ENGLISH LANGUAGE, one of the major languages of the world, identified by linguists as a member of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. At the beginning of the 19^th century, English was the native speech of barely 15 million people. Today it is used regularly by more than 320 million and is second only to Chinese, whose world primacy in number of speakers is accounted for largely by the vast population of mainland China.

英语语言，世界主要语言之一，被语言学家鉴定为印-欧语系中日耳曼语分支的一员。在19世纪初，以英语为母语的人只有1500万人。今天有超过3.2亿人在经常使用它，它排在汉语之后，名列第二，说汉语的人数占世界首位，在很大程度上是由于中国大陆庞大的人口数量。

Of the 3,000 or more tongues spoken today, about half a dozen predominate, having among their speakers two THIRD of the world’s population. English, as one of those influential and growing languages, is spoken in areas widely scattered over the globe. It is the native or official language of one fifth of the earth’s land surface, being used throughout most of the North American continent and in the British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, and the Republic of South Africa. Of the languages of colonization it has been the one most important in Africa, Asia, and the islands of the central and southern Pacific.

在今天说的3000种或更多的语言中，大约有6种语言占主导地位，使用它们的人占世界人口的三分之二。作为有影响力和不断发展的语言之一，说英语的区域遍布世界各地。它是地球陆地表面五分之一的母语或官方语言，北美大陆的大部分以及不列颠群岛、澳大利亚、新西兰和南非共和国都在使用英语。在殖民地化的语言中，英语在非洲、亚洲以及中、南太平洋诸岛一直是最重要的一种语言。

   At present, English is the most widely studied language in areas where it is not native. It is the chief foreign language taught in the schools of Latin American and European countries. In Japan, children begin the study of English in the seventh grade, and in the Philippines all classes are conducted in English from the fourth grade on. In India, English is an official language alternative to Hindi, the chief official language.

    目前，在英语不是母语的地区，英语是最广泛学习的语言。它是拉丁美洲和欧洲国家在学校中教授的主要外语。在日本，孩子在七年级时开始学习英语，而在菲律宾，从四年级开始所有课程都用英语教授。在印度，英语是一种替代主要的官方语言印地语的官方语言。

   In addition, the use of English is widespread in international trade, international scholarship, and scientific research. More than half of the world’s scientific and technical journal, as well as newspapers, are printed in English. THREE fourths of the world’s mail is written in English, and English is the language of THREE fifths of the world’s radio stations. The Soviet Union and China use English to a great extent in their propaganda broadcasts to the developing countries of Africa and Asia. The U. S. Information Agency, with its centers and libraries in various countries, and the British Council and its English-language schools aid greatly in spreading the knowledge of English. As a result a speaker of English can travel round the world and almost never find it necessary in major cities to employ a language other than his own in order to be understood.

    此外，在国际贸易、国际学术和科学研究中都广泛地使用英语。超过一半的世界科学和技术期刊，以及新闻都用英语印刷。全世界邮件的四分之三是用英语写成，而且英语是全世界五分之四广播电台的用语。苏联和中国向非洲和亚洲发展中国家的宣传广播在很大程度上都使用英语。美国新闻署在各国设立了其中心和图书馆，而英国文化委员会和其英语-语言学校对传播英语知识帮助极大。因此，说英语的人能周游世界，在大城市中几乎没有必要为理解去使用其它语言。

INDO-EUROPEAN AND GERMANIC BEGINNINGS

   As has been noted, English belongs to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Indo-European is the major linguistic family of the world, in that languages belonging to it have the widest geographic distribution and are spoken by the greatest number of people. Several thousand years ago the “ancestral” language from which the Indo-European languages are all descended was the language of a comparatively small group of primitive people, apparently cattle-raising nomads of a Stone Age culture. The breakup of this Proto-Indo-European into a number of dialects is thought to have occurred around 3000 B. C., or earlier, when the original speakers supposedly began to migrate from east central or southern Europe.

印欧语系和日耳曼语的起源

    如上所述，英语属于印欧语系中日耳曼语的分支。印欧语系是世界主要的语言家族，因此，属于它的语言具有广泛的地理颁布和最多的使用人数。几千年以前，源自印-欧语系所有后裔的“祖先”语言都是相对较小的原始人群体语言，显然是一种石器时代文化以养为生的游牧民族。这种原始的-印-欧语系解体成若干的方言被认为发生在公元前大约3000年，或更早，据说，当时原先的那些说话者从欧洲东中部或南部开始迁徙。

   Indo-European Family.  The various Indo-European languages usually are divided into two groups—eastern and western. The chief language in the western group, to which English belongs, are (1) Celtic, including the ancient tongue of the Gauls, who Caesar conquered; the modern non-English languages of Wales, Ireland, the Highlands of Scotland, and the Isle of Man, and the language of Brittany in northwestern France; (2) Germanic, consisting of English as well as Gothic, German, Dutch, Flemish, Frisian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic, and Local dialects spoken in Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland; (3) Greek, including the ancient and modern Greek languages and dialects; and (4) Italic, consisting of Latin with its modern descendants, the Romance languages---the chief of which are French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Rumanian. For members of the eastern group, see INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.

