E X T E N S I O N LANGUAGE: THE ANGLO-SAXON HERITAGE 1 The name of the language. The term England first appears as Englaland around the year 1000. It means the land of the Engle, that is2, the Angles. In fact, at a certain point the Angles became more powerful3 and so more important than the other two The ruins of Hastings Castle tribes. In early4 documents all three tribes are indicated as Angles without difference. The suffix -ish means typical of , so English means the language typical of the Engle . Vocabulary. Some linguists call English a Germanic language with a Romance5 vocabulary. Anglo-Saxon words are about 25% of modern English; about 60% of the words have a Latin origin, mostly6 through French after the Norman conquest in 1066 (see Extension 2): the Normans, in fact, spoke French. The rest comes from various other languages. In general, the common words for things, actions and conditions in the real world are Germanic (for example, water, run, strong). The function words prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, demonstratives, etc. are almost all from the Anglo-Saxon, too. Because the Anglo-Saxon underclass7 cooked for the Norman upper class8, the words for most domestic animals are Anglo-Saxon (pig, cow, sheep), while the words for the meats derived from them and served on the Norman tables are French (pork, beef, mutton). Grammar. The grammatical structure of English is similar to a Germanic language. Anglo-Saxon suffixes and prefixes still remain in the names of the places written on modern maps. Here are a few examples: -ing: place where certain peoples live (Hastings = place of Haesta s folk); -bury: fortified town and commercial centre (Salisbury); -ford: ford, place to cross a river (Startford, Stretford); -ham: village (Oldham, Birmingham); -ton: town (Bolton, Charlton). from Latin. 6. mostly: principally. 7. underclass: a group of people with a low social and economic position. 8. upper class: a group of people with a high social and economic position and that have more power than other people in society. 1. heritage: traditions, languages or buildings which still exist from the past and which have a historical importance. 2. that is: in other words. 3. powerful: potent, very strong. 4. early: first. 5. Romance: languages, such as French, Italian and Spanish, that developed 35