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Mary Madelene B. Armenta

“Develop a passion for learning. If
you do, you will never cease to
grow.” – Anthony J. D’Angelo
 The English Language
Like any language, English has a complex
and layered history. The concept of this
language being passed down from generation
to generation. It is also changing as time pass
by. English belongs to the Indo-European
group of languages. The history can be
divided into three periods: Old English, Middle
English, and Modern English.
Old English (500-1100 AD)
They occupied the biggest part of the
country and brought Germanic civilization,
often called Anglo-Saxon.
The Celts were the original citizen of Britain
before the invasion of the tribes. After the
occupation, Celts were pushed out of
England into Scotland, Wales, Cornwell,
and Ireland.
The language spoken by the people who
settled in Britain eventually came to be
known as Englisc, from which the words
"England" and "English" are derived.
Has a four dialects: Northumbrian, Mercian,
Kentish, and West Saxon.
The language adopted numerous words
from Latin, the representative language of
the church, during the sixth century. Some
examples are abbot, alter, hymn, candle,
nun, pope, etc.
During the ninth to the eleventh century,
Norwegian and Danish Vikings influenced
the English language. Many words
beginning with 'sc' and 'sk' were entered
into the English language during that era.
Some examples are score, scorch, skill, sky,
etc.
One of the famous literary works in this era
is Beowulf.
(1100-1500)
Middle English
The Norman kings and the
aristocratic class spoke a dialect of
Old French as Anglo-Norman.
At the time, only peasants and people
who were working used the English
language.
People in this era adopted French
culture and also the French language.
The language they used was not
Germanic but French.
This resulted in an enormous
borrowing of French words into
English vocabulary. Some borrowed
words are country, salvation, virgin,
miracle, savory, battle, navy, charity,
etc.
Modern English (1500-present)
This era is considered the most
significant period in the history of the
English language due to the
Renaissance, the revival and rebirth of
knowledge.
Aside from the Latin language, Greek
provides some words like skeleton,
anonymous, catastrophe, etc.
Publishing books became noticeable,
and text written in English was more
popular than Latin books.
The first dictionary of English was
published in 1604.
By the late 20th century, English
became a native language by more
than 350 million people.
This language became the most
widely taught foreign language and
also the most used in this era.