History of the English Language

Like a stew, English is a mix of several languages: Old English, Celtic, Latin, German, Greek, and French.

Roman Rule – 55 BC to 436 AD

When the Romans invaded Britain from BC 55-43, they brought Latin.

The local inhabitants mostly spoke Celtish, with some words from before the Celtic invasion.

The Romans ruled Britain until AD 436

In AD 450 Germanic Tribes Invade

Germanic Tribes Invade, cont.

The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which developed into Old English. About half of the most common words in Modern English have Old English roots: be, strong, and water.

Vikings Invade

AD 800-1000

The Vikings from Scandanavia spoke Old Norse, a Germanic language.

Norman Conquest 1066In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern France), invaded and conquered England. These Normans brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the ruling and business classes.

Middle English

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),

The English Renaissance

Later, during the English Renaissance, many words were borrowed directly from Latin and Greek.

ETYMOLOGY ASSIGNMENT

From a dictionary, find the languages of origin of the following words (include oldest language):

1. rejoice 6. confident 11. etymology2. Lord 7. thing 12. assign3. always 8. begin 13. epistle4. again 9. work 14. study5. say 10. perform 15. apostle~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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