History of the English Language
A short history of the origins
and development of English
The history of the English
language really started with the arrival
of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain
during the 5th century AD. These tribes,
the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes,
crossed the North Sea from what today
is Denmark and northern Germany.
At that time the inhabitants
of Britain spoke a Celtic language. But
most of the Celtic speakers were pushed
west and north by the invaders -
mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland
and Ireland. The Angles came from Englaland
and their language was called Englisc
- from which the words England and
English are derived.
Old English (450-1100 AD)
Part of Beowulf, a poem written in Old English.
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)
An example of Middle English
by Chaucer.
An example of Middle English by Chaucer.
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)
- Late Modern English (1800-Present)
Early Modern English
Hamlet's famous "To be, or
not to be" lines, written in Early
Modern English by Shakespeare.
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
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.
Varieties of English
- From around 1600, the English colonization of North America resulted in the creation of a distinct American variety of English. Some English pronunciations and words "froze" when they reached America. In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English is.
- Some expressions that the British call "Americanisms" are in fact original British expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain (for example trash for rubbish, loan as a verb instead of lend, and fall for autumn; another example, frame-up, was re-imported into Britain through Hollywood gangster movies).
- Spanish also had an influence on American English (and subsequently British English), with words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered English through the settlement of the American West. French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the slave trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British English).
Today, American English is particularly
influential, due to the USA's dominance
of cinema, television, popular music, trade
and technology (including the Internet). But
there are many other varieties of English
around the world, including for example
Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian
English, South African English, Indian English
and Caribbean English