Coursebook - History ENG Lang, shorter appendices

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The History of English 
 
 Page 1 
 
 FIRST SEMESTER 
 
INTRODUCTION Lesson 
1 
 
Orientation about course programme, discussion assessment methods 
 
This course is organised in a cyclical way. Its basic theme, the history and origins of 
the English language, is presented three times, each time going into more detail and at each 
consecutive cycle, more is explained about interesting features and events that may 
increase your understanding of the way in which this language developed. 
Unit 1 will therefore only present major historical facts and events. But as we 
proceed during the course, more attention will be given to (socio-)linguistic aspects and 
socio-economic implications of the major role English as a language has started to play in 
our modern world. 
 
 
UNIT 1 Lesson 
2 
Short History of Origins of English Language – Old English 
Sources: www.englishclub.com/English-language history.htm 
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/thehistoryofeng 
 
The Anglo-Saxon Settlement 
 
It's never easy to pinpoint exactly when a specific language 
began, but in the case of English we can at least say that there is little 
sense in speaking of the English language as a separate entity before 
the Anglo-Saxons came to Britain. The Celts were already resident in 
Britain when the Anglo-Saxons arrived, but there are few obvious 
traces of their language in English today. Some scholars have 
suggested that the Celtic tongue might have had an underlying 
influence on the grammatical development of English, particularly in 
some parts of the country, but this is highly speculative. The number of loanwords known 
for certain to have entered Old English from this source is very small. Those that survive in 
modern English include brock (badger), and coomb a type of valley, alongside many place 
names. 
Little is known of this period with any certainty, but we do know that Germanic 
invaders came and settled in Britain from the north-western coastline of continental Europe 
in the fifth and sixth centuries. The invaders all spoke a language that was Germanic 
(related to what emerged as Dutch, Frisian, German and the Scandinavian languages, and 
to Gothic), but we'll probably never know how different their speech was from that of their 
continental neighbours. However it is fairly certain that many of the settlers would have 
spoken in exactly the same way as some of their north European neighbours, and that not 
all of the settlers would have spoken in the same way. 
The History of English 
 
 Page 2 
 
The reason that we know so little about the linguistic situation in this period is 
because we do not have much in the way of written records from any of the Germanic 
languages of north-western Europe until several centuries later. When Old English writings 
begin to appear in the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries there is a good deal of regional 
variation, but not substantially more than that found in later periods. This was the language 
that King Alfred the Great referred to as ‘English’ in the ninth century. 
QUESTIONS: 
A. About when can we say did the history of the language called “English” begin and 
where? 
B. Why do we know so little about the early period of “Old English”? 
C. When and who first mentioned this language in writing, referring to it as “English”? 
 
 
UNIT 1 Lesson 
3 
Short History of Origins of English Language – Old English 
 
Sources: www.englishclub.com/English-language history.htm 
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/thehistoryofeng 
Old English (450-1100 AD) 
So, the history of the English language really started with the arrival of three 
Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, 
the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern 
Germany. At that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language. But most of the 
Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders - mainly into what is now 
Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles came from Englaland and their language was 
called Englisc - from which the words England and English are derived. 
Germanic invaders entered Britain on the east 
and south coasts in the 5th century. 
 
 
The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain developed 
into what we now call Old English. Old English did not sound or look like English today. 
Native English speakers now would have great difficulty understanding Old English. 
Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old 
English roots. The words be, strong and water, for example, derive from Old English. Old 
English was spoken until around 1100. 
The History of English 
 
 Page 3 
 
 
The Scandinavian Settlements 
The next invaders were the Norsemen. From the middle of the 
ninth century large numbers of Norse invaders settled in Britain, 
particularly in northern and eastern areas, and in the eleventh century 
the whole of England had a Danish king, Canute. The distinct North 
Germanic speech of the Norsemen had great influence on English, 
most obviously seen in the words that English has borrowed from this 
source. These include some very basic words such as take and even 
grammatical words such as they. The common Germanic base of the 
two languages meant that there were still many similarities between 
Old English and the language of the invaders. Some words, for example give, perhaps show 
a kind of hybridization with some spellings going back to Old English and others being 
Norse in origin. However, the resemblances between the two languages are so great that in 
many cases it is impossible to be sure of the exact ancestry of a particular word or spelling. 
However, much of the influence of Norse, including the vast majority of the loanwords, does 
not appear in written English until after the next great historical and cultural upheaval, the 
Norman Conquest. 
QUESTIONS: 
A. Who were the first speakers of this language “Old English” and where did they come 
from? 
B. What language(s) was this “Old English” probably quite similar to? 
C. When these Germanic invaders arrived in Britain who were already living there? 
D. Are there many traces of these older people’s language left in English today? 
(Explain.) 
E. How does the English you are learning today compare to this much older form of 
English? 
F. Are there any roots of this Old English left in present-day English? (Examples, 
please.) 
G. The there was a second wave of invaders. Who were they and where did they come 
from? 
H. Explain why the language spoken by these new invaders was quite similar to the 
language spoken by the first group of invaders? 
I. Give examples of words in present day English that come from this second group. 
 
 
 
 UNIT 1 Lesson 
4 
Short History of Origins of English Language – Middle English and Modern English 
Sources: www.englishclub.com/English-language history.htm 
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/thehistoryofeng 
 
Middle English (1100-1500) 
In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern France), 
invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors (called the Normans) brought with 
themhy a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and 
‘[‘[-/business classes. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the 
lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. 
The History of English 
 
 Page 4 
 
In the 14th century English became dominant 
in Britain again, but with many French words 
added. This language is called Middle 
English. It was the language of the great poet 
Chaucer (c1340-1400), but it would still be 
difficult for native English speakers to 
understand today. 
 
 
 
1066 and after 
 
The centuries after the Norman Conquest witnessed enormous 
changes in the English language. In the courseof what is called the 
Middle English period, the fairly rich inflectional system of Old English 
broke down. It was replaced by what is broadly speaking, the same 
system English has today, which unlike Old English makes very little 
use of distinctive word endings in the grammar of the language. The 
vocabulary of English also changed enormously, with tremendous 
numbers of borrowings from French and Latin, in addition to the 
Scandinavian loanwords already mentioned, which were slowly 
starting to appear in the written language. 
Old English, like German today, showed a tendency to find native equivalents for 
foreign words and phrases (although both Old English and modern German show plenty of 
loanwords), whereas Middle English acquired the habit that modern English retains today of 
readily accommodating foreign words. Tri-lingualism in English, French, and Latin was 
common in the worlds of business and the professions, with words crossing over from one 
language to another with ease. You only have to flick through the etymologies of any English 
dictionary to get an impression of the huge number of words entering English from French 
and Latin during the later medieval period. This trend was set to continue into the early 
modern period with the explosion of interest in the writings of the ancient world. 
 
