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144-638: In English , the feast is called The Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the official translation of the Roman Missal , while the 1973 translation called it The Triumph of the Cross . In some parts of the Anglican Communion the feast is called Holy Cross Day , a name also used by Lutherans . The celebration is also sometimes called Holy Rood Day , or by the historical names Roodmas or Crouchmas . The Feast of

288-546: A mixed language or a creole —a theory called the Middle English creole hypothesis . Although the great influence of these languages on the vocabulary and grammar of Modern English is widely acknowledged, most specialists in language contact do not consider English to be a true mixed language. English is classified as a Germanic language because it shares innovations with other Germanic languages including Dutch , German , and Swedish . These shared innovations show that

432-635: A 2012 official Eurobarometer poll (conducted when the UK was still a member of the EU), 38 percent of the EU respondents outside the countries where English is an official language said they could speak English well enough to have a conversation in that language. The next most commonly mentioned foreign language, French (which is the most widely known foreign language in the UK and Ireland), could be used in conversation by 12 percent of respondents. A working knowledge of English has become

576-433: A circuit or revolution (from ymb , around, and ryne , a course, running), clearly relating to the annual cycle of the year. The word occurs in such Anglo-Saxon compounds as ymbren-tid ("Embertide"), ymbren-wucan ("Ember weeks"), ymbren-fisstan ("Ember fasts"), ymbren-dagas ("Ember days"). The word imbren occurs in the acts of the "Council of Ænham" (1009): jejunia quatuor tempora quae imbren vocant , "the fasts of

720-627: A different pattern. Ordination ceremonies are often held on Ember Saturdays or the following Sunday. The observance of fasting and abstinence in the Catholic Church eliminated the Ember days in 1966. They remain a feature of other Western churches, such as in Anglicanism , where the Book of Common Prayer provides for the Ember days, in practice observed in different ways. The word ember originates from

864-651: A distinct language from Modern English and is virtually impossible for 21st-century unstudied English-speakers to understand. Its grammar was similar to that of modern German: nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs had many more inflectional endings and forms , and word order was much freer than in Modern English. Modern English has case forms in pronouns ( he , him , his ) and has a few verb inflections ( speak , speaks , speaking , spoke , spoken ), but Old English had case endings in nouns as well, and verbs had more person and number endings. Its closest relative

1008-626: A feast which continues for several days thereafter. It is counted as one of the five major feasts of the Armenian Church, and the most important of the four feasts of the Holy Cross. According to Armenian tradition , the first one to "exalt" the Cross was the Apostle James of Jerusalem , the "Brother of the Lord". On the Sunday nearest 14 September, the liturgy is marked with an antasdan service (blessing of

1152-484: A foreign language, make up the "expanding circle". The distinctions between English as a first language, as a second language, and as a foreign language are often debatable and may change in particular countries over time. For example, in the Netherlands and some other countries of Europe, knowledge of English as a second language is nearly universal, with over 80 percent of the population able to use it, and thus English

1296-561: A fourth needed to be added "for the sake of symmetry" as the Encyclopædia Britannica 1911 has it. From Rome the Ember days gradually spread unevenly through the whole of Western Christendom. In Gaul they do not seem to have been generally recognized much before the 8th century. Their observance in Britain, however, was embraced earlier than in Gaul or Spain, and Christian sources connect

1440-638: A group of West Germanic dialects spoken by the Anglo-Saxons . Late Old English borrowed some grammar and core vocabulary from Old Norse , a North Germanic language . Then, Middle English borrowed vocabulary extensively from French dialects , which are the source of approximately 28% of Modern English words , and from Latin , which is the source of an additional 28% . As such, though most of its total vocabulary comes from Romance languages , Modern English's grammar, phonology, and most commonly used words in everyday use keep it genealogically classified under

1584-462: A law regulating the fast, although Leo the Great (440–461) considers it an Apostolic institution. When the fourth season was added cannot be ascertained, but Pope Gelasius I (492–496) speaks of all four. The earliest mention of four seasonal fasts is known from the writings of Philastrius, bishop of Brescia (died ca 387) ( De haeres. 119). He also connects them with the great Christian festivals. As

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1728-592: A major feast. The Assyrian Church considers the Sign of the Cross to be the sacrament by which all of the other sacraments are sealed and perfected. (The Church's traditional list of sacraments does not include marriage.) Saranaya (Syriac) hold a shara every year in cities like Chicago, Illinois, and Modesto, California, and other parts of the world. The shara in Modesto is held every Sunday prior to 13 September at East La Loma Park, where they sacrifice lambs in remembrance of

1872-520: A more standard version of English. They have many more speakers of English who acquire English as they grow up through day-to-day use and listening to broadcasting, especially if they attend schools where English is the medium of instruction. Varieties of English learned by non-native speakers born to English-speaking parents may be influenced, especially in their grammar, by the other languages spoken by those learners. Most of those varieties of English include words little used by native speakers of English in

2016-688: A number of other Anglic languages, including Scots and the extinct Fingallian dialect and Yola language of Ireland. Like Icelandic and Faroese , the development of English in the British Isles isolated it from the continental Germanic languages and influences, and it has since diverged considerably. English is not mutually intelligible with any continental Germanic language, as it differs in vocabulary , syntax , and phonology . However, some of these, such as Dutch or Frisian, do show strong affinities with English, especially with its earlier stages. Unlike Icelandic and Faroese, which were isolated,

2160-735: A part of the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. Organization of these celebrations in the ordinary form is now left to the decision of episcopal conferences in view of local conditions and customs. The ember days are still observed in the calendar of the Roman Rite's Extraordinary Form , the Anglican Ordinariate , and Western Orthodoxy . Red is the usual liturgical color in churches that follow such traditions. In Western Christianity , red vestments are worn at church services conducted on this day. The lectionaries of

2304-725: A portion of the cross. One-third remained in Jerusalem, one-third was brought to Rome and deposited in the Sessorian basilica Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (Holy Cross in Jerusalem), and one-third was taken to Constantinople to make the city impregnable. The date of the feast marks the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 335. This was a two-day festival: although the actual consecration of

