基督教对英语语言的影响_英文_

[作者简介]李若白,男,内蒙古农业大学外国语学院助教;

贾婧杨,女,内蒙古农业大学外国语学院助教。

The I nfluence That Christi a nity Bri n gs Upon English Language

○L i

Ruobai,J ia J ingyang

(Foreign L anguage College,InnerM ongolia A gricu ltura l U niversity,Hohhot,InnerM ongolia,010020)

　[Abstract]　To know the hist ory of English language is unlikely without bringing the influence of Christianity int o

considerati on .I n each stage of English,Christianity has its distinctive i m pact upon the devel opment of English .Three ele 2ments are t o be considered in this thesis:the influence of Latin,B ible and translati on upon English language .

　[Key words]　B ible;　Latin;　English hist ory

　[中图分类号]I 31019 [文献标识码]A [文章编号]167228610(2009)0720067202

I .I n troducti on

“The diversity of cultures that find exp ressi on in it is a re 2

m inder that the hist ory of English is a st ory of culture in contact

during the past 1,500years .”[1]1

The English language we s peak t oday went thr ough three stages,namely,O ld English,M iddle English and Modern English .I f we l ook back t o the hist ory of English,it would be certain t o say that many ele ments have hel ped t o shape the language;but one ele ment that is s o crucial that we should pay s pecial attenti on t o is the influence of Christianity .One can see the distinctive i m pact that Christianity brings t o English in different peri od of language devel opment .W e shall go thr ough three as pects of these influences .Firstly,the effect that Christianitys bring t o old English,which can be called Latin influence;secondly,we shall have a revie w of the hist ory of B ible translati on,which is the ti m e that English gain its positi on as modern language;at lastwe shall see the influence of B ible in common saying and literature,which can show the p r of ound i m pact that Christianity bring t o English language .Ⅱ.The i n fluence of Chr isti a n ity on O ld English

The English language of t oday reflects many centuries of de 2vel opment .Nor mally we call the English of Angl o -Saxon peri od O ld English .The influence of Christianity at that ti m e can be called Latin influence .W e can find much evidence in words bor 2r owing and literary works .“The Roman Christianizing of B ritain in 597br ought England int o contact with Latin civilizati on and

made significant additi ons t o our vocabulary .”[1]2

I n the p r ocess of Christianizing of B ritain,monks bring the gos pel t ogether with Latin culture int o English language .The Christian m issi onaries br ought the Latin al phabet int o B ritain,which has re mained the writing syste m of the English language .I n this p r ocess,Latin as the language of the services and of ecclesiastical learning was fre 2quently used in England .It is not hard t o i m agine many Latin

words were intr oduced int o English .On the one hand,many

English words for church p ractice can find it origin in Latin .“Church ”this word itself is Latin .The list includes alter,an 2gel,candle,canon,disci p le,martyr,m inister,pope,p sal m ,relic,and te mp le .On the other hand,many native words gain its ne w concep ts in Christianity belief .They did not borr ow the Latin word dues,f or their own word God was good enough .L ike 2wise heaven and hell exp ress concep ti ons already known t o Angl o

-Saxon culture and consequently English words .

[1]84-89

A t the sa me ti m e,many Latin words entered the life of com 2mon peop le,which includes cap,silk,pear,l obster,box,mal 2l ow,kitchen,kettle,and street .A s the center of learning,church was the p lace of educati on .This is another as pect of the church ’s influence .Words such as school,master,gra mmatical and verse are Latin .A s a result if the Christianizing of

B ritain s ome 450Latin words appear in English vocabulary .I f we take a l ook at the literature of Angl o -Saxon peri od,the influence of Christian is more obvi ous .W ithout the cop ing works of monks,the earliest poetry of England can hardly retain its hold on the life and language of English peop le .“More than half of Angl o -Saxon poetry is concerned with Christian subjects ”.[1]69O ld

English can not be considered as a f or m of fully devel oped lan 2guage .It can be underst ood as the basic for m of modern English,which Latin language hel p s t o enrich its vocabulary and f or malize its grammar .Next peri od of English devel opment with the hel p of B ible translati on,English entered a ti m e of rap id changing .

Ⅲ.B i ble tran sl a ti on and English l anguage

“No work excep t Shakes peare has had s o much influence on the phraseol ogy of English as the authorized versi on of the bible at one ti m e fa m iliar t o all households ”said Pr of .Earnest W eekly .The hist ory of biblical translati on is s o l ong that it con 2tains a huge a mount of evidence about how English had changed over centuries .The i m pact of B ible on English language is s o big

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that one can easily tell a phase directly fr om B ible.B ible transla2 ti on influences the devel opment of English in many ways.W e shall go thr ough the hist ory of B ible translati on in English,con2 sidering the contributi on of John W ycliffe,Tyndale,and Author2 ized Versi on,t o reveal the effects that holy scri p t brings t o English.

