Indo-European Influences o First language spoken in Britain was Celtic. o Celts came from Central Asia. o Celtic had little effect on English o Celts were driven to the North and West of Britain. o Celtic still spoken in Scotland & Wales.
o Celtic words- bog, galore. o Celtic place name- Avon river o 55 AD Roman invasion (Julius Caesar) o Romans brought Latin. o Roman occupation lasted 400 years. o During Roman occupation Celtic & Latin was spoken. o Latin word- c astra meaning camp.
Used in town names Chester, Lancaster & Gloucester Old English (500 AD-1100 AD) o English dates from 5 th C. o 5 th C Britain invaded by Angles, Saxons & Jutes. o Angles, Saxons & Jutes from north Germany. o Angles, Saxons & Jutes were farmers. o Angles, Saxons & Jutes language was Anglo-Saxon.
o Anglo-Saxon main language spoken for 500 years. o Anglo-Saxon forms the basic vocab of English. o Anglo-Saxon vocab members of family, parts of body, food, numbers up to 1000 and verbs. o 9 th & 10 th C Danes & Vikings invasion.
o Danes & Vikings spoke Old Norse. o Old Norse & Anglo-Saxon come from Teutonic. o Old English = Old Norse + Anglo-Saxon Norman Conquest & Middle English (1066 AD-1500 AD) o 1066 William the Conqueror and the Norman army invaded Britain. o Normans were lawyers, government officials and traders. o The Normans spoke Norman French. o Anglo-Saxons were dominated by the Normans.
The Essay on Anglo Saxon Military Conquest Norman
October 14 th of the year 1066 two armies faced each other near the town of Hastings. 10, 000 Norman troops under the command of William of Normandy faced 8, 000 Anglo-Saxon soldiers led by Harold the current king of England. Geoffrey Parker, Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare (Cambridge: 1995), pp. 82-3. Harold's 8, 000 men consisted of Housecarls, the local Fyrd, and local village ...
o French became the official language of England for 300 years. o Latin still used in church and schools. o The Anglo-Saxon was still spoken by the Anglo-Saxons. o Middle English = Norman French + Old English. o New words from Norman French are master and supper.
o Geoffrey Chaucer used English to write books “The Canterbury Tales.” The Renaissance o Renaissance means re-birth. o New words from Latin & Greek. Words = education, experiment, investigate. o 10, 000 new words. o Shakespeare was one of the heaviest contributors to this.
Words = Longhaired, hot blooded, obscene. o Standardization o 1467 Caxton introduced the first printing press and used his East Midland dialect. o 1755 Dr Johnston introduced the first English dictionary.
