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407
Anglo-Saxon Invasions
After a period of rule lasting over 300 years, the Romans leave Britain. The Isles are quickly invaded by a number of Germanic groups, including the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes, and, around 800AD, the Vikings. From the Anglo-Saxons, English gets the words "house," "woman," "offspring," and "salt," as well as the story of Beowulf. -
Oct 14, 1066
The Norman Conquest
In 1066, three competitors-Harold Hadrada, Harold of Wessex, and William- Duke of Normandy fought for the English throne. When the Witan chose Harold of Wessex, the other two competitors declared did not accept it: Hadrada invaded in N. England where Wessex defeated him. William invaded from Normandy in S. England and met Sussex with no resistance. With William in power, French became the nobility language (where we get —“judge,” “jury,” “beef,” and “pork) and English the language of peasantry -
Period: Oct 15, 1066 to Oct 23, 1450
Middle English Period
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Oct 25, 1400
The Canterbury Tales
Sometime during his lifetime in the late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, one of the only enduring works of English literature published during a period of almost exclusively French publication. French was so dominant because the Norman Conquest had left English a socioeconomically disadvantaged language. However, The Canterbury Tales, among other things, helped to bolster the resurgence of English. Image from http://media-1.web.britannica.com/eb-media/27/96927-004-9C -
Period: Oct 24, 1450 to
Modern English
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Apr 26, 1564
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare is born.
By the time of his death in 1616, he had written over 35 plays and 150 sonnets, and contributed around 2000 new words to the English language.
Some words which are credited to Shakespeare are "alligator," "lonely," and "mountaineer," and some expressions credited to him are "dead as a doornail" and "get your money's worth." -
American English
English settlers arrive in Jamestown and found the first permanent, English settlement in the New World. As they discover new flora and fauna, they borrow native words like "raccoon," "possum," "skunk," and "squash."
As the nation slowly became the great melting pot, words from immegrant languages like Dutch ("cookie") and French ("prairie") also entered the lexicon.
Over time, American English grew more distinct, and began to develop its own unique words like "freeway," "jazz," and "merger." -
The King James Bible
First published in 1611, the King James version of the Bible made the text readily available to laypeople throughout England and America.
The new Bible also introduced a number of expressions to the English langauge which are still being used today. Some examples: "Give up the ghost," "The powers that be," and "The ends of the earth." -
The Royal Society
After the Renaissance, conflicts developed between scientists and their more creative counterparts, "Enthusiasts." Language became a public focus, and people like Thomas Hobbes started recommending a single authority to govern language use. The Royal Society was created in 1660, and argued that English proce should be plain, precise, clear, and stripped of ornamentation. This sparked a search for logic, rationality, and order in the English language. Image from http://www.royalsociety.org -
The English Dictionary
With the English language expanding, there was a conflict of increased readership inducing the need for definitions of frequently used words. In 1747, Samuel Johnson produced A Dictionary of the English Language which included the etymology of the words and supported his definitions with quotations from authorial texts. In 1928, the Oxford English Dictionary was completed by 13,000 workers with 414,000 definitions that now stand in 27 volumes today. -
British Empire
The British Empire, which began in the late 16th century in Ireland and expanded through the slave trade and colonization, grew from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I through that of Queen Victoria I. It reached its height in 1922, covering almost 1/4 of Earth's landmass. Along with the government and colonization spread the language, and today English is the primary language for 400 million people (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire). Image from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history -
Global English
After borrowing words from more than 350 languages, English has become the most used language with 1.5 billion people speaking it worldwide. Many countries use English as their first language, and those that do not, mostly use it as their second language and/or use creole/pidgin languages, too. English has absorbed the words and cultures from other languages and is used all over the internet, and thus establishes itself as a “global English.” -
Period: to Oct 14, 1066
Old English Period
