History and Evolution of the English Language

Old English (450-1150 AD)

5th Century AD: Roman Empire withdraws from Britain.
Anglo-Saxons: Tribes from modern-day Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
- Included Angles, Saxons, and Jutes.
- Their dialects blended into Old English.
Influence: Germanic roots replaced Latin (Roman rule) and Celtic languages.
Viking Invasions: 8th and 9th centuries.
- Introduced Old Norse words: Sky, egg, window.

Norman Conquest (1066): William the Conqueror introduces Old Norman (Old French).
Language of the Elite: Old Norman becomes language of court, law, administration.
Common People: Continued to speak English, merging with Norman influences.
New Vocabulary: Governance, law, art, literature, religion.
- Examples: Court, justice, jury, government, etc.
Grammatical Changes: Simplification of inflections, more fixed word order.
Literature: Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.
- Helped standardize Middle English.

Renaissance: Revival of classical knowledge (Greece and Rome).
- Increase in Latin and Greek borrowings: Encyclopedia, philosophy, drama.
Printing Press: Invented by Gutenberg, introduced to England by William Caxton (1476).
- Standardized spelling and grammar.
Great Vowel Shift: Changes in pronunciation between 1400 and 1700.
- Example: Bite pronounced like beet.
Literature: William Shakespeare.
- Rich vocabulary and expressive power.
- Coined many words still in use today.
King James Bible (1611): Contributed to standardizing English.
- Accessible translation, lasting phrases.
Global Spread: British Empire expands; English absorbs influences from other cultures.