THE THREE PERIODS OF ENGLISH

   Considered in more detail, the periods of English are (1) the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) period, starting with the coming of the Germanic tribe into England—traditionally 449 A. D.—and ending around 1100; (2) the Middle English period, 1100—1500; and (3) the Modern English period—from 1500 to the present, with the Early Modern English period extending to about 1700.

英语的三个时期

    仔细地考虑，英语的时期是（1）古英语（盎格鲁-撒克逊）时期，从日耳曼部落进入英格兰开始---习惯上是公元449年至大约1100年；（2）中古英语时期，1100年至1500年；以及（3）现代英语时期---从1500年到现在，早期的现代英语一直延伸至大约1700年。

   Old English.  In Old English there were four main dialects---Northumbrian, Mercian, Kentish, and West Saxon. Two of these were Anglian: Northumbrian, spoken north of the river Humber, and Mercian, spoken in the Midlands between the rivers Humber and Thames. Northumbrian was the language of the first significant literature and the best of Old English literature, including the epic poem Beowulf. Kentish was the dialect of the Jutes, who lived in the southeast. West Saxon—the chief dialect, spoken south of the Thames—is the dialect in which the great bulk of Old English writing has come down to us.

古英语。在古英语时期，有四种主要的方言---诺森布里亚方言，莫西亚方言，肯特方言和西撒克逊方言。其中两个是盎格鲁方言：亨伯河以北说的诺森布里亚方言和在亨伯河与泰晤士河之间中部地区说的莫西亚方言。诺森布里亚方言是第一批重要文学作品的语言和古英语文学的精华，包括史诗《贝奥武夫》。肯特方言是朱特人的方言，他们生活在东南部。西撒克逊---泰晤士河南部主要的方言---是流传给我们大量古英语作品的那种方言。

   The reason for the preeminence of West Saxon is that in the 9^th century the center of culture and influence, formerly in Northumbrian and then in Mercia, shifted to Wessex, the home of the West Saxons. Most of the prose was originally West Saxon, inspired by Alfred the Great, who succeeded to the West Saxon throne in 871. The poetry, chiefly Anglian, was copied by West Saxon scribes, whose transcriptions have been preserved. The early West Saxon period centered on King Alfred, who was not only a military leader, successful in opposing the Danish invasions and keeping peace, but also a champion of learning. Late West Saxon centered on the writer and churchman Elfric, whose works, dated mainly in the late 900’s, have made him a major figure in the development of English prose.

    西撒克逊方言超群的原因是， 在19世纪它是文化与影响力的中心，以前是诺森布里亚方言，然后是麦西亚方言，再后来转入了西撒克逊人的家乡威塞克斯。在871年，阿尔弗雷德大帝继承了西撒克逊的王位，受他的启发，大部分散文最初都是西撒克逊的方言，由西撒克逊抄写员抄写的诗歌主要用的是盎格鲁语，他们副本被保存了下来。早期的西撒克逊时期是以阿尔弗雷德国王为中心，他不仅是一位成功反抗丹麦人入侵，保持和平的军事领导人，而且也是知识的拥护者。晚期的西撒克逊人方言主要以900年代后期的作家和牧师埃尔弗里克为中心，他的作品使他成为了英语散文发展中的重要人物。

   Spelling and Sound.  The following is the East Saxon version of the Lord’s Prayer, from Matthew 6 of the King James Version of the Bible:

    拼写与语音。下列是东撒克逊版的主祷文，选自詹姆斯国王（钦定）版《圣经》的马太福音第6章：

   …fder ure u e eart on heofonum, si in nama gehalgod. To becume in rice. Gewure ðin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonum. Urne gedghwamlican hlaf syle us to dg. And forgyf us ure gyltas, swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum. And ne geld u us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfele….Solice.

   At first glance the passage may seem strange because of the differences between Old English and Modern English spelling. The character spells the sound of a in hat, and the characters and ð are used as th is used in Modern English. Many differences in sound exist. Modern our developed from ure, the first vowel of which sounded like oo in moon. The word –hlaf is the ancestor of modern loaf, although we have lost the h sound and changed the vowel, which sounded approximately like the first vowel in father. Old English had some sounds that do not occur in Modern English; for example, the sound represented by Old English y, which may be approached by pronouncing i in sit with the lips rounded. This was a rounded front vowel with approximately the value of German ü or French u. In later English this sound disappeared, and y was used interchangeably with i.

    由于在古英语与现代英语拼写之间的差别，乍一看，该段也许看起来很奇怪。字符在hat（帽子）中发出了a的语音，而字符 和 ð就像现代英语使用的th一样。在发音中存在着许多差别。现代的our（我们的）来自ure，其声音的第一个元音听起来像moon中的oo音。单词–hlaf是现代的一快面包（loaf）的原形，虽然我们已失去了h音，改成了元音，但它听起来有点像father（父亲）中的第一个元音。古英语有的一些发音没有出现在现代英语中；例如，以古英语为代表的y音，在sit（坐）中可以用圆型的嘴唇发接近i的音。这是一个接近于德语ü或法语u的饱满的前元音。在后来的英语中，这种声音消失了，而y与i可交替使用。

   Other words that can be recognized in this passage are eart (archaic second person singular form of the verb be; present are), heofonum (heofon, with dative plural ending; Modern English heaven), nama (name—nominative singular, weak declension), eorðan (earth, with dative singular ending, weak declension), forgyf (forgive, imperative form), gyltas (guilt, with accusative plural ending), and forgyfað (forgive, with present indicative plural ending).