QUESTIONS: 
A. Who was responsible for the third invasion that was to change this older form of 
English profoundly and where did these people come from? 
B. Explain about the language they spoke (similar to..?) and how did it divide the 
society in Britain? 
C. When was the language that was spoken by the lower classes restored back to its 
original position of the dominant language? 
D. It developed into a variety that we now refer to as Middle English. Compare Old with 
Middle English in terms of grammar and vocabulary. (You may compare Old English 
with German today to explain in what way Old English was different from the variety 
that it developed into: Middle English.) 
E. Who was a great poet/writer in those days? 
The History of English 
 
 Page 5 
 
F. Are any of the sentences in the passage from this poet comprehensible to you? Can 
you try to “translate” some of it in present-day English? 
 
 
 
 UNIT 1 Lesson 
5 
Short History of Origins of English 
Language – Modern English & Varieties 
of English 
Sources: www.englishclub.com/English-language history.htm 
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/thehistoryofeng 
Early Modern English (1500-1800) 
 
Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in pronunciation 
(the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter. From 
the 16th century the British had contact with many peoples from around the world. This, and 
the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many new words and phrases entered the 
language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in 
print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also brought 
standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of London, 
where most publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 the first English 
dictionary was published. 
 
Late Modern English (1800-Present) 
The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is 
vocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, arising from two principal factors: 
firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for new words; secondly, 
the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth's surface, and the English 
language adopted foreign words from many countries. 
Standardization 
The late medieval and early modern periods saw a fairly steady 
process of standardization in English south of the Scottish border. The 
written and spoken language of London continued to evolve and 
gradually began to have a greater influence in the country at large. For 
 
 
Hamlet's famous "To be, or not to be" 
lines, written in Early Modern English by 
Shakespeare.To be, or not to be, that is the 
question: 
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer 
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, 
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep, 
No more; and by a sleep to say we end 
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks 
That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation 
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep; 
To sleep, perchance to dream – ay, there's the rub: 
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, 
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 
Must give us pause – there's the respect 
That makes calamity of so long life. 
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 
The oppressor’s wrong 
 
The History of English 
 
 Page 6 
 
most of the Middle English period a dialect was simply what was spoken in a particular area, 
which would normally be more or less represented in writing - although where and from 
whom the writer had learnt how to write were also important. 
It was only when the broadly London standard began to dominate, especially 
through the new technology of printing, that the other regional varieties of the language 
began to be seen as different in kind. As the London standard became used more widely, 
especially in more formal contexts and particularly amongst the more elevated members of 
society, the other regional varieties came to be stigmatized, as lacking social prestige and 
indicating a lack of education. 
In the same period a series of changes also occurred in English pronunciation 
(though not uniformly in all dialects), which go under the collective name of the Great Vowel 
Shift. These were purely linguistic ‘sound changes’ which occur in every language in every 
period of history. The changes in pronunciation weren’t the result of specific social or 
historical factors, but social and historical factors would have helped to spread the results 
of the changes. As a result the so-called ‘pure’ vowel sounds which still characterize many 
continental languages were lost to English. The phonetic pairings of most long and short 
vowel sounds were also lost, which gave rise to many of the oddities of English 
pronunciation, and which now obscure the relationships between many English words and 
their foreign counterparts. 
 
QUESTIONS: 
A. How and when did the pronunciation of Middle English change dramatically in a 
relatively short period? 
B. What historical events caused the adoption of many new words? 
C. What caused the language to become rapidly standardised (in terms of spelling and 
other language features)? 
D. What dialect became the model for English throughout the country and why? 
E. How did early modern English differ from later modern English? What factors 
caused these changes? 
 
UNIT 1 Lesson 
6 
Short History of Origins of English Language – Colonisation and Globalisation 
Sources: www.englishclub.com/English-language history.htm 
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/thehistoryofeng 
 
Colonization and Globalization 
During the medieval and early modern periods the influence of 
English spread throughout the British Isles, and from the early seventeenth 
century onwards its influence began to be felt throughout the world. The 
complex processes of exploration, colonization and overseas trade that 
characterized Britain’s external relations for several centuries led to 
significant change in English. Words were absorbed from all over the 
world, often via the languages of other trading and imperial nations such as 
Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. At the same time, new varieties of English emerged, 
each with their own nuances of vocabulary and grammar and their own distinct 
pronunciations. More recently still, English has become a lingua franca, a global language, 
regularly used and understood by many nations for whom English is not their first language. 
The eventual effectson the English language of both of these developments can only be 
guessed at today, but there can be little doubt that they will be as important as anything that 
has happened 
The History of English 
 
 Page 7 
 
Varieties of English 
From around 1600, the English colonization of North America resulted in the 
creation of a distinct American variety of English. Some English pronunciations and words 
"froze" when they reached America. In some ways, American English is more like the 
English of Shakespeare than modern British English is. Some expressions that the British 
call "Americanisms" are in fact original British expressions that were preserved in the 
colonies while lost for a time in Britain (for example trash for rubbish, loanas a verb instead 
of lend, and fall for autumn; another example, frame-up, was re-imported into Britain 
through Hollywood gangster movies). Spanish also had an influence on American English 
(and subsequently British English), with words 
like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered 
English through the settlement of the American West. French words (through Louisiana) 
and West African words (through the slave trade) also influenced American English (and so, 
to an extent, British English). 
Today, American English is particularly influential, due to the USA's dominance of 
cinema, television, popular music, trade and technology (including the Internet). But there 
are many other varieties of English around the world, including for example Australian 
English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and 
Caribbean English. 
QUESTIONS: 
A. When did English first become to be used far beyond its original regions (the 
British Isles) and started to be spread by many users all over the world? 
B. From what other languages did English absorb new vocabulary during the period 
of the colonisation of America, and later Africa and parts of Asia? 
C. What major effect did the colonisation of America have on the language? 
D. Name a few other varieties of English that have become at least as important as 
British English today. 
 
