Latin words in the English Renaissance - A survey with emphasis on socio-cultural aspects

This Hausarbeit treats the influence of Latin words on the English language in the Renaissance and, therefore, - following Baugh/Cable (1994) – from around 1500 until 1650. These time borders, however, are rather loose and only provide an orientation. When necessary for a complete understanding there will also be references to earlier or later points in time.

In this work, more precisely in the 4th chapter there will be a concrete overview about Latin words enriching the language during the Renaissance. The main interest of this work, however, is to illuminate the influence of Latin on English from a socio-cultural perspective. In order to achieve this, firstly the focus will be on processes and occurrences which generally affected the English society, but which also had consequences on the language. Subsequently, the attitudes of people – and especially scholars – concerning status and use of both, English and Latin, shall be reflected and brought into relation with social processes outlined before. Since this Hausarbeit deals with Latin words (lexicology), there will be no discussions on Latin grammar or rhetoric.