    印-欧语系家族。各种各样的印-欧语系通常被分为两个群组---东部群组和西部群组。主要的语言属于英语所在的西部群组，它们是（1）凯尔特语，包括凯撒征服高卢人的古老语言；威尔士、爱尔兰、冰岛、苏格兰高地和马恩岛以及在法国西北部布列塔尼的现代非英语语言；（2）日耳曼群组，包含英语和哥特语、德语、荷兰语、佛兰德语、弗里西亚语、丹麦语、瑞典语、挪威语和冰岛语以及在斯堪的纳维亚、德国、奥地利和瑞士说的当地方言；（3）希腊语，包括古代和现代希腊语言和方言；以及（4）意大利群组，包含拉丁语与其现代的后代们组成的罗曼斯语---主要是法语、西班牙语、意大利语、葡萄牙语，以及罗马尼亚语。关于东部群组的成员，请阅印-欧语系词条。

   Germanic Branch. Our concern is with the Germanic branch, since it includes English and its nearest relatives. It is divided into THREE main groups: East Germanic, North Germanic, and West Germanic. The chief dialect of East Germanic was Gothic, now known chiefly from fragments of a 4^th century translation of the Bible by Ulfilas, the Arian Bishop of the West Goths.

    日耳曼语分支。我们关注的是日耳曼语分支，因为它包括英语及其近亲属。它被分为三个主要群组：东日耳曼语，北日耳曼语和西日耳曼语。东日耳曼语的主要方言是哥特语，目前主要是从4世纪西哥特的阿里乌斯派主教乌尔斐拉斯翻译的《圣经》片断中得知的。

   Modern Germanic Languages.  North Germanic, derived from Old Norse, now includes the Scandinavian languages---Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic. West Germanic consists of two groups: High German and Low German. High German is so called because it was spoken originally in the southern highlands of Germany. Low German was the dialect spoken in the lowlands along the northern coast. High Germany is the standard language of present-day Germany. The Low German languages include Dutch, Flemish, Frisian, and English.

    现代日耳曼语言。源自古斯堪的那维亚语的北日耳曼语，目前包括斯堪的那维亚语---丹麦语、瑞典语、挪威语和冰岛语。西日耳曼语包含两个群组：高地德语和低地德语。所谓高地德语是因为它最初是在德国南部高地说的语言。低地德语是在北部沿海岸低地说的方言。高地德语是目前德语的标准语言。低地德语语言包括荷兰语、佛兰芒语、弗里西亚语和英语。

   The nearest relative of English is Frisian, spoken in the Frisian Islands off the coasts of the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. That English is a Germanic language can easily be perceived by comparing it to German, Dutch, and Frisian—all West Germanic languages. The word water is common to English and Dutch, and other words are not very different in the two languages. The relation between English That is good and German Das ist gut is evident.

    英语最近的亲属是在荷兰、德国和丹麦沿海的弗里西亚群岛说的弗里西亚语。英语是一种日耳曼语言，它很容易通过与所有的西日耳曼语言---德语、荷兰语和弗里西亚语的比较来理解。对于德语和荷兰语，水这个词很常见，而且在两种语言中，其它的词汇并没有太大的不同。在英语That is good（这很好）与德语Das ist gut（这很好）之间的关系就很明显。

   Characteristics of Germanic Languages.  The Germanic group has features in common with the other branches of the Indo-European family, which are all inflectional and have a common word stock. But the Germanic group has its own individual characteristics. These are (1) the development of a weak verb conjugation along with the strong conjugation, (2) the twofold declension of the adjective as strong and weak, (3) a fixed stress accent, and (4) a regular shifting of consonants.

