words change their meanings in unpredictable ways; but this will be corrected when the person considers the various staging posts along the route the words have traveled. It is here that everyone begins to see a pattern of processes whereby one meaning gives rise to another one.

English obviously comes from many sources

Ultimately, explaining the changes of word meanings require full knowledge not only of relevant languages but of relevant civilizations and their history.

While this is probably an unattainable ideal, it is still considered a rewarding quest as we seek to learn more about the origins of words.

No other language gains more than English from researches into the past because it has borrowed so much of its vocabulary from so many diverse sources.

The words of English constitute an incredible heritage: they represent nothing less than a crystallization and a distillation of the entire collective experience of countless speakers; transmitted in an unbroken chain from person to person, day by day, year by year, generation by generation, in a succession stretching backward through time to the most remote period of human antiquity.

Wherever speakers have traveled, whatever new artifacts or flora or fauna or customs they have encountered, whatever new beliefs or philosophies or sciences they have developed, whatever joys or tragedies they have undertaken; their lexicon has accompanied them, growing steadily, adapting and accommodating itself to their ever-changing needs.

New words have entered English; "new", that is, to the English language, but often incredibly old in others.

Many words have fallen into disuse, grown obsolete, and sometimes disappeared; as well as, developed meanings that frequently diverge in amazing ways from their earlier senses.

Words, of course, serve as building blocks of communication, as tools of thought, and as outlets for emotions; but they represent more than that: they are living representatives of the past, and each bears the imprint of its passage through time.

Every word in its own right is a souvenir of history with a unique story to tell all of us, as demonstrated in these "English and its Historical Development" pages.

Key literary words in English that are of Greek origin include: anachronism, anthology, archetype, biography, catharsis, comedy, criticism, elegy, epic, euphemism, hubris, irony, lyric, metaphor, mythology, poetics, rhetoric, sarcasm, symbolism, and tragedy.

As a result of the continued influence of Greek elements from so many directions, the English language is simply saturated with this classical source.

It is fair to say that without some knowledge of the Latin and Greek elements in English, users of English can not be certain of the accuracy of their spellings or of the correctness of many of the simple and more complex words used in English which are the results of Latin and Greek sources.

Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626)

Introduction

Sir Francis Bacon (Baron Verulam, 1st Viscount St Alban) (1561 - 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, essayist and scientist of the late Renaissance period. He was an astute and ambitious politician in the turbulent and poisonous political climate of Elizabethan and Jacobean England. But, despite his sometimes nefarious dealings and constant battles against debt, he was also the possessor of a brilliant mind.

His major contribution to philosophy was his application of inductive reasoning (generalizations based on individual instances), the approach used by modern science, rather than the a priori method of medieval Scholasticism and Aristotelianism. He was an early proponent of Empiricism and the scientific method.

Life

Francis Bacon was born in London, England on 22 January 1561. His father was Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal under Queen Elizabeth I; his mother was Ann Cooke, Sir Nicholas' second wife, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, and sister-in-law of William Cecil (Lord Burghley) (chief advisor to Queen Elizabeth). He was therefore raised as an English gentleman, and had many contacts in the royal court of the day. He was the youngest of his father's five sons and three daughters.

Bacon's early education was conducted at home owing to poor health, which plagued him throughout his life. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge at the age of twelve (living in Cambridge for three years with his older brother, Anthony), and it was there that he first met the Queen, who was impressed by his precocious intellect.

In 1582, his ambitions (which he described as to discover truth, to serve his country and to serve his church) led him into politics. He served as Member of Parliament for Melcome Regis in 1584, and then Taunton (1586), Southampton and Ipswich (1597), Liverpool (1589), Middlesex (1593) and St Albans and Ipswich (1604).

His early opposition to Elizabeth’s tax program retarded his political advancement, but, with the help of his powerful uncle, Lord Burghley, he rose quickly in the legal profession, receiving the valuable appointment of reversion to the Clerkship of the Star Chamber in 1589. He was an astute politician.

With the accession of King James I after Elizabeth's death in 1603, Bacon's star continued to rise and he was knighted in the same year. He received the King's favour, although he was not always so popular with his peers. He was rewarded with one prestigious appointment after another,.

Sir Francis played a leading role in creating the British colonies in the New World, especially in Virginia, the Carolinas and Newfoundland. His government report on “The Virginia Colony” was made in 1609, and he helped form the Newfoundland Colonization Company which sent John Guy to found a colony in Newfoundland in 1610.

Sir Francis Bacon's public career ended in disgrace in 1621, when a Parliamentary Committee on the administration of the law charged him with twenty-three counts of corruption and bribery.

