THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The gure on the cover of this ebook shows the timeline of the history of the English language. The
earliest known residents of the British Isles were the Celts, who spoke Celtic languagesa separate
branch of the Indo-European language family tree.
Over the centuries the British Isles were invaded and conquered by various peoples, who brought their
languages and customs with them as they settled in their new lives. There is now very little Celtic
inuence left in English. The earliest time when we can say that English was spoken was in the 5th
century CE (Common Eraa politically correct term used to replace AD).
The history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded
Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the
North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany. At that time the inhabitants of Britain
spoke a Celtic language. But most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles came from "Englaland" [sic] and their
language was called "Englisc" - from which the words "England" and "English" are derived.

Old English (450-1100 AD)

The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain developed into what we now
call Old English. Old English did not sound or look like English today. Native English speakers now
would have great diculty understanding Old English. Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly
used words in Modern English have Old English roots. The words be, strong and water, for example,
derive from Old English. Old English was spoken until around 1100.

Part of Beowulf, a poem written in Old English

BEOWULF

Listen up!

THE MIDDLE ENGLISH AND THE NORMAN CONQUEST

Listen up!

William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England and the Anglo-Saxons
in 1066 AD. (The Bayeux Tapestry is perhaps the most famous graphical depiction of the Norman
Conquest.)

The new overlords spoke a dialect of Old French known as Anglo-Norman. The Normans were also of
Germanic stock (Norman comes from Norseman) and Anglo-Norman was a French dialect that had
considerable Germanic inuences in addition to the basic Latin roots.
Prior to the Norman Conquest, Latin had been only a minor inuence on the English language, mainly
through vestiges of the Roman occupation and from the conversion of Britain to Christianity in the
seventh century (ecclesiastical terms such as priest, vicar, and mass came into the language this way),
but now there was a wholesale infusion of Romance (Anglo-Norman) words.
The inuence of the Normans can be illustrated by looking at two words, beef and cow. Beef,
commonly eaten by the aristocracy, derives from the Anglo-Norman, while the Anglo-Saxon
commoners, who tended the cattle, retained the Germanic cow. Many legal terms, such as indict, jury,
and verdict have Anglo-Norman roots because the Normans ran the courts. This split, where words
commonly used by the aristocracy have Romantic roots and words frequently used by the Anglo-Saxon
commoners have Germanic roots, can be seen in many instances.

THE PERIOD OF MODERN ENGLISH

It extends from the sixteenth century to our own day. The early part of this period saw the
completion of a revolution in the phonology of English that had begun in late Middle English and
that eectively redistributed the occurrence of the vowel phonemes to something approximating
their present pattern.
Other important early developments include the stabilizing eect on spelling of the printing press
and the beginning of the direct inuence of Latin and, to a lesser extent, Greek on the lexicon.
Later, as English came into contact with other cultures around the world and distinctive dialects of
English developed in the many areas which Britain had colonized, numerous other languages made
small but interesting contributions to our word-stock.

MODERN ENGLISH

Listen up!

It is useful to compare various versions of a familiar text to see the dierences between Old, Middle,
and Modern English. Take for instance this Old English (c.1000) sample from the Bible:
Fder ure ue eart on heofonum
si in nama gehalgod tobecume in rice gewure in willa on eoran swa swa on heofonum
urne gedghwamlican hlaf syle us to dg
and forgyf us ure gyltas swa swa we forgyfa urum gyltendum
and ne geld u us on costnunge ac alys us of yfele solice.
Rendered in Middle English (Wyclif, 1384), the same text starts to become recognizable to the
modern eye:
Oure fadir at art in heuenes halwid be i name;
i reume or kyngdom come to be. Be i wille don in here as it is dounin heuene.
yeue to us today oure eche dayes bred.
And foryeue to us oure dettis at is oure synnys as we foryeuen to oure dettouris at is to men at
han synned in us.
And lede us not into temptacion but delyuere us from euyl.
Finally, in Early Modern English (King James Version, 1611) the same text is completely
intelligible:
Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen.
Giue us this day our daily bread.
And forgiue us our debts as we forgiue our debters.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliuer us from euill. Amen.

CREDITS

Englishclub.com

wordorigins.org

oercommons.org

merriam-western.com

creativecommons.org

YouTube modern english

YouTube middle english