HOW MANY WORDS DO WE HAVE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE VOCABULARY?

 

HOW MANY WORDS DO WE HAVE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE VOCABULARY? 

          There are over one million words in the English Language.  Notably, in December 2010, a joint Harvard/Google study found that “the language contains 1,022,000 words (including of course, different forms of the same words and some archaic words) and expands at the rate of 8,500 words per year”.  But the average user uses only about 60,000 to 100,000 words.  It is impossible for anyone to be able to understand every word in the English Language; more so, there are terminologies and registers in every profession, all of which have made the English Language to be very vast.

          Now, let us use the remaining space of our column to discuss other pertinent areas.

Origin of the English Language 

          English Language had its developmental origin in England in the 5th century AD, out of Anglo-Saxon or Old English, which was a language introduced there by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes --- three Germanic tribes which invaded Britain as at that time  --- and gave England its name (meaning the land of the Angles).

          Later, towards the end of the 6th century AD, some monks came to Britain as missionaries from Rome, and thereby introduced Latin words to Britain. Thus, many words were derived from Latin into the English Language.

          Then in the 9th and 10th centuries AD, some Scandinavian invaders conquered and occupied a part of England and, in the process, introduced a language called Old Norse which gave derivation to many words in modern English.

          Also, in the year 1066 AD, the Normans conquered Britain and brought in the French Language. This development brought many French derivatives into the English Language.

          Furthermore, in the 15th and 16th centuries when there was reawakening of interest in classical learning (called Renaissance), many words were derived from Greek and again from Latin, to broaden the growth of the English Language.

          From the above-mentioned developments, the English language has continued to grow wider and wider, and with passage of time, has changed from one form to another. For example, about five hundred years ago, an expression like: ‘whither goest thee?’ would have meant ‘where are you going?’ to a user of the language back then.  But in today’s English, the expression is almost meaningless.

Universality of the English Language

             Today, English has become, not just a language of the English people, but a universal language. On a daily basis, events and phenomena occurring at different parts of the earth, are leading to coinage of new words into the English vocabulary. To illustrate, let us consider the following cases:

          The word ‘waterloo’ which is often used to mean ‘defeat in a contest/ struggle’ today, was derived from a city named Waterloo where the famous French warrior called Napoleon Bonaparte was eventually defeated before being sent to exile in St. Helena.

Similarly, the word ‘colossal’ which means big, great, immense, etc. was derived from the word ‘colossus’, (a great bronze statue representative of the god Apollo in Greece) which was said to have stood astride a river.

Furthermore, the word ‘tradomedicalism’ was coined by the late Dr. John Ojo Mume of Ekakpamre in Ughelli South Local Government Area (but who lived and practised tradomedicalism at Agbarho, his maternal community, in Ughelli North Local Government Area) out of two existing words: ‘medicine’ and ‘traditional’ to bring his profession to the limelight.

Moreover, in 2006/2007 when Senator (Barr.) Ovie Omo-Agege (the immediate past Deputy Senate President of Nigeria) was vying for the governorship seat of Delta State, he invented and used the phrase: “To The Next Level” on his bill-boards.  Today, the phrase is being commonly used in all parts of Nigeria and beyond, in different contexts.

          At a universal level, some Nigerian words like Agbada (Yoruba) and Agogo (Urhobo) are now accepted as English words with entries into the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.  And more recently, in January, 2020, the Oxford English Dictionary adopted and added 29 Nigerian words and phrases including ‘Danfo Bus’, to its entries, as Standard English words!

          From the above overview, one can see that the English Language is so dynamically vast and universal that no individual can boast of being an absolute master of it. Everyone continues to be a learner, including the English people, who are the native users of the language.