Question

英语出自哪里

Answer 1

早期日耳曼人部落（盎格鲁族、撒克逊族、朱特族和弗里西族）移民到英格兰，英语就是从他们的语言中变化继承下来。据《盎格鲁撒克逊编年史》记载：公元449年左右，不列颠群岛国王伏提庚（Vortigern）邀请“盎格鲁亲戚们”来帮助他对抗皮克特人。作为回报，他赐予盎格鲁族东南部的领土。随后他又进一步寻求支援，撒克逊族、盎格鲁族与朱特族人纷纷前来。《编年史》记载，最终这些“移民”建立了七个王国：诺森伯利亚、麦西亚、东盎格利亚、肯特、埃塞克斯、苏塞克斯、威塞克斯。 日尔曼人入侵后，统治了当地的凯尔特语民族，本地语言主要于苏格兰、威尔士、康沃尔与爱尔兰存活了下来。这些入侵者的语言逐渐形成了“古英语”，与近代弗里西语极为相象。English（英格兰人、英语）、England（英格兰）和East Anglia（东盎格利亚）这三个词是分别从描绘盎格鲁族的词汇发展而来：Englisc、 Angelcynn、Englaland。 1066年诺曼征服后三百年内，英格兰的国王只讲法语。因此一大批法语词汇进入了古英语，古英语本身也失去了大部分曲折变化，进化为中古英语。1500年左右的元音大推移将中古英语变形为近代英语。古英语最著名的文学作品是《贝奥武夫》，中古英语则是《坎特伯雷故事集》。 近代英语在莎士比亚所处的时期开始繁荣，一些学者将之分为早期近代英语与后期近代英语，分界线为1800年左右。随着不列颠对全世界大部分地区的占领和殖民，当地语言也很大程度上影响了英语的发展。

Answer 2

两种版本，英文的汉语版本的。你要哪个？
English is an Anglo-Frisian language brought to southeastern Great Britain in the 5th century AD by Germanic settlers from various parts of northwest Germany (Saxons, Angles) as well as Jutland (Jutes).

Prior to the invasion of Britain by these Germanic tribes, the native Britons spoke an early form of Brythonic (the ancestor of Modern Welsh). Unlike in Gaul and Hispania, the indigenous population did not adopt Latin as a native language during the Roman occupation, where it was mainly confined to the Roman cities and garrisons. The degree to which the original Celtic-speaking inhabitants remained or were displaced is a matter of some debate, although recent genetic studies suggest that the native Celtic population were not substantially displaced in any part of Britain. If correct, this interpretation of events would imply that the native Celts in the south and east of Britain, gradually adopted the language and culture of a politically and socially dominant ruling class. (see Sub-Roman Britain). Celtic languages survived in parts of the island not colonized by the invaders: Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and, to some extent, Cumbria.

The dialects spoken by the invaders eventually coalesced to a degree and formed what is today called the Old English language, which resembled some coastal dialects in what are now northwest Germany and the Netherlands (i.e. Frisia). Throughout the history of written Old English, it remained a highly synthetic language based on a single standard, while spoken Old English became increasingly analytic in nature, losing the more complex noun case system, with a heavier reliance on prepositions and fixed word-order. This is evident in the Middle English period, when literature is first recorded in the various spoken dialects of English of the time, after written Old English lost its status as the literary language of the nobility. It has been postulated that the early development of the language may have also been influenced by a Celtic substratum. Later, it was influenced by the related North Germanic language Old Norse, spoken by the Vikings who settled mainly in the north and the east coast down to London, the area known as the Danelaw.

Then came the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. For about 300 years following, the Norman kings and the high nobility spoke only Anglo-Norman, which was very close to Old French. A large number of Norman words found their way into Old English, leaving a parallel vocabulary that persists into modern times. The Norman influence strongly affected the evolution of the language over the following centuries, resulting in what is now referred to as Middle English.

During the 15th century, Middle English was transformed by the Great Vowel Shift, the spread of a standardised London-based dialect in government and administration, and the standardising effect of printing. Early Modern English can be traced back to around the time of William Shakespeare.

英语是印欧 (1ndo-European)语系。印欧语系是世界上最大的语系，包括欧洲、美洲和亚洲的大部分语言。讲印欧诸种语言的总人数约有十八亿七千五百万，占世界总人口的一半左右。早在1786年，英国梵文（Sanskrit)学者威廉·琼斯爵士 (Sir William Jones) 就指出：欧洲、印度、波斯等地的大多数语言，包括古希腊语、古拉丁语及古印度语属于同一“家族”。

原始印欧人是什么样的人? 他们居住在何方? 对这些问题，我们今天仍缺乏文献的考证。但是通过长时期的研究，语言学家们得出了探索性的结论他们发现：属于印欧语系的许多语种都有表示“冬天”、“雪”和“寒冷”等意义的词，这说明原始印欧语最初是在气候比较冷的地一带使用的。另一方面，某些热带地区动植物名称的词，如“狮子”、“大象”、“稻米”、“竹”、“棕榈树”等，在原始印欧语中是不存在的；而印欧语系各语种中却都有表示“白杨”、“栎树”、“柳树”、“白桦”、“熊”、“狼”、“羊”、“鹰”、“蜜蜂”等动植物名称的相似词。通过这样的探索和研究，许多人认为，当人类进入新石器时代，欧洲中东部曾居隹着一些游牧部落，他们饲养着象羊、狗、奶牛和马这样的家畜，会使用马和简陋的马车，并能够驰骋于一望无际的原野上。这些游牧部落就是原始印欧人，他们用于交际的语言就是原始印欧语。大约在公元前3500年至公元前2500年间，这些原始印欧人开始迁徒。有些向西移动，有些向东移动，而有些则向南移动，到达今天的南亚次大陆。这些部落的大迁徒导致印欧语系的逐步形成。古印度语与古代欧洲语言之所以非常相近，其历史根源即在于此。

印欧语系包括：（一）印度语族(Indic);（二）．伊朗语族(Iranian);(三)斯拉夫语族（Slavic）,(四)波罗的话族（Baltic）,（五）日耳曼语族（Germanic）,（六）拉丁语族（亦称罗曼语族[Romance]）, （七）凯尔特语族（Celtic）,（八）希腊语族；（九）阿尔巴尼亚语（Albanian）,（十）亚美尼亚语族（Armenian）, （十一）吐火罗语族（Tocharian;Tokharian）（十二）赫梯语族（Hittite）。日耳曼语族是一个比较大的语族。它又分为三个语支：(一)东日耳曼语支（EastGermanic）主要以现已绝迹的哥特语（Gothic）为代表；（二）北日耳曼语支（North Germanic）,主要以古北欧语（Oid Norse）为代表，包括今日的挪威语（Norwegian）、冰岛语（Icelandic）、瑞典语和丹麦语等；（三）西日耳曼语支（West Germanic）包括低地德语（Low German）

今日的荷兰语（Dutch）、高地德语（High German）、英语、弗里西亚语（Frisian）佛兰芒语（Flemish）等。因此，我们说：英语属于印欧语系的日耳曼语族的西日耳曼语支。