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Old English/Anglo-Saxon
British Isles were invaded by Angles (Northern Germany), Saxons (Germany) and Jutes (Jutland/Denmark) and they had an influence on how the English language developed. -
Jan 1, 1066
The Normans
The Normans also invaded Britain and they spoke an earlier version of French. This also became the high status language in England.
The French kitchen brought in new words for already existing animals which had more class to it, like pork, veal and mutton. -
Jan 1, 1470
Language of power
The English which was spoken around this time is called Middle English. By this time it had already become an English that appears quite familiar to the modern eye. The shift from Old English to Middle English was a slow and gradual process. The changes took place in three areas: vocabulary, grammar and spelling.
Vocabulary: Loan words appeared, 75 % of Old English is left.
Grammar: The use of inflections shrunked.
Spelling: Words were spelled in a lot of different ways which is changed now -
Jan 1, 1476
The printing press
Thomas Caxton introduced the printing press, which made English more accessible. English got a more strict/standard way of writing than we saw earlier on. -
Jan 1, 1525
The English version of the Bibel
The Bible was translated into English instead of being in Latin.This meant that people who only knew the English language also were able to read the Bible. -
Shakespeare
Shakespeare (1564-1616) had a big influence on the English language, and a lot of words were invented by him and also found in his plays. -
Modern English
Since this period English has not changed much from the language we know today, but it is still developing everytime it is used and new words appear all the time. -
Christian missionaries
The Christian missionaries brought Latin with them, where words like "altar, angel and demon" appeared. -
The Vikings
The Vikings came from the Scandinavian countries and they started to invate Britain. The language they spoke left behind many everyday words like: You, husband, egg, sword, they, their, them.
Another example is family names like Henderson and Johnson, where the ending comes from the Danish "søn".