    在这段中可以识别的其它词汇是eart（动词be（是）的古体第二人称单数形式；现代的are），heofonum（heofon，用与格的复数结尾；现代英语的heaven（天堂）），nama（姓名---主格的单数形式，弱化的词尾变化），eorðan（地球，用与格的单数形式结尾，弱化的词尾变化），forgyf（原谅，祈使形式），gyltas（有罪，以宾格复数形式结尾），以及forgyfað（原谅，用现在的指示复数形式结尾）。

   Some words in the passage have undergone changes in sound, which are reflected in altered spellings; for example, the combination g, illustrated in Modern English day. Actually, more than 70% of the words in this passage are still current, though changed somewhat in spelling and pronunciation and occasionally in meaning. The word order is also different from that in Modern English. At the beginning, for example, we find fder ure instead of “our Father.”

    在该段中的一些词汇在语音上已发生了变化，这反映在拼法的改变中；例如，g组合在现代英语中列举的day（白天）。实际上，在该段中超过70%的词汇依然是通用的，尽管在拼写和读法上，以及偶尔在含义上有所改变。词序也与现代英语中的词序不同。例如，在那段的开头，我们发现fder ure代替了“our Father”（我们的天父）。

   Grammar and Vocabulary.  From the passage, it is clear that in grammar Old English is more highly inflected than Modern English. There are various case endings for nouns, numerous endings for adjectives, a more complicated system of pronouns, more person and number endings for verbs, and the like. Nouns had four cases—nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative. Adjectives had all these plus an instrumental case. In Modern English, nouns have only two cases—the common case, for both subject and object, and the possessive—and adjectives have no case at all. However, to EXPRESS relationships, Modern English employs a more rigid word order and more structure words, such as prepositions and auxiliaries, than id Old English.

    语法与词汇。从这段看，很明显在语法上古英语比现代英语的屈折变化更大。名词有各种变格词尾，形容词有许多词尾，代词的系统更为复杂，动词的人称和数字词尾变化更多，诸如此类。名词有四种变格---主格、所有格、与格和宾格。形容词具有所有这些变化，再加上一种工具变格。在现代英语中，名词只有两种变格---对主语和宾语来说有常见的格，以及所有格---而形容词完全没有格。然而，为表达关系，现代英语比古英语使用了更为严格的词序和更多的结构词汇，比如介词和助词。

   The vocabulary of Old English is likewise different from that of Modern English. Most of the words were native words, though there were borrowings from other sources. Some words were coming in from Norse, and others had been taken over from Latin. Even while the Anglo-Saxons were still on the Continent, they had adopted from Roman merchants such Latin words as those from which cheese, kitchen, and wine are derived, and more Latin words came into English after the conversion to Christianity---for example, the original forms of candle, cloister, creed, dirge, and font. However, only about 400 to 500 words of Latin origin appear in Old English manuscripts.

    古英语的词汇同样不同于现代的英语词汇。大多数词汇都是本土词汇，虽然有从其它来源借用的情况。有些词汇来自挪威语，而另一些是从拉丁语借用的。甚至当盎格鲁-撒克逊人还在大陆时，他们已从罗马商人那里接受了源自拉丁语的，如奶酪、厨房和葡萄酒这样的词汇，而在皈依基督教后，更多的拉丁语词汇便进入了英语中---例如，蜡烛、回廊、教条、挽歌和洗礼盆的原形。然而，在古英语的手稿中，大约只有400到500个词汇源自拉丁语。

   Middle English.  Sometimes between the years 1000 and 1200, numerous significant changes took place in the structure of English, and Old English became Middle English. The transition was gradual and did not proceed at a uniform rate in all dialects. In the North, where changes were earlier and more rapid than in the South, the dialect had already definitely assumed the of Middle English by the year 1100, whereas the Southern dialect remained essentially Old English until at least 1150.

中古英语。有时，在1000年和1200年间，英语的结构发生了许多明显变化，然后古英语变成了中古英语。这种转变是逐渐的，并不是所有的方言都按一个统一速率转变。北部与南部相比变化地更早，而且更为迅速，到了1100年，方言已经明确呈现出了中古英语的样貌，然而，至少到1150年，南部的方言基本上仍然是古英语。

The main difference between Old English and Middle English was the great reduction in inflectional endings. This development resulted chiefly from a change in the way words were accented. In the Old English period, a general or distributed stress exited, spread over the word as a whole thus reserving the full inflectional endings. In the Middle English period the tress shifted to the first syllable, weakening and obscuring the later syllables.

