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Period: 600 BCE to 55 BCE
Ｔｈｅ ｃｅｌｔｓ
The first languages in the British Isles are the Celtic ones like Welsh and Scottish Gaelic. These people settled the British Isles about
600 BC. That is more than 2500 years ago! Words from the Celts: War, Battle, Druid, Brat...etc -
Period: 55 BCE to 450
Ｔｈｅ Ｒｏｍａｎｓ
In 55BC, there was an invasion by the Romans, who spoke Latin.
They gave Latin names to places and some of these names are still used today. Words from the Romans: temple, mosaic, soldier, villa...etc -
Period: 450 to 800
Ｔｈｅ Ａｎｇｌｏ－ｓａｘｏｎｓ
The first people who spoke English
arrived in England in about the year 450.
These people were the Anglo-Saxons
and their language was Old English. Words from the Anglo-saxons: coins, jewellery, bronce helmet...etc -
Period: 800 to 1066
Ｔｈｅ Ｖｉｋｉｎｇｓ
From about 800, the Vikings started to invade Britain.
The Vikings came from countries like Denmark and
Norway and spoke a language that developed
into Norwegian and Danish Words from the Vikings: attack, medieval, enemy...etc -
Period: 1066 to 1154
Ｔｈｅ Ｎｏｒｍａｎｓ
In 1066, the Normans invaded England from Normandy in France.
They spoke an earlier version of French and this became the language of prestige in England. Words from the Normans: powers, campion, roche, white, rice...etc -
1400
Ｍｉｄｄｌｅ ｅｎｇｌｉｓｈ
There were no more invasions of England. English became more important than French. A number of books were published in Middle English.
The most famous is a book of stories called
The Canterbury Tales (1400) by Geoffrey Chaucer. -
1476
Ｔｈｅ ｐｒｉｎｔｉｎｇ ｐｒｅｓｓ
With the invention of the printing press in 1476, publishing books in English became very popular. -
Period: 1564 to
Ｗｉｌｌｉａｍ Ｓｈａｋｅｓｐｅａｒｅ
There are many important authors in Modern English, but one of the most famous writers is William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616). Do you know any other writers from
the British Isles?