 
UNIT 2 Lesson 
8 
More Detailed History of English – Introduction , The Celtic, Roman Presence 
Source: http://www.sk.com.br/sk-enhis.html 
INTRODUCTION 
The English language is the result of a complex 
history and rooted in a very distant past. 
There is evidence of human presence in the British Isles 
since before the last ice age, when they had not 
yet separated from the continent and oceans before 
forming the English Channel. This recent geological 
phenomenon that separated the British Isles from the 
mainland, occurred about 7,000 years, also isolated the 
people living there of the turbulent motions and the 
obscurity that characterized the early Middle Ages in 
Europe. 
Archaeological sites show that the wetlands that the Romans came 
to call the Britannia already housed a thriving culture 8,000 years ago, 
although little is known about it. 
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-enhis.html
The History of English 
 
 Page 8 
 
THE CELTIC 
The history of England begins with the Celts. Around 1000 BC, after many 
migrations, several dialects of Indo-European languages become different language 
groups. This broad family includes most of the European languages spoken today. The Indo-
European family includes several major branches: Latin and the modern Romance 
languages (French etc.); the Germanic languages (English, German, Swedish 
etc.); the Indo-Iranian languages (Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit etc.); the Slavic languages (Russian, 
Polish, Czech etc.); the Baltic languages of Latvian and Lithuanian; Greek; the Celtic 
languages (Welsh, Irish Gaelic etc.). 
 
The Celts originated presumably from people who already lived in 
Europe during the Bronze Age. For nearly eight centuries, from 700 BC to 
100 AD, the Celtic people inhabited the region now known as Spain, France, 
Germany and England. The Celtic became the main language group in 
Europe, before eventually the Celts almost totally assimilated into the 
Roman Empire. 
Prior to the Germanic invasions, Britain was inhabited by various 
Celtic tribes who were united by common speech, customs, and religion. 
The word “Britain” originated from the name of one of the major Celtic 
tribes, the Britons. Each tribe was headed by a king and was divided by 
class into Druids (priests), warrior nobles, and commoners. The lack of 
political unity made them vulnerable to their enemies. During the first century, Britain was 
conquered and subjugated by Rome. 
ROMANS’ PRESENCE 
In 55 BC and 54 occur the first Roman invasions of recognition, under the personal 
command of Julius Caesar. In 44 AD, the time of Emperor Claudius, is the third invasion, 
whereupon the main British island is attached to the Roman Empire to the limits with the 
Caledonia (now Scotland) and Latin begin to exert influence on the Celtic-Breton 
culture. Three and a half centuries of presence of the Roman legions and its merchants, 
brought profound influence in the economic, political and social life of the Celtic tribes that 
inhabited Britain. Latin words naturally came to be used for many new concepts. 
QUESTIONS: 
A. How long ago there might have been people living in what we today call Britain? 
B. Any idea what the huge rocks in a circle on the photo are called (They are not far 
from Oxford; little is known about their purpose but they are assumed to have 
something to do with an ancient religion.) 
C. Where did the Celts in Britain come from, presumably? 
D. Although the Celtic language has little connection or similarity with Old English, if 
one goes back far enough there is of course a connection. Explain. 
E. In what way were these Celts an easy “prey” for invaders? 
F. Who were these Celtic tribes subjugated by first? 
G. What effects did the Roman presence have on the Celts? 
 
UNIT 2 Lesson 
9 
More Detailed History of English – Early migrations and The Anglo-Saxons. 
Source: http://www.sk.com.br/sk-enhis.html 
The Anglo-Saxons 
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-enhis.html
The History of English 
 
 Page 9 
 
Due to the difficulties faced by the Empire in Rome, the Roman legions in 410 AD, 
withdrew from Britannia, leaving its inhabitants at the mercy of Celtic enemies (Scots and 
Picts). Since Rome no longer had a military force to defend the Celts, they resorted to the 
Germanic tribes (Jutes, Angles, Saxons and Frisians) in 449 AD for help. These, however, 
opportunistically became invasive, taking in the most fertile areas in the southeast of 
Britain, destroying villages and massacring the local population. The Celts, Britons 
survivors took refuge in the west. Evidence of violence and disregard for local culture of the 
invaders is the fact that almost no traces remained of the Celtic language into English. 
Migration of the Germanic speaking people 
When Britain gained "independence" from Rome in the year 410 AD, the Roman 
legions withdrew leaving the country vulnerable to invaders. Soon after the withdrawal of 
Roman troops, inhabitants from the north began attacking the Britons. In response to these 
attacks, individual towns sought help from the Foedarati, who were Roman mercenaries of 
German origin, for the defense of the northern parts of England. As the legend has been 
told, a man named Hengest arrived on the shores of Britain with "3 keels" of warriors in 450 
AD. This event is known in Latin as the "adventus Saxonum," or the coming of the Saxons. At 
this time, the Foedarati stopped defending Britain and began conquering the territories on 
the southern and eastern shores of the country. These invaders drove the Britons to the 
north and west. The Saxons called the native Britons, 'wealas', which meant foreigner or 
slave, and from this term came the modern word Welsh. Eight to ten years later many British 
aristocrats (Celts) and city dwellers began migrating toBrittany, an event known as the 
second migration. 
Although there were many different Germanic tribes migrating to England, several 
stood out from among the others, such as the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, and Franks. 
The Angles migrated from Denmark and the Saxons from northern Germany. There is some 
debate as to the exact origin of the Jutes, since linguistic evidence suggests that they came 
from the Jutland peninsula, while 
archaeological evidence suggests an 
origin from one of the northern 
Frankish realms near the mouth of the 
Rhine river. The Frisians and Franks 
migrated mainly from the low 
countries (now, the Netherlands) and 
north-western Germany. 
During the sixth and seventh 
centuries these Germanic invaders 
started to carve out kingdoms, fighting 
both the native Britons and each other 
for land. First called Saxons, the 
German invaders were later referred 
to as Angles, and in the year 601 AD, 
the pope referred to Aethelbert of Kent as Rex Anglorum ("king of the Angles"). As time 
passed, the differences between the Germanic tribal cultures gradually unified until 
eventually they ceased referring to themselves by their individual origins and became 
either Anglo-Saxon or 
English. 
England 650 -750: 
The History of English 
 
 Page 10 
 
As Old English began to evolve, four 
major dialects emerged which were 
Kentish, spoken by the Jutes, West 
Saxon, the Saxon dialect, and 
Northumbrian and Mercian, subdivisions 
of the dialect spoken by the Angles. By 
the 9th century, partly through the 
influence of King Alfred, the West Saxon 
dialect became prevalent in literature 
which aided the dialect's dominance 
among scholars. 
 
