History of the English language

By facebooker_10221045466551759
  • 500 BCE

    Celtic tribes begin to invade Britain

    Words of Celtic origin: bog, clan, pet, slogan, trousers.
  • 55 BCE

    First Roman invasions in Britain

    Romans occupied Britain for about 500 years
  • 450

    Germanic Anglo-Saxon tribes come to Britain

    The Celtic languages are pushed out by Germanic dialects --> English is born!
    Words of Anglo-Saxon origin: dark, pillow, town, laugh.
  • Period: 450 to 1150

    OLD ENGLISH

    First "modern" texts - loss of endings, new grammatical forms, synthetic language
  • 597

    The Anglo-Saxons convert to Christianity

    English starts adopting words from Latin: angel, school, martyr, plant.
  • 792

    First Viking raids in Britain

    Words from Old Norse: slaughter, wing, reindeer, ransack.
  • 1066

    The Norman Conquest

    William the Conqueror invades Britain --> French coexists with Latin in the nobility
    Words to English from French: beef, scarlet, judge, war.
  • Period: 1150 to 1500

    MIDDLE ENGLISH

    Most grammatical changes have taken place
  • Period: 1500 to

    EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

    In the 1700s, the Great Vowel Shift is complete, spelling is standarized and globalization of the English language

  • The Great Vowel Shif is complete

    The pronunciation of long vowel sounds changes in English
  • Period: to

    MODERN ENGLISH

    Complex syllable structure, analytic language, standarized speech

  • Globalization of English

    First British colonies in America
    Loanwords --> kindergarten, café, plaza, kangaroo.