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The first languages are the Celtic ones like Welsh and Scottish Gaelic.
These people settled the British Isles about
600 BC. That is more than 2500 years ago! -
In 55BC, there was an invasion by the Romans, who spoke Latin.
They gave Latin names to places and some of these names are still used today. -
The first people who spoke English
arrived in England in about the year 450.
These people were the Anglo-Saxons
and their language was Old English.
Words: live, love, heaven, fight, good, evil, man, wife, child, sleep, eat, house, stone, rain, one, two, three, green, black, the, an, to, for, but, around, will, do, and, with, -
From about 800, the Vikings started to invade Britain.
The Vikings came from countries like Denmark and
Norway and spoke a language that developed
into Norwegian and Danish.
Words:freckle, leg, skull, skirt, skin, sky, egg, score, scream, and cake. -
In 1066, the Normans invaded England from Normandy in France.
They spoke an earlier version of French and this became the language of prestige in England.
Words: please, sign, very, peace, nobility, felony, attorney, government, parliament, justice, chivalry, court, courtesy, courage, beef, bacon, baptize, flower, power, royal, annoy, and joy. -
There were no more invasions of England. English became more important than French. A number of books were published in Middle English.
The most famous is a book of stories called
The Canterbury Tales (1400) by Geoffrey Chaucer. -
With the invention of the printing press in 1476, publishing books in English became very popular.
Words:swagger, gloomy, zany, and bedroom. -
There are many important authors in Modern English, but one of the most famous writers is William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616).
Words:telescope, astronomer, biology, physics, electricity, psychology, geothermal, dinosaur, museum, orchestra, symphony, lexicon, apostrophe.