2448-667: A possibility of divergence of English dialects into mutually unintelligible languages, most think a more likely outcome is that English will continue to function as a koineised language, in which the standard form unifies speakers from around the world. English is used as the language for wider communication in countries around the world. Thus English has grown in worldwide use much more than any constructed language proposed as an international auxiliary language , including Esperanto . Ember days Ember days ( quarter tense in Ireland) are quarterly periods of prayer and fasting in

2592-679: A requirement in a number of occupations and professions such as medicine and computing. English has become so important in scientific publishing that more than 80 percent of all scientific journal articles indexed by Chemical Abstracts in 1998 were written in English, as were 90 percent of all articles in natural science publications by 1996 and 82 percent of articles in humanities publications by 1995. International communities such as international business people may use English as an auxiliary language , with an emphasis on vocabulary suitable for their domain of interest. This has led some scholars to develop

2736-407: A rich inflectional morphology and relatively free word order to a mostly analytic pattern with little inflection and a fairly fixed subject–verb–object word order . Modern English relies more on auxiliary verbs and word order for the expression of complex tenses , aspects and moods , as well as passive constructions , interrogatives , and some negation . The earliest form of English

2880-744: A significant minority speaks English. The countries with the most native English speakers are, in descending order, the United States (at least 231 million), the United Kingdom (60 million), Canada (19 million), Australia (at least 17 million), South Africa (4.8 million), Ireland (4.2 million), and New Zealand (3.7 million). In these countries, children of native speakers learn English from their parents, and local people who speak other languages and new immigrants learn English to communicate in their neighbourhoods and workplaces. The inner-circle countries provide

3024-745: A special offering called panchasarayumanda is made on this day, in particular at the Akaparambu Mor Sabor-Mor Aphroth Church in the Ernakulam District, Kerala . In the liturgy of the Roman Catholic church , the readings in the Holy Mass for the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross draw a comparison between the bronze serpent of Numbers 21 , which was raised up on a pole so that all who looked upon it would be cured of

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3168-447: A verb ending ( present plural): From the 8th to the 11th centuries, Old English gradually transformed through language contact with Old Norse in some regions. The waves of Norse (Viking) colonisation of northern parts of the British Isles in the 8th and 9th centuries put Old English into intense contact with Old Norse , a North Germanic language. Norse influence was strongest in the north-eastern varieties of Old English spoken in

3312-665: A week (the Fourth Week of Great Lent). On the Monday and Wednesday of that week, a veneration of the Cross takes place at the First Hour (repeating a portion of the service from matins of the previous Sunday). On Friday of that week, the veneration takes place after the Ninth Hour , after which the priest and deacons return the cross to the sanctuary. In addition to all of the above commemorations, Orthodox also hold Wednesday and Friday throughout

3456-552: Is Old Frisian , but even some centuries after the Anglo-Saxon migration, Old English retained considerable mutual intelligibility with other Germanic varieties. Even in the 9th and 10th centuries, amidst the Danelaw and other Viking invasions, there is historical evidence that Old Norse and Old English retained considerable mutual intelligibility, although probably the northern dialects of Old English were more similar to Old Norse than

3600-520: Is a Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday, the Ember Days fall on the following Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday (in the second week of September) whereas they fall a week later (in the third week of September) for the Roman Catholic Church. Some Lutheran church calendars continue the observation of Ember and Rogation days, though the practice has diminished over the past century. Quarter tense is normally determined by national Roman Catholic hierarchies and not by

3744-507: Is a shorter mnemonic for when they fall. The ember days began on the Wednesday immediately following those days. This meant, for instance, that if September 14 were a Tuesday, the ember days would occur on September 15, 17, and 18. As a result, the ember days in September could fall after either the second or third Sunday in September. This was always the liturgical Third Week of September, since

3888-459: Is also undergoing change under the influence of American English, fuelled by the strong presence of American English in the media and the prestige associated with the United States as a world power. As of 2016 , 400 million people spoke English as their first language , and 1.1 billion spoke it as a secondary language. English is the largest language by number of speakers . English

4032-603: Is also widely used in media and literature, and the number of English language books published annually in India is the third largest in the world after the US and UK. However, English is rarely spoken as a first language, numbering only around a couple hundred-thousand people, and less than 5% of the population speak fluent English in India. David Crystal claimed in 2004 that, combining native and non-native speakers, India now has more people who speak or understand English than any other country in

4176-407: Is an official language of countries populated by few descendants of native speakers of English. It has also become by far the most important language of international communication when people who share no native language meet anywhere in the world. The Indian linguist Braj Kachru distinguished countries where English is spoken with a three circles model . In his model, Kachru based his model on

4320-528: Is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon ( c.  450–1150 ). Old English developed from a set of West Germanic dialects, often grouped as Anglo-Frisian or North Sea Germanic , and originally spoken along the coasts of Frisia , Lower Saxony and southern Jutland by Germanic peoples known to the historical record as the Angles , Saxons , and Jutes . From the 5th century, the Anglo-Saxons settled Britain as

4464-510: Is deemed appropriate for the first day of a fast. Unlike the observance on 14 September, this commemoration is considered to be a minor feast, but it does have the bringing out of the cross and veneration by the faithful like the September feast. The history of this feast begins in Constantinople where it was the custom to carry the relic of the True Cross through the streets and squares of

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4608-424: Is routinely used to communicate with foreigners and often in higher education. In these countries, although English is not used for government business, its widespread use puts them at the boundary between the "outer circle" and "expanding circle". English is unusual among world languages in how many of its users are not native speakers but speakers of English as a second or foreign language. Many users of English in

4752-517: Is spoken by communities on every continent and on islands in all the major oceans. The countries where English is spoken can be grouped into different categories according to how English is used in each country. The "inner circle" countries with many native speakers of English share an international standard of written English and jointly influence speech norms for English around the world. English does not belong to just one country, and it does not belong solely to descendants of English settlers. English

4896-777: Is the third person pronoun group beginning with th- ( they, them, their ) which replaced the Anglo-Saxon pronouns with h- ( hie, him, hera ). Other core Norse loanwords include "give", "get", "sky", "skirt", "egg", and "cake", typically displacing a native Anglo-Saxon equivalent. Old Norse in this era retained considerable mutual intelligibility with some dialects of Old English, particularly northern ones. Englischmen þeyz hy hadde fram þe bygynnyng þre manner speche, Souþeron, Northeron, and Myddel speche in þe myddel of þe lond, ... Noþeles by comyxstion and mellyng, furst wiþ Danes, and afterward wiþ Normans, in menye þe contray longage ys asperyed, and som vseþ strange wlaffyng, chyteryng, harryng, and garryng grisbytting. Although, from

