English2

Evolution of English.

By Oscar Franco
  • 1969 BCE

    mid 20th century

    mid 20th century
    Canada officially becomes bilingual (French and English). The first major English dictionary using corpus linguistics, the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, is published.
  • 1850 BCE

    Mid of 19th century.

    Mid of 19th century.
    A standard variety of American English is developed. English is established in Australia, South Africa, India, and other British colonial outposts.
  • 1790 BCE

    Early 19th century.

    Early 19th century.
    Grimm's Law (discovered by Friedrich von Schlegel and Rasmus Rask, later elaborated by Jacob Grimm) identifies the relationships between certain consonants in Germanic languages (including English) and their Indo-European originals. The formulation of Grimm's Law marks an important advance in the development of linguistics as a field of academic study.
  • 1760 BCE

    17th century to 19th century

    17th century to 19th century
    This period marks the rise of English grammarians (Joseph Priestly, Robert Lowth, James Buchanan, John Ash, Thomas Sheridan, George Campbell, William Ward, and Lindley Murray), whose rule books, based primarily on prescriptive notions of grammar, they become more and more popular.
  • 1502 BCE

    Early 16th century.

    Early 16th century.
    the first English settlements are made in North America. William Tyndale's English translation of the Bible is published. Many Greek and Latin loans enter English.
  • 1501 BCE

    The modern English period

    The modern English period
    During the Modern English period, British exploration, colonization and foreign trade accelerated the borrowing of countless languages and fostered the development of new varieties of English (World English), each with its own nuances of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.
  • 1500 BCE

    Late century 15th

    Late century 15th
    William Caxton brings the first printing press to Westminster (from the Rhineland) and publishes Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Literacy rates increase significantly and printers begin to standardize spelling in English. The monk Galfridus Grammaticus (also known as Geoffrey the Grammarian) publishes Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae, the first book of words from English to Latin.
  • 1453 BCE

    Mid to late 14th century.

    Mid to late 14th century.
    Mid to late 14th century: The Hundred Years War between England and France causes the loss of almost all of England's French possessions. The Black Death kills about a third of the population of England. Geoffrey Chaucer composes The Canterbury Tales in Middle English. English becomes the official language of the courts and replaces Latin as the medium of instruction in most schools.
  • 1300 BCE

    Late 13th century.

    Late 13th century.
    Bajo Edward I, royal authority is consolidated in England and Wales. English becomes the dominant language of all classes.
  • 1171 BCE

    Century XI

    Century XI
    Henry II declares himself overlord of Ireland, introducing Norman French and English to the country. Around this time the University of Oxford was founded.
  • 1100 BCE

    XV century: the period of Middle English

    XV century: the period of Middle English
    The Middle English period saw the collapse of the Old English inflectional system and the expansion of the vocabulary with many borrowings from French and Latin.
  • 1066 BCE

    The Norman invasion

    The Norman invasion
    King Harold dies at the Battle of Hastings and William of Normandy is crowned King of England. During the following decades, Norman French became the language of the courts and of the upper classes; English is still the language of the majority. Latin is used in churches and schools. During the next century, English, for all practical purposes, is no longer a written language.
  • 801 BCE

    Ends of the 9th century

    Ends of the 9th century
    King Alfred of Wessex (Alfred the Great) leads the Anglo-Saxons to victory over the Vikings, translates Latin works into English, and establishes prose writing in English. He uses the English language to foster a sense of national identity.
  • 700 BCE

    7th century

    7th century
    Cædmon's Hymn was found in the age of the 7th century, The poem is also the Old English poem attested in the largest number of manuscripts after Bede's Death Song.These are all manuscripts of Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. These manuscripts show significant variation in the form of the text, making it an important case-study for the scribal transmission of Old English verse.
  • 601 BCE

    7th century

    7th century
    Rise of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex; the Saxon kingdoms of Essex and Middlesex; the Anglo kingdoms of Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria. Saint Augustine and the Irish missionaries convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, introducing new religious words borrowed from Latin and Greek.
  • 500 BCE

    The old English period.

    The old English period.
    The conquest of the Celtic population in Great Britain by speakers of West Germanic dialects (mainly Anglos, Saxons, and Jute) ultimately determined many of the essential characteristics of the English language. Over time, the dialects of the various invaders merged, giving rise to what we now call "Old English."