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HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

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A short history of the origins and development of English.

ThehistoryoftheEnglishlanguagereallystartedwiththearrivalofthreeGermanictribes
whoinvadedBritainduringthe5thcenturyAD.Thesetribes,theAngles,theSaxonsandthe
Jutes,crossedtheNorthSeafromwhattodayisDenmarkandnorthernGermany.Atthattime
theinhabitantsofBritainspokeaCelticlanguage.ButmostoftheCelticspeakerswere
pushedwestandnorthbytheinvadersmainlyintowhatisnowWales,ScotlandandIreland.
TheAnglescamefrom"Englaland"[sic]andtheirlanguagewascalled"Englisc"from
whichthewords"England"and"English"arederived.

GermanicinvadersenteredBritainontheeastandsouthcoastsinthe5thcentury.

OLD ENGLISH ( 450 1100 AD )

TheinvadingGermanictribesspokesimilarlanguages,whichinBritaindevelopedintowhat
wenowcallOldEnglish.OldEnglishdidnotsoundorlooklikeEnglishtoday.Native
EnglishspeakersnowwouldhavegreatdifficultyunderstandingOldEnglish.Nevertheless,
abouthalfofthemostcommonlyusedwordsinModernEnglishhaveOldEnglishroots.The
wordsbe,strongandwater,forexample,derivefromOldEnglish.OldEnglishwasspoken
untilaround1100.

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MIDDLE ENGLISH ( 1100 1500 )

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In1066WilliamtheConqueror,theDukeofNormandy(partofmodernFrance),invadedand
conqueredEngland.Thenewconquerors(calledtheNormans)broughtwiththemakindof
French,whichbecamethelanguageoftheRoyalCourt,andtherulingandbusinessclasses.
Foraperiodtherewasakindoflinguisticclassdivision,wherethelowerclassesspoke
EnglishandtheupperclassesspokeFrench.Inthe14thcenturyEnglishbecamedominantin
Britainagain,butwithmanyFrenchwordsadded.ThislanguageiscalledMiddleEnglish.It
wasthelanguageofthegreatpoetChaucer(c13401400),butitwouldstillbedifficultfor
nativeEnglishspeakerstounderstandtoday.

MODERN ENGLISH
Early Modern English (1500-1800)

TowardstheendofMiddleEnglish,asuddenanddistinctchangeinpronunciation(theGreat
VowelShift)started,withvowelsbeingpronouncedshorterandshorter.Fromthe16th
centurytheBritishhadcontactwithmanypeoplesfromaroundtheworld.This,andthe
RenaissanceofClassicallearning,meantthatmanynewwordsandphrasesenteredthe
language.Theinventionofprintingalsomeantthattherewasnowacommonlanguagein
print.Booksbecamecheaperandmorepeoplelearnedtoread.Printingalsobrought
standardizationtoEnglish.Spellingandgrammarbecamefixed,andthedialectofLondon,
wheremostpublishinghouseswere,becamethestandard.In1604thefirstEnglishdictionary
waspublished.
Late Modern English (1800-Present)

ThemaindifferencebetweenEarlyModernEnglishandLateModernEnglishisvocabulary.
LateModernEnglishhasmanymorewords,arisingfromtwoprincipalfactors:firstly,the
IndustrialRevolutionandtechnologycreatedaneedfornewwords;secondly,theBritish
Empireatitsheightcoveredonequarteroftheearth'ssurface,andtheEnglishlanguage
adoptedforeignwordsfrommanycountries.
VARIETIES OF ENGLISH
Fromaround1600,theEnglishcolonizationofNorthAmericaresultedinthecreationofa
distinctAmericanvarietyofEnglish.SomeEnglishpronunciationsandwords"froze"when
theyreachedAmerica.Insomeways,AmericanEnglishismoreliketheEnglishof
ShakespearethanmodernBritishEnglishis.SomeexpressionsthattheBritishcall
"Americanisms"areinfactoriginalBritishexpressionsthatwerepreservedinthecolonies
whilelostforatimeinBritain(forexampletrashforrubbish,loanasaverbinsteadoflend,
andfallforautumn;anotherexample,frameup,wasreimportedintoBritainthrough
Hollywoodgangstermovies).SpanishalsohadaninfluenceonAmericanEnglish(and
subsequentlyBritishEnglish),withwordslikecanyon,ranch,stampedeandvigilantebeing
examplesofSpanishwordsthatenteredEnglishthroughthesettlementoftheAmericanWest.

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Frenchwords(throughLouisiana)andWestAfricanwords(throughtheslavetrade)also
influencedAmericanEnglish(andso,toanextent,BritishEnglish).

Today,AmericanEnglishisparticularlyinfluential,duetotheUSA'sdominanceofcinema,
television,popularmusic,tradeandtechnology(includingtheInternet).Buttherearemany
othervarietiesofEnglisharoundtheworld,includingforexampleAustralianEnglish,New
ZealandEnglish,CanadianEnglish,SouthAfricanEnglish,IndianEnglishandCaribbean
English.
The Germanic Family of Languages:

EnglishisamemberoftheGermanicfamilyoflanguages.
GermanicisabranchoftheIndoEuropeanlanguagefamily.

AbriefchronologyofEnglish
55BC RomaninvasionofBritainbyJuliusCaesar.
AD43

Romaninvasionandoccupation.BeginningofRomanrule
ofBritain.

Localinhabitantsspeak
Celtish

436 RomanwithdrawalfromBritaincomplete.
449 SettlementofBritainbyGermanicinvadersbegins
450480 EarliestknownOldEnglishinscriptions.

OldEnglish

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1066

WilliamtheConqueror,DukeofNormandy,invadesand
conquersEngland.

c1150 EarliestsurvivingmanuscriptsinMiddleEnglish.
1348

EnglishreplacesLatinasthelanguageofinstructioninmost
schools.

1362

EnglishreplacesFrenchasthelanguageoflaw.Englishis
usedinParliamentforthefirsttime.

MiddleEnglish

c1388 ChaucerstartswritingTheCanterburyTales.
c1400 TheGreatVowelShiftbegins.
1476 WilliamCaxtonestablishesthefirstEnglishprintingpress.
1564 Shakespeareisborn.
1604

TableAlphabeticall,thefirstEnglishdictionary,is
published.

1607

ThefirstpermanentEnglishsettlementintheNewWorld
(Jamestown)isestablished.

1616 Shakespearedies.
1623 Shakespeare'sFirstFolioispublished
1702

EarlyModernEnglish

ThefirstdailyEnglishlanguagenewspaper,TheDaily
Courant,ispublishedinLondon.

1755 SamuelJohnsonpublisheshisEnglishdictionary.
1776

ThomasJeffersonwritestheAmericanDeclarationof
Independence.

1782

Britainabandonsitscoloniesinwhatislatertobecomethe
USA.

1828 WebsterpublisheshisAmericanEnglishdictionary.
1922 TheBritishBroadcastingCorporationisfounded.
1928 TheOxfordEnglishDictionaryispublished.

LateModernEnglish