A brief history of the English Language

The history of the English Language is a rather ironic topic, as when you delve into the history of the language you find that the majority of the words we use are not actually English!

The origins of what we now know as English started to develop at around 500BC.  It is around this time that the ‘Celts’ first arrived in Britain; they spoke a language which is similar to modern day Welsh.  Archaeologists have found evidence that they may have originated in the Alps. The Celts called the UK the ‘Pretanic Islands’ which eventually evolved into the word ‘Britain’.

In 55 BC the Latin speaking Romans first came to Britain.  They made a huge impression on the language that was developing throughout the country. We still use words inherited from the Romans such as ‘wine’, ‘candle’ and ‘wall’. Many of these words were coined by Roman soldiers.

The Anglo-Saxons arrived next, in around 400AD. They attacked the East coast and settled in an area they called East Anglia. The Anglo-Saxons spoke an East Germanic language that gave rise to the English language. Approx 1/3 of Anglo-Saxon vocabulary is still used today, mainly very basic everyday words such as earth, house, food and sing.

Around the year 700 the Norsemen or Vikings arrived. They spoke 'Norse' which was a North Germanic language. The Norsemen gave us more basic words such as skirt, egg, die, anger and silver. The English Language was forming well now, gradually integrating words from other sources as well as widening the use of localised phrases and words.

1066 AD was a historic year for the english language. The Normans arrived from Normandy; they defeated King Harold and took over Britain.

French became the official language, although the majority of people still spoke English or 'Old English' as it is now known. Thousands of French words from this period are still used today such as crown, court, poet, peasant, traitor and banquet. This is the start of a period known as 'Middle English'

All parliamentary and official documents were recorded in French. In 1258 the 'Provisions Of Oxford' was the first English government document to be published in English since French became the official language. Then, in1362, Edward III became the first King to address parliament in English.

In the next few decades the majority of Britain would return to the use of the English language.

Between 1500 1600, The English language had a Renaissance period in which many Greek and Latin words were introduced. These words were mainly for scientific terms as there had been huge advances in Science during this period.

The English language was well developed by now and continued to grow as more people has access to education and therefore needed a wider vocabulary.

In 1755 The first significant English dictionary was produced by Samuel Johnson. It was titled 'Dictionary of the English Language'.

There are now hundreds of thousands of words used today in the English language and around 25,000 more are brought into use each year. Our language continues to evolve and is continuously influenced by other languages and cultures, especially since English is now predominantly spoken in over 60 countries worldwide.