    日耳曼语系的特征。日耳曼语群组与其它印-欧语系分支具有共同的特征，它们都是词形变化的，并拥有共同的词库。不过，日耳曼语群组有它自己的个体特征。这些特征是（1）弱动词的变位随着强动词的变位而发展，（2）形容词强与弱的双重词尾变化，（3）固定的重音，以及（4）有规律的辅音移位。

   In comparing the Modern English verb, as representative of the Germanic verb, with the Latin verb, as representative of another Indo-European group, one can see the distinguishing characteristics of the Germanic verb. English verbs are of two classes: (1) The weak class, or conjugation, comprises the majority of verbs and is therefore sometimes called “regular”; a verb of this class forms its past tense and past participle by adding–ed, -d, or –t to the present or infinitive stem, as work, worked, worked. (2) The strong class forms its tenses by an internal change of the radical vowel of the verb, as drink, drank, drunk. Latin, however, EXPRESSES an idea by changing the form of the root of the verb, as audio (“I hear”), the present tense, and audivi (“I have heard”), the perfect tense. Latin verbs fall into conjugations distinguished by the vowel of the present active infinitive. There is no principle of tense formation in Latin so simple as that characterizing the English (Germanic) verb.

    在比较了作为日耳曼语动词代表的现代英语动词与另一个代表印-欧语系的拉丁语动词时，我们可以看出日耳曼语动词不同的特征。英语动词分为两类：（1）弱动词类，或词形变化，包括了大多数的动词，因此，有时被称为“规则的”类；这类动词通过对现在时或不定式的词干增加–ed,，-d 或者–t构成过去时和过去分词，如work，worked，worked（工作）。（2）强动词类，通过动词词根元音的内部变化形成其时态，如drink,，drank，drunk（喝）。然而，拉丁语是通过改变动词词根的形式来表达意图的，如audio（“我听”），现在时，而audivi（“我听到的”），完成时。在拉丁语中没有像英语（日耳曼语）动词特征那样简单的时态构成原则。

   Just as the Germanic verb developed a twofold classification, so the Germanic adjective developed a twofold declension. The simple principle of it is that when a demonstrative, a possessive pronoun, or the definite article preceded the adjective or when it was used substantively (as a noun), it was declined in one way, called “weak.” Otherwise, it was declined in another way, called “strong.” For example, the forms corresponding to wise in the Modern English EXPRESSIONS wise men and these wise men are wise menn and das wisan menn in Old English, and weise Manner and diese weisen Manner in Modern High German. Modern English does not distinguish between the weak and the strong forms, having lost all declension of the adjective. But the earlier presence in English of the two forms shows that English belongs to the Germanic group---because of its history, not because of its present usages.

正如日耳曼语动词发展出了一种双重分类，因此，日耳曼语的形容词也发展出了一种双重的词尾变化。其简单原理是，当指示词，所有格代词，或定冠词处于形容词之前时，或者当它实质性地（作名词）使用时，它以一种称为“弱化”的方式发生词形变化。除此之外，它以另一种称为“强化”的方式进行词形变化。例如，在现代英语表达中wise men（智慧的人）和these wise men（这些智慧的人） 与wise（明智的）拥有相一致的形式，在古英语中就是wise menn 和 das wisan menn，以及在现代高地德语中的weise方式和diese weisen方式。现代英语在弱化和强化形式之间不进行区别，已失去了形容词的所有词尾变化。但在英语中这两种形式的早期存在表明，英语属于日耳曼群组---是因为它的历史，而不是因为它现在的用法。

The THIRD trait characterizing the Germanic languages is the fixed accent. In Germanic, the stress became fixed upon the root syllable, whereas the word stress in Indo-European was free or variable. In Modern English we can generally recognize native words, as distinguished from those that have been borrowed from some non-Germanic tongue, by observing the stressed syllable when affixes are added in forming new words. For example, compare Modern English friend’, friend’ly, friend’ship, friend’liness, un-friend’ly with pure’, purify’, purifica’tion and to cin’ema, cinemat’ograph, cinematog’raphy, cinematograph’ic. The native word friend keeps the accent on the root syllable, but pure and cinema, borrowed from the Latin and Greek, respectively, shift the accent as affixes are added.