Soon after the Germanic invasions, the inhabitants 
gave their settlements new names. The most common Saxon 
place names are those ending in -ton (fenced area), -wick 
(dwelling), -ham (home), -worth(homestead), -den(pasture), -
hurst(wooded hill), and -burn(stream). Some settlement 
names began with more than one word which either stated 
personal possession or described a physical description of 
the area and would later evolve into one word. One example 
of this evolution would be the word Chatham which was 
originally Ceatta's Ham (Ceatta's home). 
 
 Source:http://www.anglik.net/anglosaxonmap.htm 
German dialects are spoken by the Angles and Saxons who 
will lead the English. The word England, for example, 
originated from Angle-land (land of the Angles). From there, the history of the English 
language is divided into three periods: Old English, Middle English and Modern English . The 
second half of the fifth century when the Germanic invasions occurred, marking the 
beginning of the period known as Old English . 
OLD ENGLISH (500 - 1100 AD) 
Old English, also sometimes also called Anglo-Saxon , compared to modern English, 
a language is almost unrecognizable, both in pronunciation and vocabulary and 
grammar. For a native speaker of English today, the 54 words of the Lord's Prayer in Old 
English , less than 15% are recognizable in writing, and probably nothing would be 
recognized to be pronounced. The correlation between pronunciation and spelling, 
however, was much closer than in modern English. On the grammatical level, the 
differences are also substantial. In Old English, and decline nouns have gender (masculine, 
feminine and neuter), and the verbs are conjugated: 
 
Translation of Old English Text 
 
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum; 
Si þin nama gehalgod 
to becume þin rice 
gewurþe ðin willa 
on eorðan swa swa on heofonum. 
urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg 
Father our thou that art in heavens 
be thy name hallowed 
come thy kingdom 
be-done thy will 
on earth as in heavens 
our daily bread give us today 
http://www.anglik.net/anglosaxonmap.htm
http://www.sk.com.br/lp-all.wav
http://www.sk.com.br/lp-all.wav
The History of English 
 
 Page 11 
 
and forgyf us ure gyltas 
swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum 
and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge 
ac alys us of yfele soþlice 
 
and forgive us our sins 
as we forgive those-who-have-sinned-against-us 
and not lead thou us into temptation 
but deliver us from evil. truly 
 
 
QUESTIONS: 
 
A. How in about 410 AD did the Celts themselves cause their own doom: being 
dominated by Germanic tribes? 
B. How were the Germanic invaders that started terrorising the Celtic tribes linked to 
the Romans who since 50 BC had dominated the west of Europe? 
C. What main groups invaded Britain and from where? 
D. Their languages where in fact as dialects from one and the same basic language. 
Explain. 
E. Of the dialects that evolved in Britain itself, which became dominant and because of 
whom? 
F. How is this still evident in the names of many places (towns) in present day Britain? 
 
UNIT 2 Lesson 
10 
More Detailed History of English - Introduction of Christianity 
 
The Old English language (also called Anglo-Saxon) dates back to 449 CE. The 
Celts had been living in England when the Romans invaded. Although they invaded twice, 
they did not conquer the Celts until 43 CE and Latin never overtook the Celtic language. 
The Romans finally left England in 410 CE as the Roman Empire was collapsing, leaving 
the Celts defenseless. Then the Germanic tribes from the present-day area of Denmark 
arrived. The four main tribes were the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians. These tribes 
set up seven kingdoms called the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy that included: Mercia, 
Northumbria, Kent, Wessex, Sussex, Essex, and East Anglia. Four dialects were spoken in 
these kingdoms: West Saxon, Kentish, Mercian and Northumbrian. The Celts moved north 
to Scotland, west to Ireland and south to France, leaving the main area of Britain. 
In 432 AD St Patrick had begun his mission to bring Christianity to the Celtic 
population of Ireland. In 597 AD the church sent missionaries led by St Augustine to convert 
the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. The process of Christianization occurred gradually and 
peacefully, marking the beginning of the influence of Latin on the German language from the 
Anglo-Saxon origin of modern English. This influence occurs in two forms: the introduction 
of new vocabulary related to religion and adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon vocabulary to cover 
new areas of meaning. The need for reproduction of the biblical texts also represents the 
beginning of English literature. 
The introduction of Christianity also represented a rejection of elements of Celtic 
culture and the same association of witchcraft that the Anglo-Saxons had inherited from the 
Celts. The observation today of Halloween on the evening of October 31 is preserved 
example of Celtic culture in the view of Christianity. 
 
The History of English 
 
 Page 12 
 
At that time, Britain was divided into 
seven kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon 
origin and Old English, then spoken, 
actually was not a single language 
but a variety of different dialects. The 
dialects of Old English before 
Christianity were a functional 
language to describe facts and meet 
the needs of daily 
communication. The vocabulary of 
the Greco-Latin origin introduced by 
Christianization expanded the Anglo-
Saxon language toward abstract 
concepts. 
 
 
After the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, problems arose with the 
Celtic Christians (or the Britons). The Celtic church had ceased communication with the 
Roman church for almost two centuries and did not practise the new theological ideas 
brought to the Anglo-Saxons by Augustine. In particular, they used an older method of 
calculating the date on which Easter was to be held. Representatives from the two churches 
met with Oswiu, the king of Northumbria, who was then asked to choose between the two 
missions. Oswiu chose Rome. Although the Celtic church found favor with some of the later 
kings, the Roman church was the more dominant of the two. The largest number of Latin 
words was introduced as a result of thespread of Christianity, such as altar, mass, priest, 
psalm, temple, kitchen, palm, and pear. 
In 731 CE, Bede wrote the "Ecclesiastical History of the English People" in Latin. It 
detailed the sophisticated society of the Germanic tribes. They had destroyed the Roman 
civilization in England and built their own, while dominance shifted among the kingdoms 
beginning with Kent and Northumbria. They aligned with the Celtic clergy and converted 
to Christianity. Laws and contracts were written down for a sense of permanence and 
control. The Tribal Hidage, a list of subjects who owed tribute to the king, was written 
during the Mercian period of power. 
 
