The History Of English

The history of
english
L ic. Rolando Marabel

2 5 - 9 - 2012

Índice
Introduction…………………………………………………………………2
Proto-English……………………………………………………………….3
Old English – from the mid-5th century to the mid-11th century……...3
Middle English – from the late 11th to the late 15th century…………..5
Early Modern English – from the late 15th to the late 17th century…..6
Five Events that Shaped theHistory of English…………………………7
Global English………………………………………………………………10
Conclusion………………………………………………………………….11
Bibliography………………………………………………………………...12

Rolando Marabel Teyuco

1

Introduction
English is a W est Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialects brought
to Britain by Germanic invaders and/or settlers from various parts of what is now
northwest Germanyandthe Netherlands. Initially, Old English was a diverse group of dialects,
reflecting the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Britain. One of these dialects, Late
W est Saxon, eventually became predominant.
The English language underwent extensive change in the Middle Ages. Written Old English of AD
1000 is similar in vocabulary and grammar to other old Germanic languages such as OldHigh
German and Old Norse, and completely unintelligible to modern speakers, while the modern
language is already largely recognisable in written Middle English of AD 1400. The transfo rmation
was caused by two further waves of invasion: the first by speakers of the Scandinavian branch of
the Germanic language family, who conquered and colonized parts of Britain in the 8th and 9th
centuries;the second by the Normans in the 11th century, who spoke Old Norman and ultimately
developed an English variety of this called Anglo-Norman. A large proportion of the modern English
vocabulary comes directly from Anglo-Norman.
Close contact with the Scandinavians resulted in a significant grammatical simplification and lexical
enrichment of the Anglo-Frisian core of English. However, thesechanges had not reached South
W est England by the 9th century AD, where Old English was developed into a full-fledged literary
language. The Norman invasion occurred in 1066, and when literary English rose anew in the 13th
century, it was based on the speech of London, much closer to the centre of Scandinavian
settlement. Technical and cultural vocabulary was largely derived from Old Norman,with
particularly heavy influence in the church, the courts, and government. With the coming of
the Renaissance, as with most other developing European languages such
as German and Dutch, Latinand Ancient Greek supplanted Norman and French as the main source
of new words. Thus, English developed into very much a "borrowing" language with an enormously
disparate vocabulary.



2Proto-English
The languages of Germanic peoples gave rise to the English language
(the Angles, Saxons, Frisii, Jutes and possibly the Franks, who traded, fought with and lived
alongside the Latin-speaking peoples of the Roman Empire in the centuries-long process of the
Germanic peoples' expansion into W estern Europe during the Migration Period). Latin loan words
such as wine, cup, and bishopenteredthe vocabulary of these Germanic peoples before their arrival
in Britain and the subsequent formation of England.

[1]

Tacitus' Germania, written around 100 AD., is a primary source of information for the culture of
the Germanic peoples in ancient times. Germanics were in contact with Roman civilisation and its
econom y, including residing within the Roman borders in large numbers in theprovince
of Germania and others and serving in the Roman military, while many more retained political
independence outside of Roman territories. Germanic troops served in Britannia under Roman
command. Except for the Frisians, Germanic settlement in Britain, according to Bede, occurred
largely after the arrival of mercenaries in the 5th century. Most Angles, Saxons and Jutes arrived in...