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Period: 450 to 1100
Old English
Old English developed in Britain
Sample Words: Eald - means old
Brodor - means brother
Hus - means house
Nett - means net
Riht - means right -
Period: 597 to 597
St. Augustine arrives in Britain (beginning of Christian conversion of the Anglo-Saxons)
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Period: 660 to 660
“Cædmon's Hymn” composed in Old English
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Period: 731 to 731
The Venerable Bede writes “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People” (in Latin)
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Period: 1000 to 1000
Beowulf was written
the longest epic poem in Old English -
Period: 1066 to 1066
The Norman Invasion
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Period: 1100 to 1500
Middle English
Middle English was born when the Duke of Normandy invaded England and French was incorporated into the English language.
Sample Words: al, al be that - although
als, also - as, also
anon - at once -
Period: 1154 to 1154
“The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” discontinued
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1209
Cambridge University
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Period: 1209 to 1209
Cambridge University established
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Period: 1342 to 1400
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
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Period: 1362 to 1362
English is used in English Parliament for the first time
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Period: 1492 to 1492
The discovery of North America
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1500
Printing Press
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Period: 1500 to
Modern English
Due to the Great Vowel Shift, Modern English erupted.
Sample Words: don't - do not
cannot - something that will not -
Period: 1500 to 1500
The invention of the Printing Press
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Period: to
Robert Cawdrey publishes the first English dictionary, “A Table Alphabeticall”
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Period: to
Publication of the first English-language newspaper, the “Courante” or “Weekly News”
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Period: to
Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio
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American Revolution
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Period: to
The American Revolution
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Period: to
Noah Webster publishes “The American Spelling Book”
