History of English

In the Iron Age, all of Britain south of the Firth of Forth, was inhabited by
the Celtic people known as the Britons, including some Belgic tribes (e.g.
the Atrebates, the Catuvellauni, the Trinovantes, etc.) in the south east. In 43 AD
the Roman conquest of Britain began; the Romans maintained control of
their province of Britannia until the early 5th century.

The history of the English language really started with the arrival of three
Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These
tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from
what today is Denmark and northern Germany. At that time the inhabitants
of Britain spoke a Celtic language. But most of the Celtic speakers were
pushed west and north by the invaders - mainly into what is now Wales,
Scotland and Ireland. The Angles came from "Englaland" [sic] and their
language was called "Englisc" - from which the words "England" and
"English" are derived.

Germanic invaders entered Britain on the east and south coasts in the 5th century
Old English (450-1100 AD)
The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain
developed into what we now call Old English. Old English did not sound or
look like English today. Native English speakers now would have great
difficulty understanding Old English. Nevertheless, about half of the most
commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots. The
words be, strong and water, for example, derive from Old English. Old
English was spoken until around 1100.

Part of Beowulf, a poem written in Old English (public domain)

Raids by Vikings became frequent after about AD 800, and the Norsemen settled in
large parts of what is now England. During this period, several rulers attempted to
unite the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, an effort that led to the emergence of
the Kingdom of England by the 10th century.

Middle English (1100-1500)

In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern
France), invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors (called the
Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which became the language
of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. For a period there
was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke
English and the upper classes spoke French. In the 14th century English
became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added. This
language is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poet
Chaucer (c1340-1400), but it would still be difficult for native English
speakers to understand today.
An example of Middle English by Chaucer (public domain)

Modern English
Early Modern English (1500-1800)
Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in
pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being
pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British had
contact with many peoples from around the world.

This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many new
words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also
meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became
cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also brought
standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the
dialect of London, where most publishing houses were, became the
standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published.
Lines from Hamlet, written in Early Modern English by Shakespeare (public domain)

Late Modern English (1800-Present)

The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern
English is vocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, arising
from two principal factors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology
created a need for new words; secondly, the British Empire at its height
covered one quarter of the earth's surface, and the English language
adopted foreign words from many countries.

Varieties of English
From around 1600, the English colonization of North America resulted in
the creation of a distinct American variety of English. Some English
pronunciations and words "froze" when they reached America. In some
ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than
modern British English is. Some expressions that the British call
"Americanisms" are in fact original British expressions that were preserved
in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain (for example trash for
rubbish, loan as a verb instead of lend, and fall for autumn; another
example, frame-up, was re-imported into Britain through Hollywood
gangster movies). Spanish also had an influence on American English (and
subsequently British English), with words
like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish
words that entered English through the settlement of the American West.
French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the
slave trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British
English).
Today, American English is particularly influential, due to the USA's
dominance of cinema, television, popular music, trade and technology
(including the Internet). But there are many other varieties of English
around the world, including for example Australian English, New Zealand
English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and
Caribbean English.

The Germanic Family of Languages

English is a member of the Germanic family of languages. Germanic is a branch of the Indo-
European language family.

A brief chronology of English

55 BC Roman invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar Local

inhabitants
speak
Celtish
AD 43 Roman invasion and occupation. Beginning of
Roman rule of Britain

436 Roman withdrawal from Britain complete

449 Settlement of Britain by Germanic invaders

begins

450-480 Earliest known Old English inscriptions Old

A brief chronology of English

1066 William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, English

invades and conquers England

c1150 Earliest surviving manuscripts in Middle English Middle

English

1348 English replaces Latin as the language of

instruction in most schools

1362 English replaces French as the language of law.

English is used in Parliament for the first time

c1388 Chaucer starts writing The Canterbury Tales

c1400 The Great Vowel Shift begins

1476 William Caxton establishes the first English Early

printing press Modern
English

1564 Shakespeare is born

1604 Table Alphabeticall, the first English dictionary,

is published

1607 The first permanent English settlement in the

A brief chronology of English

New World (Jamestown) is established

1616 Shakespeare dies

1623 Shakespeare's First Folio is published

1702 The first daily English-language newspaper, The

Daily Courant, is published in London

1755 Samuel Johnson publishes his English dictionary

1776 Thomas Jefferson writes the American

Declaration of Independence

1782 Britain abandons its colonies in what is later to

become the USA

1828 Webster publishes his American English Late

dictionary Modern
English

1922 The British Broadcasting Corporation is founded

1928 The Oxford English Dictionary is published