日耳曼语言的第三个特征就是固定重音。在日耳曼语中，重音固定在根音节上，而在印-欧语系中的单词重音是自由的或可变的。在现代英语中，我们通常可以通过观察在构成新词汇中增加词缀时的重音节辨别出本土词汇，以区别从某些非日耳曼语言借用的那些词汇。例如，把现代英语的friend’（朋友）， friend’ly（友善的），friend’ship（友谊）， friend’liness（亲密）， un-friend’ly（不友好的）与pure’（纯的）， purify’（使净化）， purifica’tion （提纯）以及与 cin’ema（电影院），cinemat’ograph（电影放映机），cinematog’raphy（电影制片术）， cinematograph’ic（电影的）进行对比。本土单词朋友在根音节上保留了重音，但从拉丁语和希腊语借用的pure （纯的）和cinema（电影院）在增加词缀时分别移动了重音。

   The fourth distinctive feature of the Germanic languages is the almost regular shifting, according to a certain pattern, that particular Indo-European consonants underwent in these languages. For example, p became f, and t became th, as seen in the Latin pater and English father. Linguists became aware of this consonant shift as a result of studies in the early 19^th century. (See GRIMM’S LAW.) This knowledge has helped them in grouping the Germanic languages, in vocabularies, and in finding out which words are borrowed and which are native.

    日耳曼语的第四个显著特征是，根据一定的模式几乎有规律的移位，即在这些语言中经历的特定印-欧语系的辅音。例如，p变成f，t 变成 th，就像在拉丁语中pater（父亲）和英语中father（父亲）看到的那样。在19世纪初的研究结果中语言学家已开始认识到这种辅音移位。（见格林姆法则词条）。这种知识帮助他们对日耳曼语，对词汇进行分组，并找出哪些词是借用的，哪些词是本土的。

GENERAL LINES OF DEVEOPMENT

   Historically, Modern English is the result of a number of tribal migrations and invasions. Before the first of these, the linguistic ancestors of English-speaking people were wandering along the northern coast of Europe, using Low West Germanic dialects so similar to one another that members of the various tribes could understand one another.

大致的发展路线

    历史上，现代英语是若干部落迁徙和入侵的结果。在这些情况之前，说英语人的语言先祖们正沿着欧洲的北部海岸流浪，使用着彼此相似的，各部落成员都能相互理解的低地的西日耳曼语方言。

   Invasions and their Results.  About the middle of the 5^th century A. D., THREE Germanic tribes—the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes—began a successful invasion of what is now England, or their THREE dialects resulted in Old English. By the end of the 6^th century the former inhabitants of England—the Celts—had been killed, driven into Wales, or enslaved, and the Anglo-Saxons were securely established. English held sway in England. Only some place-names and a few ordinary words of the Celts remained.

入侵及其结果。大约在公元5世纪中期，三个日耳曼部落---盎格鲁人、撒克逊人和朱特人---开始成功入侵现在的英格兰，或他们在古英语中产生的三种方言。到6世纪末，英格兰的前居民---凯尔特人被杀戮，被赶入威尔士，或被奴役，而盎格鲁-撒克逊人站稳了脚跟。英语在英格兰占了统治地位。只有一些地名和少数凯尔特人的词汇保留了下来。

   The second major invasion was that of the Vikings, which began as a series of raids about the 9^th century and also developed into a mass migration. Their language gradually merged with the related Anglo-Saxon dialects, and a great deal of interchange and borrowing of words occurred. Raids by the Danes continued throughout the 10^th century, and in the early years of the 11^th century Danish Kings actually reigned in England. The linguistic consequence of the Viking invasion was a considerable injection of Scandinavian words into English. Examples are the nouns sky, skull, egg, and leg and the pronouns they, their, and them.

    第二次主要入侵是维京人的入侵，它开始于大约9世纪的一系列袭击，并发展成为一种大规模的移民。他们的语言逐渐融入相关的盎格鲁-撒克逊方言，出现了词汇的大量交流和借用。丹麦人的袭击贯穿了整个10世纪，而在11世纪早期丹麦国王实际上统治了英格兰。维京人入侵的语言后果是英语中注入了相当大量的斯堪的纳维亚词汇。例证就是名词sky（天）， skull（颅骨）， egg（蛋），和 leg（腿）和代词they（他们，她们，它们），their（他们的，她们的，它们的），和 them（他们，她们，它们）。

   The THIRD invasion to have a major influence on the language was the Norman Conquest, led by William the Conquerer in 1066. The Normans were descendants of Vikings who had earlier settled in Normandy and had adopted the French dialect of their new home as their own. After the conquest, the business of the government, or the court, was conducted in Norman French. The French were in control, and French became the language of the nobility, the court, polite society, and literature. English as a written language almost disappeared. But despite the prestige and use of French among the ruler and landlords, French did not replace English as the speech of the common people.

