1. At the introduction of Christianity into England by the Latin Catholic missionaries, A.D. 596.
2. At the revival of classical learning in the sixteenth century.
3. By modern writers.
7. The French-Latin element in the English language consists of French words, first largely introduced into English by the Norman-French who conquered England in the eleventh century, A.D.
I. French, like Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, is substantially Latin, but Latin considerably altered by loss of grammatical forms and by other changes. This language the Norman-French invaders brought with them into England, and they continued to use it for more than two centuries after the Conquest. Yet, as they were not so numerous as the native population, the old Anglo-Saxon finally prevailed, though with an immense infusion of French words.
II. French-Latin words—that is, Latin words introduced through the French—can often be readily distinguished by their being more changed in form than the Latin terms directly introduced into our language. Thus—
| Latin. inimi'cus pop'ulus se'nior | French. ennemi peuple sire | English. enemy people sir |
8. Other Elements.—In addition to its primary constituents—namely, the Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and French-Latin—the English vocabulary contains a large number of Greek derivatives and a considerable number of Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese words, besides various terms derived from miscellaneous sources.
The following are examples of words taken from miscellaneous sources; that is, from sources other than Anglo-Saxon, Latin, French-Latin, and Greek:—
Hebrew: amen, cherub, jubilee, leviathan, manna, sabbath, seraph.