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400
Start Timeline
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Period: 400 to 1100
Old English
Gōdne ǣfen: Good evening
Gōde nihte: Good night
Welcumen: Welcome -
700
Approximate date of the earliest manuscript records of Old English
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850
Danes raid England
Danish begins to influence English. -
Period: 900 to 1000
English, Danes, and Scandinavians mixing together
More words enter the language, including such common words as sister, wish, skin, and die. -
1000
Suspected date of Beowulf's writing
It was written in England sometime between the 8th and the early 11th century. -
Period: 1066 to 1075
The Norman Invasion
The invasion of England. -
Period: 1100 to 1500
Middle English
"To play devil's advocate"
"By hook or by crook"
"Hue and cry" -
1150
Earliest surviving texts in Middle English
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1362
The Statute of Pleading makes English the official language in England
Parliament is opened with its first speech delivered in English. -
Period: 1387 to 1400
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
These stories are written in Middle English between 1387 and 1400 -
1399
King Henry IV delivers speech in English
King Henry IV becomes the first English monarch to deliver a speech in English. -
1440
The invention of the Printing Press
This invention standardized the English language. -
1492
The discovery of North America
Christopher Columbus set foot in 1492 and claimed the land for Spain. -
Period: 1500 to
Early Modern English
Anon: Soon
Aye: Always
Forsooth: In truth -
1549
Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England
The first version of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England is published. -
1553
Thomas Wilson publishes 'The Art of Rhetorique'
One of the first works on logic and rhetoric in English. -
Jamestown, Virginia
The first permanent English settlement in America is established at Jamestown, Virginia. -
Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio
The First Folio is the first published collection of Shakespeare's plays, produced seven years after his death. -
Period: to
The American Revolution
The revolutionary war and the independence of America from Britain. -
Period: to
Modern English
'The best of both worlds'
'Speak of the devil'
'See eye to eye' -
The British occupy Cape Colony in South Africa
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Invention of the Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone. -
The Oxford English Dictionary is published
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End Timeline
