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Period: 400 to 1100
Old English
Samples of words/phrases: Be, water, and strong. -
450
The Germanic Invasion
Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain developed into what we now call Old English. The Anglo-Saxon Germanic language Is the foundation of the English language. -
597
The Anglo-Saxon Conversion
The Angle kingdoms and Irish missionaries converted Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, introducing new religious words borrowed from Latin and Greek. -
800
Beowulf's writing
Beowulf is an epic poem written in Old English that consists of 3,182 lines. -
871
English Prose
King Alfred of Wessex, aka Alfred the Great, translates Latin works into English and establishes the writing of prose in English. -
Oct 14, 1066
The Norman Invasion
William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England. The Normans) introduced a new kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. -
Period: 1100 to 1500
Middle English
Samples of words/phrases: apprise, fetter, and artow. -
1362
Act of the Parliament of England
The Statute of Pleading replaced French with English as the language of law. -
1384
John Wycliffe’s translation of “The Bible”
John Wycliffe translated “The Bible” in vernacular English. This challenge to Latin as the language of God was considered a revolutionary act of daring at the time, and the translation was banned by the Church. -
1388
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales are the stories of the 29 pilgrims on their way to Saint Thomas Becket's shrine in Canterbury. -
1450
Invention of Printing Press
Johannes Gutenberg began experimenting with printing in Strasbourg, France in 1440. By 1450, a printing machine was perfected and ready to use commercially: The Gutenberg press. -
1450
The Great Vowel Shift
The Great Vowel Shift was a massive sound change affecting the long vowels. It had a great effect on English pronunciation and spelling, leading to many changes between vowel letters and vowel phonemes. -
Jun 24, 1497
Discovery of North America
The Voyages of Christopher Columbus opened the New World. Giovanni Caboto (known in English as John Cabot) is credited with the discovery of continental North America. -
Period: 1500 to
Modern English
Samples of words/phrases: afeard, bethink, and wot. -
1539
The Great Bible
It was the first authorised edition of the Bible in English, by King Henry VIII of England, to be read in the church services of the Church of England. -
The first English dictionary
Robert Cawdrey's Table Alphabeticall was the first single-language English dictionary ever published. It lists approximately 3000 words with their definitions. -
Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio
The First Folio is the first published collection of Shakespeare's plays. Its title is “Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories & Tragedies”. -
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution, in colonial North America. -
The first edition Oxford English Dictionary
The first edition of the Oxford English dictionary was originally issued in short sections, often called 'fascicles’. The earliest fascicles were called 'parts', and contained over 300 pages.