HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Do languages change and evolve? Where does the ENGLISH we speak today come from?

The answer lies in the History of the British Isles THE CELTS The Celts settled in England more than 2500 years ago. First known languages: the celtic ones: Welsh and Scots-Gaelic. Some Celtic words survive today (whisky “water of life”) To find and answer we need to look at the history of the British Isles, because it takes a while before the language spoken there becomes something similar to what we call English today The first languages we know about in the British Isles are the Celtic ones, like Welsh and Scots Gaelics. These people settled here more than 2500 years ago, around 600 BC English still has some borrowed Celtic words, like “whisky””, from Gaelic (meaning “water of life”)

THE ROMANS 55 BC: Roman Invasion. The Romans spoke Latin. Latin names to places: any place name containing “chester” comes from the Roman word for “camp.” Can you think of any?? 55 BC there was an Invasion by the Romans, who spoke Latin. They gave Latin names to places and many are still used today, For example any place name containing “chester” comes from the Roman word for “camp.” Can you think of any??

OLD ENGLISH (450 – 1100 AD) 5th century AD; three Germanic tribes invaded Britain, the Angles, the Jutes and the Saxons. The invaders spoke languages of Germanic origin Similarity between many English and German words: the numbers (seven/sieben, eight/acht, nine/neun, ten/zehn) or the pronouns (mine//mein, me/mich). Half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots: be, strong, water During the 5th century AD, three Germanic tribes invaded Britain, the Angles, the Jutes and the Saxons. Most of the Celtic speakers were pushed wet and north. The invaders spoke similar languages of Germanic origin, which in Britain developed into what we call Old English. The similarity between many English and German words today comes from this time. For example: the numbers (seven/sieben, eight/acht, nine/neun, ten/zehn) or the pronouns (mine//mein, me/mich). And half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots: be, strong, water

OLD ENGLISH (cont.) But old English did not sound or look like English today. Native English speakers now would have great difficulty understanding Old English! Beowulf (anonymous)

MIDDLE ENGLISH (1100 – 1500 ) 1066: Battle of Hastings. The Normands, led by William the Conqueror, invaded Britain. They spoke a kind of French. More than 10,000 French words came into English; beef/bœuf, veal/veau, pork/ porc liberty/liberté)

MIDDLE ENGLISH (cont.) This was the language of the great poet Geoffrey Chaucer, (1340 – 1400) but it would still be difficult for native English speakers to understand today!) The Canterbury Tales, G. Chaucer.

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH (1500– 1800) 1476; William Caxton introduced the printing press in London. Many more books could be published. Books became cheaper More people learned to read. English needed to be written in a standard way. Spelling and grammar became fixed. 1604 First English dictionary.

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH (cont.) William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) is the most famous writer from this period. Many people call him “”the father of modern English” because he invented many new words and took many others that were used only in spoken English. Hamlet, W. Shakespeare

MODERN ENGLISH (1800– present) Many more languages got introduced into English due to: The industrial revolution. The expansion of the British Empire. Technology.

some VARIETIES OF ENGLISH today British English chips colour garden autumn American English truck fries color yard fall lorry