Page 28 - Alfred the Great And His Legacy
P. 28
Reason Five –Father of the English Language
• Alfred championed the use of Anglo Saxon English not only by promoting its
use by having it taught in schools at primary level, but by either translating
from Latin himself or having commissioned key Latin texts.
• From Alfred’s time there is a direct line down to the works of Chaucer and
even to today when English could be argued to be the world’s language.
• Anglo Saxon words are the bedrock of everyday speech & writing, about 80%
of words in everyday speech are Anglo-Saxon in origin.
• Examples of Anglo-Saxon words still in common use: and, the, there, then,
how, many, what, English, words, still, water, kingdom, child, & today.
