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Earliest Old English inscriptions.
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Celtic was the main language, but then english appeared ad was created. English has many Latin references because of the continent where it was created and because of the conversion to Christianity.
(http://public.oed.com/aspects-of-english/english-in-time/old-english-an-overview/) -
“Cædmon's Hymn” composed in Old English.
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The Venerable Bede writes “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People” (in Latin).
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Old English epic poem “Beowulf” composed.
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Alfred the Great becomes king of Wessex, encourages English prose and translation of Latin works.
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“The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” is begun.
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The oldest surviving manuscript of “Beowulf” dates from this period.
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“Domesday Book” compiled.
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The most important linguistic developments were grammarand vocabular. It showed many borrowings from French, and Latin scandinavian, making it a multilingual era. (http://public.oed.com/aspects-of-english/english-in-time/middle-english-an-overview/)
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The oldest surviving manuscripts in Middle English date from this period.
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“The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” discontinued.
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Oxford University established.
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The “Ormulum” text of the monk Orm completed.
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Cambridge University established.
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The Statute of Pleading replaces French with English as the language of law (although records continue to be kept in Latin).
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English is used in English Parliament for the first time.
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William Langland writes “Piers Plowman”
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John Wycliffe publishes his English translation of “The Bible”
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English replaces Latin as main language in schools (except Universities of Oxford and Cambridge).
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Chaucer begins “The Canterbury Tales”.
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Henry IV becomes first English-speaking monarch since before the Conquest.
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William Caxton establishes the first English printing press.
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Not long before the wars of roses, printig becomes the breakthrough of books.
(http://public.oed.com/aspects-of-english/english-in-time/early-modern-english-an-overview/) -
William Tyndale prints his English translation of the New Testament of “The Bible”
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“The Great Bible” published
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First version of “The Book of Common Prayer” published.
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William Shakespeare writes his first plays.
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Romeo and Juliet.
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A midsummer night's dream.
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Hamlet.
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Robert Cawdrey publishes the first English dictionary, “A Table Alphabeticall”.
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The Authorized, or King James Version, of “The Bible” is published
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Death of William Shakespeare.
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Publication of the first English-language newspaper, the “Courante” or “Weekly News”.
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First Folio of Shakespeare’s works is published
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Publication of the first daily English-language newspaper, “The Daily Courant”, in London.
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Samuel Johnson publishes his “Dictionary of the English Language”.
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Noah Webster publishes “The American Spelling Book”.
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Dictionaries become famous and more useful for writers and students.
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Noah Webster publishes his “The American Dictionary of the English Language”
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First edition of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published.
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Sir Ernest Gowers’ “The Complete Plain Words” published.
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Second edition of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published.
