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Period: 450 to Dec 31, 1100
Old English
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Jan 14, 600
Suspected date of Beowulf's writing
This is an Old English epic poem about a hero named Beowulf of Scandinavia that comes to the aid of a king whose mead hall had been attacked by a monster. There is much debate about when the poem was written, many scholars estimating between 600 and 700 AD. -
Sep 28, 1066
The Norman Invasion
William the Conqueror invaded and conquered England. They brought with them a kind of French, which wa sspoken by the highest classes in England.
Some words from this period: crown, castle, beauty, romace, and peasant. -
Period: Jan 1, 1100 to Dec 31, 1500
Middle English
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Jan 14, 1100
The Ormulum is written
During the Middle English time period, this was written by a monk named Orm. He spelled his words exactly as they were pronounced, as he was concerned with people mispronouncing their English. -
Jan 1, 1337
Hundred Year War against France
Between 1337 and 1453, this war with France branded French as an enemy language. English emerged as the more dominant language because of this. -
Jan 1, 1386
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
This is a collectionb of over 20 storiesx written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer. The stories take place in the late fourteenth century and is about different pilgrims in each story. -
Jan 14, 1400
The Great Vowel Shift
Between 1400 and 1450, the rate of change of the pronunciation of vowels increased. An example of words affected by this change are "read" and "red," as well as "bead" and "bed." -
Jan 1, 1440
The invention of the Printing Press
Printing standardized the English language, providing stability and consistency for future generations of English speakers. -
Oct 12, 1492
Discovery of North America
Columbus traveled by ship and landed at the Bahamas. He originally intended to travel to India but landed in the Americas instead. -
Jan 14, 1500
The English Renaissance
The Renaissance became relevant in England in the early 1500s through the 1600s. During this era, most of the words that came in to the English language were Greek and Latin. -
Period: Dec 31, 1500 to
Early Modern English
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Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio
After Shakespeare died, a book was published with 36 of his plays. -
Industrial Revolution
Due to the rapid change in technology, words were changed and new words were added to accomodate the changes.
Many words that were created during this time were as a result of the inventor's name or choice of name. Some exxamples are: trains, engines, telephone, camera, and more. -
The American Revolution-Start
The English colonies in America were fed up with the treatment they were receiving from Britain, so they decided to fight for independence. -
End of the American Revolution
America gained independence from Britain and were considered their own country. -
Period: to
Late Modern English
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World Wide Web becomes available to public
This is important to English history because the internet has made obtaining information a lot easier than it was. Now, instead of having a dictionary to look up a wprd, a person can just google it and have the answer in seconds. It made information more accessible to a large group of people. -
Arrival of St. Augustine
The arrival of St. Augustine brought more latin words into the English language. -
Vikings invade Europe
This added Norse words to the English language.
Words derived from Norse: cake, skin, window, call, die, and many more. -
Cædmon's Hymn
The oldest survivng text written in Old English is Cædmon's Hymn. It was composed between 658 and 680.
