Brief History of English language

By Evaggelia
  • 550 BCE

    The Celts

    The Celts
    The Celtic language was one of the first known to be recorded in Britain before the following invasions of the island.
    Celtic tribes (coming from Europe) lived in Britain in the Iron Age for over 500 years until the arrival of the Romans.
  • 55 BCE

    The Roman invasion

    The Roman invasion
    Julius Caesar conquered Britain in 55 BC and Claudius in 43 AD, but it wasn’t permanent or really influential.
    Latin was never the language of the people, it was only the language of the ruling class.
  • 449

    Anglo/saxons

    Anglo/saxons
    They were a mix of tribes from Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. The three biggest were the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes. The land they settled in was 'Angle-land', or England.
    The Angles and the Saxons were very important and gave English its basic vocabulary and structures.
    The Anglo-Saxon language is also known as Old English and it is the primitive form of modern English.
  • 800

    Vikings

    Vikings
    The Vikings came from three countries of Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The name 'Viking' comes from a language called 'Old Norse' and means 'a pirate raid'.
    Their language, Old Norse (connected with the Anglo-Saxon), gave many words to the English language.
    (sky leg take
    window call dirty church)
  • 1066

    The Norman conquest

    The Norman conquest
    The Norman conquest of England was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army of Norman, Breton, and French soldiers led by Duke William II of Normandy ( William the Conqueror).
    The Normans brought more than 10,000 words into English, 75% still in use and no longer felt as foreign.
    By the 13th / 14th centuries only the top class uses French. By 15th century it disappears but always as a favourite foreign language.
    With French also came a lot of Latin vocabulary.