QUESTIONS: 
 
A. When and by whom did the Celtic peoples start to be Christianised and where? 
B. When did Christianisation of the Anglo-Saxon peoples begin and by whom was it 
introduced? 
C. How were the Anglo-Saxons politically organised? 
D. Did the Anglo-Saxons accept the Christian religion completely and rapidly or was the 
transition to Christianity problematic with older cultural influences competing for 
dominance? Explain. 
E. Can you give an example of a present-day tradition that dates back to the “heathen” 
past of the peoples of Britain? 
F. What language was used to write the “history” of the people in those days and what 
famous document was written? 
 
 
The History of English 
 
 Page 13 
 
UNIT 2 Lesson 
11 
More Detailed History of English – The 8th century and the Scandinavian Invaders 
 
 
By the late 8th century, the Vikings originating from the western coasts of 
Scandinavia initiated attacks against England. These people were using violence and their 
attacks caused destruction in many parts of Europe. The Vikings who settled in England 
were predominantly from the region now belonging to Denmark and spoke Old Norse , the 
ancestor language of Danish. These more than 200 years of Scandinavian presence in 
England had an influence on Old English. However, due to the similarity between the two 
languages, it is difficult, now, to determine precisely the nature of this influence. 
 The first major raid by Vikings occurred in the year 793 at the Northumbrian 
monastery at Lindisfarne. The Vikings would continue major raids along most of the 
southern and eastern coasts of England for a decade. About 40 Scandinavian (Old Norse) 
words were introduced into Old English during this period. Words acquired during this 
period pertained to the sea and the Scandinavian administrative system. Some examples of 
these borrowings are law, take, cut, anger, wrong, freckle, both, ill, ugly, as well as, the 
verb form 'are' as in “you are”. They also introduced many new names as they founded new 
settlements with endings such as -scale, -beck, -by, and -fell. One example of a settlement 
name would be Portinscale or 'Prostitute's hut'. 
 
English Surnames 
Anglo-Saxons distinguished between two people with the same name by adding 
either the place they came from or the job they did to their first name. Modern surnames 
such as Baxter, Baker, Weaver, Fisher, Fowler, Hunter, and Farmer are Anglo-Saxon in 
origin. The Vikings had a different way of distinguishing between people of the same name. 
They added the name of the person's father or mother to the child's name. As an example, 
Harald, the son of Erik would be known as Harald Erik's son, or as we would say it today, 
Harald Erikson. Often Viking families alternated the name of the eldest so that Arn 
Gunnarsson might be the father and son of Gunnar Arnsson, and the grandfather and 
grandson of Arn Gunnarson. 
Source:http://www.anglik.net/anglosaxonmap.ht
m 
The 9th century 
Alfred the Great was the king of Wessex from 871-899 while Wessex was the 
dominant kingdom. (see map p. 11) During his reign, he united the kingdoms together and 
commissioned the Anglo-Saxon chronicles, a historical record of important events in 
England that continued 200 years after his death. Alfred also settled a truce with the Vikings 
who repeatedly invaded the area. During this century, the Danes had begun a series of 
major raids on the whole of England. 
Alfred the Great eventually fought the Vikings to a standstill at Edington which 
produced the Treaty of Wedmore in 878 CE. This led to an uneasy peace and the 
establishment of the Danelaw. The fighting continued, and in 886 CE, Alfred captured 
London from the Danes. The name Engla lande ("the land of the Angles") was used at the 
end of this century. The Treaty of Wedmore was signed in 878 CE and this "Danelaw" gave 
the northeastern half of England to the Danes for settlement. However, because the 
languages were so similar, the Danes quickly assimilated and intermarried into the English 
society. 
Although the Danes brought their own writing system with them, called the Futhorc, it was 
not used in England. It is commonly referred to as Runes. The Insular Hand was the name 
of the writing system used in England, and it contained many symbols that are no longer 
found in Modern English: the aesc, thorn, edh, yogh and wynn, as well the macron for 
http://www.anglik.net/anglosaxonmap.htm
http://www.anglik.net/anglosaxonmap.htm
The History of English 
 
 Page 14 
 
distinguishing long vowels. Anglo-Saxon scribes used these 'extra' (non-Latin) letters to 
help write down characteristic sounds of that very Germanic language, Old English. Two 
of these continued till about 1500. These were the thorn, (þ) and the yogh (ʒ). 
 
QUESTIONS: 
A. The Vikings raided Britain in two major waves. Which two and with how many years 
between them? 
B. What language are these Vikings said to have spoken and where were they from? 
What about written forms? 
C. What elements in present day English can still be traced back to these 
Scandinavian invasions? 
D. Explain what “Danelaw” stands for. 
E. How was a truce achieved between the second group, the Danes and the Anglo-
Saxons? Who was the architect of this truce and what were the political 
consequences for the Anglo-Saxons? 
F. Into what did this Scandinavian presence eventually evolve? 
 
 
 
UNIT 2 Lesson 
12 
More Detailed History of English – The Conquest of England by the Normans
 Sources: http://www.sk.com.br/sk-enhis.html 
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/bayeux.htm 
The Conquest of England by the Normans -THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
King Edward of England (called "The Confessor" because of his 
construction of Westminster Abbey) died on January 5, 1066, after a reign 
of 23 years. Leaving no heirs, Edward's passing ignited a three-way 
rivalry for the crown that culminated in the Battle of Hastings and the 
destruction of the Anglo-Saxon rule of England. 
The leading pretender was Harold Godwinson, the second most powerful 
man in England and an advisor to Edward. Harold and Edward became 
brothers-in-law when the king married Harold's sister. Harold's powerful 
position, his relationship to Edward and his esteem among his peers made him a logical 
successor to the throne. His claim was strengthened when the dying Edward supposedly 
uttered "Into Harold's hands I commit my Kingdom." With this kingly endorsement, the 
Witan (the council of royal advisors) unanimously selected Harold as King. His coronation 
took place the same day as Edward's burial. With the placing of the crown on his head, 
Harold's troubles began. 
Across the English Channel, William, Duke of Normandy, also laid claim to the 
English throne. William justified his claim through his blood relationship with Edward (they 
were distant cousins) and by stating that some years earlier, Edward had designated him as 
his successor. 
 
