The History of English

Old English or Anglo-Saxon (Years 450-1100) :

Before old English (55BC): Celts had been invaded by the Romans which brought Latin words
into the language.

 450 (5th century): Three Germanic tribes—Jutes, Angles, and Saxons—invaded England
and established the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy (a collective name applied to the Anglo-
Saxon kingdoms of south, east, and central Great Britain) and introduced their language.
The English language true origin is from the West Germanic language. Celtic words are
rare in modern English, although Celtic languages do remain still in Welsh, Irish, Gaelic,
and Cornish
• 597 (Late 6th century): The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity began—It
was an event of huge cultural importance—which means that a large amount of the texts
have been found of this time are religious
• 600 (6th century): England is divided into 7 Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms—East Anglia,
Mercia, Northumbria, Wessex, Essex, Kent, and Sussex
• 792-1000 (8th and the 10th century): Vikings began to invade. Their Old Norse language
resembled that of the Anglo-Saxon invaders and much of its vocabulary was absorbed.
The oldest surviving text of Old English literature is “Cædmon's Hymn”, and the longest
was “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle”. By far the best known is the long epic poem “Beowulf”
• 1066 (11th century): Battle of Hastings – Norman Conquest which brought French to the
language (spoken by the most powerful people, therefore was used in political
documents, administration and literature).

Some Archaic words: Fulsome: rich, plentiful; Onuppan: above; Pudh: horrible; Yore: years
ago; Fere: friend, companion; Beseech: request, ask; Nary: none, nothing.

The following text is from Aelfric's "Homily on St. Gregory the Great" from the 10 th
century:
Eft he axode, hu ðære ðeode nama wære þe hi of comon. Him wæs geandwyrd, þæt hi Angle
genemnode wæron. Þa cwæð he, "Rihtlice hi sind Angle gehatene, for ðan ðe hi engla wlite
habbað, and swilcum gedafenað þæt hi on heofonum engla geferan beon."

Translation: Again he [St. Gregory] asked what might be the name of the people from which
they came. It was answered to him that they were named Angles. Then he said, "Rightly are they
called Angles because they have the beauty of angels, and it is fitting that such as they should be
angels' companions in heaven."

Middle English (Years 1100-1500):

• 1066 (11th century): Norman invasion which brought a lot of French into the language.
This is because William—Duke of Normandy—crowned himself the king of England but
only spoke French. This meant English was considered as only suitable for lower classes
(peasants and slaves)
• 1100 (11th century): London becomes capital of England
• 1154 (12th century): “The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” discontinued. Authors write literature
in French, not English. For all practical purposes English is no longer a written language
• 1167 (12th century): Oxford University established
• 1171 (12th century): Henry II declares himself overlord of Ireland, introducing Norman
French and English to the country
• 1209 (13th century): Cambridge University established
• 1348-1351 (14th century): As a result of the Black Death—kills one third of the British
population—there was a need for working class labourers. These people all spoke
English, which led to a rise in the language
• 1362 (14th century): English is used in English Parliament for the first time and more
authors are writing in English
• 1384 (14th century): John Wycliffe publishes his English translation of “The Bible”
• 1385 (14th century): English replaces Latin as main language in schools (except
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge)
• 1388 (14th century): Chaucer begins “The Canterbury Tales” which influence writers to
produce other literary texts, also shows French influence in your writing.
• 1399 (14th century): Henry IV becomes first English-speaking monarch since before the
conquest
• 1450-1500 (15th century): The Great Vowel Shift begins which is a systematic sound
change in the pronunciation of the vowel sounds of a language
• 1476 (15th century): William Caxton establishes the first English printing press. He
printed all kinds of texts and in the following 150 years around 20,000 books were
printed. This led to improved literacy rates and lowered price of books. Printers were able
to choose which grammar and spellings to use, leading to a more standardized language.
The accessibility of texts led to an increased interest in literature. Exploration of the New
World brought new words from across the empire, including coffee, yoghurt, kiosk
(Turkish); and bizarre, chocolate, vogue (French)
• 1500 (15th century): Henry VIII cuts the link between Rome and the Church of England,
and it was the start of English Renaissance.

The Second Nun's Prologue by Chaucer

‘A knyght ther was, and that a worthy man,

 A knight there was, and he a worthy man,
That fro the tyme that he first bigan
 Who, from the moment that he first began
To riden out, he loved chivalrie,
To ride about the world, loved chivalry,
Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie.
Truth, honour, freedom and all courtesy.
Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre,
Full worthy was he in his liege-lord’s war,
And therto hadde he riden, no man ferre,
And therein had he ridden (none more far)
As wel in cristendom as in hethenesse,
Great Vowel Shift (1450-1500)
As well in Christendom as heathenesse,
At alisaundre he was whan it was wonne.’
Modern English (Years 1500-present):
There are 2 types of Modern English: The difference between is mostly vocabulary

