History of English language timeline

  • 410

    Old English Event 1: The Goths

    Old English Event 1: The Goths
    Germanic became a Language after Europeans "sacked" Rome. This lead to the native tribes of that language to go to Britain.
  • 500

    Old English Event 2: Angelo-Saxon Period

    Old English Event 2: Angelo-Saxon Period
    Germanic Language was introduced to English through invasion, and eventually they fused together to created Old English.
  • 600

    Old English Event 3: Saxon Empire Rises

    Old English Event 3: Saxon Empire Rises
    Deep within England, Germanic dialects are becoming mixed, native language is difficult to remember as the Europeans continue to rise up.
  • 700

    Old English Event 4: Suspected date of Beowulf's writing

    Old English Event 4: Suspected date of Beowulf's writing
    A poem that changed Europe old English literature forever, Beowulf's writings of the 6th century bewildered his audience, and became a big part of history.
  • 1066

    Old English Event 5: The Norman Invasion

    Old English Event 5: The Norman Invasion
    The Norman Invasion left England in despair and at the hands of culture adaption and combination. The French words eventually became a luxury part of the English language, as only the rich knew of them.
  • 1100

    Middle English Event 1: Middle English Period

    Middle English Event 1: Middle English Period
    Latin and French have become a key part in the new Middle English language was established after cracks were bought to light in the Old English system.
  • 1215

    Middle English Event 2: Kings Of England

    Middle English Event 2: Kings Of England
    Over time England became a place with only languages of Middle English, also used to be Norman French and English. Although that was the case, constitutions were signed on only English speaking papers, being one of the first ones.
  • 1362

    Middle English Event 3: The Statute of pleading

    Middle English Event 3: The Statute of pleading
    What makes English an official language in England is the Statute of Pleading. Parliament opens with its first speech in English.
  • 1387

    Middle English Event 4:The Canterbury Tales

    Middle English Event 4:The Canterbury Tales
    This frame story by Geoffrey Chaucer, paved the way for famous authors down the line like Shakespeare. Within his writing, he described the poverty and pilgrimage of the era before. It was the source for Middle English, as well as providing a lot of insight into life in medieval England.
  • 1440

    Middle English Event 5: The invention of the printing press.

    Middle English Event 5: The invention of the printing press.
    At this point in time middle English slowly started to fade as punctuation and machine written papers, articles were introduced. This era standardized English most importantly.
  • 1492

    Middle English Event 6: The discovery of the Americas

    Middle English Event 6: The discovery of the Americas
    The discovery of Americas led to discovery of trade, which in itself expanded the spread of middle English throughout the world mostly European countries. Paving a new way for English and how its going to shape. Perhaps the ending period for middle English.
  • Modern English Event 1: Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio

    Modern English Event 1: Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio
    Shakespeare's work in general is very impactful in the sense that it majorly shaped the way people communicated at the time. As well as his work being very well preserved, some of his work may be lost but, the people now get to reflect back at history.
  • Modern English Event 2: The American Revolution

    Modern English Event 2: The American Revolution
    I feel like "The American Revolution" put a lot more effort into the liberty/independence field in a sense, the writing at the time became outright political almost, more patriotism and freedom.
  • Modern English Event 3: Industrial Revolution

    Modern English Event 3: Industrial Revolution
    Industrial revolution not only impacted the way the country operated, opening more factories and facilities. This time period paved the way for scientists to use Latin and Greek words in their work, naming bacteria, elements, etc.
  • Modern English Event 4: World War ll

    Modern English Event 4: World War ll
    Wilfred Funk, an author at the time period, estimated that for every year the US was at war during World War 2 the vocabulary grew 6000 words.