What changed English throughout time

By Amber Belle
  • Period: 300 to 1100

    Old

    In Old English they had workds like abutan (around or about), adl (to be ill), and amyrran (to wound).
  • Roman withdraws from Britain
    310

    Roman withdraws from Britain

    The Roman leave Britian over the course of a couple years because they are unmanagable as a country.
  • Beowulf’s writing
    700

    Beowulf’s writing

    One of the oldest poems that we still have access to today. It is an epic poem and is 3182 lines long.
  • Alfred the Great becomes King of Wessex
    871

    Alfred the Great becomes King of Wessex

    This was a big step for Wessex as his different beliefs and style of ruling changed the way they did things.
  • Vikings raids on Britain begin
    972

    Vikings raids on Britain begin

    Vikings brought with them their own lanuage, which ened up impacting the way the natives spoke.
  • Norman Invasion
    1066

    Norman Invasion

    The norman invasion added a bunch of French words to the english lanuage, as well as a couple other words that weren't French.
  • Period: 1100 to 1500

    Middle

    Middle english had words like anon (at once), cas (happening now, chance), and Coy (quiet).
  • Oxford university was established
    1209

    Oxford university was established

    It was a place to teach people about english and other things, so what ever they taught was pretty much english at that point in time.
  • English translation of the bible was published
    1384

    English translation of the bible was published

    This had people learning new phrases and making people want to read more so they could understand
  • Chauncer’s Tales
    1387

    Chauncer’s Tales

    it was a collection of stories with over 17,000 lines. This was a big deal because it wasn't a common thing at the time.
  • Henry IV becomes the first english speaking monarch since before the conquest
    1399

    Henry IV becomes the first english speaking monarch since before the conquest

    With a king being one of the poeple speaking a fairly new language, it was showing people that came from further away that it was a real language.
  • Invention of the printing press
    1440

    Invention of the printing press

    This was a huge deal because it meant that more people were going to learn how to read, and the language was going to solidify more as a whole.
  • Discovery of North America
    1492

    Discovery of North America

    This added more words to our voabularies as we learned about different people and cultures as well as new plants and animals.
  • Period: 1500 to

    Modern

    Modern english is what we speak today, so all the words in this sentence are examples of Modern English.
  • The first dictionary was published

    The first dictionary was published

    This gave people access to more words and how to spell them, which naturally made them use them more in their daily lives
  • Death of william Shakespeare

    Death of william Shakespeare

    This brought up his works again, reopening his use of language and words, bringing them back into use.
  • The first american news paper was published

    The first american news paper was published

    This was giving people daily oppertunites to read about things happening in their world, which gave them the oppertunity to solidify the language even further
  • Publication of Shakespeare’s first folio

    Publication of Shakespeare’s first folio

    Seven years after his death, Shakespeare's first folio was published, which lead to people reading it and using the lanuage from the very well writen author.
  • American revolution

    American revolution

    The revolution caused a lot of new words to apear and disapear with the rising of the people.