The main versi on of the bible used in the earlyM iddle Ages was Vulgate,Saint Jer ome’s Latin translati on fr om Greek and Hebre w.The first translat or we should know in this p r ocess is John W ycliffe.H is translati on of B ible is the first comp lete

B ibles in the English language.W hen John W ycliffe translated the B ible,he enlarged the English language by adap ting many Latin words int o his English B ible.The words treasure and mys2 tery,gl ory and horr or,female and sex all owe their English us2 age t o W ycliffe’s B ible(English Language Words/Phrases).H is translati on p reserved Latin constructi ons and word order even when they conflicted with English usage.The words like“unsta2 tiable”or“ungl ori ous”were p r oduced by W ycliffe.I f you go though old editi on of B ible you will be likely t o read“i m possi2 ble”as“unpossible”.H is translati on was in use thr oughout the 15th century.

Tyndale can be as father of English literature’s phrases and compounds,es pecially related t o great feelings and mood.“B r oken-heart”,“l ong-suffering”,“peace-maker”and“mercy-seat”are fe w exa mp les.He coined words fr om the Dutch and Ger manic s ources as well as French.H is translati on of Ne w Testa ment was comp leted in1525.He was fluent in eight languages and is considered by many t o be the p ri m ary architect of the modern English language.So many of the phrases Tyndale coined are still in English language t oday.Let’s make no m is2 take that Tydale’s versi on has st ood the test of ti m e.

“The1611King Ja mes B ible’known as“translati on t o end all translati ons”,beca me the most widely used p r otestant English B ible.It is the first authoritative state bible,als o known as the Authorized Versi on.Its influence has been more p r ofound on the linguistic habits of English-s peakers than any other book.It has hel ped t o shape the language f or nearly400years. For centuries a copy of the B ible was t o be found in virtually ev2 ery house,read and consulted regularly.Peop le could exp ress their reacti on t o life in biblical language,s pecifically the lan2 guage of the King Ja mes B ible.The first recorded use of many of the words used in ordinary English t oday can be f ound in the ear2 ly translati ons of the B ible int o English.To be exactly,B ible translati on enables common peop le t o have access t o the holy scri p t and at the same ti m e hel p the m t o f or malize their nati onal language.

Ⅳ.The i n fluence of B i ble on co mm on s ay i n g and litera ture

W ith the popularity of the King Ja mes B ible,English lan2 guage gains its maj or s ource of idi omatic exp ressi on.Nu mer ous phrases used in every day s peech have their origin in the B ible. Many English idi om s are Hebre w sayings the KJV B ible transla2 ted literally.W e know that Shakes peare,whose work is the other s ource of English idi om,frequently quoted fr om B ible;it is not sur p rise t o know that most English s peakers use s ome idi omatic

exp ressi ons fr om B ible even without clear knowledge where they are originally fr om.“Eye f or eye,t ooth for t ooth”.This fa mous saying establishes a la w governing relati onshi p s bet w een peop le, and is often quoted as a si m p le s oluti on f or justice.Only name a fe w of these fa mous sayings:‘al pha and Omega’/‘ashes t o a2 shes,dust t o dust’/‘at one’s last gas p’/‘blind leading the blind’/‘casting pearls before s wine’/‘cr own of thorns’/‘digging a hole f or oneself’/‘eye of a needle’/‘God save the king’.The undeniable effect of B ible on English language is that maybe you never read the B ible comp letely but you have t o use its idi om s t o exp ress you feelings.

B iblical reference runs thr ough much of western literature.

A l ot of writers refer t o biblical st ories.Not only are the st ories well know,but they can be varied for effect f or particular pur po2 ses,thus many tales about the

B ible st ories become the subject of p r om inent books.A fe w exa mp les m ightmake this clear.I f we talk about“vanity fair”maybe it is not directly connected with B ible st ory,but one would i m mediately think about John Bunyan and his Pilgri m’s Pr ogress;and surly the novel of Thackeray. Both works can find their origin in Ecclesiastes:all is vanity. And if we talk aboutW aste Land of T.S Eli ot,it is i m possible t o understand its the me without adequate knowledge of B ible.Actu2 ally the maj or subject of western literature is rest upon“salva2 ti on”,the task of Christianity.Even the B ible itself can be con2 sidered as a literary work because many chap ters have their liter2 ature significance.

