The History of the English
Language
Research Question
•Why is the English
language the largest
in the world?
etymology
• The study of
word origins
Text Source #2
• Works Cited
• Beers, Kylene. Holt
Literature and Language
Arts. Austin: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston,
2001.
Source #1
• Engel, Elliot. A Light
History of the English
Language. Raleigh:
Media Consultants,
1997
The Celts
#1
• Celtic language first in Britain.
• Scots, Irish, Welsh descendants of Celtic
England
England
Old English 500-1065 AD
• Anglo Saxon Germanic language
Romans: Julius Ceasar
• He spoke Latin; He conquered:
• Romance Languages: French, Spanish,
Italian, Portuguese, Romanian.
Old English begins when the
Anglos, Saxons, Jutes invade
England in 500 A.D.
• Old English is an Anglo-Saxon
Germanic language
Then the Vikings Invade! #1
• Vikings from Scandinavia
invade England in 793AD
• They speak Old Norse
• O.E.
• (The Light History of English)
• Light History.
Beowulf- Epic Poem #1
• First work of English literature
Source 1
• Almost every one syllable
word we speak is from
Anglo Saxon German
• Old English 500-1065AD
Middle English 1066-1550AD
• In 1066, William the Conqueror
from Normandy, France invades
England.
The Norman Conquest
England becomes bilingual during
Middle English
• English: ox, sheep, swine, calf
• French: beef, mutton, pork, veal
• The rich and upper class
spoke French Latin, but the
lower class spoke AngloSaxon German.
Chaucer was a 14th century author
of The Canterbury Tales M.E.
Caxton invented the
Printing Press in 1476
Modern English is 1500 to present
#1
• Renaissance-rebirth of
Greek and Roman art
William Shakespeare
• Used 21,500 different words
• 3,000 invented words
Shakespeare invented:
• Words Shakespeare Invented
• Academe accused addiction advertising amazement arouse
assassination backing bandit bedroom beached besmirch
birthplace blanket bloodstained barefaced blushing betbump buzzer
caked cater champion circumstantial
• Coldblooded compromise courtship countless critic dauntless dawn
deafening discontent dishearten drugged dwindle epileptic equivocal
elbow excitementexposure
eyeballfashionablefixtureflawedfrugalgenerousgloomygossipgreeneyedgusthinthobnobhurriedimpedeimpartialinvulnerablejadedlabella
cklusterlaughablelonelylowerluggagelustrousmadcapmajesticmarket
ablemetamorphizemimicmonumentalmoonbeammountaineernegotia
tenoiselessobsceneobsequiouslyodeolympianoutbreakpanderspeda
ntpremeditatedpukingradiancerantremorselesssavageryscufflesecur
eskim
milksubmergesummitswaggertorturetranquilundressunrealvariedvaul
tingworthlesszanygnarledgrovel
King James Bible 1604
1755 Johnson’s Dictionary
Good
• Good, gode, guod, guode, goode, goed,
gowd, godd, guid guide, gud, gwde, guyd,
gewd
• 7 years in the making. This dictionary
helped standardize spelling.
France
Text Source #2
• Works Cited
• Beers, Kylene. Holt
Literature and Language
Arts. Austin: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston,
2001.