5040-687: Is unclear. By the time of at the penultimate Code of Canon Law (1917) , major orders could also be conferred on the Saturday preceding Passion Sunday , and on the Easter Vigil ; for grave reasons, on Sundays and holy days of obligation ; and, for minor orders , even without grave reason, on all Sundays and double feasts, which included most saints' feasts and thus the great majority of the calendar. Present Roman Catholic canon law (1983) prefers them to be conferred on Sundays and holy days of obligation, but allows them for pastoral reason on any day. In practice

5184-943: The Anglic languages in the British Isles , and into the Frisian languages and Low German /Low Saxon on the continent. The Frisian languages, which together with the Anglic languages form the Anglo-Frisian languages , are the closest living relatives of English. Low German/Low Saxon is also closely related, and sometimes English, the Frisian languages, and Low German are grouped together as the North Sea Germanic languages, though this grouping remains debated. Old English evolved into Middle English , which in turn evolved into Modern English. Particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into

5328-587: The Anglo-Norman language . Because Norman was spoken primarily by the elites and nobles, while the lower classes continued speaking English, the main influence of Norman was the introduction of a wide range of loanwords related to politics, legislation and prestigious social domains. Middle English also greatly simplified the inflectional system, probably in order to reconcile Old Norse and Old English, which were inflectionally different but morphologically similar. The distinction between nominative and accusative cases

5472-479: The Augustinian canon Orrm , which highlights the blending of both Old English and Anglo-Norman elements in English for the first time. In Wycliff'e Bible of the 1380s, the verse Matthew 8:20 was written: Foxis han dennes, and briddis of heuene han nestis . Here the plural suffix -n on the verb have is still retained, but none of the case endings on the nouns are present. By the 12th century Middle English

5616-415: The Church of England (and other Anglican churches) and Western Rite Orthodoxy also stipulate red as the liturgical color for 'Holy Cross Day.' In Eastern Orthodox Churches that use various liturgical colors, red vestments are also worn. Yet in these Orthodox churches, the wearing of red continues for a week after the feast. The Carmelite Rule of St. Albert of 1247 gives this date as the beginning of

5760-537: The Danelaw area around York, which was the centre of Norse colonisation; today these features are still particularly present in Scots and Northern English . The centre of Norsified English was in the Midlands around Lindsey . After 920 CE, when Lindsey was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon polity, English spread extensively throughout the region. An element of Norse influence that continues in all English varieties today

5904-676: The Ethiopian Calendar . This is the same date as observed by the Coptic Orthodox Church. The eve of this day is popularly called Demera (meaning "Bonfire") in Amharic. The Ethiopian Patriarch lights a large bonfire in Meskel Square , Addis Ababa 's greatest open arena, and smaller bonfires are lit by individuals and local parishes throughout the country. Thousands attend the colourful and vibrant ceremony of religious chantings around

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6048-532: The European Free Trade Association , Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) set English as their organisation's sole working language even though most members are not countries with a majority of native English speakers. While the European Union (EU) allows member states to designate any of the national languages as an official language of

6192-528: The General Roman Calendar now celebrates both the finding and the exaltation of the Holy Cross on 14 September, although some Latin American countries and Mexico still celebrate the feast of the finding on 3 May. Some communities which celebrate the liturgy in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite also observe the feast of the finding of the Holy Cross on 3 May. The Second Council of Nicæa of 787, drew

6336-717: The Gospel Book , the latter being set upright at the back of the altar. Those portions of the vespers and matins which in sundry local customs take place before the Icon of the Feast (e.g., the chanting of the Polyeleos and the Matins Gospel ) instead take place in front of the Holy Table. The bringing out of the cross and the exaltation ceremony occur at matins . The cross remains in the centre of

6480-621: The Icon of Christ " Not Made by Hands " (16 August). Because of the blessing of holy water , this feast is sometimes called "Saviour of the Water." There may also be celebrated on this day the Rite of Blessing New Honey , for which reason the day is also referred to as "Saviour of the Honey." According to Saint Nikolaj Velimirović , this feast was instituted by mutual agreement of the Greeks and Russians to commemorate

6624-599: The Irish calendar for the observation of Quarter Tense were: The rule that ordination of clergy should take place in the Ember weeks was set in documents traditionally associated with Pope Gelasius I (492–496), the pontificate of Archbishop Ecgbert of York, A.D. 732–766, and referred to as a canonical rule in a capitulary of Charlemagne. It was finally established as a law of the church in the pontificate of Pope Gregory VII , ca 1085. However, why Ember Saturdays are traditionally associated with ordinations (other than episcopal ones)

6768-530: The Roman Catholic Church mandated fasting and abstinence on all Ember Days, and the faithful were encouraged (though not required) to receive the sacrament of penance whenever possible. On February 17, 1966, Pope Paul VI 's decree Paenitemini excluded the Ember Days as days of fast and abstinence for Roman Catholics. The revision of the liturgical calendar in 1969 laid down the following rules for Ember Days and Rogation days : "In order that

6912-612: The Russian Empire for defense and protection. To this end, they elected Paul I , the Tsar of Russia, as Grand Master of the Order. The Tsar accepted his election. On 12 October 1799, Maltese knights came to their new Priory Palace , just built for them by Paul in Gatchina (45 km [27 miles] south of St.  Petersburg ), and offered these ancient and holy treasures to their new Grand Master,

7056-634: The Uncovering of the Precious Cross and the Precious Nails by Empress Saint Helen —that is to say, the anniversary of the actual discovery; the date for the feast on 14 September was determined by the consecration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is a lesser feast, and does not have any of the liturgical peculiarities of the feast of 14 September. The General Roman Calendar before 1960 contained

7200-455: The United Nations at the end of World War II , English had become pre-eminent and is now the main worldwide language of diplomacy and international relations. It is one of six official languages of the United Nations. Many other worldwide international organisations, including the International Olympic Committee , specify English as a working language or official language of the organisation. Many regional international organisations such as

