The Influence of Latin on English

The church was the dominant unifying factor in western europe, not only religiously, but also politically, socially and culturally. Latin was also a lingua franca, which enabled travelers throughout western europe to communicate in something close to a common language. The biggest impact of all occurred when the norman french invaded and concered england under william the concerer. You can think of english in its most basic terms as a blend of these two language groups. English is not a romance language, but it bears certain similarities to those languages due to the massive borrowing.