A s we can see,Christianity has its unique influence upon English language.W ith Latin enriching its vocabulary,

B ible translati on devel op ing its language,idi om s fr om B ible p r ovoking its literature,English becomes a modern language t ogether with Christianity melting int o its culture.Thr oughout the hist ory of O ld English,M iddle English and Modern English,we can dis2 covery that each peri od bears its s pecial Christianity element.A s a maj or religi on of the world,Christianity has its share of influ2 ence on brief;moreover,with widely s p reading of church and f oll ower,its i m pact upon language and culture is p r ofound and l ong-lasting.

【References】

[1]Baugh,A lbert,and Thomas Cable.A H ist ory of the

English Language[M].Foreign Language Teaching and Re2

search Press,2001.

[2]Greer,Ger maine.Shakes peare[M].Foreign Language

Teaching and Research Press,2007.

[3]R iches,John.The B ible[M].Foreign Language Teaching

and Research Press,2008.

[4]Stavrianos,L.S.A Gl obal H ist ory:Fr om Prehist ory t o the

21st Century[M].Peking University Press,2004.

[5]Tan,Zaixi.A Short H ist ory of Translati on in the W est

[M].Commercial Press,2004.

[6]W ilkens,Steve,and A lan Padgett.Christianity and

W estern Thought Vol.2[M].Peking University Press,

2005.

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LANG UAGE L i Ruobai,J ia J ingyang/The I nfluence That Christianity B ringsUpon English Language

language structure,but it is not s o easy t o say ho w many levels should be set up in order t o ex p lain the way this structure is organized.S o me si m p le models of language recognize only t w o basic levels:the set of physical f or m s(s ounds,letters,signs,words)con2 tained in a language,and the range of abstract mean2 ings conveyed by these f or m s.Four-level models of language are a mong the most w idely used.These f our levels are phonetics,phonol ogy,gra mmar and se man2 tics.Ho wever,further divisi ons w ithin and bet w een these levels are often made.For exa mp le,w ithin the level of gra mmar,it is co mmon t o recognize a distinc2 ti on bet w een the study of word structure(mor phol ogy) and the study of word sequence w ithin sentences(syn2 tax).W ithin phonol ogy,the study of v o wels,cons o2 nants,and syllables(seg mental phonol ogy)is usually distinguished fr o m the study of p r os ody and other t ones of v oice(sup ra-seg mental phonol ogy).W ithin se2 mantics,the study of v ocabulary(lexicon)is s o me2 ti m es taken separately fr o m the study of larger patterns of meaning.A ll of these are regularly referred t o as levels of structure[2].

Ⅳ.Conclusi on

There are still a l ot of subjects on language.This

paper only intr oduces the s mall parts of https://www.360docs.net/doc/1e3408048.html,n2 guage is not only ex p ressed by s peaking but only by w riting,even by body or s o me https://www.360docs.net/doc/1e3408048.html,nguage is als o st orage of cultural and hist orical kno w ledge.I n co m2 mon usage language can als o refer t o non-hu man sys2 te m s of co mmunicati https://www.360docs.net/doc/1e3408048.html,nguage study relates t o man2 y areas.

【References】

[1]胡壮麟,姜望琪.语言学高级教程[M].北京大学出版

社,2002.

[2]David,Crystal.The Ca mbridge Encycl opedia of Language

[M].Ca mbridge University Press,1987.

[3]Jack,C.R ichard.John Platt and Heidi Platt.Long man

D icti onary of Language Teaching&App lied L inguistics

[M].Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,

2000.

[4]F.de.Saussure.Course in General L inguistics[M].China

Social Sciences PublishingHouse,1999.

析语言结构

史艳英　杨海升

(内蒙古农业大学外语学院,内蒙古　呼和浩特　010020;内蒙古农业大学职业技术学院,内蒙古　包头　014030) [摘　要]　本文主要从语言的定义和结构分析语言的特征。语言都具有以下特点:语言是用来表达自己和进行交流的工具,语言又具有符号性、条理性、描述性和多样性等特点。

[关键词]　语言;　定义;　结构

(上接第68页)

基督教对英语语言的影响

李若白　贾婧杨

(内蒙古农业大学外国语言学院,内蒙古　呼和浩特　010020)

[摘　要]　要了解英语语言的历史而不去考虑基督教对其历史的影响是不可能的。在英语发展的每个阶段,基督教的影响都清晰可见。本文所要分析的是其三个方面的影响因素:拉丁文的影响,圣经的影响,及宗教翻译的影响。

[关键词]　圣经;　拉丁文　英语史

LANG UAGE Shi Yanying,Yang Haisheng/Analysis on the Definiti on and Structure of Language