A Brief

History of the

English

Language

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Why study English?English is the most widely taught and understood language in the world.

About 354 million people speak English as their first language,and many more million speak English as a second language.

Click a megaphone to hear how English sounds around the world.

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England

India

Cuba

Iraq

IrelandQuebec

Nigeria

Venezuela

Scotland

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Part One:

Early History and

the Old English Period

Images found at:: http://picsforlearning.orgMusic found at: http://www.ancientnile.co.uk/music.html

The study of words and language is called Etymology.

The earliest known language came from Egypt.It was called hieroglyphics.

Indo Europeans come from Asia to inhabit the British Isles

3,000 – 2,000 B.C - Early History:

The Beginning of the English Language

3,000 – 2,000 B.C - Early History:

Indo-European Influence

Celtic Tribes settle in British Isles

Few words are left in the English language today

from the Celtic languages, but we do still use

golf, slogan and whiskey from Gaelic.

449 to 1100 A.D. - Old English:

Anglo Saxon Invasion

Around 449 A.D., Jutes from Denmark invaded the British Isles (or United Kingdom, UK).

Saxons from Germany also came to the United Kingdom.

Angles from Holland eventually came

to the UK, too.

This introduced the Germanic language to England, which is the basis of today’s Modern English.

Sound effects found at: http://www.findsounds.com

449 to 1100 A.D. – Old English:

Christianity Comes to England

However, St. Augustine came to England from Rome in 597 AD, and is given credit for bringing

Christianity to the land.

How did this impact the English language?

It introduced many new religious words to the English people from the Latin and Greek languages, such as

alter, mass and monk.

Sound effects found at: http://www.findsounds.com

In 400 AD, missionaries from Rome began to arrive in England,

bringing with them the Latin language.

449 to 1100 A.D. - Old English: Beowulf

Old English Modern English

Around 1000 A.D. is the date of

the oldest surviving example of

Beowulf, a famous epic poem

written in Old English.

Here is a copy of the poem

in both Old English

and with a modern

English translation.

Click the megaphone to hear the poem

read in Old English.

Image and Sound found at: http://www.wwnorton.com/nto/noa/audio.htm

449 to 1100 A.D. - Old English: Norman Invasion

In 1066 A.D., the Norman

Invasion from France brought

French to England.

With all of the different languages coming together, it’s easy to understand why the Old

English language had no set spelling or sentence patterns.

What a mess!

Sound found at: http://www.chanson.udenap.org

This introduced many French words into the English language that we still use today:

crown, castle, court, parliament, army, mansion, gown, beauty, banquet, art, poet,

romance, chess, colour, duke, servant, peasant, traitor  and governor.

End of Part One

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