The word meant "a measure of time". Then it began to mean “moon”, since the

moon measured time. Later suffix "-th" was added to the end of the word;

the word "monath" meant the period of time which the moon measured. Still

later the English people dropped the "a" and called it "month”.

And now, stories of the names of months. The Modem English names for the

months of the year all come from the Latin. But before the English people

adopted the Latin names they had their native names. And, in fact, in some

cases the native names are more interesting than the Latin ones.

The first month of the year is January. January is the month of Janus.

Janus was a Roman God of the beginning of things. Janus had two faces: on

the front and the back of the head. He could look backwards into the past

and forward to the beginning year. January is a right name for the first

month of the New Year, isn't it? On the New Year eve we always think of

what we have done in the past year and we are planning to do better in the

New Year.

Now, the Old English had its own name for January. It was “Wulf-

Monath", which means “month of wolves". To-day England is thickly

populated and a very civilized country and it is hard, to imagine that

their was a time when wolves roamed the island. In the cold of the deep

winter they would get so hungry they would come into the towns to look for

food, and so January was called “the month of the wolves".

The name of February comes from the Latin “februa” - "purification". It

was a month when the ancient Romans had a festival of purification.

Before the English adopted the Latin name, they called this month

“Sprate-Kale-Month”. “Kale” is a cabbage plant, "sprote" means to sprout.

So, it was “the month when cabbages sprout”

March is a month of Mar's, the Roman God of war. March was the earliest

warm time of the year when the Romans could start a war. Before the time of

Julius Caesar the Roman year began with March which was then the first

month of the year.

The Old English name for March was "Hlyd-Monath", which means "the month

of noisy winds". March in Britain often comes with strong winds. By the

way, this explains the saying: "If March comes in like a lion, it will go

out like a lamb".

There are a few stories about the meaning of the name “April”! The most

spread one is a pretty story that the month was named from a Latin word

“aperire" – “to open”. It is a month when buds of trees and flowers begin

to open.

The English before they adopted the Latin names, called April "Easter-

Monath”, the month of Easter.

“May” is named for the Roman goddess of growth and increase, Maia. She

was the Goddess of spring, because in spring everything was growing,

flourishing, increasing.

The English name is not so poetic. They called the month "Thrimilce",

which means something like “to mi1k three times”. In May the cows give so

much milk that the farmers had to milk them three times a day.

Month of "June" was so called after the Junius family of Rome, one of

the leading clans of ancient Rome. Besides, the Roman festival of Juno, the

Goddess of Moon, was celebrated on the first day of the month.

We think of June as the month of brides and roses, but to the Anglo-

Saxons it was "Sere-Monath", the “dry month”.

“July” is the month of Julius Caesar. The month began to be called that

in the year when Julius Caesar was killed.

The English called July “Maed-Monath”, “meadow month”, because the

meadows are in bloom in July.

Now, comes “August”. This month was once called “sexillis”, as it was

the sixth month from March, with which, as you remember, the year once

opened. It was then changed into August in honour of the Roman emperor

Augustus Caesar, the nephew of Julius Caesar. This man was chosen by Julius

Caesar as his heir, he took the name Caesar, and was given the title

“Augustus” by the Roman Senate. This month was “a lucky Month” for Augustus

Caesar. By the way, Augustus refused to have fewer days in his month of

August than there were in the month of July. So he borrowed a day from

February and added it to August; that is why August has 31 days.

The Old English name for August was "Wead-Monath", the month of weeds.

You know, the Old English word "weed" meant vegetation in generale.

“September”, “October”, “November” and “December” are just "seventh",

"eighth", "ninth" and "tenth" months of the year. You remember that before

the Romans changed their calendar, March was the first month.

The English had more descriptive names for these month. September was

called "Harfest-Monath", "the harvest month". October was "Win-Monath",

"the wine month". November was "Bloo-Monath", because in November the

English sacrificed cattle to their gods. December was “Mid-Winter-Monath”,

because this month was the middle month of winter.

C). Germanic tribes.