    古英语与中古英语之间的主要差别是屈折词尾的大量减少。这种发展主要是源于词汇重音方式的改变。在古英语时期，存在一种覆盖整个单词的普遍或分散的重音，因此保留了完整的屈折词尾。在中古英语时期，重音移到了第一个音阶，弱化并模糊了后面的音阶。

   Another factor contributing to change was the complete overthrow of the English social and political system that accompanied the period of Danish rule and, somewhat later, the Norman Conquest. For several generations, confusion reigned and the language developed in an untrammeled and popular way, since the constraints of a rigid social system were removed. The usages of the uneducated were not held in check by conservative forces, and the old standards of correctness were more or less forgotten as the language followed the free impulses of the people. Consequently, then the language achieved a stable literary form in the time of Chaucer and his predecessors, it was very different from that of Alfred and Elfric.

    促使改变的另一个因素是伴随丹麦人的统治以及随后的诺曼征服，英国社会和政治制度被彻底推翻。在几代人的时间里，混乱不断，由于废除了僵化的社会制度限制，因此这种语言在一种不受约束和流行的方式中发展着。未受教育者的语言用法不再受保守势力的约束，而正确的老标准在语言顺应了民众自由的冲动中，或多或少地被遗忘了。结果是，当时在乔叟和他前辈们的时代中该语言达到了一种稳定的文学形式，它与阿尔弗雷德和埃尔弗里克的形式非常不同。

   Changes in the Sound System and in Grammar.  Owing to the shift in word accent, the final syllables of words, particularly inflectional syllable, tended to become weak and eventually disappeared. The development of a standard word order compensated for the loss of inflectional endings. In general, the -um of the dative plural of nouns and adjectives appeared as -un, -on, -an, or –en, the last form becoming the predominant one and finally weakening to –e. Likewise, all unstressed end vowels leveled under the vowel –e, which was later dropped. The present participle in early Middle English ended in –inde in the South, -ende in the Midlands, and –ande in the North. These presumably merged with certain nouns naming actions, which regularly ended in –ung (present –ing), as in learnung (“learning”).

    语音系统和语法的变化。由于单词重音的改变，词汇最后的音阶，尤其是屈折音节趋于变得微弱，并最终消失。标准词序的发展弥补了屈折词尾的缺失。一般而言，名词和形容词的与格复数的-um形式表现为-un，-on,，-an，或–en，最后一个的形式变成主要形式，并最终弱化为–e。同样地，所有非重音的结尾元音在元音–e下面变平，后来便放弃了它。在早期中古英语中的现在分词在南部以–inde结尾，在中部地区以-ende结尾，而在北部以–ande结尾。这些可能与某些命名行动的名词结合在一起，它经常以–ung（现在的–ing)）形式结尾，比如learnung（“学习”）。

   As the vowel endings leveled, the classification of nouns disappeared. So did grammatical gender in favor of the natural gender of Modern English. With the loss of grammatical gender in the noun went the loss of agreement in inflection between the noun and its adjective. The same leveling of inflectional endings, therefore, took place in the adjective as in the noun. Only one ending persisted after the loss of those indicative of gender—the vowel –e, which marked the plural number and the weak inflection of the adjective.

    随着对元音结尾的调整，名词的分类消失了。现代英语的自然性别也被语法性别所取代。随着在名词中语法性别的消失，在名词和形容词之间的屈折变化也失去了一致性。因此，在形容词和名词中便出现了相同的屈折结尾。在失去了那些性别的说明后只保留了一种词尾---元音–e，它标志着复数和形容词的弱变形。

   That Middle English is closer to Modern English than Old English can be seen from lines of Chaucer’s Prologue to the Canterbury Tales:

我们从乔叟的《坎特伯雷故事的序言》中可以看出，中古英语相比古英语更接近现代英语。

 

     A knight ther was and that a worthy man,

      That fro the tyme that he first bigan

      To riden out, he loved chivalrie,

      Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie.

一位骑士，而且是一位值得尊敬的人，

从他第一次骑马外出的那时起，他就爱骑士，

爱礼仪与荣誉，自由与屈膝礼。

 

   Changes in Vocabulary.  In addition to the changes already mentioned, there were great changes in vocabulary. French words from all walks of life came into English. In some instances we have pairs of words, one from Norman French and one from Parisian French, as in catch, chase; cattle, chattel; and warden, guardian. The Latin ca was preserved in Norman French but was changed to ch in Central French. Likewise, many Norman words begin with w, whereas the Central form is gu.

词汇的变化。除了已经提到的变化外，在词汇上也有很大的变化。各行各业的法语词汇进入了英语。在某些情况下，我们有成对的词汇，一种来自诺曼法语，而一种来自巴黎法语，如catch（抓住），chase（追逐）；cattle（家牛），chattel（动产）；以及warden（看守人）， guardian（守卫）。拉丁语ca被保存在诺曼法语中，但在法国中部，它已变成了ch。同样，许多诺曼词汇以w开始，而中部的形式是gu。

Many of the borrowed words dealt with things in which the French influence was strong—government, law, religion, and military affairs. Illustrations are reign, court, revenue, clergy, faith, and sergeant. Architecture, literature, and science, as well as fashion, dress, and social life, added terms like sculpture, palace, pillar, romance, tragedy, surgeon, anatomy, clock, and tournament. Many words were introduced that had to do with the table and preparation of food, such as appetite, beef, veal, pork, pastry, broil, and boil. These and thousands of others were added to the English vocabulary between 1100 and 1500. Yet the very core of the vocabulary remained English. The pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and auxiliaries and many ordinary nouns, verbs, and adjectives were not supplanted by borrowings.

