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Jan 1, 1066
Norman Conquest
English continues to evolve after the Norman Conquest, particularly in grammar. Word order becomes increasingly important in conveying the meaning of a sentence, rather than the traditional use of special word endings. -
Jan 1, 1200
The Resurgence of English
Despite being edged out, French has already had an immense impact, with 10,000 of its words entering the language during the 14th century. Hundreds of Old English words disappear into obscurity, but many others survive alongside their French and Latin equivalent, each endowed with a slightly different meaning: for example, ask (Old English), question (French), interrogate (Latin). -
Jan 1, 1476
The invention of the Printing Press
The ‘Great Vowel Shift’ takes place during the 15th century, and represents a major development in pronunciation which resulted in many words coming to be pronounced more like they are today. A speaker in Chaucer’s era pronounced 'time' like the modern English 'team', 'see' like 'say', 'fame' like 'farm'. -
Jan 1, 1500
The Renaissance
This is a time of great invention in the language, as writers struggle to find appropriate terms to describe the groundbreaking techniques and concepts they are pioneering. Not content with raiding Greek and Latin, they are soon ransacking more than 50 languages from across the globe. -
The colonalisation of the New World
In 1604, Robert Cawdrey's ‘A Table Alphabeticall’, listing the meanings of over 2,500 'hard words', is published. It is the first English dictionary. -
The age of the Lexicographer
Debate over the state of the language rages in Britain during the 18th century, following moves in other nations to control the wagging of their native tongues with dictionaries, grammars and manuals. -
The industrial revolution
There is a frantic need for words and terms to describe the latest developments and concepts in science and technology. A project begins in 1884 ro compile a ne english dictionary which will eventually become the Oxford English Dictionary. In America the need to define the identity of the new nation results in Noah Websters American Dictionary Of The English Language Appearing in 1828. -
Present day
In the twentieth century, English emerges as a world language, universally embraced across the globe. Hybrid, local variations of the language appear, such as Singlish (Singaporean English), as recently independent nations promote their identity through local varieties of the language. -
Anglo Saxon invasion
inreased latin vocabluary within the english language and also due to their paganism introduced our well known names for days of the week in relation to their many gods -
The Viking Raids begin
For example, the '-by' in names like Rugby and Grimsby means ‘farm’ or ‘town; the '-thorpe' in Althorpe and Linthorpe means ‘village’; and the '-thwaite' in Braithwaite and Langthwaite means ‘isolated area’.