History of English: Germanic Origins & Old English

Indo-European Language Family

• Stretches from the north of India to Western Europe.
• Almost half of the global population speaks an Indo-European language.
• English is part of the Germanic branch, along with German, Dutch, and Swedish.

Origins of English

• Early 5th century: Romans withdrew from England after 400+ years of rule.
• Germanic tribes from Denmark and northern Germany then migrated to England.
• They replaced Celtic and Romano-British cultures, concentrating Celtic speakers in Wales, Scotland, and Cornwall.
• The Anglo-Saxons developed a common cultural identity in England.

Old English

• Spoken by the Anglo-Saxons in their kingdoms.
• Sounds very different from modern English and is largely incomprehensible today.
• Half of the most commonly used words come from Old English, including short, simple words like "water," "child," "ear," "talk," and "the".
• The language wasn't static; major changes came from external influences.

Viking Invasions

• Norsemen from Norway and Denmark invaded the north of England starting in the 8th century.
• Led to the establishment of the Danelaw kingdom.
• Old Norse influenced English vocabulary, with words like "sky," "bag," "law," "hit," and "they" originating from it.

Norman Invasion

• 1066: William the Conqueror invaded England, beginning Norman rule.
• Norman French became the language of the royal court, while Old English remained the language of the peasantry.
• Resulted in a merge of the languages after 100 years, creating Middle English.
• 30% (10,000) of English words are French in origin, particularly in law, religion, and science.
• This is why English has so many synonyms.
• English adopted different words for animals (Anglo-Saxon origin, spoken by farmers) and their meats (Norman French, spoken by elites) Ex: pig/pork, cow/beef, chicken/poultry.
• With French influence and grammatical simplification resulted in Middle English.
• Still largely incomprehensible to modern speakers.

Early Modern English

• The Great Vowel Shift began in the 15th century, propelling English into its Early Modern version.
• English long vowels started becoming shorter diphthongs.
• Many consonants became unpronounced (silent letters); spelling remained unchanged.
• One of the major reasons why English spelling is difficult.
• Work of Shakespeare is a good example.
• Understandable, but different wording than Modern English.

Modern English

• Starting in the 16th century, British exploration and empire-building spread the language.
• The 19th-century British Empire controlled a quarter of Earth's land and inhabitants.
• New words from English colonies and technological advancements greatly expanded vocabulary.
• Many varieties of English emerged
• The Industrial Revolution transformed English further.
• American accent is closer to Shakespeare's accent because of US accent frozen in place compared to British.
• American pop culture influences the language greatly.
• English is evolving, with new words added and old words falling out of use.
• English grammar changes, and language will continue to evolve.