The history of English is both an interesting and complex subject. It began with the arrival of three German tribes to the territory of Britain. They were the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes who crossed the Northern Sea and came from the area which is now known as Denmark and Northern Germany. They invaded Britain in the 5th century AD. So, this period of time is now considered as the start of the English language.
The exact dates of the English history periods are still disputed, although it is often divided into 4 periods:
The Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes spoke similar languages, which developed into Old English. Nowadays' readers would hardly understand anything in Old English! But however, today we're using thousands of words in English that have Old English roots (e.g. water, family, food, moon, home, etc.). Read more about the first English period here.
Middle English appeared due to the Norman Conquest in 1066 when William the Conqueror invaded England. Because of this invasion, about 85% of Anglo-Saxon words died out. English at that time was filling with new words of French (about 10000 new words came to English).
One of the most famous literary masterpieces of Old English is "Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer. Come here to read more about Middle English!
The exact dates of Early Modern English are still debated. Some say this period finished in the XVII century, others say that it continued till the beginning of the XIX century. But we know for certain that Early Modern English was also called the "Renaissance English". During this period happened something that had changed the English language forever - the Great Vowel Change. English started to look much more like today.
The man who made a great contribution to this language was, without any doubt, Shakespeare. He invented so many new words and neologisms that we're still using! Read here more about Early Modern English!
The only difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is its vocabulary - grammar and pronunciation didn't have any significant changes. A lot s of new words appeared in English due to the Industrial Revolution, many scientific achievements, and of course thanks to the fact that the British Empire covered a large surface on the Earth, so English got many words from different languages. Here you'll find more information about this period.
QUIZ! Think you know a lot about the history of English? Let's check it here! Answer 14 questions and discover something new!