http://slb-ltsu.hull.ac.uk/awe/index.php?title=Germanic
http://slb-ltsu.hull.ac.uk/awe/index.php?title=Thorn
http://slb-ltsu.hull.ac.uk/awe/index.php?title=Yogh
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-enhis.html
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/bayeux.htm
The History of English 
 
 Page 15 
 
William was the bastard son of the Dukeof Normandy. His father died when he was 
young and he grew up in a chaotic duchy until, in adulthood, he was able to bring the barons 
to heel. Through his aunt, he was a cousin of King Edward the Confessor of England who, at 
one time, contemplated leaving William the English Crown. Although he later seems to have 
changed his mind, as far as William was concerned, England was his. When Edward died, 
he crossed the Channel and defeated the English in a miraculous battle near Hastings. 
The Battle of Hastings in 1066 was a historic event of great importance in the history 
of England. It represented not only a drastic reorganization policy, but also changed the 
course of English, marking the beginning of a new era. The battle was fought between the 
Norman army, commanded by William, Duke of Normandy (Northern France), and Anglo-
Saxon army led by King Harold, on October 14, 1066. 
 
The bloody battle ended only in the evening; King 
Harold and his brothers were killed as were the majority of 
the Saxon aristocracy, and a balance from 1500 to 2000 
Norman warriors dead and as many or more, on the English 
side. William's victory was complete. On Christmas day 1066, 
William was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey. 
William had won a victory in a few days a feat that the 
Romans, Saxons and Danes had fought long and hard for to 
achieve. He had conquered a country of one and half million 
inhabitants, and probably the richest in Europe at the 
time. For this fact was known in history as William the 
Conqueror. 
 
 
 
The regime which had resulted from the conquest was characterized by 
centralization, power, and of course the language of the conquerors: the French dialect 
called Norman French . L William himself did not speak English and, upon his death in 1087, 
there was not a single region of England that was not controlled by a Norman. He is best 
known for giving all the land in England away to his cronies and then the first census ever 
undertaken in the country. It was called the Domesday Book. His successors, William II 
(1087-1100) and Henry I (1100-1135), spent nearly half their reigns in France and probably 
had little knowledge of English. 
During the 300 years that followed, mainly in the initial 150 years, the language used 
by the aristocracy in England was French. Speaking French then became a condition for 
those of Anglo-Saxon origin in search of social ascent through sympathy and favors from 
the ruling class. 
 
 
QUESTIONS: 
 
A. How long did it take William, Duke of Normandy, to conquer Britain and was did he 
get the “nickname” the Conqueror”? 
B. Some people say that his battle against the English was the outcome of an “error” 
made by the English King himself. Explain. 
C. When and where was the war fought and how bloody was it? 
D. What language did William and his men speak? 
E. What was the consequence of this for Anglo-Saxons who sought to rise in society? 
F. What about his successors? 
 
 
 
The History of English 
 
 Page 16 
 
 
UNIT 2 Lesson 
13 
More Detailed History of English – Middle English 
Source: http://www.sk.com.br/sk-
enhis.html 
MIDDLE ENGLISH (1100 - 1500) 
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span 
roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of 
modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century. It is a direct 
descendent of Old Gallo-Romance. Old Gallo-Romance is the ancestral language of 
all Gallo-Romance languages, such as French. Old Gallo-Romance contained many features 
of Vulgar Latin. The Norman dialect of Normandy was also spread to England and Ireland 
after the Normans, led by William the Conqueror, had invaded England. 
The most important element of the period that corresponds to the Middle English 
 was undoubtedly a strong presence and influence of Old French into English. This true 
transfusion of culture in French-Norman Anglo-Saxon nation, which lasted three centuries, 
resulted in a considerable contribution of vocabulary. This demonstrates that, however 
strong may be the influence of one language over another, this influence does not usually go 
beyond a vocabulary enrichment, which hardly affects the pronunciation or grammatical 
structure of the “affected” language. 
The centuries passed and the disputes that kept occurring between the Normans of 
the British Isles and the continent caused the emergence of a nationalist sentiment in 
England, and by the late 15th century, it became evident that the English language had 
prevailed. Even as a written language, English had replaced French and Latin as official 
language for documents. Also a national literatur e in Middle English began to emerge. 
Much new vocabulary had been incorporated with the introduction of new 
management, political and social concepts, for which there were no equivalents in 
English. In some cases, however, there were words of Germanic origin, which, either just 
disappeared or came to coexist with the equivalents of French origin, in principle as 
synonymous, but over time, acquiring different connotations. Examples: 
 
Anglo-Saxon French 
 
Anglo-Saxon French 
 
Anglo-Saxon French 
 
Anglo-Saxon French 
answer 
begin 
bill 
chicken 
clothe 
eats 
end 
respond 
commence 
beak 
poultry 
dress 
Arrive 
finish 
fair 
feed 
folk 
freedom 
ghost 
happiness 
help 
beautiful 
nourish 
people 
Liberty 
phantom 
felicity 
aid 
hide 
house 
hunt 
kin 
kingly 
look 
mistake 
Conceal 
mansion 
chase 
relations 
royal 
search 
error 
pig 
sheep 
shut 
sight 
wish 
work 
yearly 
pork 
mutton 
close 
vision 
desire 
labor 
Annual 
Minor dialectal differences resulting from this symbiosis between different social 
groups and their languages can be observed even today. In intellectual circles of the more 
privileged classes of English-speaking countries still exists a tendency to greater use of 
words of Latin origin. 
The Split Between the French-speaking Normans and Saxons-speaking peasant 
English still exists today in a curious fashion. The Normans, the conquerors and the rulers, 
became The upper-class of England and their speech metamorphosed into today's well-
educated English - primarily composed of Latin-based vocabulary. The most common 
everyday speech of modern speakers’ English, however, is still directly based on the Anglo-
Saxon. 
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-enhis.html
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-enhis.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialect_continuum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Gallo-Romance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallo-Romance_languages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulgar_Latin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Norman_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_England
The History of English 
 
 Page 17 
 
Besides the influence of Old French on the (Old) English vocabulary, Middle 
English was also characterized by gradual loss of inflections, by neutralization and loss of 
unstressed vowels in word endings and the beginning of the Great Vowel Shift, which will be 
explained in the next lesson. 
 