    许多借用的词汇涉及各种事物，其中法语的影响很大---政府、法律、宗教和军务。实例有reign（统治时期），court（法庭），revenue（税收），clergy（神职人员）， faith（信念）， 以及sergeant（中士）。建筑、文学和科学以及时尚、服装和社会生活，增加了像雕塑、宫殿、柱子、浪漫、外科医生、解剖学、时钟和联赛这样的术语。引入了许多与桌子和制备食物有关语汇，比如食欲、牛肉、小牛肉、猪肉、点心、烤和煮沸。在1100年至1500年间，这些和其它数以千计的词汇被增加到英语词汇中。然而，词汇的真正核心一直都是英语。代词、介词、连词以及助词，还有许多普通的名词、动词和形容词并没有被借用词汇所取代。

   Latin words, along with French, continued to be added to Middle English. An important source of Latin borrowings was Wycliffe’s translation of the Bible into English. The French and Latin borrowings made English a richer language, with many synonyms. For example, one finds ask (Old English), inquire (French), and interrogate (Latin). Flemish, Dutch, and Low German also contribute a number of words, such as deck, dock, and freight, as a result of the constant communication between England and the Low Countries, principally in connection with trade. The greatest contribution, however, came from French.

伴随着法语，拉丁语不断被增加到中古英语中。拉丁语借用的一个重要来源是威克利夫将《圣经》翻译成英语。法语和拉丁证的借用词汇使英语成为了一种拥有许多同义词的更丰富的语言。例如，人们发现的ask询问（古英语），inquire打听（法语）和interrogate审问（拉丁语）。由于英格兰与低地国家间主要以贸易有关的持续不断的交流，佛兰芒语、丹麦语，以及低地德语也贡献了许多词汇，比如甲板、码头和货物。然而，最重要的贡献来自法语。

   The use of French words in Middle English texts gradually increased, reaching its height between 1300 and 1400, the period in which English was reestablishing itself as a national language after some 200 years. English began to be used in the schools, and in 1362 a parliamentary statute required its use in the King’s courts. Eventually, the laws of the land were in the language of the people, and a literary Standard English, based on the normal spoken English of the London dialect, had been established, to a considerable extent, through its use by such writers as Chaucer, Wycliffe, Malory, and Caxton.

    中古英语文本中使用的法语词汇逐渐增多，在1300年至1400年间达到了其基高峰，大约200年后，英语重新建立起它自己作为国家语言的时期。学校开始使用英语，而在1362年，一项议会的法令要求在国王的宫廷中使用英语。最终，这片土地的法律成了民众的语言，并确立了以伦敦方言正常的口语英语为基础的文学标准英语，这在很大程度上是通过像乔叟、威克利夫和卡克斯顿这样的作家使用它的结果。

   Early Modern English.  Between the years 1500 and 1700, the language developed many of the features that characterize it today. Some of these came as the result of basic linguistic changes, and some followed in the wake of the Renaissance and other movements—social, political, religious, and scientific.

    早期的现代英语。在1500年至1700年间，该语言发展出了今天的许多特性。其中一些就是基本语言变化的结果，还有一些伴随着文艺复兴的觉醒和其它---社会、政治、宗教以及科学的运动。

   Linguistic Changes.  Between 1400 and 1600, English experienced changes in sound that made Shakespeare’s language quite different from that of Chaucer. One modification was the loss of an unstressed vowel sound at the end of some words. For example, space, grace, and large were pronounced as two syllables by Chaucer but as one by Shakespeare. The –e represented a vowel sound for Chaucer. It was not “silent.” Likewise, the modern words looked and loved would have had two syllables for Chaucer. These changes were significant in that they affected thousands of words.

    语言学上的变化。在1400年至1600年间，英语经历了莎士比亚的语言截然不同于乔叟语言的变化。一种变化是在一些词汇的词尾去掉了一个非重音的元音读音。例如，乔叟将space（空间），grace（优雅），和large（大的）发成两个音节，而莎士比亚却发成一个音节。对乔叟来说，那个–e代表了一个元音读音。它是“要发音的”。同样，对乔叟而言，现代词汇looked（瞧）和 loved（喜爱）也应该有两个音节。这些变化意义重大，因为它们影响了数以千计的词汇。

   Another alteration was the systematic shifting of some half a dozen tense vowels and diphthongs in stressed syllables. For instance, Middle English mine had the vowel of modern we, whereas we was pronounced like way.Louse in Middle English sounded like modern loose, and noon had the vowel of known. This shift, known as the Great Vowel Shift, affected most of the long vowels and all the words containing them.

    另一个变化是大约六个时态元音和重音节的双元音的系统转变。例如，中古英语mine（我的）有现代英语we（我们）的元音，而we的发音如同way（方式、道路）的发音。在中古英语中Louse（虱子）的发音如同现代英语loose（松动的）的发音，而noon（中午）有known（已知的）的元音。称为大元音变位的这种变位影响了大多数长元音和所有包含了它们的那些词汇。

   Changes Brought About by the Printing Press.  The invention of printing, which William Caxton introduced into England about 1476, released a force that was to have an almost immeasurable effect on both language and thought. In time, books were available for all, not merely for the favored few. More and more people learned to read and write, and education increased. On the English language itself, the chief effect of the invention of printing was to be in making the language more uniform and in standardizing it, particularly the spelling.

