The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1904-09-01

trade that followed in its track brought
into the language a number of Latin
words, most of them the names of
church offices, services, and observ-
ances. 1t also brought with it in
creased communication with Rome and
the continent generally, widened the
of Englishmen, and gave a
great stimulus to commerce. For 600
years the Anglo-Saxons progressed
through varying conditions of interne-
cine and foreign war and a sembIance
of peace, until, in the year 1866 A. D.,
great change with mighty results in
it's train took place. William, duke of
Normandy, fought and conquered the
English under their King, Harold, in
the historic battle OF Senlac or Hast
ings. Harold himself was killed al
most at the last moment of the fight.
To William, surnamed The Conqueror,
the royal bastard, from whom and
whose horde so many of England's
noblest names delight to trace their or
igin; to this man, a worthy type of the
times in which he lived,-whose tenn
permanent is we'll portrayed IN the fact
that at the end of the battle he sat
down, and ate, and drank, and made
merry among the Dead England and
England's language owe their greatest
debt.
The Normans, having utterly beaten
down the resistance of the English,
seized the land and all the political
power of the country, and filled all
kinds of offices both of church and
state with Norman-French. Their
language became the language of the
court and the nobility, the language of
parliament and the law courts, of the
universities and the schools, Of the
church, and of literature. The Eng
lish people held fast to their own
tongue, but they picked up many
French words in the markets and
other public places. 1t took about 300
years for French words and phrases to
soak thoroughly into the English
From time to time reactions occurred
but the words introduced into the lam
guage were there to stay; for, while the
English accepted no radical change in
form, and the build and the nature OF
the Anglo-Saxon remained almost un.
affected by foreign habit, yet the ease
of accepting words ready-made proved
too great temptation and the Latin
victory was complete. Norman-F French
was in reality but broken-down Latin
for tho the Norsemen were Teutons
when in the tenth century they con
quered and settled in the valley of the
Seine, they Immediately adopted the
language of their new possessions and in
course of time made it fully their own
From now on the growth of the pure
Iy English part ofthe language was ar
rested and the old power of making com
pound words to express new ideas was
also took place in the grammar. Ever
before the coming of the Normans tht
infexions had begun to drop off, ane
the slow. alteration from synthetic tt
an analytic speech was in progress
The advent Of the French hastene(
this to a great degree, for it made th'
inflexional endings of much less prac
tical Importance to the English them
selves.
The revival of learning in the fif
teenth century assisted and completed
what the conquest of 1866 began. 1
brought with it also the Greek element
a very important part of the presen
vocabulary. As a result there is fount
at the end of the fifteenth century
new and finished tongue, built upol
the Anglo-Saxon foundation. From
this date, the changes in the gramma
are extremely small, tho the vocabula
ry has kept pace with the times and ha
been altered and enlarged in variou
ways, The introduction of printing
the revival of learning, the translation
of the Bible. the growth of the powe
to read and wr;te,-these and other in
fiuences all tended to fix the languag
and to keep it as it is today.
/ In summarizing the result it is foun'
that in present-day English with VIC
cabulary of almost if not quite 10000
words less than one-third owe their OF
i igin to the original Anglo-Saxon, owe
one-half are due to the Latin, and th