History of English

This page is a short history of the origins and development of the English
language

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.

Germanic invaders entered Britain on the east and south coasts in the 5th century

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
difficulty 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

Middle English (1100-1500)

In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern
France), invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors (called the
Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which became the language
of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. For a period there
was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English
and the upper classes spoke French. In the 14th century English became
dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added. This language
is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poet Chaucer
(c1340-1400), but it would still be difficult for native English speakers to
understand today.

An example of Middle English by Chaucer

Modern English
Early Modern English (1500-1800)

Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in

pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced
shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British had contact with
many peoples from around the world.

This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many new words
and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that
there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and
more people learned to read. Printing also brought standardization to
English. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of London,
where most publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 the first
English dictionary was published.

Hamlet's famous "To be, or not to be" lines, written in Early Modern English by Shakespeare

Late Modern English (1800-Present)

The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English
is vocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, arising from two
principal factors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a
need for new words; secondly, the British Empire at its height covered one
quarter of the earth's surface, and the English language adopted foreign
words from many countries.

Varieties of English
From around 1600, the English colonization of North America resulted in the
creation of a distinct American variety of English. Some English
pronunciations and words "froze" when they reached America. In some
ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern
British English is. Some expressions that the British call "Americanisms" are
in fact original British expressions that were preserved in the colonies while
lost for a time in Britain (for example trash for rubbish, loan as a verb
instead of lend, and fall for autumn; another example, frame-up, was re-
imported into Britain through Hollywood gangster movies). Spanish also had
an influence on American English (and subsequently British English), with
words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish
words that entered English through the settlement of the American West.
French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the slave
trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British
English).

Today, American English is particularly influential, due to the USA's

dominance of cinema, television, popular music, trade and technology
(including the Internet). But there are many other varieties of English
around the world, including for example Australian English, New Zealand
English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and
Caribbean English.

The Germanic Family of Languages

English is a member of the Germanic family of languages. Germanic is a branch of the Indo-
European language family.
A brief chronology of English

55 BC Roman invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar Local

inhabitants
speak
Celtish
AD 43 Roman invasion and occupation. Beginning of
Roman rule of Britain

436 Roman withdrawal from Britain complete

449 Settlement of Britain by Germanic invaders

begins

450-480 Earliest known Old English inscriptions Old

English

1066 William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy,

invades and conquers England

c1150 Earliest surviving manuscripts in Middle English Middle

English

1348 English replaces Latin as the language of

instruction in most schools

1362 English replaces French as the language of law.

English is used in Parliament for the first time
A brief chronology of English

c1388 Chaucer starts writing The Canterbury Tales

c1400 The Great Vowel Shift begins

1476 William Caxton establishes the first English Early

printing press Modern
English

1564 Shakespeare is born

1604 Table Alphabeticall, the first English dictionary, is

published

1607 The first permanent English settlement in the

New World (Jamestown) is established

1616 Shakespeare dies

1623 Shakespeare's First Folio is published

1702 The first daily English-language newspaper, The

Daily Courant, is published in London
 A brief chronology of English

1755 Samuel Johnson publishes his English dictionary

1776 Thomas Jefferson writes the American Declaration

of Independence

1782 Britain abandons its colonies in what is later to

become the USA

1828 Webster publishes his American English dictionary Late

Modern
English

1922 The British Broadcasting Corporation is founded

1928 The Oxford English Dictionary is published

The English language belongs to the West Germanic branch of the Indo-European
family of languages. The closest undoubted living relatives of English are Scots and
Frisian. Frisian is a language spoken by approximately half a million people in the
Dutch province of Friesland, in nearby areas of Germany, and on a few islands in the
North Sea.

The history of the English language has traditionally been divided into three main
periods: Old English (450-1100 AD), Middle English (1100-circa 1500 AD) and Modern
English (since 1500). Over the centuries, the English language has been influenced by
a number of other languages.

Old English (450 - 1100 AD): During the 5th Century AD three Germanic tribes
(Saxons, Angles, and Jutes) came to the British Isles from various parts of northwest
Germany as well as Denmark. These tribes were warlike and pushed out most of the
original, Celtic-speaking inhabitants from England into Scotland, Wales, and
Cornwall. One group migrated to the Brittany Coast of France where their
descendants still speak the Celtic Language of Breton today.

Through the years, the Saxons, Angles and Jutes mixed their different Germanic
dialects. This group of dialects forms what linguists refer to as Old English or Anglo-
Saxon. The word "English" was in Old English "Englisc", and that comes from the
name of the Angles. The Angles were named from Engle, their land of origin.

Before the Saxons the language spoken in what is now England was a mixture of
Latin and various Celtic languages which were spoken before the Romans came to
Britain (54-5BC). The Romans brought Latin to Britain, which was part of the Roman
Empire for over 400 years. Many of the words passed on from this era are those
coined by Roman merchants and soldiers. These
include win (wine), candel (candle), belt (belt), weall (wall). ("Language Timeline", The British
Library Board)

The influence of Celtic upon Old English was slight. In fact, very few Celtic words
have lived on in the English language. But many of place and river names have Celtic
origins: Kent, York, Dover, Cumberland, Thames, Avon, Trent, Severn.

