This is Why the English Language Has More Words Than Any Other Language in the World
A large number of words in English come from Latin. And the way they entered the language gives us an interesting glimpse into England's history.
When it comes to vocabulary, we English speakers have options. We can choose whether we want to say asked or interrogated or questioned, for example. We can find the word that perfectly suits our desired meaning.
Not all languages have multiple words for the same or similar meaning. But due to its history, English does.
Up until recently, I knew the basics of the history of the English language. The way it’s usually told is that Old English eventually became Middle English after the Norman Conquest, when Normans flooded the English language with Norman French words. While this is largely true, I’ve always wondered how so many words came into English from Latin without coming through Norman French (or later Parisian French).
I did some sleuthing and my question was answered: some Latin entered English through Norman French, but other Latin words came straight from the source, and still other words came from Parisian French. This resulted in sometimes having two, three, or sometimes even four words that all originally came from Latin but through different routes.
That’s the short answer, but the long answer is our topic for today. How did English get so many words from Latin? Let’s go on a journey of Latin and English throughout history to find out.
England Back in the Day
The history of the English language usually starts when three Germanic tribes—the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes—invaded England brining their Germanic languages with them.
Of course, there were people and languages in England before that time period, such as Celtic. In fact, there were Latin speakers from the Roman Empire in England, as the Roman Empire was in England up until a few decades before the Germanic tribes.
But the story of English doesn’t begin with Celtic or Latin. That’s because these languages didn’t influence English long term.
Even though there was language contact in England at the time, and many words from Latin mixed with the Germanic languages, those Latin words were replaced in subsequent years1, usually by French words. Put differently, most Latin words in English today don’t trace back to the Romans, but rather to the Normans who came much later.
The Norman Conquest & Triglossia
To get to the Normans from the Romans, we need to pass the years of influence of the three Germanic tribes and later the Vikings, among other groups. We then stop and arrive to the year 1066: the year the Normans invaded England.
While there was contact between England and Normandy before (for trade, for example), this was a time when many people moved from Normandy to England.
And when they moved, they became the elite. The Normans largely killed, drove to exile, or suppressed the English aristocracy. As a result, the clergy, barons, etc., of England were replaced by Norman French-speaking people. The English-speakers became the lower class.
The English-speaking lower class didn’t learn Norman French. Instead, clergy, who wanted to spread their teachings, learned English, and landowners, who needed to communicate with others, learned English. So language change happened in the direction of Norman French to English.
For some time, a situation existed in which English was spoken among the lower classes and French was spoken by the elite, with English being used when they needed to communicate to each other. There was a lot of intermarriage at the time, though, and by the end of the 12th century, the children of the nobility were bilingual speakers of Norman French and English.
Latin as Lingua Franca
Throughout all this time in all of Europe, there was another lingua franca used for clergy to communicate: Latin.
And so, there was a triglossic situation2 in England. English was used among the common people3 (not feudal lords, aristocrats, knights, etc.). Norman French was used among the elite. Latin was used among the clergy.
Over time, this started to change. In thirteenth century England, Anglo-Norman French was replaced by Parisian French (what we consider French today): a language regarded as the international language of culture and fashion (Crystal p. 136).
And Parisian French started being used in lieu of Latin in spaces like administration, business, and even parliament. Latin was still used for matters of the church and for studying older academic works.
And so, triglossia remained, but Norman French was replaced by Parisian French. By this time, English was most people’s first language, but the educated still learned French and Latin in school and used it in their professional lives. To quote Crystal:
English would have been their mother tongue…They would have learned Latin as the required language of the Church, Roman Classics, most scholarship, and some politico-legal matters. And they would have found French essential both for routine administrative communication within Britain and in order to be considered fashionable throughout Western European society (139).
The Effect on the Language
Three languages were in sustained contact, and during this time many (I’m talking thousands of) words entered English, primarily from Norman French, but also from Latin. And later on from Parisian French, as well.
And the reason why makes sense. These languages were used in different domains and used drastically different vocabulary. The English language, for example, didn’t have vocabulary for law and architecture, so they introduced words from Norman French. Later, without words for subjects, like biology or religion, English took these words from Latin, which did have words for those subjects.
To quote Crystal again, “language reflects society; language change reflects social change,” (p. 132). The Norman French-speakers and Latin-speakers brought social changes which weren’t in England before. So, English used their language to fill the gaps left by the social changes in the English language.
Doublets in English
So why all the doublets4? English speakers needed words for those new concepts and borrowed them. But there were also situations in which there were French and Latin words which already existed in English, which the English language borrowed, as well. It’s the reason we have ask from Old English, interrogate from Latin, and question from Norman French.
Because of centuries of contact with Latin and its offsprings—Norman French and Parisian French—English vocabulary is greatly influenced by Latin. So much so that there are several doublets that entered English from (originally) Latin twice. Here are some common ones:
warden (Norman French), guardian (Parisian French)
warrant (Norman French), guarantee (Parisian French)
final (French), conclusive (Latin)
peace (French), quiet (Latin)
in lieu, in place (French), in substitution of (French or Latin)
The Middle Ages are to thank for a great number of words flooding the English language with Latin and French words and for giving English speakers today such variety in words.
Conclusion
Learning the history of English through the history of English vocabulary is fascinating. But more than that, I find that learning the history of English, particularly how many groups influenced the language, shows us how English keeps evolving. And how the monolingual perspective: that English has always been in the hands of monolingual “native” English speakers has never been true. There have always been bilinguals influencing English. Most of the words that we consider English today didn’t originally come from the original Germanic languages.
Today, English has spread far from England, all around the world. And it’s in contact with thousands of languages around the world. And they’re all influencing English. We’re all influencing English.
Work Cited
I couldn’t have written this linguistics lesson without the book The Stories of English by David Crystal. It’s long and comprehensive, but if you like language and history, I highly recommend it.
According to Crystal, only about 100 Latin words still in use in English today can be traced this far back.
Diglossia is a situation in which two languages coexist in a country and Language A is used in certain domains, like government papers and school, and Language B is used in other domains, like the home. Swiss and High German in Switzerland is an example of diglossia. In England, at the time, they had triglossia, with three languages being used in different domains.
Keep in mind, this is the vast, vast majority of people.
Doublets are words that enter a language from the same source language but through different routes.