    第三次入侵对语言产生的主要影响是在1066年由征服者威廉率领的诺曼人的征服。诺曼人是维京人的后代，他们早些时候定居在诺曼底，而且将他们新家园的法语方言当作他们自己的语言。征服之后，政府或法庭的事务都使用诺曼法语。法语占据了主导地位，法语成为了贵族、法庭、上流社会和文学的语言。英语作为书写语言几乎消失。但是，尽管在统治者和地主中法语享有声望并使用它，但在民众的言谈中法语并未替代英语。

   Another, but peaceful, invasion was that of Latin, which began in 597 A. D., when the Roman missionary St. Augustine arrived in England and converted the kingdom of Kent to Christianity. Thus began an influence that has continued to enrich English through Latin borrowings.

    另一次入侵就是拉丁语的入侵，不过是和平的，它开始于公元597年，当时罗马传教士圣·奥古斯汀到达英格兰，并使肯特国王皈依了基督教。由此开始了借用拉丁语不断丰富英语的影响。

   Subsequent Trends.  English developed and changed with the passing of time, as do all living entities. During the long period after the Norman Conquest then English was neglected in favor of French, English became practically a spoken dialect. At this time it was transformed into a new standard speech, casting off much that was superfluous and borrowing from its rival, Norman French. By the time it emerged again as a literary language, around 1200, it had assumed the form known as Middle English.

    随后的趋势。随着时间的流逝，如同所有的生命体一样，英语也发展，变化了。然后，在诺曼人征服后的漫长时期内，在法语的使用中英语被忽视，英语实际上成为了一种口头方言。这时，它被转变成了一种新的标准口语，扔掉了许多多余的东西，并从其竞争对手诺曼法语那里借用了许多东西。大约在1200年，等到它再次作为一种文学语言出现时，它便承担起了被称为中古英语的形式。

   Middle English is Old English changed first by French influence and second by the transforming power of popular speech. The consequences were profound. From a rather highly inflected language, English changed to one of few inflections; and as inflectional endings were lost, so was “grammatical” gender, which gave way to “natural” gender. Along with the simplification of the grammatical structure went an increase in vocabulary and idiom, principally under the influence of the French language.

中古英语是变化了的古英语，首先受到法语的影响，其次是受到转化的大众说话方式力量的影响。后果极为深远。从一种拥有相当高词形变化的语言，英语变成了一种少有词形变化的语言；当词尾的词形变化消失时，“语法”的性别也消失了，为“自然”的性别所替代。随着语法结构的简化，增加了词汇和习语，这主要是受法语的影响。

As a product of two merging strains, Germanic and Romance---French is a Romance language, descended from Latin—English became a language capable of EXPRESSING a wide range of thought and feeling, as exemplified in the works of Chaucer, the greatest literary figure of medieval England. Chaucer wrote in the East Midland dialect, which had risen to a commanding position among THREE competing forms—Northern, Midland, and Southern.

    作为融合了两个语族，日耳曼语和罗曼语的产物---法语是一种起源于拉丁语的罗曼语语言---以中世纪英格兰最伟大的文学人物乔叟的作品为例，英语成为了一种能够表达广泛思想和情感的语言。乔叟是用东中区的方言写作，在北区，中区和南区的三种竞争形式中将其提升至一种居高临下的地位。

   East Midland was the dialect of London, the capital and metropolitan center of England, politically, commercially, socially, and intellectually preeminent. It held a middle course between the more conservative Southern dialect and the more advanced Northern, and developed into the speech Chaucer used. It is also the dialect from which standard Modern English is derived.

    东中区的语言是伦敦方言，伦敦是英格兰的首都和大都会中心，在政治、商业、社会和智力上都是出类拔萃的。它在更保守的南部方言与更先进的北部方言之间保持了中间道路，并发展成为乔叟所用的言语。它也是现代标准英语方言的来源。

   In the Modern English period the people of England followed a generally peaceful line of development in their thought and language, as they were not subjected to foreign invasion or any extensive external ethnic influences. The language developed along with the political, industrial, and intellectual growth of the country and of the world as a whole.

在现代英语时期，英格兰民众基本遵循了一条发展他们思想和语言的和平路线，因为他们再未遭受外来的侵略或任何巨大的外来民族的影响。语言随着国家以及整个世界的政治、工业和智力的发展而得到了发展。

                                      MARGARET M.BRYANT

                              Author of “Modern English and Its Heritage”

                                     玛格丽特·M. 布赖恩特

                                  “现代英语及其遗产”的作者

                                            2022年8月29日译

（译者注：该部分词条位列《大美百科全书》1985年版，第10卷，第417页至419页）

待续部分：THE THREE PERIODS OF ENGLISH英语的三个时期；LEXICAL GROWTH AND CHANGE词法的增长与变化；PRONUNCIATION AND SPELLING发音方法与拼写；THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH英语的未来。