At the beginning of the 5th century the Romans left the islands, they had

tо save their own country from barbarians. If you want to know what events

followed after that, turn on the Time Machine again. So, here we are, in

the 5th century, This is the time of the birth of the English language. Тhe

Germanic tribes of Angles, Sаxоns and Jutes invaded thе misty fertile

island. Some of the native Britons were killed, mаnу others fled from the

invaders "аs from fire" into the hillу parts of the country. Anglеs, Saxons

аnd Jutes spread all over the fertile lаnds of the Isles. Gradually thеу

bесаmе one nation - English. They developed one language - English. As

historians write, "thе English language arrived in Britain on the point of

а sword"! The реорlе оf that timе of thе history аrе called Аng1о-Sахоns,

their language is оld English оr Ang1о-Saxon as well.

Тhе next destination оf оur Тimе Масhinе is the 7th century, when

Christiаnity was introducеd in Britain, monasteries with sсhools аnd

libraries were set uр all оver thе соuntry. Тhе English language was

considerably enriched bу the Latin woгds.

Now, with the help of the Тimе Масhinе we'll fly over into the 8th сеntuгу.

Аt this time the ancient Scandinavians, cаlled the Vikings, began to гаid

Britаin. Тhе Vikings continued thеir wars with the English until the timе

the Ang1о-Saxоn king Alfred thе Great made а treaty with them аnd gave them

а раrt of the country, that was саlled "Danelaw". Тhе Vikings settled

thеrе, married Еnglish wives аnd bеgan peaceful life on the territory of

Britain. Later military conflicts resumed again, but by the 11th century

they were over. The influence of these events оn the English lаnguagе was

great, indeed. А lаrge number of Scandinavian words саmе intо Еnglish from

"Danes" as thе Ang1o-Saxons called all the Vikings.

One reason why Roman Britannia disappeared so quickly is probably that its

influence was largely confined to the towns. In the countryside, where most

people lived, farming methods had remained unchanged and Celtic speech

continued to be dominant.

The Roman occupation had been a matter of colonial control rather than

large-scale settlement. But, during the fifth century, a number of tribes

from the north-western European mainland invaded and settled in large

numbers. Two of these tribes were the Angles and the Saxons. These Anglo-

Saxons soon had the south-east of the country in their grasp. In the west

of the country their advance was temporarily halted by an army of Celtic

Britons under the command of the legendary King Arthur. Nevertheless, by

the end of the sixth century, they and their way of life predominated in

nearly all of England and in parts of southern Scotland. The Celtic Britons

were either Saxonized or driven westwards, where their culture and language

survived in south-west Scotland, Wales and Cornwall.

The Anglo-Saxons had little use for towns and cities. But they had a great

effect on the countryside, where they introduced new farming methods and

founded the thousands of self-sufficient villages which formed the basis of

English society for the next thousand or so years.

The Anglo-Saxons were pagan when they came to Britain. Christianity spread

throughout Britain from two different directions during the sixth and

seventh centuries. It came directly from Rome when St Augustine arrived in

597 and established his headquarters at Canterbury in the south-east of

England. It had already been introduced into Scotland and northern England

from Ireland, which had become Christian more than 150 years earlier.

Although Roman Christianity eventually took over the whole of the British

Isles, the Celtic model persisted in Scotland and Ireland for several

hundred years. It was less centrally organized, and had less need for a

strong monarchy to support it. This partly explains why both secular and

religious power in these two countries continued to be both more locally

based and less secure than it was elsewhere in Britain throughout the

medieval period.

Britain experience another wave of Germanic invasions in the 8th century.

These invaders, known as Vikings, Horsemen or Danes, came from Scandinavia.

In the ninth century they conquered and settled the extreme north and west

of Scotland, and also some coastal regions of Ireland. Their conquest of

England was halted when they were defeated by King Alfred of the Saxon

kingdom of Wessex. This resulted in an agreement which divided England

between Wessex, in the south and west, and the “Danelaw” in the north and

east.

However, the cultural differences between Anglo-Saxons and Danes were

comparatively small. They led roughly the same way of life and spoke two

varieties of the same Germanic tongue (which combined to form the basis of

modern English). Moreover, the Danes soon converted to Christianity. These

similarities made political unification easier, and by the end of the 10th

century England was one kingdom with a Germanic culture throughout.

