History of English

English is a West Germanic language that originated from Anglo-Frisian dialects brought
to Britain in the mid 5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon settlers. With the end of Roman
rule in 410 AD, Latin ceased to be a major influence on the Celtic languages spoken by the
majority of the population.[citation needed] People from what is now northwest Germany,
west Denmark and the Netherlands settled in the British Isles from the mid-5th century and came
to culturally dominate the bulk of southern Great Britain until the 7th century. The Anglo-Saxon
language, now called Old English, originated as a group of Anglo-Frisian dialects which were
spoken, at least by the settlers, in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle
Ages. It displaced to some extent the Celtic languages that predominated previously. Old English
also reflected the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms established in different parts of
Britain. The Late West Saxon dialect eventually became dominant. A significant subsequent
influence on the shaping of Old English came from contact with the North Germanic
languages spoken by the Scandinavian Vikings who conquered and colonized parts of Britain
during the 8th and 9th centuries, which led to much lexical borrowing and grammatical
simplification. The Anglian dialects had a greater influence on Middle English.
After the Norman conquest in 1066, Old English was replaced, for a time, by Anglo-Norman as
the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English or
Anglo-Saxon era, as during this period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-
Norman, developing into a phase known now as Middle English. The conquering Normans
spoke a Romancelangue d'oïl called Old Norman, which in Britain developed into Anglo-
Norman. Many Norman and French loanwords entered the local language in this period,
especially in vocabulary related to the church, the court system and the government. Middle
English was spoken to the late 15th century. The system of orthography that was established
during the Middle English period is largely still in use today. Later changes in pronunciation,
however, combined with the adoption of various foreign spellings, mean that the spelling of
modern English words appears highly irregular.
Early Modern English – the language used by William Shakespeare – is dated from around 1500.
It incorporated many Renaissance-era loans from Latin and Ancient Greek, as well as
borrowings from other European languages, including French, German and Dutch. Significant
pronunciation changes in this period included the ongoing Great Vowel Shift, which affected the
qualities of most long vowels. Modern English proper, similar in most respects to that spoken
today, was in place by the late 17th century. The English language came to be exported to other
parts of the world through British colonisation, and is now the dominant language in Britain
and Ireland, the United States and Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many smaller former
colonies, as well as being widely spoken in India, parts of Africa, and elsewhere. Partially due to
United States influence, English gradually took on the status of a global lingua franca in the
second half of the 20th century. This is especially true in Europe, where English has largely
taken over the former roles of French and (much earlier) Latin as a common language used to
conduct business and diplomacy, share scientific and technological information, and otherwise
communicate across national boundaries. The efforts of English-speaking Christian missionaries
has resulted in English becoming a second language for many other groups
 Old English (450-1100 AD)
English has been spoken in England since around 450 (449 is the date given by the Venerable
Bede in his history written in the early eighth century). To be more precise a set of varieties of
West Germanic have been spoken. The three main groups were Angles, Saxons and Jutes. By
and large, the Angles settled in the middle and north of England, the Saxon in the south and the
Jutes in the area of present-day Kent.
After the Anglo-Saxon invasion there was little awareness of England let alone of English. With
the establishment of the West Saxon kingdom in later centuries and with the court which formed
the pivot point of this kingdom a first inkling of the idea of English developed. With the invasion
of England by the Danes (after 800) it became more clear that the Germanic tribes in England
were separate from their fellows on the continent and in Scandinavia.
Among the different groupings in England in the Old English period different dialects (that is
purely geographical variants) are recognizable: Northumbrian in the north, Anglian in the middle
and West-Saxon in the south. Due to the political significance of West-Saxon in the late Old
English period (after the 9th century) – it was this region which under King Alfred (c. 849-899)
sucessfully resisted Viking expansion to the south – which the written form of this dialect
developed into something like a standard.
At this time it was Winchester and not London which was the political centre of the country. The
term used for the West Saxon ‘standard’ is koiné which derives from Greek and means a
common dialect, that is a variety which was used in monastaries in parts of England outside of
West Saxony for the purpose of writing.
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.

