The History of the English Language

By savannahwi
  • Period: 400 to 1100

    Old English

    Gōdne ǣfen(Good Evening), Gōde nihte(Good Night), Gōd wyrd Gōde wyrde(Good Luck)
  • 431

    The Peloponnesian War

  • 476

    The Fall of the Roman Empire

  • Suspected date of Beowulf's Writing
    1000

    Suspected date of Beowulf's Writing

  • 1000

    Vikings Discovery of America

  • 1066

    The Norman Invasion

  • Period: 1100 to 1500

    Middle English

    "A cook they hadde with hem for the nones
    To boille the chiknes with the marybones,
    And poudre-marchant tart and galyngale.
    Wel koude he knowe a draughte of londoun ale.
    He koude rooste, and sethe, and broille, and frye,
    Maken mortreux, and wel bake a pye.
    But greet harm was it, as it thoughte me,
    That on his shyne a mormal hadde he.
    For blankmanger, that made he with the beste"(Chaucer).
  • 1337

    The Hundred Years' War

  • Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
    1340

    Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

  • 1347

    Outbreak of the Bubonic Plague Across Europe

  • 1415

    The Cambridge Plot

  • The invention of the Printing Press
    1450

    The invention of the Printing Press

  • 1492

    The discovery of North America

  • Period: 1500 to

    Modern English

    Early Modern: Ambidexter, Antiquated Rogue, Brother of the Quill, Brown Study,Dirty-Beau
    Late Modern: boss, ghetto, slogan, creed, tycoon, blarney

  • The Mayflower Leaves London

  • Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio

    Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio

  • The Industrial Revolution Begins

  • The American Revolution

  • Civil War