    由印刷机带来的变化。大约在1476年，威廉姆斯·卡克斯顿将印刷术的发明引入了英格兰，对语言和思想释放了一种几乎不可估量的力量。适时地，所有人都可利用书籍，不只是那几个受到优待的人。越来越多的人学会了读写，而且教育水平也提高了。对英语语言本身而言，印刷术发明的主要影响在于使语言更一致，更标准化，尤其是拼写。

   Effects of the Renaissance.  The main influence on the development of Modern English was the great humanistic movement of the Renaissance, which exerted its greatest force in England during the period of 1500—1625, enabling Englishmen to partake of the cultural riches of the rest of contemporary Europe as well as of the ancient world. The study of the classics was stressed, and the enthusiastic classicists deliberately attempted to enrich the English language by borrowing from Latin and Greek.

文艺复兴的影响。对现代英语发展的主要影响是文艺复兴时期伟大的人文主义运动，在1500年至1625年间，它在英格兰发挥了它最大的力量，使英国人能够分享同时代欧洲的其它地区和远古世界的文化财富。强调对经典的研究，而热心的古典主义者试图刻意通过借用拉丁语和希腊语来丰富英语语言。

   Thousands of words poured in from the classical languages. Such words as education, external, exist, and meditate came directly from the Latin. Others, like chaos, climax, and crisis, came in from Greek through the Latin. Some, like catastrophe and lexicon, came directly from the Greek. The English often adapted a Latin term by modifying an ending (frivolous, for example, from Latin frivolus) or by substituting one final cluster for another (corporeal, from Latin corporeus). The Latin endings of nouns –antia and –entia became in English –ance, -ence, or –ancy, -ency, as in countenance, concurrence, constancy, frequency. The borrowing of Latin words was strengthened by the borrowing of French words, which continued from the Middle English period. In many cases it is difficult to determine whether a word came directly from Latin or came in through French, and French was passing them on into English.

    从古典语言中涌入了成千上万的词汇。如单词教育、外部的、存在，以及冥想直接来自拉丁语。其它的词汇，如混沌、高潮和危机，来自从希腊语转化的拉丁语。若干词汇，如灾难和词典直接来自希腊语。英语常常通过修改词尾来改造一个拉丁语术语（例如，来自拉丁语frivolus的frivolous（愚蠢轻浮的）或者通过最后的一个辅音群取代另一个（corporeal有形的，来自corporeus）。拉丁语的名词结尾–antia和–entia在英语中变成了–ance，-ence，or –ancy，-ency，如countenance（表情）concurrence（同时发生），constancy（坚定不稳），frequency（频繁）。通过借用法语词汇增强拉丁语词汇的借用，这从中古英语时期一直延续着。在许多情况下，很难确定一个单词是否直接来自拉丁语或来自法语，而法语又将它们传递给了英语。

   Along with the learned words from Greek and Latin in the Renaissance period came loanwords from more than 50 languages, the major sources being the THREE Romance languages, French, Spanish, and Italian. Words like detail, genteel, and surpass poured in from French. From Italy camebalcony, piazza, and portico. Spain contributed alligator and armada. Many words also came from other parts of the world as a result of exploration, trade, and colonization.

    在文艺复兴时期，除了从希腊语和拉丁语学到的词汇，还有来自50多种语言的外来词汇，主要来源是三种罗曼斯语，法语、西班牙语和意大利语。像细节、有教养的，以及超过这些词汇都来自法语。来自意大利语的词汇有露台、露天市场和门廊。西班牙语贡献了短吻鳄和无敌船队。由于探险，贸易和殖民，许多词汇也来自世界其它的地区。

   The classicists were concerned not only about vocabulary but about style as well, their chief models being such writers as Vergil and Cicero. Many works, therefore, were translated in the great effort to improve the English language. Among the most famous were Sir Thomas North’s translation of Plutarch’s Live (1579), an important source for Shakespeare’s plays; and George Champman’s translations of Homer, which began to appear in 1598. One important classicist, Sir Thomas More, wrote his Utopia (1516) in Latin. But the man who no doubt had the greatest influence in spreading the use of Latin was William Lily (or Lilye), the first high master of St. Paul’s School in London and the author of a famous Latin grammar that was used by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as by later generations of students. Among the Greek scholars were Thomas Linacre, William Grocyn, and John Colet. The great Dutch humanist Erasmus taught Greek at the University of Cambridge at this time.

