Text 5:

Richard Verstegan (1550 – 1640) A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence (1608)

 

Since the tyme of Chucer, more Latin & French, hath bin mingled with our toung than

left out of it, but of late we haue falne to ſuch borowing of woords from, Latin, French,

and other toungs, that it had bin beyond all ſtay and limit, which albeit ſome of vs do

lyke wel and think our toung thereby much bettred, yet do ſtrangers therefore carry the

farre leſſe opinion thereof, some saying that it is of it self no language at all, but the

ſcum of many langauges, others that it is most barren and that wee are dayly faine to

borrow woords for it (as though it yet lacked making) out of other languages to patche it

vp withall, and that yf wee were put to repay our borrowed ſpeech back again, to the

langauges that may lay claim vnto it; wee ſhould bee left litle better then dumb, or

ſcarſly able to speak any thing that should bee ſensible.

This is a thing that eaſily may happen in ſo ſpatious a toung as this, it beeing ſpoken in ſo

many different countries and regions, when wee ſee that in ſome ſeueral partes of

England it ſelf, both the names of things and pronountiations of woords are ſomwhat

different, and that among the countrey people that neuer borrow any woords out of the

Lain or French, and o fhtis different pronountiation one example in ſteed of many ſhall

ſuffice, as this: for pronouncing according as one would ſay in London, I would eat more

cheeſe of I had it/the northern main ſaith, Ay ſud eat mare cheee gin ay hadet/and the

westerne man ſaith: Chud eat more cheeſe an chad it. Lo heer three different

pronountiations in our own countrey in one thing, &heerof many the lyke examples

might be alleaged.

 

 Summary of the text commented in class 7/4/09:

In opposition to the defenders of the Old English, R. Verstegan claimed that the English of the Renaissance cannot be what it was before because there is nothing left. If the vocabulary obtained from French and Latin is removed, there would be no vocabulary left to speak. Therefore, R. Verstegan suggested that the English people should concentrate on making a standard pronunciation of the English they had in their present instead of trying to recover what it is lost forever.

 

Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
Barry Pennock Speck
© Carolina Cody Aldaz
cacodyal@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press