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1000 BCE
Celtic splits off of Indo-European roots
Celtic splits off of Indo-European roots, inhabits Spain, France, Germany, England -
Period: 200 BCE to 200
Germanic people move
Germanic people move down from Scandinavia and spread over Central Europe, come in contact with the Romans -
43 BCE
Romans occupy Britain
Romans occupy Britain and establish colony, Celtic Britons became Romanized -
400
Romans collapse
Roman Empire collapses, pulls out of colonies. Germanic tribes take over Rome, adopts Christianity and evolves into Holy Roman Empire. -
410
Germanic Tribes in England
Germanic tribes arrive in England -
Period: 410 to 600
Germanic Settlements
Germanic people (Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians) settled in Britain and speak West Germanic dialects from Proto-Germanic language. 600 AD, Germanic speech is distinct from mainland Germanic languages -
600
Christianity introduced
Christianity introduced to Anglo- Saxons from Holy Roman missionaries, Irish missionaries introduced Celtic Christianity to mainland Britain from northwest -
Period: 600 to 800
Rise of kingdoms
Rise of three kingdoms taking over large areas, developing from one after the other, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex -
793
Viking incursions
First serious Viking attacks -
800
Charlemagne crowned
King of Franks, Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor. Wessex kings want to unite all of England and mainland Britain under one empire -
Period: 840 to 870
Vikings attack and settle
Vikings set up encampments on English soil. They killed the kings of Northumbria and East Anglia, and subjugate king of Mercia. Set up a Viking kingdom in York, and Wessex stands as the last Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Britain -
Period: 871 to 876
Wessex attacked
Vikings and three Danish Kings attack Wessex, gets repelled but not decisively -
Period: 900 to 1000
Danes and English mix
Danes and English mix peacefully, becoming indistinguishable. English borrows from Scandinavian languages, pronouns like them, their, they. -
1066
William the conqueror crowned
William the Conqueror from Normandy is crowned king of England after battle of Hastings -
Period: 1066 to 1075
William's rule
William crushes uprisings, use scorched earth policy in Mercia and Northumberland. Anglo-Saxons deprived of property and enslaved, redistributed to Normans and some English. Start of modern royal blood line.
English becomes language of lower classes. Norman French becomes language of upper class, scripture, law, religion, and literature. English no longer written language. Bilingualism becomes common. -
1204
English lose Normandy
The English kings lose the duchy of Normandy to French kings, England is now the only home of the Norman English -
1205
English book
First book in English appears since the conquest. -
1258
First royal proclamation in English
First royal proclamation issued in English since the conquest -
1300
English taught to children
Increasing feeling on the part of even noblemen that they are English, not French. Nobility begin to educate children in English. French is taught to children as a foreign language rather than used as a medium of instruction -
1337
Hundred years war
Start of the Hundred Years' War between England and France. -
1362
English is official in courts
English becomes official language of the law courts. More and more authors are writing in English -
1380
Canterbury tales
Chaucer writes the Canterbury tales in Middle English. the language shows French influence in thousands of French borrowings. The London dialect, for the first time, begins to be recognized as the "Standard", or variety of English taken as the norm, for all England. -
1474
Printing press
William Caxton brings a printing press to England from Germany. Publishes the first printed book in England. Beginning of the long process of standardization of spelling. -
Period: 1500 to
Early modern English
Early Modern English develops. The Great Vowel shift gradually takes place. There is a large influx of Latin and Greek borrowings and neologisms -
1552
Book of common prayer
Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, publishes the Book of Common Prayer, a translation of the church's liturgy into English -
Period: to
British imperialism
British imperialism. Borrowings from languages around the world. Development of American English. By 19th century, a standard variety of American English develops, based on the dialect of the Mid-Atlantic states. Establishment of English in Australia, South Africa, and India, among other British colonial outposts -
King James bible
King James Bible published, which has influenced English writing down to the present day -
Shakespeare dies
Shakespeare dies. Recognized even then as a genius of the English language. Wove native and borrowed words together in amazing and pleasing combinations -
Classical period
Classical period of English literature. The fashion for borrowing Latin and Greek words, and coining new words with Latin and Greek morphemes, rages unabated. Elaborate syntax matches elaborate vocabulary -
Recognition of change of languages
Recognition (and acceptance by linguistic scholars of the ever-changing nature of language. Discovery of the Indo-European language family. Late in century: Recognition that all languages are fundamentally the same in nature; no "primitive" or "advanced" languages -
Period: to
Intellectual revolutions
Scientific and Industrial Revolutions. Development of technical vocabularies. Within a few centuries, English has gone from an island tongue to a world language, following the fortunes of those who speak it -
Communication revolution
Communications revolution, Spread of a few languages at the expense of many. Languages of the world begin to die out on a large scale as mastery of certain world languages becomes necessary for survival. Classification and description of non-Indo-European languages by linguists continues, in many cases in a race against the clock