The arrival of St. Augustine in 597 and the introduction of Christianity into Saxon
England brought more Latin words into the English language. They were mostly
concerned with the naming of Church dignitaries, ceremonies, etc. Some, such
as church, bishop, baptism, monk, eucharist and presbyter came indirectly through
Latin from the Greek.

Around 878 AD Danes and Norsemen, also called Vikings, invaded the country and
English got many Norse words into the language, particularly in the north of England.
The Vikings, being Scandinavian, spoke a language (Old Norse) which, in origin at
least, was just as Germanic as Old English.
Words derived from Norse include: sky, egg, cake, skin, leg, window (wind
eye), husband, fellow, skill, anger, flat, odd, ugly, get, give, take, raise, call, die, they,
their, them. ("The Origin and History of the English Language", Kryss Katsiavriades)

Several written works have survived from the Old English period. The most famous is
a heroic epic poem called "Beowulf". It is the oldest known English poem and it is
notable for its length - 3,183 lines. Experts say "Beowulf" was written in Britain more
than one thousand years ago. The name of the person who wrote it is unknown.

Middle English (1100-circa 1500 AD): After William the Conqueror, the Duke of
Normandy, invaded and conquered England in 1066 AD with his armies and became
king, he brought his nobles, who spoke French, to be the new government. The Old
French took over as the language of the court, administration, and culture. Latin was
mostly used for written language, especially that of the Church. Meanwhile, The
English language, as the language of the now lower class, was considered a vulgar
tongue.

By about 1200, England and France had split. English changed a lot, because it was
mostly being spoken instead of written for about 300 years. The use of Old English
came back, but with many French words added. This language is called Middle
English. Most of the words embedded in the English vocabulary are words of power,
such
as crown, castle, court, parliament, army, mansion, gown, beauty, banquet, art, poet,
romance, duke, servant, peasant, traitor and governor. ("Language Timeline", The British
Library Board)

Because the English underclass cooked for the Norman upper class, the words for
most domestic animals are English (ox, cow, calf, sheep, swine, deer) while the words
for the meats derived from them are French
(beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, venison). ("The Origin and History of the English Language", Kryss
Katsiavriades)

The Middle English is also characterized for the beginning of the Great Vowel Shift. It
was a massive sound change affecting the long vowels of English. Basically, the long
vowels shifted upwards; that is, a vowel that used to be pronounced in one place in
the mouth would be pronounced in a different place, higher up in the mouth. The
Great Vowel Shift occurred during the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries.

The most famous example of Middle English is Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales", a
collection of stories about a group of thirty people who travel as pilgrims to
Canterbury, England. The portraits that he paints in his Tales give us an idea of what
life was like in fourteenth century England.

Modern English (1500 to the present): Modern English developed after William
Caxton established his printing press at Westminster Abbey in 1476. Johann
Gutenberg invented the printing press in Germany around 1450, but Caxton set up
England's first press. The Bible and some valuable manuscripts were printed. The
invention of the printing press made books available to more people. The books
became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also brought
standardization to English.

By the time of Shakespeare's writings (1592-1616), the language had become clearly
recognizable as Modern English. There were three big developments in the world at
the beginning of Modern English period: the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution,
and the British Colonialism.

It was during the English Renaissance that most of the words from Greek and Latin
entered English. This period in English cultural history (early 16th century to the early
17th century) is sometimes referred to as "the age of Shakespeare" or "the
Elizabethan era", taking the name of the English Renaissance's most famous author
and most important monarch, respectively. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
there was an explosion of culture in the form of support of the arts, popularization of
the printing press, and massive amounts of sea travel.

England began the Industrial Revolution (18th century) and this had also an effect on
the development of the language as new words had to be invented or existing ones
modified to cope with the rapid changes in technology. New technical words were
added to the vocabulary as inventors designed various products and machinery.
These words were named after the inventor or given the name of their choice
(trains, engine, pulleys, combustion, electricity, telephone, telegraph, camera etc).

Britain was an Empire for 200 years between the 18th and 20th centuries and English
language continued to change as the British Empire moved across the world - to the
USA, Australia, New Zealand, India, Asia and Africa. They sent people to settle and
live in their conquered places and as settlers interacted with natives, new words
were added to the English vocabulary. For example, 'kangaroo' and 'boomerang' are
native Australian Aborigine words, 'juggernaut' and 'turban' came from India. (See
more borrowings from different languages.)

English continues to change and develop, with hundreds of new words arriving every
year. But even with all the borrowings from many other languages the heart of the
English language remains the Anglo-Saxon of Old English. The grammar of English is
also distinctly Germanic - three genders (he, she and it) and a simple set of verb
tenses.