-
Period: 40,000 BCE to
First Settlement of Britain by Homo Sapiens
First settled 40,000 thousand years ago but, only been continuous since about 12,000 years ago -
Period: 800 BCE to 42
Iron Age Britons
By the Iron age, all of Britain south of the Firth of the river Forth was inhabited by Britons and some Belgic tribes. -
43
Roman conquest of Britain by Caesar Augustus
Prior to this, the language spoken in England was Celtic, specifically known as Common Brittonic, and the language remained the same throughout Roman rule but was heavily influenced by Latin. The invasion of Britain took many years, ending in the year 87. Attempts to control Scotland were met with little success. This began 400 years of control, during which English gains much of its Latin influence. Examples of words with Latin origin: Strata - Street
Uncia - Inch
Mile - Milliare -
Period: 383 to 410
West German migration
Over this period the Roman Empire begins to fall, causing the Empire to draw their resources inward, leaving distant provinces like Britain vulnerable. The collapse of the Empire allowed for the invasion of the Huns, which drove Germanic peoples into the areas of Europe previously controlled by the Romans. These Germanic tribes, containing the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes spoke their own West Germanic languages, which largely suppressed Romano-British, otherwise known as Common Brittonic -
Period: 700 to 1066
Old Norse Viking influence
By the 7th Cent, Anglo-Saxon was the lingua franca throughout Southern England. North Germanic-speaking vikings eventually settle and inter-marry with Anglo Saxons. The intersection of their Old Norse with the closely related Anglo Saxon gave English some new vocabulary, much of which overlapped with existing words. An example of this is Skirt and Shirt which used to be words for the same garment. Leads to dropping of our inflections, which remain mostly in our pronoun system -
Period: 1066 to 1135
The Norman Conquest
William the conqueror invades England from Northern France. Anglo Saxon Earls replaced by French earls loyal to William, who spoke Old Norman, which itself is a mix of Old Norse and Gallo-Romance.
Both Norman and Anglo Saxon were blended by cultural exchange. Anglo Saxon gains much of French vocabulary, and effects the grammar. Over the next two-hundred years, Middle English emerges, and many French words are borrowed. Examples:
Revenue
Pardon
Surgeon
Convent
Garrison
Sermon
Saint, etc. -
Period: 1150 to 1450
Middle English
Over the course of the Anarchy, French influence retreats from England, leaving a curious combination of Old French and Anglo Saxon which develops over the next centuries to become Middle English. This is the language of Chaucer. Here are some examples of the changes French influence brought into Middle English:
Doube consonants after short vowels (eg. 'Sitting')
Double of vowels to represent long vowel sounds (eg. "See")
'Cw' changes to 'Qu' (eg. "Queen")
"sh" or "sch" instead of "sc" (ship) -
1347
The Black Death
The Black Death kills roughly one-third of England's population, among them are many Monks and Friars, who would’ve instructed children in Latin at schools. English becomes the official language of the law courts and replaces Latin as the medium of instruction at most schools. This leads to the loss of Latin in everyday use. -
Period: 1400 to
The Great Vowel Shift
For disputed reasons, English speakers in the British isles, specifically Southern England, near London start to pronounce vowels differently. The pronunciation of all Middle English long vowels was changed; some consonant sounds became silent; Knight & Knife. The fact that this begins in the South, which is culturally more prestigious, suggests the influence of the middle classes and their growing access to literature. -
1476
Introduction of the Printing Press to England
William Caxton was an English businessman with ties to Belgium. When he was made to copy a text by hand, he resolved to learn the process of printing. He introduced the printing press to England, in Westminster. As a result, buying books became much cheaper, and literature became more widespread then ever before. Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’ was one of the first ever books Caxton printed. Literacy rates soared, and English spelling became more standardized. -
Period: 1550 to
Inkhorn Controversy
As English transitioned from Middle English to Modern English, there was a conscious effort to introduce Latin and Greek words into English. As science was taught, new terms were required, which already existed in Latin or Greek. Some scholars felt that English was being corrupted. Some, like Shakespeare, were opened to a wider scope of expression.
Some examples:
Grammar; Conscience; Anaphora, Words beginning in the digraph /ph/ are of Greek origin.
expedite, ameliorate, predict, extraneous, -
Period: to
Changes in form from Middle to Modern
Many grammatical and syntactical changes mark this period: Shall changes to Will. Pronouns drop off, last remnants of our inflectional system lost through loss of ‘whom, thou, ye, thine,’ Loss of Anglo Saxon conjugation structure: we lose ‘you thinkest, he thinketh.’ Phonological: /gn/ or /kn/ into n (gnat, knot, pronounced without g/k Variations in pronunciation of ‘ea’ meat, great, and threat all used to rhyme. Same with Cut and Put; they used to rhyme -
Period: to
Modern English
Influence of printing press in conjunction with the popularity of Shakespeare stabilise the language and establish many correct spellings of words. Later, in the 1800s, the British Empire facilitates the spread of Modern English through her colonies, creating many dialects of English. Modern British is spoken throughout the world and has come into contact with almost every language group. This contact has led to dialect change and a variety of pidgin languages. -
Period: to
British Colonialism
Britain’s expanding empire spreads English to the world, while also adopting terms from other nations. The USA becomes the first English-speaking independent nation outside of England in 1776. Occupation of India sees some Hindi words come into English, such as:
Bangle, Jungle, Cummerbund, Loot, Juggernaut, etc.
Words like “Trek” are adopted from Dutch, through South Africa. -
Period: to
American English
In 1776 the Declaration of Independence is signed, making the US the first English-speaking independent nation outside of Britain. Noah Webster (as in Miriam-Webster) seeks to distinguish American English from British English. Below are some examples:
Soft ‘c’s and ‘z’s were felt to be unnecessary, and are changed to ‘s’. (Eg. Licence-license)
“U” and “L” were often dropped, both to aid Americanization, and to help save on newspaper costs, who charged by line.
Thus we get ‘Canceled’ etc.