7344-426: The conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, but it developed further in the period from 1150 to 1500. With the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the now-Norsified Old English language was subject to another wave of intense contact, this time with Old French , in particular Old Norman French , influencing it as a superstrate. The Norman French spoken by the elite in England eventually developed into

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7488-399: The liturgical calendar of Western Christian churches. The term is from Old English : ymbren , possibly derived from Latin : quatuor tempora . These fasts traditionally take place on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of the weeks following St Lucy's Day (13 December), the first Sunday in Lent , Pentecost (Whitsun), and Holy Cross Day (14 September), though some areas follow

7632-454: The palatalisation of consonants that were velar consonants in Proto-Germanic (see Phonological history of Old English § Palatalization ). The earliest varieties of an English language, collectively known as Old English or "Anglo-Saxon", evolved from a group of North Sea Germanic dialects brought to Britain in the 5th century. Old English dialects were later influenced by Old Norse -speaking Viking invaders and settlers , starting in

7776-505: The "outer circle" countries are countries such as the Philippines , Jamaica , India , Pakistan , Singapore , Malaysia and Nigeria with a much smaller proportion of native speakers of English but much use of English as a second language for education, government, or domestic business, and its routine use for school instruction and official interactions with the government. Those countries have millions of native speakers of dialect continua ranging from an English-based creole to

7920-427: The 8th and 9th centuries. Middle English began in the late 11th century after the Norman Conquest of England, when a considerable amount of Old French vocabulary was incorporated into English over some three centuries. Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the start of the Great Vowel Shift and the Renaissance trend of borrowing further Latin and Greek words and roots, concurrent with

8064-448: The Angles. English may have a small amount of substrate influence from Common Brittonic, and a number of possible Brittonicisms in English have been proposed, but whether most of these supposed Brittonicisms are actually a direct result of Brittonic substrate influence is disputed. Old English was divided into four dialects: the Anglian dialects ( Mercian and Northumbrian ) and the Saxon dialects ( Kentish and West Saxon ). Through

8208-406: The British Empire in the 1950s and 1960s, former colonies often did not reject English but rather continued to use it as independent countries setting their own language policies. For example, the view of the English language among many Indians has gone from associating it with colonialism to associating it with economic progress, and English continues to be an official language of India. English

8352-403: The Cross on the third Sunday of Great Lent . The services for this day are modeled on the Feast of the Exaltation (14 September), and include bringing the cross to the holy table at little vespers and with solemnity out into the center of church at matins, albeit without the ceremony of the Exaltation of the Cross , for veneration by the faithful. It remains in the centre of the church for nearly

8496-403: The Cross (the soma ) is usually engraved, enameled, or painted on the cross, rather than being a separate three-dimensional figure as is found on a crucifix . English language English is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , whose speakers, called Anglophones , originated in early medieval England on the island of Great Britain . The namesake of

8640-417: The Cross. The first Feast of the Cross commemorates the Consecration of the Church of the Resurrection on 17 Thout according to the Coptic calendar . This corresponds to 14 September on the Julian Calendar (or, in years following a Coptic leap year, one day later) which will correspond to 27 September on the Gregorian Calendar until AD 2099. The second Feast of the Cross commemorates the Appearance of

8784-434: The Early Modern period includes the works of William Shakespeare and the translation of the Bible commissioned by King James I . Even after the vowel shift the language still sounded different from Modern English: for example, the consonant clusters /kn ɡn sw/ in knight , gnat , and sword were still pronounced. Many of the grammatical features that a modern reader of Shakespeare might find quaint or archaic represent

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8928-436: The Ember Days came to be associated with great feast days, they later lost their connection to agriculture and came to be regarded solely as days of penitence and prayer. It is only the Michaelmas Embertide, which falls around the autumn harvest, that retains any connection to the original purpose. The Christian observance of the seasonal Ember days had its origin as an ecclesiastical ordinance in Rome and spread from there to

9072-439: The Ember Days observance with Augustine of Canterbury , AD. 597, said to be acting under the direct authority of Pope Gregory the Great. The precise dates appears to have varied considerably however, and in some cases, quite significantly, the Ember Weeks lost their connection with the Christian festivals altogether. Spain adopted them with the Roman rite in the eleventh century. Charles Borromeo introduced them into Milan in

9216-409: The English Language , which introduced standard spellings of words and usage norms. In 1828, Noah Webster published the American Dictionary of the English language to try to establish a norm for speaking and writing American English that was independent of the British standard. Within Britain, non-standard or lower class dialect features were increasingly stigmatised, leading to the quick spread of

9360-429: The English-speaking inner circle countries outside Britain helped level dialect distinctions and produce koineised forms of English in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The majority of immigrants to the United States without British ancestry rapidly adopted English after arrival. Now the majority of the United States population are monolingual English speakers. English has ceased to be an "English language" in

9504-432: The Exaltation of the Holy Cross, celebrated every year on 14 September, recalls three events: Under Emperor Constantine, around AD 327, Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem caused excavations to be made in order to ascertain the location of Calvary as well as that of the Holy Sepulchre . It was in the course of these excavations that the wood of the cross was recovered. It was determined by Macarius to be authentic (the crosses of

9648-419: The Feast Of the Cross. People gather to feast, sing and dance to celebrate the joyous event. In Byzantine liturgical observance, the Universal Exaltation (also called Elevation in Eastern Orthodox tradition) of the Precious and Life-creating Cross commemorates both the finding of the True Cross in the year 326 and its recovery from the Persians in the year 628, and is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of

9792-399: The Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross ( Roodmas ) on 3 May. It commemorated the finding of the True Cross by Saint Helena , the mother of the emperor Constantine . With the reorganisation of the liturgical calendar by his Motu proprio Rubricarum instructum of Pope John XXIII (1960), the Feast of the Finding of the Cross was celebrated only in some regions. Meanwhile, the finding of

9936-401: The First Sunday of September was the Sunday closest to September 1 (August 29 to September 4). As a simplification of the liturgical calendar, Pope John XXIII modified this so that the Third Sunday was the third Sunday actually within the calendar month. Thus if September 14 were a Sunday, September 24, 26 and 27 would be ember days, the latest dates possible. With September 14 as a Saturday,