    古典学者不仅关注词汇，也关注风格，他们主要的范例是像弗吉尔和西塞罗这样的作者。因此，为改进英语语言付出了巨大努力，翻译了许多作品。其中最著名的是托马斯·诺斯爵士的译著《普鲁塔克的生活》（1579年），莎士比亚戏剧的一个重要来源；以及于1598年开始出现的乔治·查普曼的译著《荷马》。一位重要的古典主义者托马斯·莫尔用拉丁语撰写的《乌托邦》（1516）。但在促进使用拉丁语中最具影响力的人无疑是威廉·莉莉（或Lilye），第一位伦敦圣-保罗学校的校长，而且是莎士比亚及其同辈人以及后世学生都使用过的著名拉丁语语法的作者。在希腊语的学者中有托马斯·利纳克尔，威廉·格罗辛和约翰·科利特。当时，重要的荷兰人文主义者伊拉斯谟曾在剑桥大学教授希腊语。

   Reaction Against Classicism. As strong as the humanistic movement was in Renaissance England, growing patriotism produced a healthy pride in the use of English. Some Englishmen thought that their language should depend upon its own resources. To them, importations from foreign sources meant corruption. Among the linguistic purist holding this theory and praising English were George Pettie, who expounded his position in his Civile Conversation (1581; 1586), a translation of a work by Stefano Guazzo; and Richard Mulcaster, the author of the principal treatise on English spelling in the 16^th century and the teacher of Edmund Spenser. Spenser supported his master by praising the riches of the English language, by reviving old words, such as astound, doom, ydrad (for “dreaded”), and by coining new words, many of which were derivatives of old ones, such as wrizzled (probably from “wrinkled” and “frizzled”).

    对古典主义的反应。尽管人文主义运动像文艺复兴时期的英格兰一样强烈，但日趋增加的爱国主义在使用英语中产生了一种健康的自豪感。一些英国人认为，他们的语言应该取决于其自身的资源。对他们来说，从外来资源引进意味着堕落。在持这种理论并赞美英语的语言纯粹主义者中有乔治·佩蒂，他在《公民对话》（1581年；1586年）中阐述了他的立场，一部翻译斯特凡诺的作品；以及理查德·马卡斯特， 16世纪有关英语拼写主要论文的作者，还是埃德蒙·斯宾塞的老师。斯宾塞通过赞美英语语言的丰富多彩，通过振兴旧词来支持他的大师，比如astound（使震惊），doom（厄运） ydrad（意为“可怕的”），并创造出新的词汇，其中许多新词都是旧词的派生词，比如wrizzled（蠕动）（可能来自“wrinkled”有皱纹的 和 “frizzled”卷曲的）组合。

   Men like Sir John Cheke, first regius professor of Greek at Cambridge, opposed the introduction of inkhorn (pedantic) term from Latin and Greek. Among the followers of Cheke were Roger Ascham, the tutor of Queen Elizabeth I and the author of Toxophilus (1545), a dialogue on archery in English, and of the more famous educational treatise, The Scholemaster (1570), and Sir Thomas Elyot, author of what has been called the first book on education written and printed in English, The Boke Named the Governour (1531). Others were Thomas Wilson, author of the popularArte of Rhetorique (1553), and Richard Carew, author of The Excellencie of the English Tongue (1614). Sir Philip Sidney praised English as a tongue equal to any other. Despite these advocates of English, the Latinists triumphed for a time. Children had to learn Latin at school, to the neglect of English.

    像约翰·奇克爵士这样的人，第一位钦定的剑桥大学希腊语的教授，反对从拉丁语和希腊语引入inkhorn（学究式的）术语。在奇克的追随者中有伊丽沙白女王一世的家庭老师罗杰·阿斯卡姆，还是一本有关射箭的英语对话《射箭爱好者》（1545年）和更著名的教育论文《校长》的作者，以及托马斯·埃利奥特爵士，被称为用英语写作和印刷有关教育的第一部书籍《统治者》（1531年）的作者。其他的人有托马斯·威尔逊，受欢迎的《修辞艺术》（1553年）的作者，和《英语语言的优势》（1614年）的作者理查德·卡鲁。菲利普·西德尼称赞英语是一种不输于其它任何语言的语言。尽管有这些对英语的拥护者，但拉丁语学者暂时还是获得了胜利。在学校孩子们不得不学习拉丁语，而忽视了英语。

   Reemergence of English.  But once more English emerged and established itself. Its position in the nation had not been questioned, for it had continued as the language of government and of trade. Then came THREE great English poets, all within a century: Spenser, “the poet’s poet” of the English Renaissance and the great advocate of the English language; Shakespeare, the popular, unequaled dramatist and the outstanding literary artist of Early Modern English, credited with using 90% of native words in his working vocabulary of 20,000 to 25,000 words; and Milton, who wrote both in Latin and in English but chose English for Paradise Lost, his great blank verse epic. These THREE literary giants, along with many others poets and prose writers, have proved the versatility and power of the language. 

    英语的再度出现。但是，英语再次出现并确立了自己的地位。它在国家的地位并未受到质疑，因为它一直是政府和贸易的语言。当时在整个一个世纪中出现了三位伟大的英国诗人：斯宾塞，英国文艺复兴时期“诗人的诗人”和英语语言伟大的拥护者；莎士比亚，受大众喜爱的，无与伦比的剧作家和早期现代英语杰出的文学艺术家，在他写作用的2万至2.5万词汇中被认为使用了90%的本土词汇；还有米尔顿，他既用拉丁语写作，也用英语写作，但写作他伟大的无韵史诗《失乐园》时选择了英语。这三位文学巨人，与其他许多诗人和散文作者一起证明了这种语言的通用性和力量。

   The prose writers of the Renaissance not only borrowed words from Latin but also imitated the Latin style as illustrated by John Lyly in his Euphues (1578). In striving for elegance, he employed an excessive use of antithesis, alliteration, and far-fetched similes, cultivating a highly self-conscious and artificial language. The Renaissance writers favored the ornate, although there is one notable exception—the King James Version of the Bible.

