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400
The Beginning of Old English
Tis an example of the first four line of the Lord's Prayer in old english:
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum
Si þin nama gehalgod
to becume þin rice
gewurþe ðin willa -
Period: 400 to
Year of Important Events
Those dates that don't have a specific month and day, I will just use the 1st of January. -
Jan 1, 700
Beowulf
The exact date of the writing of the poem Beowulf is unknown, as is the author. The date is suspected to be sometime between 700 A.D. and 1000 A.D. -
Jan 1, 1066
Norman Invasion
The Norman conquest greatly influenced the English languages. The invading Norman's spoke a French dialect called Old Norman. -
Jan 1, 1100
End of Old English: Beginning of Middle English
Here's an example of middle English, which is the first four line of pslam 23 (the one that begins with "the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want):
Lauerd me steres, noght wante sal me:
In stede of fode þare me louked he.
He fed me ouer watre ofe fode,
Mi saule he tornes in to gode. -
Jan 1, 1387
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
Though Chaucer began writing the tales in 1387, he didn't actually finish them until 1400. -
Jan 1, 1440
Printing Press
This invention by Johannes Gutenberg greatly helped to stabalize the English Language. -
Oct 12, 1492
America is Discovered
Though many argue who first discovered America, for the sake of the timeline I will say it was Christopher Columbus. -
Jan 1, 1500
End of Middle English: Start of Modern English
In the words of Shakespeare (in early modern English):
Why then the world's mine oyster,
Which I with sword will open. -
Creation of the English Dictionary
It was and is another great invention, besides the printing press, that helped to stabalize the English language. -
Shakespeare's First Folio
This collection of 36 plays was published in 1623. -
Industrial Revolution
The invention new machinery and so forth forced the creation of new words to name and exlpain them. -
American Revolution
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Germanic Invasion
The Germanic Invasion gave rise to the true start of the English language. It was a combination of the languages of the Germanic people, which included the Angles, Saxons, Frisii, Jutes, and the Franks.
