The History of English

English was created

400

The English language first appeared during the 5th century.

Germanic Tribes invaded England

450

These tribes spoke a similar language, which is now known as Old English.

Beowulf

1000

Beowulf was suspected to have been written sometime between the 8th century and the 11th, though it takes place in the 5th or 6th century. The only known remaining transcript is dated around 1000 AD.

The Norman Invasion

1066

The Norman Invasion caused a separation in classes, upper class men usually spoke French while lower class men usually spoke English. When English finally became the main language of England once more, the language had grown, adding a bit of French to the English dictionary.

Old English was no longer spoken

1100

Middle English became the most common form of English

1100

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

1392

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales were written during the year 1392.3w3

English became the dominant language in England once more

1400

The invention of the Printing Press

1440

With the invention of the printing press, it became more common to have books or newspapers, because it made it so books were no longer hand written, therefore, they took less time and effort to make, making them more common and more accessible by everyone, so a written dictionary was more possible, making it so words were put on paper and more widely seen and acknowledged. People were now able to teach to the uniformity of one language.

The discovery of North America

1492

Some words had become "lost" in Britain for some time, however, they stayed the same in the American colonies because communication between the two was strict, if there was any, therefore, the "Americanisms" of some words are actually just the old version of that same British version of the word.

Modern English was created

1500

Though it was early modern English and has many differences to what modern English currently is.

Late Modern English

1800

Late modern English was developed and is what we speak to this day. Though there have been a few changes here and there, there is no real worry that the whole language will change again or in such as severe way as it has since the year 400, when it was first created.

Shakespeare's first folio was printed

1851