    文艺复兴时期的散文作家们不仅从拉丁语中借用词汇，而且也模仿约翰·黎里在其《尤弗伊斯》（1578年）中的拉丁风格。为寻求优雅，他过度使用了对仗、头韵法和牵强的比喻，培养了一种极为刻意的和人造的语言。文艺复兴时期的作家们喜爱华丽的用词，尽管有一个明显的例外---《圣经》的钦定版。

   Effects of the Reformation. Biblical translation has had a great effect on literary style in Modern English, beginning with the translation by Wycliffe and his friend and collaborator John Purvey in the 14 century. As a result of the Reformation many translations appeared. The first of these was William Tyndale’s, which established a standard on which the others were based, including the King James (1611). This literary monument is noted for its native vocabulary and its simplicity and beauty of phrase. The fact that native words make up 94% of its vocabulary has placed it in the forefront of English prose writing and accounts for its powerful and widespread influence on English style.

    宗教改革的影响。在14世纪，随着威克利夫和其朋友及合作者约翰·珀维翻译的开始，圣经的翻译对现代英语的文学风格产生了重大影响。作为宗教改革的结果，出现了许多译著。第一本译著是威廉·廷代尔的，它建立了一个其它以此为基础的标准，包括詹姆斯国王（1611年）。这座文学丰碑以其本土词汇和其简明而优美的短语而闻名。事实上，本土词汇占其词汇量的94%，使其处于英语散文写作的最前沿，并阐述了它对英语风格强大而广泛的影响力。

   Summary. With the heritage of the European Renaissance and the Reformation, the influence of the printing press and of increased popular education, and the influx of new ideas from around the globe, Early Modern English, through its experimentations and innovations, gradually became the language of scholarship, replacing Latin. It likewise produced a body of literature unequaled at any other time. The authors of the Elizabethan Age were inspired, highly imaginative, versatile, and experimental, giving to the world writing of all types—long narrative poems, sonnet sequences, lyrics, songs, romances, histories, literary criticism, and, above all, dramas, the greatest since the Golden Age of Greece.

    总结。伴随欧洲文艺复兴时期和宗教改革的遗产，印刷术和增强的大众教育的影响，以及全球新观念的大量涌入，早期的现代英语，经过其实验和创新逐渐变成了替代拉丁语的学术语言。同样，它产生了大量的在任何其它时间都无与伦比的文学作品。伊丽沙白时代的作者受到了启发，富于想象力，多才多艺且勇于实验，为世界提供了各种各样的作品---叙事长诗、十四行诗、抒情诗、歌集、浪漫史、历史故事、文学评论，尤其是自希腊黄金时代以来最伟大的戏剧。

   Development Since 1700.  After 1700, many movements and counter-movements characterized the history of English, one of which was the attempt to regulate and control the language. The freedom of the Renaissance disappeared, and in its place came order and restraint. Formulation of rules began; efforts were made to stabilize the language—to determine what was right and what was wrong. Many demanded an academy, similar to the Academie Francaise, to decide on correctness of language and, in effect, to legislate on the permanent form of English. Chief among these advocates were Dryden, Swift, and Defoe, who did not wish English to be corrupted. They wanted it to be pure and eloquent.

    自1700年以来的发展。1700年以后，许多运动和反向运动成为了英语历史的特征，其中之一就是尝试调节和控制这种语言。文艺复兴的自由消失了，而取而代之的是秩序和克制。开始制定规则；为稳定语言做出努力---确定什么是正确的，什么是错误的。许多人要求建立类似于法兰西学院那样的专科院校来决定语言的正确性，而实际上，是为英语的永久形式立法。在那些拥护者中主要有屈莱顿，斯威夫特和笛福，他们不希望英语堕落。他们希望英语纯粹且有说服力。

   18^th Century.  This authoritarian attitude reached its height in the 18^th century, the age of reason and logic. The idea of an academy failed, but the desire to stabilize the language resulted in the development of the dictionary and a great interest in English grammar.

    18世纪。这种权威的态度在理性和逻辑时代的18世纪达到了其高峰。虽然学院的那个想法失败了，但稳定语言的愿望导致了词典的发展以及对英语语法的极大兴趣。

   The first English dictionary, by Robert Cawdrey, had appeared in 1604, briefly explaining 2,500 “hard words.” Many others followed, making gradual improvements, until Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755. It dominated the field for about a century and paved the way for the monumental Oxford English Dictionary, the standard authority for the history of English words, published during the period 1884—1933. It laid the foundation for the great advance in lexicography that has continued to the present.

