The History of the English Language

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The Three Timelines of the English Language The English Language has had many influences over thousands of years to create the language we speak today. Some of these influences being William the Conqueror, Chaucer and Shakespeare. The English Language has changed by introducing new words, borrowing words from other languages and combining words. Fifteen hundred years ago, only few people spoke this language and today it is the official language in more than 75 countries. The English Language has changed dramatically over the course of the three time periods which include, Old English, Middle English and Modern English. Old English was the first time period in the English Language, which started by the three tribes in the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who invaded Britain around CE 450, bring with them their language. This language had a low germanic tongue and became Anglo-Saxon or Old English. “In CE 827 King Egbert first named Britannia Engla-land “land of the Angles” and by about CE 700, people begun calling the language they spoke Englisc” (Dawn and Malott 375). This is how the name for the language started to develop. Old English has no books, poems were passed around, the most famous was Beowulf, after this poem was written Literature began. Old English was also influenced by Celtic and Latin: The Arrival of christianity in Britain in CE 597 was also important Caird 2 in the development of English. Christian scribes - priest, monks and nuns - were first to write in Old English. They used the Romans alphabet and added extra symbols to stand for sounds that did not 
 exist in Latin. (Dawn and Malott 377) This was part in making the English Language and how christianty was a part of it. All these events make up Old English. The next time period in the English Language is Middle English.

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