10080-407: The Gallican and Roman practices were combined, the September date was assigned to commemorating the rescue of the cross from the Sassanid Persians, and the May date was kept as the Finding of the Holy Cross or Invention of the True Cross to commemorate the finding. ("Invention" is a rendering of the Latin term inventio meaning "discovery".) Pope John XXIII removed this feast in 1960, so that

10224-410: The Germanic branch. It exists on a dialect continuum with Scots and is then most closely related to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages . English is an Indo-European language and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . Old English originated from a Germanic tribal and linguistic continuum along the Frisian North Sea coast, whose languages gradually evolved into

10368-739: The Holy Cross on 10 Paremhat according to the Coptic calendar . This corresponds to 19 March on the Gregorian Calendar until AD 2099. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church , the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church , and to a lesser extent Ethiopian-Eritrean Evangelical Protestants , the Ethiopian Catholic Church , and the Eritrean Catholic Church , commemorate the finding of the true cross on Mäskäräm 17 of

10512-664: The Latin quatuor tempora (literally 'four times'). There are various views as to etymology. According to John Mason Neale in Essays of Liturgiology (1863), Chapter X: "The Latin name has remained in modern languages, though the contrary is sometimes affirmed, Quatuor Tempora , the Four Times. In French and Italian the term is the same; in Spanish and Portuguese they are simply Temporas . The German converts them into Quatember , and thence, by

10656-822: The Life-Giving Cross from Malta to Gatchina . A portion of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, as well as the Philermos icon of the Mother of God and the right hand of John the Baptist were preserved on the island of Malta by the Knights of the Catholic Order of St. John of Jerusalem , who controlled the island. In 1798, when the French seized the island, the Maltese Knights turned to

10800-608: The Masses for Various Needs, and should be one which is more particularly appropriate to the purpose of the supplications." They may appear in some calendars as "days of prayer for peace". They were made optional by churches of the Anglican Communion in 1976. In the Episcopal Church , the September Ember Days are still (optionally) observed on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after Holy Cross Day, so that if September 14

10944-535: The Processions". In mediæval Germany they were called Weihfasten , Wiegfastan , Wiegefasten , or the like, on the general principle of their sanctity.... We meet with the term Frohnfasten , frohne being the then word for travail. Why they were named foldfasten it is less easy to say." Neil and Willoughby in The Tutorial Prayer Book (1913) prefer the view that it derives from the Anglo-Saxon ymbren ,

11088-598: The Rogation Days and Ember Days may be adapted to the different regions and different needs of the faithful, the Conferences of Bishops should arrange the time and manner in which they are held. Consequently, concerning their duration, whether they are to last one or more days, or be repeated in the course of the year, norms are to be established by the competent authority, taking into consideration local needs. The Mass for each day of these celebrations should be chosen from among

11232-550: The Roman economy and administration collapsed . By the 7th century, this Germanic language of the Anglo-Saxons became dominant in Britain , replacing the languages of Roman Britain (43–409): Common Brittonic , a Celtic language , and British Latin , brought to Britain by the Roman occupation. At this time, these dialects generally resisted influence from the then-local Brittonic and Latin languages. England and English (originally Ænglaland and Ænglisc ) are both named after

11376-762: The True cross is also commemorated at the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross on 14 September. The Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics also commemorate the Procession of the Precious Wood of the Life-giving Cross of Jesus Christ on 1 August, which is also the first day of the Dormition Fast . The propers of the feast are combined with those of the Holy Maccabean Martyrs , the commemoration of whose endurance

11520-490: The Union, in practice English is the main working language of EU organisations. Although in most countries English is not an official language, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language . In the countries of the EU, English is the most widely spoken foreign language in nineteen of the twenty-five member states where it is not an official language (that is, the countries other than Ireland and Malta ). In

11664-699: The United Nations , the European Union , and many other international and regional organisations. It has also become the de facto lingua franca of diplomacy, science , technology, international trade, logistics, tourism, aviation, entertainment, and the Internet . English accounts for at least 70% of total speakers of the Germanic language branch, and as of 2021 , Ethnologue estimated that there were over 1.5 billion speakers worldwide. Old English emerged from

11808-407: The base from which English spreads to other countries in the world. Estimates of the numbers of second language and foreign-language English speakers vary greatly from 470 million to more than 1 billion, depending on how proficiency is defined. Linguist David Crystal estimates that non-native speakers now outnumber native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1. In Kachru's three-circles model,

11952-449: The basis for the required controlled natural languages Seaspeak and Airspeak, used as international languages of seafaring and aviation. English used to have parity with French and German in scientific research, but now it dominates that field. It achieved parity with French as a language of diplomacy at the Treaty of Versailles negotiations in 1919. By the time of the foundation of

12096-404: The beginning, Englishmen had three manners of speaking, southern, northern and midlands speech in the middle of the country, ... Nevertheless, through intermingling and mixing, first with Danes and then with Normans, amongst many the country language has arisen, and some use strange stammering, chattering, snarling, and grating gnashing. Middle English is often arbitrarily defined as beginning with

12240-714: The bonfire in Meskel Square, which owes its name to the ceremony, for meskel means "cross" in Ge'ez . According to tradition, the bonfire commemorates how the Empress Helena used the smoke of a bonfire to determine where to search for the true cross in Jerusalem, or how, by a series of bonfires, she signalled to her son Constantine in Constantinople her success in finding it. In the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church

12384-560: The church was on 13 September, the cross itself was brought outside the church on 14 September so that the clergy and faithful could pray before the True Cross, and all could come forward to venerate it. Historically in Western Christianity , the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of the calendar week after the one in which the feast day occurs are designated as one of each year's four sets of Ember days . Until 1969, these ember days were

12528-462: The church year. 14 September is always a fast day and the eating of meat, dairy products and fish is prohibited. The Feast of the Exaltation has a one-day forefeast and an eight-day afterfeast . The Saturday and Sunday before and after 14 September are also commemorated with special Epistle and Gospel readings about the Cross at the Divine Liturgy . On the eve of the feast before small vespers

12672-456: The city to ask for God's blessing and for relief from sickness. On the eve of the feast (31 July), observed as a forefeast, it was taken out of the imperial treasury, and laid upon the altar of the "Great Church" ( Hagia Sophia ) and the following day solemnly placed in the middle of the Great Church for the faithful to venerate. It was taken in procession daily throughout the city, offering it to