Most of modern-day Scotland was also united by this time, at least in name,

in a Gaelic kingdom.

Paopla in Anglo-Saxon times. Living uncomfortably close to the natural

world, were wall aware that though creation is inarticulate it is animate,

and that every created thing, every “with”, had its own personality.

The riddle is a sophisticated and harmless for of invocation by imitation:

the essence of it is that the poet, by an act of imaginative identification

assumes the personality of some crested thing - an animal, a plant, a

natural force.

The specialists consider that they know not enough about The Exeter Book

collection of riddles. Ridding was certainly a popular pastime among the

Anglo-Saxons, especially in the monasteries, and there are extant

collections (in Latin, of course,) from the pens of Aldhelm, Bishop of

Sherborne, Tatwin, Archbishop of Canterbury and others.

The provenance and genesis of the collection are unknown, and from internal

evidence one can only draw the modest conclusion that the ninety-five

riddles were not written by one man.

In English a student and the little black circle in the center of the eye

are both called “pupils”? And the connection between them is a doll. Both

the words came into the English language through French from the Latin. In

Latin there was a word “pupa” – “a girl”, and “pupus” – “ a boy”. When the

Latin ending “illa” was added to “pupa” or “pupus”, the word meant “ a

little girl” or “ a little boy”. Since little girls and little boys went to

school, they became “pupils”.

But “pupilla”, a little girl, also meant “a doll”. It is easy to understand

why, isn’t it? Now, if you look into the pupil of someone’s eye when the

light is just right, you can see your reflection. Your figure, by the way,

is very, very small like a tiny doll. The Romans named the black circle in

the eye “pupilla” because of the doll they could see there. And the word

came into the English as “pupil” as well. And thus, we have in the English

language two words that are spelt the same and have the same origin, but

mean different things: “pupil” – a student, and “pupil” – a black circle in

the center of your eye.

Professor casts a quick glance at the wall and noticed a map there. “This

map is made of paper. But the word itself meant cloth once. This word came

into English from Latin, the Latin mappa was cloth. First maps were drawn

on fabrics. In Latin the combination of the words appeared: mappa mundi –

“cloth of the word”. It was the first representation of the world as a

drawing on the cloth. Later maps began to be made of paper, but the word

remained.

By another route the same word came into English for the second time. In

Late Latin this word was corrupted into nappa, and later, through French,

it entered the English language with the new meaning of napkin.”

“When a teacher asks you a question. She expects you will give a correct

answer. Answer is a very strange word. Its spelling makes no sense until

you know its origin. This is a very old word. In Old English the noun was

andswaru and the verb – andswearing. So, you see, it consisted of two

parts: and and swear. The word and at that time meant against; swear meant

to give a solemn oath. In the youth of the English language andswaru was “

a solemn oath made against an accusation”. A man had to pronounce a solemn

in reply to an accusation, to prove that it is wrong. In the course of

historical development the word lost its solemnity and it means now a

reply, to reply. Any little child answer you back today.”

Professor History remarks, “ I see that some of you write with a ballpoint

pen, others with a pencil, and there are some who write with a fountain

pen. So, you can’t do without ink, after all. A simple three-letter word

ink comes from a nine-letter ancestor that meant a branding iron. And now a

few steps away from the skill of writing towards the skill of healing

wounds. When we have a wound we cauterize it, we burn it with heat or with

a chemical in order to close it and prevent it from becoming infected. The

ancient Greeks used to cauterize a wound as we do, and the grandparent word

of cauterize is kauterion, a branding iron. The Greek not only sealed

wounds with heat, but they used much the same process in art for sealing

fast the colours of their painting. It was customary then to use wax

colours fixed with heat or, as they expressed it, encauston, burned in. In

Latin this word changed to encaustum, and it became the name for a kind of

purple ink that the emperors used when they signed their official

documents. In Old French encaustum became enque. English adopted the word

as enke or inke, that is how today we have our ink, coloured liquid used

for writing or printing.”

“The start of spoken language is buried in mystery and in a tangle of

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