Sofia editor Dinah Livingstone has written, ‘It is one of life’s great pleasures, in a city like London … to walk about and listen to the sound patterns of ordinary, everyday speech.’ Curated by David Crystal at the British Library, Evolving English traces the development of our language from its earliest recorded times (around 5th century AD) through many stages over the centuries, to the present day when it is spoken, or read, by roughly one third of the world’s population. Along the way, the visitor can see (and hear) how the English language has been influenced by kings and scholars, poets, refugees, invaders, toffs and beggars: the whole spectrum of human beings.
In his introduction to the exhibition catalogue, Crystal writes that it took some 400 years, from approximately 1400-1800 AD, for ‘a clear notion of a unified, national standard English to emerge’ and, ‘as soon as it arrived it began to fragment’ until, ‘today world English presents us with a number of different standards reflecting the identities of the countries that have adopted the language as a lingua franca.’ One of the earliest known examples of an artefact on which are etched old English words, is a gold medallion recently discovered in Suffolk and dating from 450-80 AD. Inscriptions in the Germanic languages were known as runes, which means ‘hidden’ or ‘secret’ and reflect writing as a mysterious, magical creation. One such rune was discovered in Norfolk, etched on the bone of a deer.
For a taste of how the early English language would have sounded, one can listen to a recording of David Crystal reading from the great poem Beowulf in which, among other memorable expressions, the sea is ‘the whale road.’ At this time the alphabet was pronounced phonetically and the poem would have been chanted to a musical accompaniment. One of the many treasures on view is a 13th century manuscript. of Sumer is Icumen in, a Round for 6 voices which is still sung in schools and by choirs today.
By the 1300s, an Anglo Saxon language had evolved, which, as the Scandinavian influence ebbed away, took vocabulary from the French, especially during the ‘Middle English’ period and on formal occasions. However, in 1362, Parliament opened with a speech in English and Henry V, whose wife Katherine was French, always used English for his written orders.
We are reminded of how phrases and expressions from the text of the King James Bible have entered common usage. Listed are 250 phrases that are part of everyday speech: ‘salt of the earth’; taking an ‘eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’; hiding ‘one’s light under a bushel’; ‘pearls before swine’; the ‘millstone’ around one’s neck, and that old excuse about the spirit being ‘willing, but the flesh weak’.
We learn that the 18th century English Dictionary, the work of the great Dr Johnson, contains 42,773 entries and took eight years of research, and that Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn contains the earliest published examples of the African-American dialect.
The word ‘Yank’ was regarded as derogatory, and probably came from Janke (little John, a doughboy.) If it is hard to find the exact origin of expressions used in the past, it is fascinating to be reminded of the garish tabloid-inspired expressions of twenty-first century Britain. Headlines in the newspapers have produced many sensational expressions, ‘Gotcha!’ in wartime, being one such.
Evolving English at the British Library is a treasure trove of language, of soundbites and symbols, golden words, dark threats and oaths, cant slang, pure poetry, word play, riddles, music and mumblings. It is difficult to encapsulate all the riches of this exhibition into a short report. One comes away from the British Library determined to go on exploring the scope and boundless possibilities of our native tongue, the ‘moveable feast’ that is our language.
Note: It should be recorded, with gratitude, that this exhibition is open to all, without charge. Free entry to the great museums and libraries of our capital is one of life’s wonders and a great joy. Long may it continue to be so!
Exhibition at the British Library. Free entry.