While the Norman Conquest was directly affecting English speech, events in other regions of the world were also influencing the language

In the same century of the "Norman Conquest", the Crusades started. Intended to free the Holy Land from the Arab infidels, the Crusades brought the European Christians into contact with the Arab Muslim world.

It was in that world, fortunately, that the treasures of pagan Europe, discarded when not destroyed by the early Christians, had been preserved.

The works of Aristotle, consisting of Greek scientific speculations and Greek medicine, were all reintroduced into Europe. With them came their vocabulary: zenith, astronomy, artery, vein, asthma, gout, demon, and goblin.

Alchemist and algebra show al, the Arab prefix for "the"; it occurs also in alcohol ("the kohl"), from Portuguese alcatraz, and from Arabic al qadus.

Of tremendous importance was the introduction of the Arabic numerals. Imagine (with out computers) the difficulty of multiplying, in Roman figures, XXXIV by XLVII.

Also, from the Arabs, came the even greater simplification provided by their cipher, zero (0), which radically altered methods of calculation, and made manifest the advantages of the decimal system.

In England, there were other influences which resulted in language modifications

In 1215, the barons extracted the Magna Carta from a reluctant King John at Runnymede, taking the first step from the divine right of kings toward democracy.

The Hundred Years' War, which troubled the years from 1337 to 1435, brought resentment against the French people and their language, which helped to give the English language an ascendancy.

The East Midland dialect was becoming the dominant, standard English tongue. It was the speech of London, which, with a population of forty thousand, was the largest city in England.

In 1349, the Black Death wiped out one-third of the population in a few months. Economic conditions were oppressive, and in 1381, the Peasants' Revolt erupted against the imposition of heavy taxes.

When the recovery came, so did the rise of the middle class, the successful businessmen and traders, the skilled craftsmen in their powerful guilds; and also a measure of leisure.

In 1476, William Caxton established the first English printing press, at Westminster; by 1500, some 25,000 books were printed.

By 1550, the Renaissance arrived in England, and the language acquired the forms, the variety, and the flexibility, of which we can take advantage today.

***

If you understand the following story, you understand at least one word from thirty-two different languages!

The admiral hated to snoop, so he left the bottle of shampoo just where he had found it -- next to the tea and coffee. The bottle had a picture of a llama on the label.

The admiral's wife, who usually wore a gingham dress and moccasins when visiting their ranch on the Nebraska prairie, had just returned from her chores at the bank and the church bazaar. She was now helping the cook make the chowder and the goulash for lunch. The admiral heard them talking in the kitchen.

Someone was playing a ukulele, which the admiral did not like, so he turned on the radio and listened to a pretty mazurka by Chopin. Then he looked through his collection of pictures -- mostly of boats rafts, and kayak he had seen.

When everyone sat down to eat, the principal of the kindergarten cried, "At last! Hurrah!" -- and by accident spilled the ketchup all over the taffy apples! This so amused another guest, who had just returned from a safari, that he pulled a toy pistol out of his sack and ran all around the veranda, laughing like a maniac and firing his pistol at imaginary zombies. It was a grand party.

word	language		word	language		word	language
admiral	Arabic		hurrah	Slavic		rafts	Old Norse
bank	Italian		kayaks	Eskimo		ranch	Spanish
bazaar	Persian		kindergarten	German		sack	Hebrew
bottle	Medieval Latin		kitchen	Old Saxon		safari	Swahili
chores	Greek		llama	Tibetan		shampoo	Hindustani
chowder	Creole		maniac	Latin		snoop	Dutch
church	old Frisian		mazurka	polish		taffy	Tagalog
coffee	Turkish		moccasins	Powhatan		tea	Chinese
gingham	Malay		Nebraska	Sioux		ukulele	Hawaiian
goulash	Hungarian		pistol	Czech		veranda	Portuguese
						zombies	West African