    第一部英语词典是由罗伯特·考德里编撰，问世于1604年，主要解释了2500个“难词”。接着是许多其它的词，进行了逐渐的改进，直到塞缪尔·约翰孙的《英语语言词典》于1755年出版。它支配着该领域大约一个世纪，为在1884年至1933年期间出版的英语词汇历史的标准权威，丰碑式的《牛津英语词典》铺平了道路。它为词典编撰的极大进步奠定了基础，而且一直持续到现在。

   The doctrine of “correctness,” supported by the authoritarian sense of order and conformity to a standard, was responsible for a succession of English grammars based on Latin rules of grammar and written by grammarians who had no knowledge of the processes of linguistic change. The influence of the most popular of these grammars—one by Robert Lowth, published in 1762, and another by Lindley Murray, in 1795—influence is still felt.

    在权威的秩序感和符合标准的支持下，“正确性”学说基于拉丁语的语法规则和不了解语言变化过程的那些语法学家编写的英语语法担负着一系列责任。这些语法中最受欢迎的---一部是由罗伯特·劳斯编撰，于1762年出版，而另一部是由林德利·默里编撰---那种影响力至今都能感受到。

   There were, however, a few thinkers who realized that all linguistic problems could not be solved by logic and that standards must be based on usage. Chief among them were Joseph Priestley, author of The Rudiments of English Grammar… (1761), and George Campbell, who wrote his Philosophy of rhetoric in 1776. The principles established in such works as these were the forerunners of the modern doctrine of usage, which is basic in all sound investigations of linguistic questions—that is, that usage and social acceptance determine correctness.

    然而，很少有思考者认识到，所有的语言问题无法通过逻辑来解决，而标准必须以用法为基础。他们中的主要人物是《英语语法入门》（1761年）的作者约瑟夫·普利斯特利，以及乔治·坎贝尔于1776年撰写的《修辞学的哲学》。在这样的作品中建立的那些原则是现代用法学说的先驱，它是所有有关语言问题声音调查的基础---换言之，用法和社会的认可决定了正确性。

   While authoritarian English was being codified lexically and grammatically at home, the British Empire was expanding around the world and extending tremendous influence. Supremacy in trade on the high seas and political supremacy among far-flung colonies brought Britain into contact with strange lands, peoples, cultures, and climates. As a result, thousands of new terms poured into English from around the globe, resulting in a more cosmopolitan vocabulary. From the North American Indians came words like hickory, persimmon, squash; from Mexico, chili, coyote; from South America, alpaca, llama, pampas; from India, bungalow, cashmere, chintz; from Africa,chimpanzee, voodoo, zebra; and from Australia, boomerang, kangaroo, wombat.

    在国内，当权威英语在词法上和语法上被编撰成典时，大英帝国正在全世界扩张，并扩展了巨大影响。在远海中的霸权和在遥远的殖民地中的政治霸权使不列颠接触到奇异的土地、民族、文化和气候。结果是，数以千计的新术语从世界各地涌入英语中，从而产生了更多的国际化的词汇。来自北美的印第安人的词汇，如山核桃木、柿子、压偏；来自墨西哥的，如红辣椒、郊狼；来自南美洲的，如羊驼、美洲驼、草原；来自印度的，如平房、山羊绒、印花棉布；来自非洲的，如黑猩猩、伏都教、斑马；以及来自澳大利亚的，如飞去来器、袋鼠、袋熊。

   19^th and 20^th Centuries.  In both Britain and the English-speaking areas abroad, the romantic period, following the conservative 18^th century, was a time of liberalism in literature and language. Obsolete words were revived, and new words were coined. In Britain, great changes were occurring in society, making it more democratic, and the upper and lower classes were brought closer together by industrial reforms. Greater economic and cultural advantages came to the common man, aided by the first cheap newspapers around 1820, by cheap postage about 1840, and by great advances in science.

    19和20世纪。在18世纪保守主义的浪漫时期，不列颠与说英语的海外地区是一种文学和语言自由主义的时代。废弃的词汇被恢复，新词汇被创造出来。在不列颠，社会正在发生巨变，使其更加民主，通过工业改革，上层阶层和下层阶层更紧密地联系在一起。大约在1820年受益于第一批廉价的报纸，大约于1840年便宜的邮费以及科学的巨大进步，平民获得了更大的经济和文化优势。

   The large circulation of the newspaper afforded a means of renewing the language, of approving its informal, colloquial usage, and of bringing the spoken standard closer to the written. Means of telecommunication and of travel were likewise increasingly improved and speeded up, thereby bringing the people of the world closer and closer together and enlarging the English vocabulary by word borrowings from many areas. Scientific progress also meant development of the vocabulary, since each new technological advance brought a new stock of words. Thus the vocabulary increased by leaps and bounds as one scientific development followed another in the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

    报纸的大量发行提供了一种使语言更新，确认其非正式的、口语用法以及使口语更接近书写标准的方法。电讯和旅行手段同样在不断改善和加速，因此，使世界人民越来越紧密地联系在一起，并通过借用许多地区的单词扩大英语的词汇。科学进步也意味着词汇的发展，因为每次新技术的进步都带来了新的词汇库。因此，随着19和20世纪科学的不断发展，词汇量也在飞速增长。

                                           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9月5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419页至423页）

待续部分：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。