OLD ENGLISH

Jutes, Angles, and Saxons migrated from Germany and Denmark

to Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries who invaded Britain during
the 5th century.
The inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language.
The Angles came from “Englaland”
Their language was called “Englisc” – from which the words
“England” and “English” are derived.
Their language, now known as “Old English“, was soon adopted
of the island.
They crossed the North Sea from Denmark and northern
Germany.
The invaders pushed the Celtic speakers west and north – mainly
into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
It covered a period of 700 years {from the Anglo –Saxon
settlement of Britain in the 5th century to the late 11th century}.
Beowulf first English epic the author is anonymous Wrote in Old
English.
Old English was first written in runes {letters or characters} using
the futhorc.
Futhorc was a runic alphabet used by Germanic peoples across
Europe for over a thousand years. It arose around the 3rd century
and remained in use until the 16th or 17th century. The name
"Futhorc" comes from the first six letters of the alphabet.
 From Old English to Middle English
The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought many French words into
English.
Old English got mixed up with Old Norse, Latin and French after:
The Viking invasion and then the Norman Conquest (1066)
Old Norse {the language of the Viking tribes} ended up giving
English more than 2,000 new words, including “give” and “take”,
“egg”, “knife”, “husband”, “run” and “Viking”.
Old English continued to develop and grow by adopting Latin and
French words from the Normans, including everyday words such
as “beer”,” city”, “fruit”, “people”, “liberty” and “justice”.

Middle English
Middle English spoken from the Norman Conquest (1066) until
the late 15th century.
Middle English saw significant changes to its vocabulary,
grammar, pronunciation, and orthography.
Significant writers : John Wycliffe and Geoffrey Chaucer,
whose Canterbury Tales remains the most studied and read work
of the period.
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.
 Pre Modern English

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 and its improvement made books
cheaper and more people learned to read.
Printing also brought standardization to English.
Spelling and grammar became fixed
The dialect of London, where most publishing houses were,
became the standard.
In 1604 the first English dictionary was published.

Early Modern English (1500 – 1800) Shakespeare’s

Language
English became the language of power and influence once again
After, the Hundred Years War with France that ended French rule
of the British Isles.
William Shakespeare’s influence on the development of the
English language and its unique and rich culture is hard to grasp.
He invented at least 1,700 words, including “alligator”, “puppy
dog”, and “fashionable”, in addition to keeping classics like
Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet!
Greek and Latin words began to enter it in the 15th century, and
Modern English is usually dated from 1500.
Vocabulary of Modern English is approximately:
A quarter Germanic (Old English, Scandinavian, Dutch, German)
Two-thirds Italic (Latin, French, Spanish, Italian)
Many imports from Greek in science and technology.
Considerable borrowings from more than 300 other languages.
Names of many basic concepts and things come from Old English
or Anglo Saxon:
heaven and earth, love and hate, life and death, beginning and e
nd, day and night, month and year, heat and cold, way and path,
meadow and stream.
From Old English come all the personal pronouns (except they,
their, and them, which are from Scandinavian) & many auxiliary
verbs & simplest prepositions, and all conjunctions.
Last Modern English (1800 – Present)
The main difference between Early Modern English and Late
Modern English is vocabulary.
BECAUSE 1. the Industrial Revolution and technology created a
need for new words.
2. the English-speaking world was at the center of a lot of
scientific progress, scientific advances went hand-in-hand with the
evolution of the language.
3. Colonization especially to North America.
The English colonization of North America resulted in the creation
of a distinct American variety of English such as:
BRITISH: maths – post – canelled
AMIRCAN: math – mail – cancel