History of the English Language

By beejmaylyn
  • Period: 400 to

    History of the English Language

  • 450

    Example of the Lord's prayer in Old English

    Fæder ūre þū þe eart on heofonum,
    Sī þīn nama ġehālgod.

    Tōbecume þīn rīċe,
    ġewurþe þīn willa, on eorðan swā swā on heofonum.
    Ūre ġedæġhwāmlīcan hlāf syle ūs tō dæġ,
    and forgyf ūs ūre gyltas, swā swā wē forgyfað ūrum gyltendum.
    Translation:
    Father of ours, thou who art in heavens
    Be thy name hallowed.
    Come thy riche (kingdom),
    Worth (manifest) thy will, on earth as also in heaven.
    Our daily loaf do sell (give) to us today,
    And forgive us of our guilts as also we forgive our guilters
  • Period: 450 to Mar 14, 1100

    Old English

  • Mar 15, 657

    The earlist poem written in English, Caedon's Hymn, is being written.

  • Suspeced date of Beowolf's Writing
    Jan 1, 1066

    Suspeced date of Beowolf's Writing

  • Sep 28, 1066

    Norman Invasion Began

  • Mar 15, 1086

    The Doomsday Book is being written for William the conqueror to detail the wealth and property of England.

  • Period: Mar 14, 1100 to Mar 14, 1500

    Middle English

  • Mar 15, 1100

    Example of Middle English writing.

    Ormulum, 12th century Forrþrihht anan se time comm
    þatt ure Drihhtin wollde
    ben borenn i þiss middellærd
    forr all mannkinne nede
    he chæs himm sone kinnessmenn
    all swillke summ he wollde
    and whær he wollde borenn ben
    he chæs all att hiss wille. Translation:
    As soon as the time came
    that our Lord wanted
    to be born in this middle-earth
    for the sake of all mankind,
    at once he chose kinsmen for himself,
    all just as he wanted,
    and he decided that he would be born
    exactly where he wished.
  • Mar 15, 1149

    Oxford University is founded in Oxford, England.

  • Mar 14, 1387

    Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

  • Invention of the Printing Press
    Mar 14, 1439

    Invention of the Printing Press

  • Mar 15, 1441

    The first documented black African slaves impoted to Europe.

  • Mar 15, 1455

    German inventor Johann Gutenberg revolutionizes knowledge transfer. He improves or invents three items: the printing press, movable metal type, and an oil-based ink. His first work is the 42-line Bible.

  • Mar 14, 1492

    The Discovery of the America's

  • Mar 15, 1497

    The Discovery of North America

  • Period: Mar 14, 1500 to

    Early Modern English

  • Mar 15, 1520

    Example of Early Modern English

    A peace is of the nature of a conquest; for then both parties nobly are subdued, and neither party loser.
    -William Shakespeare
  • Mar 15, 1536

    John Calvin writes The Institutes of the Christian Religion.

  • Thomas Hariot first writes about an amazing herbal remedy introduced to him by the local peoples of America called tobacco.

  • Shakespeare's First Folio

  • Isaac Newton writes Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy which shows the laws of the heavens are the same as the laws of earth.

  • The American Revolution

    The American Revolution

  • Period: to

    Modern English

  • Samuel Morse demonstrates the telegraph in public

  • The unsinkable Titanic goes down with over 1,500 souls. A steward from the White Star Line is reported as having said, "Not even God Himself can sink this ship".

  • Vikings start raiding Ireland.