What You Didn't Know About the Origins of the English Language?

A Brief History of the Origin and Development of the English Language

Take a fascinating journey into the history of the English language with me. You'll have something to tell your English friends about!

• The Three Germanic Tribes

The history of the English language begins with three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain in the 5th century AD. These tribes – the Angles, Saxons and Jutes – came from what is now Denmark and northern Germany, crossing the North Sea.

At the time, the people of Britain spoke a Celtic language, but the invaders pushed the Celts to the western and northern edges of the island – essentially where Wales, Scotland and Ireland are now. The Angles called their country “Englaland” and their language was called “Englisc” – from which the words “England” and “English” come.

• Old English (450–1100 AD)

In the 5th century, Germanic invaders entered Britain from the east and south coasts. The Germanic tribes spoke similar languages. On the island, their dialects formed a common language that we now call Old English.

It bears almost no resemblance to modern English, and would be very difficult for modern English speakers to understand. However, about half of the most common words in modern English have Old English roots.

Terms like to be, strong, and water originate from that source. Old English was spoken until about the end of the 11th century.

• Middle English (1100–1500)

In the year 1066, Britain experienced an invasion led by William the Conqueror, who was the Duke of Normandy, a region that is currently part of France. The Norman invaders brought with them French, which became the language of the royal court and the ruling and trading classes.

This was a period of class linguistic division, with the lower classes speaking English and the upper classes speaking French. In the 14th century, English began to gain strength again, but it borrowed many French words.

This language is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poet Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340–1400), but would still be difficult for modern speakers to understand.

• Early Modern English (1500–1800)

At the conclusion of the Middle English era, abrupt and notable alterations in pronunciation (known as the Great Vowel Shift) commenced, resulting in vowel sounds becoming more concise. From the 16th century, Britain came into increasing contact with peoples around the world.

This fact, as well as the advent of the Renaissance, led to many new words and phrases being introduced into the language. The advent of printing played a significant role in the evolution of a unified literary language. As the cost of books decreased, a growing number of people developed the ability to read and write. Consequently, printing facilitated the standardization of the English language.

Hamlet's famous lines, "To be or not to be," were written by Shakespeare in Early Modern English.

The rules of spelling and grammar were fixed, and the London dialect became the standard, since that was where most of the printing houses were located. In 1604, the first dictionary of the English language was published.

• Late Modern English (1800–present)

The primary distinction between Early Modern English and Late Modern English lies in the vocabulary of the language. Late Modern English has many more words due to two key factors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution and the development of technology led to the need to create new words; secondly, the British Empire at its height covered about a quarter of the earth's surface, and the English language borrowed many words from other countries.

Since the early 17th century, British colonization of North America has resulted in the development of a unique American variant of the English language. Some words and pronunciations have been “frozen in time” when they reached America. In some ways, American English is even more similar to the language of Shakespeare than modern British English.

Certain phrases referred to by the British as "Americanisms" are, in fact, expressions that originated in Britain and persisted in the colonies. For instance, the term trash is used in place of rubbish, loan is preferred over lend, and fall is utilized instead of autumn.

Spanish also influenced American English (and, subsequently, British English). Words like canyon, ranch, stampede, and vigilante are Spanish words that entered English during the American West.

Today, American English is very powerful, thanks to the US influence in film, television, music, commerce and technology (including the internet). But there are many other types of English, such as Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and Caribbean English.