Middle English (1100-1500)

After the invasion of England by the Normans in 1066, the West Saxon ‘standard’, which was
waning anyway due to natural language change, was dealt a death blow. Norman French became
the language of the English court and clergy.
English sank to the level of a patois (an unwritten dialect). With the loss of England for the French
in 1204 English gradually emerged as a literary language again. For the development of the later
standard it is important to note (1) that it was London which was now the centre of the country and
(2) that printing was introduced into England in the late 15th century. William Caxton (c. 1442-
1491) was the first to introduce printing to England in 1476. He also wrote introductions to editions
of works he printed.
This latter fact contributed more than any single factor to the standardisation of English. It is
obvious that for the production of printing fonts a standard form of the language must be agreed
upon. This applied above all to spelling, an area of English which was quite chaotic in the pre-
printing days of the Middle English period.
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.

Modern English

Early Modern English (1500-1800)

The present-day orthography of English is essentially that of the late Middle English period.
Nonetheless after the Middle English period several changes occur which account for the particular
form of English spelling today. The Early Modern English period is however of interest to the
linguist not only from the point of view of orthography: during this time the vocabulary of English
took on the profile which it exhibits today: French loans were consolidated and a whole series of
new classical loan-words (from Latin and Greek) were adopted into the language. These were
known as ‘hard-words’ and the dispute surrounding their suitability for use in English is known as
the Inkhorn Controversy. The explanation of such words provided the impetus for early
dictionaries of English such as that by Robert Cawdrey in 1604
The Early Modern period is also interesting as it is from this time that the colonisation of America
by the English dates. This meant that the varieties of English of the period were exported to
America where several of their characteristics have been retained due to the naturally conservative
nature of peripheral dialects of a language. Other dialects of English including the varieties spoken
in the developing world are based on the language of the Early Modern period.
Not least because Shakespeare lived at a pivotal period for the development of Modern English
(late 16th and beginning of the 17th century) the term Shakespearean English is used quite often.
Care is necessary here to determine what is meant as the reference can mean either the English of
the period when Shakespeare lived or can have the narrow meaning of the language of his plays
and poetry.
The Early Modern Period is remembered for the significant translation of the Bible made during
the reign of James I (1603-1625). This was done by a group of clerics, begun in 1604 and
completed in 1611. The translation was designed to be definitive, hence the label Authorized
Version which is given to it. Because it was prepared in the reign of James I it is also known as
the King James Bible. Another major religious work from a slightly later date is the Book of
Common Prayer (1662) which was produced by the Church of England. This was not accepted by
the non-conformists Protestants of the time, e.g. the Presbyterians in Scotland.

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.

Late Modern English (1800-Present)

It is now normal to divide the time since the end of the Middle English period into the Early
Modern English period (1500-1700) and the Late Modern English period (1700-1900). The late
begins with the Augustan Age (called after the reign Augustus (63 BC - AD 14) which was a
period of peace and imperial grandeur) with the end of the Restoration period (1660-1690) and
ends in the middle of the 18th century. Dates which can be mentioned for its end are the death of
the poets Alexander Pope (1688-1744) and Jonathan Swift (1670-1745). The latter was particularly
concerned with ‘ascertaining’ and ‘fixing’ the English language to prevent it from future change
(a futile undertaking in the view of linguists)
Among other important authors of the Augustan Age are Joseph Addison (1672-1719), Richard
Steele (1672-1729). With the latter two authors are associated the influential periodicals The
Tatler (1709-11) and The Spectator (1711-12). which did much to establish the style of English in
this period.
The eighteenth century is also a period when grammars of English were written – by men and
women. The most famous of these is that by Bishop Robert Lowth (1710-1787) which he published
in 1762. Many of the recommendations of Lowth later became strictures, even though he may not
intended this. The eighteenth century grammarians were concerned with the codification of
English. Out of this grew a prescriptive standard, especially in the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries.
One set of writers who most definitely were prescriptive in their condemnation of what they saw
as ‘incorrect’ usage are those who wrote pronouncing dictionaries and rhetorical grammars.
Foremost among these are the Irishman Thomas Sheridan and the Londoner John Walker. The
pronouncing dictionary of the latter was immensely popular and went through more than 100
editions, remaing in print until 1904.
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.