Old English (450 - 1100 ad)
Three Germanic tribes came to
British Islands
One group migrated to the Brittany Coast of France
Descendants still speak
Celtic Language of Breton today.
Were warlike and pushed out most of the original Celtic-speaking inhabitants from England
Romans broughy Latin to Britain
Words passed for Roman merchants an soldiers
win (wine), candel (candle), belt (belt), weall (wall)
597 ad
Introduction of Christianity
Into Saxon England brought Latin words came from the Greek
Church bishop, baptism, monk, eucharist an presbyter
St.Augustine arrive
878 ad
Vikings invaded the country
Being Scandinavian spoke Old Norse
Got many Norse words into the language
sky, egg, cake, skin, leg, window (wind eye), husband, fellow, skill, anger, flat, odd, ugly, get, give, take, raise, call, die, they, their, them.
Written works
old English
Most famous
Beowulf
was written in Britain
Saxon, Anglos and Jutes
Mixed their different Germanic dialects.
Forms Old English or Anglo-Saxon
Middle English (1100 - circa 1500 ad)
1066 dc
Duke of Normandy William the Conqueror
invaded England
Became king
brought his nobles
They spoke French, was the language of the court, administration and culture
Latin used for written
English language was considered vulgar tongue
1200
England and France had split
English was being spoken instead of written
Middle English
Old English
fFrench
Fifteenth to eighteenth
Great Vowl Shit
Sound change affecting the long vowels of English
vowels shifted upwards
The Canterbury Tales
Famous collection of stories
Give us an idea of what life was like in fourteenth century England.