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The Roman legions leave the British territory leaving behind culture and words to the existing language.
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Germanic tribes arrive at Britain, the Anglos, the Saxons and the Jutes. The Anglo-Saxon words were used for everyday things and stuck in the vocabulary. Four days of the week were named after their gods.
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The Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity after some missionaries arrived. The language they started using was Latin, since religion was spoke in this language.
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The Vikings also invaded Britain and left Old Norse words in the already mixed vocabulary, hence the similarities between sounds and words in English, Norwegian, Swedish, etc.
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William the Conqueror arrived in Britain and introduced the French language. French was used in official business and law. Latin was still used in Church but the common man spoke English. The farm animals were named by the English farmers, while the food produce of those animals were named by the French, creating some confusion. Around 10,000 words were introduced by the Normands.
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The British Empire expanded throughout the world. The British left the English language in their colonies, but also took some local words to name local things and added them to the vocabulary. From the Caribbean: canoe, cannibal; from India: yoga, stairs; from Africa: voodoo, zombie; from Australia: nugget, boomerang, walkabout
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Around 2,000 words and phrases were invented by Sir William Shakespeare. Words like: dauntless, eyeball, alligator. And phrases like: "flesh and blood", "good riddance". All of which were introduced into the English vocabulary by his plays.
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King James wanted the Bible to be redacted in English and the final result gave us metaphors like: "a Leopard can’t change its spots", "wolf in sheep’s clothing is harder to spot ".
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The scientists of The Royal Society started using English to communicate and write their discoveries. As new words were required, new words were created to refer to the things. Sir Isaac Newton is one of the renowned members of the society.
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Lexicographers wanted to standardize the English Language, since there was an anarchy of variations across the colonies. The first dictionary was created: Dr. Johnson's "A Dictionary of the English Language".
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The American English became a whole mixture of words from different languages from immigrants, mainly in the food area. Like Dutch: cookies; German: pretzel, delicatessen; Italian: pizza, pasta.
In America new words were also created for Capitalism, since new transactions and market needed new words. -
The standardized Oxford English Dictionary took decades to complete starting in 1857 and concluding in 1928. It's still considered the most relevant reference source for the English Language.
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When new technologies appear, new words are required. The creation and expansion of the Internet is a great example of this, new words appeared along it, such as: download, toolbar, firewall, and new words continue to be added as new technology appears.
