I speak English, in case you hadn't guessed. I work with a lot of people who speak Spanish. Which I'm slowly but surely reacquainting myself with. It's interesting to note that if Julius Caesar came back he might hear the Spanish as a distant rustic strain of his own tongue. The English would be barbarian gibberish to him. Interesting and humbling, in a gentle way.
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As I'm sure you're well aware the history of how moden English came about is a long and complicated one. In very brief: the Romans left; Germans, Dutch and Scandinavians moved in; the Gaels moved west; French became fashionable among the elite for a time; the Black Plague killed many and the survivors moved from north to south.
I never could read Chaucer because most of the language was foreign to my ears. Interestingly, though, by the time Shakespeare wrote his plays English became largely modern (maybe because it was codified by being written?). I learned this evening that the Bard invented 1700 words that are mostly still in use. For that matter, English continues to change even today. Latin never did. I'm pretty sure Caesar would comprehend a High Mass even though he'd likely not agree with the sermon.
My Granddad was a Geordie and I couldn't understand much of what he said either.
Oh yes, it wasn't until well after the fall of Rome that there was anything you could really call English. And even then it was Old English, a universe away from what we speak. During the Empire Britain spoke Celtic languages with some Latin speaking bureaucrats in the mix. Including the Romans who originally built London. Another fun fact is that Romans stationing British soldiers in France is how the Breton language came about. The Gaulish language was completely different.
Shakespeare is what we call "modern English." The basic idiom is still understandable to us, even if we need a few footnotes. Which makes me wonder if the continuing performance of Shakespeare plays helps to preserve the language in something like its Renaissance form. Caesar would have been quite surprised at the content of a high mass, as he died before Christianity even came about.
The Geordie accent sounds a little Scottish to my ears. I wonder if people ever thought your Grandad or mine were from there.
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