1. Early Modern English (Year 1500-1700):

 1500-1700 (15th and 17th century): Science became a key factor in language change
as more discoveries were made. Many words introduced through scientists were
‘loan words’ which had been borrowed from other languages as people struggled to
name their discoveries; Religion was still just as important in society as it had always
been—during this period the protestant reformation occurred—which also could
have informed the language/attitudes; Exploration and colonisation also affected the
use of language and meant more words were picked up; The Renaissance led to a
growth in interest classical culture
 1509 (16th century): Henry VIII reigned the throne
 1534 (16th century): Tynedale’s Bible was released – the first official English
version of the Bible
 1549 (16th century): The first version of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church
of England was published
 1558 (16th century): Elisabeth I reigned the throne, which will have had a significant
impact on attitudes towards women in society
 1564-1616 (16th and 17th century): Shakespeare period – Shakespeare made a huge
impact on the English language, leading to a more romantic style of literature, with
French and Italian influences; He also created his own words—over 1700; He
utilised unusual words, some inflections (such as ‘–est’ and ‘–eth’) were favoured
while others completely rejected, and pronouns ‘thou’, ‘thee’ and ‘thy’ were used in
his work; He reduced inflections on endings of words, which led to grammatical
conversion (particularly making verbs from nouns), for example: ‘season your
admiration’, ‘destruction shall dog them at their heels’, ‘I, who at Phillipi, the great
Brutus ghosted’; He also introduced idiomatic expressions into normal language, for
example: ‘in my mind’s eye’, ‘a tower of strength’, ‘be cruel only to be kind’, ‘love
is blind’; His use of hyphenated compounds also proved influential, often to form
new words, for example: ‘faire-play’, ‘ill-tuned’, ‘pell-mell’
 1590 (16th century): William Shakespeare writes his first plays
 1604 (17th century): Robert Cawdrey publishes the first English dictionary, “A
Table Alphabeticall”
 1611 (17th century): King James version of “The Bible” is published. Unlike
Shakespeare’s language, the King James Bible reserves an archaic style; For
example, he keeps ‘digged’ instead of ‘dug’ and ‘gat’ instead of ‘got’
 1622 (17th century): Weekly News—the first English newspaper—published in
London.

2. Late Modern English (Year 1700-Present):

 1755 (18th century): Samuel Johnson publishes his “Dictionary of the English
Language”. The dictionary provided clear, prescriptive standard spellings and gives
advice on usage and different senses of words as definitions.
 1777 (18th century): Last native speaker of the Celtic Cornish language dies
  1760-1820/1840 (18th and 19th century): Industrial revolution which influenced the
English language as new ideas and contraptions were being invented, along with a
range of new fields people could work in
 1800´s (19th century): Expansion of the British Empire brings other words into
English language as well as taking English words into others; English started to
become an international language with new varieties such as American English and
Indian English; Use of auxiliary verbs became mandatory in interrogative sentences,
for example: ‘Did he go running?’; Archaic possessive pronouns were still in use, for
example: ‘thy’ and ‘thou’
 1828 (19th century): Webster publishes books on grammar, creating standards for
grammar and for spelling as well
 1914-1918 (20th century): World War I
 1922 (20th century): British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) founded
 1928 (20th century): First edition of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published
 1939-1945 (20th century): World War II. After the war, it was the beginning of US
political-military influence and consequently the economic and cultural influence
was decisive for the English as an international language today
 1961 (20th century): Webster’s Third New International Dictionary is published
 1988 (20th century): The Internet is released to the public
 1989 (20th century): Second edition of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published
with 20 volumes
 1994 (20th century): Text messaging is introduced, and the first modern blogs go
online. Also comes with entirely new lexical sets such as slangs and specialist
language
 1995-Present (20th and 21st century): Twitter/Facebook/WhatsApp are created,
leading to impulsive online expression and fast-spreading news. Text speak such as
‘lol’, ‘wtf’, and ‘omg’ has filtered through into everyday usage, including spoken
language
 Technology has become one of the main influences, such as pop culture—celebrity
obsessions, tabloids, gossip publications
 English is now very much a global language, with many influences and new words
being created constantly. American English today is very influential on the rest of the
world because of the USA’s dominance in so many media outlets. Between popular
music, cinema, television and technology, there are lots of sources which promote
and influence the American dialect
 In the written word, informality is much more common, especially in journalism
where fronted conjunctions—But and Yet— and the use of bullet points are normal,
particularly in online news articles.

A comparison of a passage from "King Lear" from Shakespeare in the 1623 (17th century) First
Folio with the same passage in a modern edition that gives some idea of the changes that were
still underway in Shakespeare's time:

Sir, I loue you more than words can weild ye Sir, I love you more than word can wield the
matter, matter,
Deerer than eye-sight, space, and libertie, Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty,
Beyond what can be valewed, rich or rare, Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare,
No lesse then life, with grace, health, beauty,
honor:
As much as Childe ere lou'd, or Father found.
A loue that makes breath poore, and speech
vnable,
Beyond all manner of so much I loue you.
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty,
honor:
As much as child ever loved, or father found.
A love that makes breath poor and speech
unable,
Beyond all manner of 'so much' I love you.