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Period: 450 to 1100
Old English
A lot of things in the English language have changed; this is how you say a few things in Old English!:
Hello! = Wes hāl
How are you? = Hu eart þú?
Goodbye = Far gesund
Good Morning = Gōdne mergen
Good Night = Gōde nihte -
673
Venerable Bede
Venerable Bede was a monk who wrote The Ecclesiastical History of the English People which was a key source of information about Anglo Saxon settlement. -
750
Suspected Date of Beowulf's Writing
This is known as possibly the oldest surviving poem in Old English. The exact date of the writing is unknown but is believed it was written sometime between the 8th and 11th century. -
793
Danes Raid England
The Danes (Vikings) raided England and established a kingdom at York. The Danish began to influence the English language. -
871
Afred the Great
King Alfred of Wessex translated Latin works into English and established the writing in English. He used the English language to foster a sense of national identity. -
1066
The Norman Invasion
Also known as the "Norman Conquest" in the 11th century. -
Period: 1100 to 1500
Middle English
Middle English might seem a little more familiar to English speakers of today, albeit strange. People used to say in Middle English "So moot I gon" when English speakers today would typically say "I swear". Another fun one is; "unblokeled is the male" which simply means "the bag is opened". To most modern-day English speakers, Middle English sounds like goofy gibberish. -
1300
The Renaissance
The famous revival of art and culture also brought along several new artistic terms that are still commonly used. -
1362
The Statute of Pleading
The Statute of Pleading makes English the official language in England. -
1392
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer. The stories run over 17,000 lines written in Middle English. -
1399
King Henry's Coronation
King Henry IV was the first English monarch to deliver a coronation speech in English. -
1440
The Invention of the Printing Press
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1492
The Discovery of North America
The first settlement of English-speaking settlers arrived in North America. -
Period: 1500 to
Modern English
Modern English is what everyone has spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England in 1550. Of course English has developed more over time, but it has mostly remained consistent having many scholars writing books about grammar and dialect. -
Pamphlet for Grammar
William Bullokar wrote and published the first English grammar pamphlet called "The Amendment of Orthographie for English Speech." -
Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio
Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare. It is most commonly referred to by Modern Scholars as the "First Folio." -
The American Revolution
As America broke away from Britain, the distance put between the two countries changed the language and dialect exponentially. -
The Telegraph
The telegraph was invented by Samuel Morse. The English alphabet was converted into Morse code, a series of horizontal lines and dots. -
The Dictionary of American Regional English
The fifth volume of the Dictionary of American Regional English was published at Harvard University Press.
