Ad
related to: english language history timelineBrowse & Discover Thousands of Book Titles, for Less.
Search results
Nov 15, 2023 · Here is a list of important dates in the development of the English language. The selection of events is my own, and the dates are approximate in some cases, but it gives at least some idea of the time-scales involved, and puts the developments into some sort of perspective.
Jul 19, 2020 · The story of English—from its start in a jumble of West Germanic dialects to its role today as a global language —is both fascinating and complex. This timeline offers a glimpse at some of the key events that helped to shape the English language over the past 1,500 years.
- Richard Nordquist
English is a West Germanic language that originated from Ingvaeonic languages brought to Britain in the mid-5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon migrants from what is now northwest Germany, southern Denmark and the Netherlands. The Anglo-Saxons settled in the British Isles from the mid-5th century and came to dominate the bulk of southern ...
Apr 19, 2024 · English language, a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family that is closely related to the Frisian, German, and Dutch languages. It originated in England and is the dominant language of the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand.
- What is the English language?The English language is an Indo-European language in the West Germanic language group. Modern English is widely considered to be the lingua franca...
- How many people speak English?As of 2020 there are 1.27 billion English speakers around the world. This makes it the most spoken language, ahead of Mandarin Chinese (1.12 billio...
- Is African American Vernacular English a dialect of English?There has been much public and academic debate on whether African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is a dialect of English or its own separate la...
- Where did English come from?Having emerged from the dialects and vocabulary of Germanic peoples—Angles, Saxons, and Jutes—who settled in Britain in the 5th century CE, English...
- Is English the official language of the United States of America?English is not the official language of the United States of America. The country does not have an official language on the federal level. Many sta...
The Old English period (5th-11th centuries), Middle English period (11th-15th centuries), and Modern English period (16th century to present) are the three main divisions in the history of the English language. Let's take a closer look at each one: Old English Period (500-1100)
experts cover the entire recorded history of the English lan-guage, outlining its development over fifteen centuries. With an emphasis on more recent periods, every key stage in the history of the language is discussed, with full accounts of standardisation, names, the distribution of English in Britain and North America, and its global spread ...
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.
