Britain

Evolution of the English Language

By Mirandaaaaa_sv
  • 500 BCE

    The Celts

    The Celts
    They were the first group of Indo European speakers to move across Europe. the arrival of the Celtic language in Britain. This version of Celtic was to evolve into Brittonic (or Brythonic), which in turn gave rise to Welsh, Cornish and Breton.
  • 55 BCE

    Brythonic language

    Brythonic language
    The Celtic language is known as Brythonic and was spoken throughout Britain when the Romans arrived in 55 BC.
  • 506

    The Anglo-Saxon invasion

    The Anglo-Saxon invasion
    The Anglo-Saxon invasions of the British Isles in the 5th century AD pushed the British Celts to the west and to the north which caused the Celtic dialects to become separate languages. In Cornwall and Devon, they developed into Cornish, and in Wales they evolved into Welsh.
  • 506

    Old English Language

    Old English Language
    The dialect of English spoken by the first Anglo-Saxons became what we now call Old English. It was in use from the arrival of the Anglo Saxons until the Norman Conquest in 1066. Is placed in the Anglo-Frisian group of West Germanic languages, branch of the Indo-European family of languages (Celtic, Italic, Germanic, Balto-Slavic, Tocharian, Indo-Iranian, Armenian, Anatolia and Greek.)
  • 597

    Spread of Christianity

    Spread of Christianity
    St. Agustine and a group of monks arrived in
    Kent. They had come from Rome to teach the
    Anglo Saxon about Christianity.
    Old English borrowed some Celtic words, as a result of the spread of Christianity; the Anglo
    Saxons borrowed a number of Latin words from the
    Roman Christians: about 450 appear in Old English
    literature.
  • Period: 600 to 1100

    Old English

  • 850

    The Vikings influence

    The Vikings influence
    The Vikings had a great influence in the development of Old English after they took London and Canterbury. King Alfred won an important battle which allowed him to make an agreement with the Vikings, dividing England in two; one side for them and one side for King Alfred (Battle of Edington, 878). The Vikings and the English were able to communicate because those two languages were similar.
  • 900

    Old Norse

    Old Norse
    Many words from Old Norse entered and enriched Old English
  • 900

    The Anglo Saxon Chronicle

    The Anglo Saxon Chronicle
    King Alfred started a history of England in English: The Anglo Saxon Chronicle, which was a diary of events, written by monks in different parts of the country and it is important because it started in the year 1 AD with the birth of Christ and it was the first book of its kind in western Europe.
  • 1000

    Beowulf

    Beowulf
    The greatest piece of literature in Old English was probably created in the 8th century but not written until 250 years later. It´s about a brave Scandinavian man called Beowulf who fights and kills the terrible creature called Grendel.
  • 1066

    End of the Old English Period

    End of the Old English Period
    The end of the English period is marked by the Norman Conquest
  • 1066

    Middle English

    Middle English
    It starts with the Normand conquest of England, due to this, Norman French became the government language of England.
  • Period: 1066 to 1509

    Middle English Period

  • 1204

    John Lackland

    John Lackland
    John lost Normandy to the French, which loosened the ties between England and the Continent.
  • 1337

    English nationalism

    English nationalism
    The Hundred Year’s War began, ending in 1453, which promoted English nationalism.
  • 1362

    The Statute of Pleading demandings

    The Statute of Pleading demandings
    All court proceedings had to be conducted in English as a requirement
  • 1399

    English in the throne

    English in the throne
    By the end of the fourteenth century, public documents and records began to be written in English, and Henry IV used English to claim the throne
  • 1476

    The printing press

    The printing press
    The printing press was brought by William Caxton, promoting literacy throughout the population such as The Canterbury Tales.
  • 1500

    England trilingual

    England trilingual
    For a long time after the Norman Conquest, England was trilingual. Latin was the language of the Church, Norman French of the government, and English of the majority of the country’s population.
    During this period, Latin continued to exert an important influence on the English vocabulary. The major and most important influence of this period was French.
    It ended around this year
  • Period: 1509 to

    Modern English Period

    Was characterized by its statecraft, literature, science, exploration, and commerce. Shakespeare wrote the bulk of his plays.
    As English speakers travelled they decided to borrow words from other languages. French continued to be a major source of loanwords into English; Spanish and Portuguese became significant sources for new words, due to colonial expansion in Latin America. Celtic and Scandinavian languages continued to influence English.

  • The first dictionary was written

    The first dictionary was written

  • The American Revolution

    The American Revolution
    The American Revolution resulted in the foundation of the first independent nation of English speakers outside the British Isles.

  • The Late Modern English Period

    The Late Modern English Period
    Is considered to have started in the 1800’s and continues until the present day. This is a period of expansion, English was spread around the world, first by British colonization and empire-building, and more recently by American activities in world affairs. The world’s total number of English speakers may be more than a billion.