QUESTIONS: 
A. What was the origin of the language the Normans introduced to Britain in the 
eleventh century? 
B. How long did this period of influence roughly last? 
C. In what way was English transformed during this period (in a linguistic sense)? 
D. Why did English, in its transformed version (Middle English) regain its dominant 
position in the fourteenth century? 
E. How can the influence of the Norman dialect of old French still be noticed in present-
day English? 
 
 
 
UNIT 2 Lesson 14 
More Detailed History of English – The Great Vowel Shift, Modern English 
Source: http://www.sk.com.br/sk-enhis.html 
The Great Vowel Shift 
A sharp change in the pronunciationof English vowels occurred mainly during the 
15th and 16th centuries. Almost all the vowel sounds, including diphthongs, consonants 
have changed and some have ceased to be pronounced. In general, changes of vowels 
corresponded to a movement toward the end of the spectrum of vowels, as shown in the 
chart below. 
 
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-enhis.html
The History of English 
 
 Page 18 
 
 
The system of vowel sounds of English before the 15th century was quite similar to 
that of other western European languages, including Portuguese of today. Therefore, the 
current lack of correlation between spelling and pronunciation of modern English, which is 
observed mainly in the vowels, is largely a result of this change occurred in the 15th 
century. 
MODERN ENGLISH (starting at 1500) 
While Middle English was characterized by a marked diversity of dialects, Modern 
English represented a period of standardization and unification of the language. The advent 
of printing in 1475 and the creation of a postal system in 1516 enabled the spread of the 
dialect of London - already the politically dominant dialect - to develop socially and 
economically in the rest of England. The availability of printed materials also gave impetus 
to education, bringing literacy to reach the middle class. 
Reproduction and dissemination of a standardized spelling finally, however, 
coincided with the period in which also the Great Vowel Shift took place. The changes in 
pronunciation since that period, were no longer accompanied by spelling reforms, which 
reveals the conservative character of English culture. We have here the origin of the 
current lack of correlation between pronunciation and spelling in modern English . 
The standardization process of the English language began in the early 
16th century with the advent of lithography, and ended up settling in these 
ways throughout the 18th century with the publication of dictionaries of Samuel 
Johnson (illustration) in 1755, Thomas Sheridan in 1780 and John Walker in 
1791. Since then, the spelling of English has changed in only minor details, 
while the pronunciation has changed considerably. The result is that today we 
have a spelling system based on language as it was spoken in the 18th century, 
being used to represent the pronunciation of the language in the 20th century. 
Similar to the first dictionaries that were used to standardize the 
spelling of the first papers incorporating grammatical concepts of the Latin 
languages and bringing uniformity in grammar were published describing the 
grammatical structure of English, which influenced the use of the language. During the 16th 
and 17th centuries was the emergence and the final incorporation of the auxiliary verb “do” 
“does” in interrogative sentences and don’t / doesn’t for negative form. From the 18th 
century, the use of a double negation in the same sentence as, for example, She did not go 
neith was considered to be incorrect 
 
 
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-interfer.html
The History of English 
 
 Page 19 
 
QUESTIONS: 
A. What is the “Great Vowel Shift” and when did it occur? 
B. How can the occurrence of this phenomenon be linked to the fact that the spelling of 
English does not neatly correspond with the pronunciation of the words. 
C. How do Middle English and modern English compare with respect to dialects and 
forms of spelling? 
D. What contributed to the standardisation of spelling and grammar? 
E. What dialect became to be used as the model for standardisation and why? 
F. How did Samuel Johnson contribute to the standardisation of English? Mention 
some other scholars. 
G. Can you present some English words that when pronounced as if they were 
Portuguese words, for example, in fact sound the way they were pronounced some 
500 hundred years ago. 
 
 
 
UNIT 2 Lesson 
15 
More Detailed History of English – Shakespeare, American English, English as a 
Language of the World 
Source: http://www.sk.com.br/sk-enhis.html 
 
SHAKESPEARE 
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), represented a strong 
influence on the development of a literary language. His plays are 
characterized by a greater creative use of vocabulary than existing in 
contemporary works, and the creation of new words. Nouns turned 
into verbs and verbs into adjectives, and the free addition of prefixes 
and suffixes and the use of figurative language are frequent in the 
works of Shakespeare. (See APPENDIX 3.) 
While that literature has developed, the 19th-century British 
colonialism, brought the English language to remote areas of the 
world, providing contact with different cultures and bringing 
enrichment to the new English vocabulary. 
Since the early Christian era until the 19th century, six 
languages came to be spoken in Britain: Celtic, Latin, Old English, Norman French, Middle 
and Modern English. This diversity of influences explains the fact that the English language 
is less systematic and less regular than, for example, Portuguese or Italian and even 
German. It could also lead us to conclude that English today can be likened to a quilt made 
of scraps of fabric from various source. 
 
AMERICAN ENGLISH 
The hope of achieving prosperity and aspirations for freedom of religion were the 
factors that led to the colonization of North America. The arrival of the first English 
immigrants in 1620, marks the beginning 
of the presence of English in the New 
World. 
At the time of independence from 
the United States in 1776, when the 
country's population reached nearly 4 
million, the American Dialect already 
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-enhis.html
The History of English 
 
 Page 20 
 
showed distinct characteristics in relation to the dialects of the British Isles. The contact 
with the reality of a new environment, with native and indigenous cultures with the Spanish 
regions adjacent to the south, colonized by Spain, led a diverse vocabulary development of 
British English. 
Today, however, the differences between the British and Americans dialects are 
largely in pronunciation, small differences in vocabulary. Unlike what happened between 
Brazil and Portugal, the United States and Britain have maintained strong cultural 
commercial and political ties. While the Portuguese over four centuries has evolved into two 
dialects differ substantially in Portugal and Brazil, the differences between dialects British 
and American are less significant. 
 
