The history of the english language

By emmaleighedwards
  • Period: 450 to 1100

    Old English

    Some slang from this time period was:
    bresprawler- which means a person who spits when they talk
    dew- beater: someone who is clumsy or awkward
  • 792

    Viking raids of Britain begin

  • 865

    The Danes launch full-scale invasion and occupy Northumbria

  • 871

    Alfred the Great becomes king of Wessex, encourages English prose and translation of Latin works

  • 1050

    Beowulf's writing (approximately)

  • 1066

    The Norman Invasion

    The Norman Invasion
  • Period: 1100 to 1500

    Middle English

    some slang from this period includes:
    clepe: to call
    coy: to be quiet
    forthy: therefore
  • Period: 1340 to 1400

    Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

  • 1349

    The Black Death kills one third of the British population

    The Black Death kills one third of the British population
  • 1385

    English replaces Latin as main language in schools (except Universities of Oxford and Cambridge)

  • 1399

    Henry IV becomes first English-speaking monarch since before the Conquest

  • 1440

    Invention of the printing press

  • 1492

    The discovery of North America

  • Period: 1500 to

    Early Modern English

    some slang includes:
    earworm: a song that's stuck in your head
    glamping: camping but glamorously

  • Death of William Shakespeare

  • Shakespeare's publication of his first folio

    Shakespeare's publication of his first folio
  • Period: to

    American Revolution

  • First publication of “The Times” newspaper in London

  • Period: to

    Late Modern English

    some slang includes:
    pull up: comeover
    yeet: to throw or chuck
    finna: going to or gonna

  • First edition of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published

    First edition of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published