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Period: 400 BCE to
The history of the English language
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476
Fall of the (Western) Roman Empire
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Period: 500 to 1000
Old English
(Eald - means old)
(Brodor - means brother)
(Hus - means house)
(Nett - means net)
(Riht - means right)
(Widuwe - stands for widow)
(Wif - means wife)
(Wifmann - the term for woman)
Apostle - came from apostol
Chalk - came from cealc
Wine - came from win
Monk - came from munuc -
580
The suspected date of Beowulf's writing
"The date that Beowulf was conceived is uncertain, but can be narrowed down, depending on where it was created. It was definitely composed after Hygelac's death in 521AD, and most likely after 580AD, because that is the assumed date of Beowulf's death. It can't, though, be later than 1000AD." http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/projf20004d/History.html -
800
Charlemagne is crowned King of the Holy Roman Empire
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Period: 1000 to 1500
Middle English
morewe: morrow, morning
mowe: may
muche (1): much, many (a)
nam: am not
namo, namoore, no more
nas: was not
nat: not
nathelees: nevertheless
ne: not, nor
nere: were not
nolde: would not
nones, nonys: occasion
noon: none, no
noot: know not
nyce: foolish
nys: is not
o, oo, on, oon, that oon: one
of: of; off
pardee: (lit. “by God”), a common oath; certainly
prime, pryme: 9 A.M.
quod: said
rathe: early, soon -
1066
The Norman Invasion
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Jun 15, 1215
The Magna Carta is signed
"Magna Carta, English Great Charter, charter of English liberties granted by King John on June 15, 1215, under threat of civil war and reissued, with alterations, in 1216, 1217, and 1225. By declaring the sovereign to be subject to the rule of law and documenting the liberties held by “free men,” the Magna Carta provided the foundation for individual rights in Anglo-American jurisprudence." https://www.britannica.com/topic/Magna-Carta -
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1440
The invention of the Printing Press
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1492
The discovery of North America
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Period: 1500 to
Modern English
This is early modern English "We meet daily with those Fopps, who value themselves on their Travelling, and pretend they cannot express their meaning in English, because they would put off to us some French Phrase of the last Edition. Dryden, Defence (1672)." late modern English (e.g. train, engine, reservoir, pulley, combustion, piston, hydraulic, condenser, electricity, telephone, telegraph, lithograph, camera, etc). And new words we use today: Hey, hi, what's up, how's it going, TV, etc. -
1517
End wars with France and Scotland
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Winston Churchill
"He served as Conservative Prime Minister twice - from 1940 to 1945 (before being defeated in the 1945 general election by the Labour leader Clement Attlee) and from 1951 to 1955." https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/winston-churchill