12816-697: The consensus of educated English speakers around the world, without any oversight by any government or international organisation. American listeners readily understand most British broadcasting, and British listeners readily understand most American broadcasting. Most English speakers around the world can understand radio programmes, television programmes, and films from many parts of the English-speaking world. Both standard and non-standard varieties of English can include both formal or informal styles, distinguished by word choice and syntax and use both technical and non-technical registers. The settlement history of

12960-640: The cross at the end of the celebration is repeated at a number of the lesser times. The Armenian Apostolic Church observes a five-day fast, called the Fast of the Holy Cross , from September 10 through 14 September, in preparation for the Feast of the Holy Church in view of the Holy Cross , which they celebrate on September 15. September 16 is observed as the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross ( Khachverats in Armenian ),

13104-586: The deadly poison of venomous snakes, and John 3 :14–15, "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." If the feast falls on a Sunday, its Mass readings are used instead of those for the occurring Sunday in Ordinary Time . On 6 March, the liturgical calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church, commemorates

13248-476: The development of English was influenced by a long series of invasions of the British Isles by other peoples and languages, particularly Old Norse and French dialects . These left a profound mark of their own on the language, so that English shows some similarities in vocabulary and grammar with many languages outside its linguistic clades —but it is not mutually intelligible with any of those languages either. Some scholars have argued that English can be considered

13392-515: The distinct characteristics of Early Modern English. In the 1611 King James Version of the Bible, written in Early Modern English, Matthew 8:20 says, "The Foxes haue holes and the birds of the ayre haue nests." This exemplifies the loss of case and its effects on sentence structure (replacement with subject–verb–object word order, and the use of of instead of the non-possessive genitive), and

13536-451: The distinction between veneration of the cross and worship or latria , "which, according to the teaching of the faith, belongs to the Divine nature alone." Petavius noted that this cult must be considered as not belonging to the substance of religion, but as being one of the things not absolutely necessary to salvation. Thus, the honor paid to the image passes to the prototype; and he who adores

13680-401: The early period of Old English were written using a runic script . By the 6th century, a Latin alphabet was adopted, written with half-uncial letterforms . It included the runic letters wynn ⟨ ƿ ⟩ and thorn ⟨ þ ⟩ , and the modified Latin letters eth ⟨ ð ⟩ , and ash ⟨ æ ⟩ . Old English is essentially

13824-558: The easy corruption of dropping the first syllable, a corruption which also takes place in some other words, we get the English Ember. Thus, there is no occasion to seek after an etymology in embers; or with Nelson, to extravagate still further to the noun ymbren , a recurrence, as if all holy seasons did not equally recur. Ember-week in Wales is Welsh : "Wythnos y cydgorian" , meaning "the Week of

13968-539: The educational reforms of King Alfred in the 9th century and the influence of the kingdom of Wessex , the West Saxon dialect became the standard written variety . The epic poem Beowulf is written in West Saxon, and the earliest English poem, Cædmon's Hymn , is written in Northumbrian. Modern English developed mainly from Mercian, but the Scots language developed from Northumbrian. A few short inscriptions from

14112-540: The ember days would occur on September 18, 20 and 21, the earliest possible dates. Other regulations prevailed in different countries, until the inconveniences arising from the want of uniformity led to the rule now observed being laid down under Pope Urban II as the law of the church, at the Council of Piacenza and the Council of Clermont , 1095. Prior to the reforms instituted after the Second Vatican Council ,

14256-408: The expanding circle use it to communicate with other people from the expanding circle, so that interaction with native speakers of English plays no part in their decision to use the language. Non-native varieties of English are widely used for international communication, and speakers of one such variety often encounter features of other varieties. Very often today a conversation in English anywhere in

14400-450: The faithful to come forward and venerate the "Blessing Cross" (hand-cross) which is held by the bishop or priest , and to kiss his hand. This practice is also called the "Veneration of the Cross", though it does not involve making prostrations. The cross which is venerated is small (typically 10–16 inches). This cross is usually metal, often gold or gold-plated , and can be enameled or decorated with jewels . The figure of Jesus on

14544-525: The fields) during which the processional cross is adorned with basil (a symbol of royalty) and the four corners of the church are blessed as a sign of the sanctification of the world. On the Sunday nearest September 28 (always two weeks after the Exaltation) the Armenian Apostolic Church and Armenian Catholic Church celebrate the Feast of the Holy Cross of Varak ( Varaka Khach ) commemorating

14688-442: The four seasons which are called "imbren'". The term Ember days refers to three days set apart for fasting, abstinence, and prayer during each of the four seasons of the year. The purpose of their introduction was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy. Possibly originating in the agricultural feasts of ancient Rome, they came to be observed by Christians for

14832-710: The growing economic and cultural influence of the United States and its status as a superpower following the Second World War has, along with worldwide broadcasting in English by the BBC and other broadcasters, caused the language to spread across the planet much faster. In the 21st century, English is more widely spoken and written than any language has ever been. As Modern English developed, explicit norms for standard usage were published, and spread through official media such as public education and state-sponsored publications. In 1755, Samuel Johnson published his A Dictionary of

14976-538: The history of English was Early Modern English (1500–1700). Early Modern English was characterised by the Great Vowel Shift (1350–1700), inflectional simplification, and linguistic standardisation. The Great Vowel Shift affected the stressed long vowels of Middle English. It was a chain shift , meaning that each shift triggered a subsequent shift in the vowel system. Mid and open vowels were raised , and close vowels were broken into diphthongs . For example,

15120-407: The history of how English spread in different countries, how users acquire English, and the range of uses English has in each country. The three circles change membership over time. Countries with large communities of native speakers of English (the inner circle) include Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand, where the majority speaks English, and South Africa, where

15264-478: The image, adores the person whom it represents. According to Christian tradition, the True Cross was discovered in 326 by Saint Helena , the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great , during a pilgrimage she made to Jerusalem . The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was then built at the site of the discovery, by order of Helena and Constantine. The church was dedicated nine years later, with

15408-403: The inner-circle countries, and they may show grammatical and phonological differences from inner-circle varieties as well. The standard English of the inner-circle countries is often taken as a norm for use of English in the outer-circle countries. In the three-circles model, countries such as Poland, China, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Indonesia, Egypt, and other countries where English is taught as

