Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2006

There are some _words_ of Latin origin in OE, but it'll be news to me
if you find any clear influence in morphology or syntax. But it's a
long time since I was a student, and I suppose whoever set you the task
must know what he's doing.

You might also try soc.history.medieval and sci.lang. Some of the
people there won't be nice to you if you use _'cause_, though.

By the way, it's always a good idea to put your question in the
message: it helps replies to look as though they make sense. Many
people don't read subject lines, which are best treated simply as
titles.

The only real morphological impact of Latin on Old English that I can
think of is in lexical morphology, whereby English compounds are
constructed after Latin models, especially for terms in Christian theology
and doctrine, so 'thrines' ('three-ness') for Latin 'trinitas' (trinity),
'godspel' ('good-speech') for Latin 'evangelium' (gospel), etc. (Apologies
for lack of 'thorn'.) Occasionally the syntax of sentences suggests a
Latin influence, though this is often in translations of Latin works. For
some starting points on this sort of thing you might look at Helmut
Gneuss's chapter on the language in Godden and Lapidge, The Cambridge
Companion to Old English Literature, the sections on Latin in Chapter 4 of
Baugh and Cable, History of the English Language, and the chapters by
Susan Irvine and Matthew Townend in Mugglestone, The Oxford History of
English. (The relevant parts of the Baugh and Cable book are available at
http://www.orbilat.com/Influences_of_Romance/English/RIFL-English-Latin-The_Infl
luences_on_Old_English.html,
taken from the 3rd ed.) You might also consult Hogg, The Cambridge History
of the English Language, vol. 1: The Beginnings to 1066, and Fischer, van
Kemenade et al., The Syntax of Early English.