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Three Germanic tribes: the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes invaded Britain during this period of time. The groups overtook Britain's Celtic language as well. This was the start of the evolution of the English language.
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The suspected dates of Beowulf's writings took place during this time. Old English was also born in this time period.
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The Duke of Normandy invaded and overtook England. A class division began among the people, and the Norman's French language became the dominant language.
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Old English is transformed. Old English words used:
"Uhtceare" meaning "lying awake before dawn and worrying"
"Expergefactor" meaning anything that wakes someone up. -
The time Chaucer's Canterbury Tales was written. The English language became dominant again, but with a lot of Norman influence. Many French words were added to the English language.
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North America was discovered. Some words used in the Middle English Period.
"ehta" meaning "eight"
streht" meaning "straight"
"heh" meaning "high" -
The "Great Vowel Shift" began, meaning that vowels were now pronounced shorter than they had previously been. Examples of words:
"Blood" was now pronounced as a short vowel, similar to "bud".
"Bread" became pronounced as a short vowel, and was pronounced like "led". -
The printing press was invented, which helped standardize the English language. Many new English words were fabricated during this time as well.
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The first English dictionary was created--the English language was standardized.
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Shakespeare's first folio was published.
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The industrial revolution begins; more words were added to the English language, as new things demanded new words.
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More and more words continued to be added to English because the industrial revolution continued to bring forth new inventions. New words were also added to English as a result of Britain's surrounding countries. More rules about spelling and grammar were made and set as the standard.
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The American Industrial revolution ended. Many of the new English words were set in stone. However, as new things are still invented today, the English language continues to gain more and more words.