15552-524: The introduction of loanwords from French ( ayre ) and word replacements ( bird originally meaning "nestling" had replaced OE fugol ). By the late 18th century, the British Empire had spread English through its colonies and geopolitical dominance. Commerce, science and technology, diplomacy, art, and formal education all contributed to English becoming the first truly global language. English also facilitated worldwide international communication. English

15696-467: The introduction of the printing press to London. This era notably culminated in the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare . The printing press greatly standardised English spelling, which has remained largely unchanged since then, despite a wide variety of later sound shifts in English dialects. Modern English has spread around the world since the 17th century as a consequence of

15840-486: The language is the Angles , one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to Britain . It is the most spoken language in the world, primarily due to the global influences of the former British Empire (succeeded by the Commonwealth of Nations ) and the United States . English is the third-most spoken native language , after Standard Chinese and Spanish ; it is also the most widely learned second language in

15984-431: The languages have descended from a single common ancestor called Proto-Germanic . Some shared features of Germanic languages include the division of verbs into strong and weak classes, the use of modal verbs , and the sound changes affecting Proto-Indo-European consonants, known as Grimm's and Verner's laws . English is classified as an Anglo-Frisian language because Frisian and English share other features, such as

16128-670: The people to venerate , until the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (15 August), when it was returned to the imperial treasury. In commemoration of this tradition, it is customary to have an outdoor procession with the Lesser Blessing of Water on August 1. It is the first of three "Feasts of the Saviour" in the month of August, the other two being the Transfiguration (6 August) and

16272-528: The period of fasting, which ends on Easter Sunday. This date is the titular feast of the Congregation of Holy Cross , The Companions of the Cross and the Episcopal Church 's Order of the Holy Cross . The Common Worship calendar (2000), like the General Roman Calendar , celebrates the Feast on 14 September. The Church of the East celebrates the finding of the Cross on 13 September, and considers it to be

16416-426: The prestige varieties among the middle classes. In modern English, the loss of grammatical case is almost complete (it is now only found in pronouns, such as he and him , she and her , who and whom ), and SVO word order is mostly fixed. Some changes, such as the use of do-support , have become universalised. (Earlier English did not use the word "do" as a general auxiliary as Modern English does; at first it

16560-400: The priest, having prepared a tray with the cross placed on a bed of fresh basil leaves or flowers, covered with an aër (liturgical veil), places it on the table of prothesis ; after that service, the priest carries the tray on his head preceded by lighted candles and the deacon incensing the cross, processes to the holy table (altar) , in the centre whereof he lays the tray, in the place of

16704-657: The reign of Henry V . Around 1430, the Court of Chancery in Westminster began using English in its official documents , and a new standard form of Middle English, known as Chancery Standard , developed from the dialects of London and the East Midlands . In 1476, William Caxton introduced the printing press to England and began publishing the first printed books in London, expanding the influence of this form of English. Literature from

16848-474: The rest of the Western Church. They were known as the jejunium vernum, aestivum, autumnale and hiernale , so that to quote Pope Leo's words (A.D. 440–461) the law of abstinence might apply to every season of the year. In Leo's time, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday were already days of special observance. In order to tie them to the fasts preparatory to the three great festivals of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost,

16992-676: The sanctification of the different seasons of the year. James G. Sabak argues that the Embertide vigils were "...not based on imitating agrarian models of pre-Christian Roman practices, but rather on an eschatological rendering of the year punctuated by the solstices and equinoxes, and thus underscores the eschatological significance of all liturgical vigils in the city of Rome." At first, the Church in Rome had fasts in June, September, and December. The Liber Pontificalis ascribes to Pope Callixtus I (217–222)

17136-464: The sense of belonging only to people who are ethnically English . Use of English is growing country-by-country internally and for international communication. Most people learn English for practical rather than ideological reasons. Many speakers of English in Africa have become part of an "Afro-Saxon" language community that unites Africans from different countries. As decolonisation proceeded throughout

17280-603: The services on Good Friday. In the Eastern Orthodox Church , on several of the feast days mentioned above, there is a public veneration of the cross. It may take place at matins, after the cross is brought out, at the end of the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, or at the end of one of the Little Hours , depending upon the particular feast and local custom. The faithful come forward and make two prostrations , make

17424-403: The sign of the cross on themselves, and kiss the feet of Christ on the cross, and then make a third prostration. After this, they will often receive a blessing from the priest and bow towards their fellow worshippers on each side of the church (this latter practice is most commonly observed in monasteries ). At the end of the Divine Liturgy, and at some other services as well, it is customary for

17568-812: The simultaneous victories of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos over the Bulgarians and the Russian Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky over the Saracens in the 12th century. In the Russian Orthodox Church , this feast also celebrates the Baptism of Rus , which occurred on 1 August 988. In the Russian Orthodox Church , 12 October is the commemoration of the Translation of a Portion of

17712-456: The sixteenth century. In the Eastern Orthodox Church , ember days have never been observed. The Ember Weeks , the weeks in which the Ember Days occur, are these weeks: The Ordo Romanus fixed the spring fast in the first week of March (then the first month), thus loosely associated with the first Sunday in Lent; the summer fast in the second week of June, after Whitsunday ; the autumnal fast in

17856-474: The southern dialects. Theoretically, as late as the 900s AD, a commoner from certain (northern) parts of England could hold a conversation with a commoner from certain parts of Scandinavia. Research continues into the details of the myriad tribes in peoples in England and Scandinavia and the mutual contacts between them. The translation of Matthew 8:20 from 1000 shows examples of case endings ( nominative plural, accusative plural, genitive singular) and

18000-455: The study of English as an auxiliary language. The trademarked Globish uses a relatively small subset of English vocabulary (about 1500 words, designed to represent the highest use in international business English) in combination with the standard English grammar. Other examples include Simple English . The increased use of the English language globally has had an effect on other languages, leading to some English words being assimilated into

18144-428: The temple throughout the afterfeast, and the faithful venerate it whenever they enter or leave the church. Finally, on the leave-taking ( apodosis ) of the feast, the priest and deacon will incense around the cross, there will be a final veneration of the cross, and then they will solemnly bring the cross back into the sanctuary through the Holy Doors . This same pattern of bringing out the cross, veneration, and returning

