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The History of The English Language

The document traces the origins and evolution of the English language from its Germanic roots in the 5th century AD to the present day. It discusses how English was influenced by the Celtic, Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and French languages during successive periods of invasion and settlement in Britain. Key events included the arrival of Roman troops in the 1st century AD, bringing Latin; invasion by Germanic tribes like the Angles and Saxons in the 5th-6th centuries, establishing Old English; and the Norman conquest of 1066, which introduced French words and marked the shift to Middle English. Modern English then emerged in the 15th century as London English became the standard form of the language.

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Jesus Puente
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69 views

The History of The English Language

The document traces the origins and evolution of the English language from its Germanic roots in the 5th century AD to the present day. It discusses how English was influenced by the Celtic, Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and French languages during successive periods of invasion and settlement in Britain. Key events included the arrival of Roman troops in the 1st century AD, bringing Latin; invasion by Germanic tribes like the Angles and Saxons in the 5th-6th centuries, establishing Old English; and the Norman conquest of 1066, which introduced French words and marked the shift to Middle English. Modern English then emerged in the 15th century as London English became the standard form of the language.

Uploaded by

Jesus Puente
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Welcome to this new video.

Do you know where English comes from as a language? More exactly the origin
What languages influenced its evolution?
After many evolutions and invasions, today, many languages are being spoken
across the world as the medium of communication. Out of these languages,
English is one of the finest language that stands in common for the people to
communicate.
English is a Germanic language belonging to the Indo-European family.
Since the ancient period until now, the English language is potrayed into different
perspectives based on the invasions of Britain by other countries (Old, Middle and
Modern English)
In the beginning, in the year 400 BC, the Celts or Kelts lived in the territory we
know today as England, and they communicated through their own language.
Later, in 55 AD, the Romans invaded these lands, bringing with them Latin, which
was adopted by the natives as a second language. Romans were ruling
Britain for about 400 years (until 4th Century)
It was started around 600 AD, when the three germanic tribes "Angles", "Jutes"
and "Saxons" invaded the territory known as Great Britain, via Northem Germany
(now know as Denmark) and pushed out the existing Celtic inhabitants to Scotland
and Ireland (even getting to displace the Celtic lenguage). This could be
considered as the germ or beginning of the English language and it was named as
old English period.
In the year 400-450 AD we find the first Anglo-Saxon inscription, that is, a primitive
English language. As these Germanic tribes expanded, they gave rise to the
emergence of 4 dialects which are “Northumbrian”, „Mercian“, „West Saxon“ and
„Kentish“. During the years 700-800 AD the dialect and the dominant area was
Northumbria, therefore it was the most dominant dialect on the islands.
This gave birth to Old English, which was spoken until 1066, when Great Britain
was invaded by the Normans, bringing French as a new language and introducing
new words and it was named as Middle English period.
Did you know that during the French invasion the noble class spoke French while
the working class spoke English.
But again in the 14th century, English people raised their domination in Britain and
so that English became the official language again thanks to the fact that it was the
official language of King „Henry the Fourth“.
After this dominating phase, it was the birth of Modern English period in the 15th
wh ich led to the development of new Words, Phrases, Grammar and the dialect of
London became standard.
In 1604 the first dictionary was written under the name "Table alphabetical" and in
1775 Samuel Johnson published his dictionary "of the English languages", in which
the history of the language, the grammar and the meaning of the basic vocabulary
were recorded.
Finally the only difference between the Early modern English (1500-1800) and the
late (late Modern english – 1800-Present) is the Vocabulary. It has been
progressed, from the dialect of Germanic settlers in the 5th century, to a global
language in the 21st century.

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