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Period: 410 to 800
The beginning
Romans left Britain. (410 AD)
Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes bring useful vocabulary. (450 AD)
Christian missionaries bring Latin. (597 AD)
Vikings give around 2000 new words to the English language (800 AD) -
Period: 1066 to 1453
Norman Conquest (1066)
Norman conquest brings to England new concepts in French. (1066)
The English language absorbed about 10,000 new words from Normans. (1066)
English Nation began the Hundred Years War against France. (1337)
English took over as the language of power. (1453) -
Period: 1564 to
William Shakespeare
More than 2,000 new words and phrases were invented by William Shakespeare. -
Period: 1582 to
The English tour
Britain takes English on tour and takes a few local words in return from India, Africa, Australia, and other countries. -
Period: to
American English
Brits landed in America. (1607)
They borrowed words from Native Americans.
Waves of immigrants bring new words (Dutch, German, Italian) to America. -
Period: to
King James Bible
A team of scribes made a new translation of the Bible with a whole glossary of metaphor and morality that still shapes the way English is spoken today. -
Period: to
The English of Science
In order to understand the universe much better scientist began to use English, in this way, they added new words to the English language. -
Period: to
The age of the dictionary
Lexicographers and Dr. Johnson create the Dictionary of the English Language with 42,773 entries. (1746-1755)
Oxford English Dictionary was started. (1857) -
Period: to
English and Empire
During the First World War, the British Empire leaves new varieties of English to develop all over the globe.
(1914) -
Period: to
Age of Internet
English started to spread new global vocabulary around the world (download) (toolbar) (abbreviations) etc. -
Period: to
Global English
English is a global language that absorbed words from over 350 other idioms.
Nowadays, around 1.5 billion people speak English.
A quarter are native speakers.
A quarter speak it as a second language.
A half just use it sometimes.