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410
Germanic Invasions
Old English started when 3 Germanic Tribes invaded Britain. Before this, most of the Britain Inhabitants spoke a Celtic language, but the tribes (from what is now known as Northern Germany and Denmark) pushed them west. -
410
Old English
Old English is completely foreign from today's English, and lasted from 410-1100 -
871
Alfred the Great
Alfred is known as the "Father of English." His English foreign to ours, with 0 influences from French and Latin. -
975
Beowulfs Story:
This is a poem written in Old English. The exact date it was written is unknown, but scholars believe it was sometime between 975 and 1025. -
1066
The Norman Invasion
William The Conqueror (from France) invaded and conquered England. French became the main language of the upper class until the 14th century when English became dominant again, but now with many french words added. -
1086
The Domesday Book
The Domesday Book was a survey that went around in England about the raise of taxes. This had Old English writing on it. -
1100
Middle English
Middle English is where French got brought into the language, but is still unrecognizable from today's language. -
1100
London becomes de facto capital of England
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1215
The First English Parliament
Parliaments were issued by the King of England, and resulted in Middle English being written down more often. -
1349
The Plague
The plague wiped out 1/3 of the British population, changing many things. -
1450
The invention of the Printing Press
The invention of the printing press meant there was now a common language in print. This caused books to drop in price and inspired more people to learn to read. It also brought standardization to the English language. -
1450
The Great Vowel Shift
The Great Vowel shift has a great impact on the way our language sounds today. During this movement, vowel sounds became shorter. -
1476
The Canterbury Tales
This consists of a collection of 24 stories. The tales follow a group of pilgrims on their journey. The story covers many social issues of the Medieval times it was written in, and things such as human immorality, the troubles of lust, religion, and honor/honesty. -
1500
Modern English
Modern English Dates back to 1500, and continues on today. Many things happened early in this time period to make the language remain almost the same. -
1526
First English Printing of The Bible
In this year, William Tyndale printed his English translation of the New Testament of “The Bible” which was before written in Hebrew/Greek. This was a big deal because Religion had a big impact on many people. -
The discovery of North America
When North America was colonized, many English phrases/words froze. For example, people in England now say "rubbish" but Americans still say "Trash." American English is closer to Old English than Britain is. -
Invention of the First English Dictionary
The first English Dictionary was invented in 1604 and has similar words as today. -
Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio
Shakespeare's First Folio is the first written collection of his plays. These did not get published until 8 years after his death, and is considered one of the most influential books in the English language. -
The American Revolution
The American Revolution allowed writers to break free from topics such as religion, and write in a style that was purely based on American Experiences. -
Establishment of the U.S Postal System
The post office allowed people to send written language to others, which briefly influenced Modern English. -
Telephone Invention
The invention of the telephone caused language to reach people from across the country/world and have different kinds of English influence normal people. -
Television
This allowed Hollywood to have an influence on the English Language. -
Texting
Texting allowed the language to become loose and care free. People used phrases such as "brb" or purposefully misspelled words. -
Slang
Today there is many slang words such as "swag" and "on fleek" that have different meanings, or did not exist before. A lot of these slang words have to do with social media.