18288-448: The third century placement of an authentic relic of the cross in Armenian soil at Varagavank . This is a cross feast unique to the Armenian Church. On the Sunday closest to October 26, the Armenian Church celebrates the Discovery of the Holy Cross ( Kyood Khach ), commemorating the finding of the True Cross by Saint Helena (327 AD). The Coptic Orthodox Church and the Coptic Catholic Church annually commemorates two events related to

18432-469: The third week of September following the Exaltation of the Cross , September 14; and the winter fast in the complete week next before Christmas Eve, following St. Lucy's Day (Dec. 13). These dates are given in the following Latin mnemonic : Dat crux Lucia cineres charismata dia quod sit in angaria quarta sequens feria. Or in an old English rhyme: Fasting days and Emberings be Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie. "Lenty, Penty, Crucy, Lucy"

18576-442: The tsar. In the autumn of 1799 the holy items were transferred to St. Petersburg and placed in the Winter Palace within the internal church dedicated to the Icon of the Savior Not-Made-by-Hands. The feast for this event was established in 1800. In addition to celebrations on fixed days, the Cross may be celebrated during the variable , particularly in Lent and Eastertide. Eastern Christians celebrate an additional Veneration of

18720-418: The two thieves were also recovered) and for it Constantine built the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre . Subsequently, pieces of the True Cross relic were distributed across the empire and by the turn of the 5th century were venerated as far away as Italy. The Ancient Georgian Iadgari (Chantbook) bears witness to the celebration of the Exaltation of the Cross in Jerusalem prior to the middle of the 6th century. In

18864-439: The universal calendar of the church. The Saturdays of Quarter Tense were considered especially appropriate for priestly ordination. The days of Quarter Tense were, until the Second Vatican Council , times of obligatory fasting and abstinence . However, in Ireland, the obligation of abstinence (the complete avoidance of meat) on the Saturdays of Quarter Tense outside Lent was removed by the Vatican in 1912. The old dates in

19008-400: The use of Saturdays, though not necessarily Ember Saturdays, still prevails. Subsequently, Pentecost Vigil and the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul (and Saturdays around it) have come much in use as ordination days. According to folklore, the weather conditions of each of the three days of an Embertide foretell the weather conditions for the following three months. In the folk meteorology of

19152-412: The vocabularies of other languages. This influence of English has led to concerns about language death , and to claims of linguistic imperialism , and has provoked resistance to the spread of English; however the number of speakers continues to increase because many people around the world think that English provides them with opportunities for better employment and improved lives. Though some mention

19296-414: The west before the end of the seventh century the feast was mainly observed in Rome. However, the earliest recorded commemoration of 14 September as the feast day on a Western calendar is from the 7th century A.D. In the Gallican usage, beginning about the seventh century, the Feast of the Cross was celebrated on 3 May, and called "Crouchmas" (for "Cross Mass" or "Mass Of The Cross") or " Roodmas ". When

19440-473: The word bite was originally pronounced as the word beet is today, and the second vowel in the word about was pronounced as the word boot is today. The Great Vowel Shift explains many irregularities in spelling since English retains many spellings from Middle English, and it also explains why English vowel letters have very different pronunciations from the same letters in other languages. English began to rise in prestige, relative to Norman French, during

19584-785: The world may include no native speakers of English at all, even while including speakers from several different countries. This is particularly true of the shared vocabulary of mathematics and the sciences. English is a pluricentric language , which means that no one national authority sets the standard for use of the language. Spoken English, including English used in broadcasting, generally follows national pronunciation standards that are established by custom rather than by regulation. International broadcasters are usually identifiable as coming from one country rather than another through their accents , but newsreader scripts are also composed largely in international standard written English . The norms of standard written English are maintained purely by

19728-539: The world, but the number of English speakers in India is uncertain, with most scholars concluding that the United States still has more speakers of English than India. Modern English, sometimes described as the first global lingua franca , is also regarded as the first world language . English is the world's most widely used language in newspaper publishing, book publishing, international telecommunications, scientific publishing, international trade, mass entertainment, and diplomacy. English is, by international treaty,

19872-422: The world, with more second-language speakers than native speakers. English is either the official language or one of the official languages in 59 sovereign states (such as India , Ireland , and Canada ). In some other countries, it is the sole or dominant language for historical reasons without being explicitly defined by law (such as in the United States and United Kingdom ). It is a co-official language of

20016-438: The worldwide influence of the British Empire and the United States. Through all types of printed and electronic media in these countries, English has become the leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions and professional contexts such as science, navigation , and law. Its modern grammar is the result of a gradual change from a dependent-marking pattern typical of Indo-European with

20160-405: The year as a commemoration of the Cross. In the Roman Breviary before the 1961 reform, a Commemoration of the Cross is made during Eastertide except when the office or commemoration of a double or octave occurs, replacing the suffrage of the Saints said outside Eastertide. Orthodox Churches, the Roman Catholic Church, and some Anglican churches have a formal Adoration of the Cross during

20304-405: Was adopted in parts of North America, parts of Africa, Oceania, and many other regions. When they obtained political independence, some of the newly independent states that had multiple indigenous languages opted to continue using English as the official language to avoid the political and other difficulties inherent in promoting any one indigenous language above the others. In the 20th century

20448-454: Was fully developed, integrating both Norse and French features; it continued to be spoken until the transition to early Modern English around 1500. Middle English literature includes Geoffrey Chaucer 's The Canterbury Tales , and Thomas Malory 's Le Morte d'Arthur . In the Middle English period, the use of regional dialects in writing proliferated, and dialect traits were even used for effect by authors such as Chaucer. The next period in

20592-452: Was lost except in personal pronouns, the instrumental case was dropped, and the use of the genitive case was limited to indicating possession . The inflectional system regularised many irregular inflectional forms, and gradually simplified the system of agreement, making word order less flexible. The transition from Old to Middle English can be placed during the writing of the Ormulum . The oldest Middle English texts that were written by

20736-533: Was only used in question constructions, and even then was not obligatory. Now, do-support with the verb have is becoming increasingly standardised.) The use of progressive forms in -ing , appears to be spreading to new constructions, and forms such as had been being built are becoming more common. Regularisation of irregular forms also slowly continues (e.g. dreamed instead of dreamt ), and analytical alternatives to inflectional forms are becoming more common (e.g. more polite instead of politer ). British English

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