English 12A Language Timeline

By callieevans
  • 450

    5th Century - The Beginning

    The history of the English language started with the arrival of three German tribes who invaded Britain in the 5th century AD. These tribes were the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. Old English was developed. It was spoken until the 1100's.
  • 500

    6th Century

    With the collapse of the empire, Romans withdrew from Britain. The conquest of the Celtic population in Britain by speakers of West Germanic dialects eventually determined many essential characteristics of the English language
  • 550

    Late 6th Century

    Ethelbert, the King of Kent is baptized. He is the first English king to convert to Christianity.
  • 600

    7th Century

    Rise of the Saxon kingdom in Wessex. Many convert to Christianity. New religious words were borrowed from Latin and Greek. Latin speakers began to refer to the country as Anglia and later as Englaland.
  • 700

    700

    The approximate date of the earliest manuscript records of Old English.
  • 700

    Late 8th Century

    Scandinavians began to settle in Britain and Ireland.
  • 800

    Early 9th Century

    Egbert of Wessex incorporates Cornwall into his kingdom and is recognized as overlord of the seven kingdoms of the Angles and Saxons. England begins to emerge
  • 850

    Mid 9th Century

    Danes raid England, occupy Northumbria, and establish a kingdom at York. Danish begins to influence English.
  • 850

    Late 9th Century

    King Alfred of Wessex (Alfred the Great) leads the Anglo-Saxons to victory over the Vikings, translates Latin works into English, and establishes writing of prose in English. He uses the English language to foster a sense of national identity. England is divided into a kingdom ruled by the Anglo-SAxons and another ruled by the Scandinavians.
  • 900

    10th Century

    English and Danes mix fairly peacefully, and many Scandinavian or Old Norse loanwords enter the language, including such words as sister, wish, skin, and die.
  • 1000

    11th Century

    Approximate date of the only surviving manuscript of the Old English epic poem Beowulf, composed by an anonymous poet between the 8th and early 11th century.
  • 1000

    Early 11th Century

    Danes attack England, and the English King escapes to Normandy. The Battle of Maldon becomes the subject of one of the few surviving poems in Old English. The Danish king rules over England and encourages the growth of Anglo-Saxon culture and literature.
  • 1150

    Mid 12th Century

    Approximate date of the earliest surviving texts in Middle English.
  • 1204

    Early 13th Century

    King John loses control of the Duchy of Normandy and other French and English to the country. About this time the University of Oxford is founded.
  • 1215

    13th Century

    King John signs the Magna Carta a critical document in the long historical process leading to the constitutional law in the English speaking word.
  • 1300

    Mid to Late 14th Century

    The Hundred Years War between England and France leads to the loss of almost all of England's French possessions. The Black Death kills 1/3 of England's population. Geoffrey Chaucer composes The Canterbury Tales in Middle English. English becomes the official language of the law courts and replaces Latin as the medium of instruction at most schools.
  • 1399

    Late 14th Century

    At his coronation, King Henry IV becomes the first English monarch to deliver a speech in English.
  • 1400

    Late 15th Century

    William Caxton brings the first printing press and publishes The Canterbury Tales. Literacy rates increase and printers begin to standardize English spelling.

  • Late 16th and Early 17th Centuries

    1590-1611 William Shakespeare writes his Sonnets and the majority of his plays.

  • Early 17th Century

    The Authorized Version of the English Bible (the King James Bible) is published, greatly influencing the development of written language.

  • Early 18th Century

    The Daily Courant, the first regular daily newspaper in English, is published in London.

  • Late 18th Century

    The Declaration of Independence is signed, and the American War of Independence begins, leading to the creation of the United States of America, the first country outside the British Isles with English as its principle language.

  • Mid 19th Century

    The telegraph is invented by Samuel Morse, inaugurating the development of rapid communication, a major influence on the growth and spread of English.

  • Mid 19th Century

    A standard variety of American English develops. English is established in Australia, South Africa, India, and other British colonial outposts.

  • Late 19th Century

    Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone, thus modernizing private communication.

  • Early 20th Century

    The Oxford English Dictionary is published.

  • 21st Century

    The fifth volume of the Dictionary of American Regional English is published by Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.