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500 BCE
Celtics
The first civilization inhabited the Briton Island were the Celtics tribes, they live in Briton by the year 500BC. Celtics also known as Celtic Britons or Ancient Britons -
Period: 500 BCE to 1100
Old English before year 1100
The primary sources for what developed as the English language were the Germanic languages spoken by a group of tribes from northern Europe who moved into the British Isles in the fifth century. In one early account, these tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes. It is from the names of the first two that we have the term Anglo-Saxons to describe these people, and from the name of the first tribe that we get the word for their language Englisc and their new home Engla-land. -
43
Romans
By the year 43 AD. Emperor Claudius organized the final and successful Roman invasion of Britain. Romans make important changes in culture and language. The Romans spoke a form of Latin known as vulgar Latin. It was quite different from Classical Latin that we learn today. -
450
Anglo-Saxons
In the year 43 AD, Germanics tribes invaded Britain: Saxons angels and yutes. Replace the natives and make their changes on language. Thanks to Anglo-saxons we have many of the most basic terms in the language: mann (“man”), wı¯ f (“woman”), cild (“child”), hu¯ s (“house”), mete (“food”), etan (“eat”), drincan (“drink”) and feohtan (“fight”). These pagan settlers also gave us some weekday names, commemorating their gods Woden and Thor. -
700
Roman`s religion influence
From the sixth to the eighth century, there was an extended period during which these Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity and a number of terms from Latin (the language of the religion) came into English at that time. That’s the reason why English and Spanish have so many similar words.They give us words such as: School, angel, priest, martyr, church... -
800
Vikings-Old Norse
From the eighth century through the ninth and tenth centuries, another group of northern Europeans came first to plunder and then to settle in parts of the coastal regions of Britain. They were the Vikings and it is from their language, Old Norse, that the original forms of give, law, leg, skin, sky, take and they were adopted. It is from their winter festival jo´ l that we have Yule as a term for the Christmas season. -
1066
The Normans
The Norman's Invasion of England, in 1066. Their lider was William. William was born in 1027. He became duke of Normandy when he was only seven years old.It made England a closer part of Europe, and for the next three hundred years, the rulers and the nobility of England spoke French, not English. -
Period: 1100 to 1500
Middle English 1100-1500
The Old English period, and the beginning of the
Middle English period, is the arrival of the Norman French in England, following theirvictory at Hastings under William the Conqueror in 1066. These French-speaking invaders became the ruling class, so that the language of the nobility, the government,
the law and civilized life in England for the next two hundred years was French. It is the
source of words like army, court, defense, faith, prison and tax. -
1476
The printer
The printer brought about significant changes, but because the printers tended to standardize existing pronunciations in the spelling of words (e.g. knee, gnaw), later pronunciation changes are often not reflected in the way Modern English (after1700) is written. -
1485
Tudors
The Tudors were a Welsh-English family that ruled England and Wales from 1485 to 1603 - one of the most exciting periods of British history. They ruled for 118 years and during their reign encouraged new religious ideas, overseas exploration and colonisation. Globe TheatreHenry VII 1485 - 1509 Henry VIII 1509 - 1547 Edward VI 1547 - 1553 Jane Grey 1553 - 1553 Mary I 1553 - 1558 Elizabeth I 1558 - 1603 -
Period: 1500 to
Early modern English 1500-1700
In the two hundred years, from 1500 to 1700, that separated Chaucer and Shakespeare, the sounds of English underwent a substantial change known as the “Great Vowel Shift.”
The effects of this general raising of long vowel sounds (such as [oː] moving up to [uː], as in mo¯na→ moon) made the pronunciation of Early Modern English, beginning around 1500, significantly different from earlier periods. -
Period: to
Modern English: after 1700- today
The printer allowed the standardization of languages through books had a great effect in consolidating the form of speaking used by the people and help to the evolution of English to the form we use now. -
Victorians
Britain became the most powerful and richest country in the world, with the largest empire that had ever existed, ruling a quarter of the world's population.
Towns and cities got piped water, gas and, by the end of the century, electricity
The number of people living in Britain more than doubled from 16 million to 37 million, causing a huge demand for food, clothes and housing.