Work

For Bacon, the only knowledge of importance to man was empirically rooted in the natural world, and a clear system of scientific inquiry would assure man's mastery over the world. He had a great reverence for Aristotle, although he found Aristotelian philosophy barren, disputatious and wrong in its objectives.

Bacon argued that, while philosophy at the time generally used the deductive syllogism to interpret nature, it should instead proceed through inductive reasoning, from fact to axiom to law. However, he cautioned that before beginning this induction, the philosopher must free his mind from certain false notions or tendencies which distort the truth, which he characterized as the four Idols: "Idols of the Tribe" (common to the race); "Idols of the Den" (peculiar to the individual); "Idols of the Marketplace" (from the misuse of language); and "Idols of the Theatre" (from the abuse of authority).

In Ethics, he distinguished between duty to the community (an ethical matter) and duty to God (a religious matter). He believed that any moral action is the action of the human will (which is governed by belief and spurred on by the passions), that good habit is what aids men in directing their will toward the good, but that no universal rules can be made, as both situations and men's characters differ. One of his many aphorisms was that "a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to Atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion".

Among his earlier publication were the "Essays", the "Colours of Good and Evil", the "Meditationes Sacrae" (which includes his famous aphorism, "knowledge is power", an early expression of Pragmatism), and the "Proficience and Advancement of Learning". In 1620, his "Novum Organum" ("The New Instrument"), the most important part of his fragmentary and incomplete "Instauratio Magna" ("The Great Renewal"), was published, and a second part, "De Augmentis Scientiarum" ("The Advancement of Learning"), was published in 1623.

Sir Francis Bacon: Essays

Of Studies

STUDIES serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment, and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best, from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need proyning, by study; and studies themselves, do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books, else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit: and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know, that he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores [Studies are transformed into character]. Nay, there is no stond or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies; like as diseases of the body, may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the Schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores [splitters of hairs]. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study 197 the lawyers' cases. So every defect of the mind, may have a special receipt.

John Milton

John Milton was born in London on December 9, 1608, into a middle-class family. He was educated at St. Paul's School, then at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he began to write poetry in Latin, Italian, and English, and prepared to enter the clergy.

After university, however, he abandoned his plans to join the priesthood and spent the next six years in his father's country home in Buckinghamshire following a rigorous course of independent study to prepare for a career as a poet. His extensive reading included both classical and modern works of religion, science, philosophy, history, politics, and literature. In addition, Milton was proficient in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Spanish, and Italian, and obtained a familiarity with Old English and Dutch as well.

During his period of private study, Milton composed a number of poems, including "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity," “On Shakespeare", "L'Allegro," "Il Penseroso," and the pastoral elegy "Lycidas." In May of 1638, Milton began a 13-month tour of France and Italy, during which he met many important intellectuals and influential people, including the astronomer Galileo, who appears in Milton's tract against censorship, "Areopagitica."

During the English Civil War, Milton championed the cause of the Puritans and Oliver Cromwell, and wrote a series of pamphlets advocating radical political topics including the morality of divorce, the freedom of the press, populism, and sanctioned regicide. Milton served as secretary for foreign languages in Cromwell's government, composing official statements defending the Commonwealth. During this time, Milton steadily lost his eyesight, and was completely blind by 1651. He continued his duties, however, with the aid of Andrew Marvell and other assistants.

After the Restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660, Milton was arrested as a defender of the Commonwealth, fined, and soon released. He lived the rest of his life in seclusion in the country, completing the blank-verse epic poem Paradise Lost in 1667, as well as its sequel Paradise Regained and the tragedy Samson Agonistes both in 1671. Milton oversaw the printing of a second edition of Paradise Lost in 1674, which included an explanation of "why the poem rhymes not," clarifying his use of blank verse, along with introductory notes by Marvell. He died shortly afterwards, on November 8, 1674, in Buckinghamshire, England.

Paradise Lost, which chronicles Satan's temptation of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from Eden, is widely regarded as his masterpiece and one of the greatest epic poems in world literature. Since its first publication, the work has continually elicited debate regarding its theological themes, political commentary, and its depiction of the fallen angel Satan who is often viewed as the protagonist of the work.

On Shakespeare
What needs my Shakespeare for his honour'd Bones, The labour of an age in pilèd Stones, Or that his hallow'd reliques should be hid Under a stary pointing Pyramid? Dear son of Memory, great heir of Fame, What need'st thou such weak witnes of thy name? Thou in our wonder and astonishment Hast built thy self a live-long Monument. For whilst to th' shame of slow-endeavouring art, Thy easie numbers flow, and that each heart Hath from the leaves of thy unvalu'd Book Those Delphick lines with deep impression took, Then thou our fancy of it self bereaving, Dost make us Marble with too much conceaving; And so Sepulcher'd in such pomp dost lie, That Kings for such a Tomb would wish to die.