ENGLISH AS THE LANGUAGE OF THE WORLD 
Recent historical facts explain the current role of English as the language of the world. 
Firstly, we have the great economic power of England in the 18th, 19th and 20th 
centuries, driven by the Industrial Revolution and the consequent expansion of British 
colonialism. This true empire of economic and political influence peaked in the first half of 
the 20th century, with a territorial expansion that reached 20% of Earth's land. The British 
Empire came to be known as "the empire where the sun never sets" due to its wide 
geographic spread, causing an equally wide spread of English. 
Secondly, the political and military might of the U.S. after World War II and, as a 
consequence, the remarkable economic and cultural influence of English worldwide 
eventually displace French as the predominant language and solidify English as the 
diplomatic standard language for international communication. Simultaneously, there is 
rapid development of air transport and telecommunication technologies. In our present-day 
world concepts such as superhighway of information (e.g. Internet) and global village have 
become central to describe a world in which a common language of communication is 
essential, at this time in history, being English. 
 
QUESTIONS: 
A. In what way did the playwright Shakespeare contribute to the enrichment of the 
English language? 
B. Read Macbeth’s words in Appendix 3 after he hears about Lady Macbeth’s death 
and mention some figures of speech you can find there. 
C. Howis it explained in this lesson that the syntax of English appears to be less 
systematic than that of, for example, Portuguese or German? 
D. When did English settlers start living in North America? 
E. How long afterwards did American English start to show distinct linguistic 
features of its own when compared to British English? 
F. What is one of the reasons for American English to have lots of words that do not 
occur in British English? 
G. Explain why the differences between the varieties of English as spoken in 
America and in Britain are less great that between the varieties of Portuguese as 
spoken in Portugal and Brazil? 
H. Explain briefly and in your own words what caused English to become a world 
language. 
 
 
 Lesson 
16 
Preparation test 2 
In which students work in groups to raise questions about the contents to be examined in 
test 2 (Unit 2) 
The History of English 
 
 Page 21 
 
 
 
TEST 2 Lesson 
17 
 
 
 
UNIT 3 Lesson 
18 
History of English with focus on Linguistic features – 
Oldest origins and Old English 
Source: http://www.anglik.net/englishlanguagehistory.htm 
 
 
English is a member of the Indo-European family of languages. This broad family 
includes most of the European languages spoken today. The Indo-European family includes 
several major branches: Latin and the modern Romance languages (French, Spanish, 
etc.); the Germanic languages (Dutch, German, Swedish etc.); [English could be grouped 
either under Germanic or Romance languages as it is, in fact, a mixture, but as its origin and 
basis is Germanic, the tendency is to categorise it as Germanic] the Indo-Iranian 
languages (Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit etc.); the Slavic languages (Russian, Polish, Czech 
etc.); the Baltic languages of Latvian and Lithuanian; the Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish 
Gaelic etc.); Greek. 
The existence of the original Indo-European language can be verified today in the 
modern languages that have developed from it, even though no written record of Indo-
European exists. The word for father, for example, is vater in German, pater in Latin, 
and pitr in Sanskrit. These words are all cognates, similar words in different languages that 
share the same root. 
Of these branches of the Indo-European family, two are, as far as the study of the 
development of English is concerned, of paramount importance, the Germanic and the 
Romance (called like that because the Romance languages derive from Latin, the language 
of ancient Rome). English is a member of the Germanic group of languages. It is believed 
that this group began as a common language in the Elbe river region (being one of the major 
waterways of central Europe, it runs from the Czech Republic through Germany to the 
North Sea) about 3,000 years ago. By the second century BC, this Common Germanic 
language had split into three distinct sub-groups: 
 East Germanic was spoken by peoples who migrated back to southeastern Europe. 
No East Germanic language is spoken today, and the only written East Germanic 
language that survives is Gothic. 
 North Germanic evolved into the modern Scandinavian languages of Swedish, 
Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic (but not Finnish, which is related to Hungarian and 
Estonian and is not an Indo-European language). 
 West Germanic is the ancestor of modern German, Dutch, Flemish, Frisian, and 
English. 
 
Old English (500-1100 AD) 
Old English is the product of a mixture of Germanic dialects that were introduced to 
Britain by West Germanic invaders who began to settle on the British Isles in the fifth and 
sixth centuries CE. Although there were many different Germanic tribes migrating to 
England, several stood out from among the others, such as the Angles (whose name is the 
http://www.anglik.net/englishlanguagehistory.htm
The History of English 
 
 Page 22 
 
source of the words England < Englaland and English < Englisc), Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, 
and Franks. The Angles migrated from Denmark and the Saxons from northern Germany. 
There is some debate as to the exact origin of the Jutes, since linguistic evidence suggests 
that they came from the Jutland peninsula (now Denmark), while archaeological evidence 
suggests an origin from one of the northern Frankish realms near the mouth of the Rhine 
river (now Rotterdam of the Netherlands). The Frisians and Franks migrated mainly from the 
low countries (now Netherlands) and north-western Germany. 
During the sixth and seventh centuries these Germanic invaders started to carve out 
kingdoms, fighting both the native Britons (Celtic tribes) and each other for land. First 
called Saxons, the German invaders were later referred to as Angles, and in the year 601 
CE the pope referred to Aethelbert of Kent as Rex Anglorum ("king of the Angles"). As time 
passed, the differences between the Germanic tribal cultures gradually unified until 
eventually they ceased referring to themselves by their individual origins and became either 
Anglo-Saxon or English. (map of England 650-750) Four major dialects of Old English 
emerged, Northumbrian in the north of England, Mercian in the Midlands, West Saxon in the 
south and west, and Kentish in the Southeast. 
As Old English began to evolve, four 
major dialects emerged which were Kentish, 
spoken by the Jutes in the Southeast, West 
Saxon, the Saxon dialect spoken in the south 
and west, Northumbrian in the north of 
England and Mercian in the midlands, the latter 
two dialects being subdivisions of the dialect 
spoken by the Angles. By the 9th century, 
partly through the influence of King Alfred, the 
West Saxon dialect became prevalent in 
literature which aided the dialect's dominance 
among scholars. 
 
After the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, problems arose with the 
Celtic Christians (or the Britons). The Celtic church had ceased communication with Roman 
church for almost two centuries and did not practice the new theological ideas brought to 
the Anglo-Saxons by Augustine. In particular, they used an older method of calculating the 
date on which Easter was to be held. The Germanic invaders pushed the original, Celtic-
speaking inhabitants out of what is now England into Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and 
Ireland, leaving behind a few Celtic words. These Celtic languages survive today in the 
Gaelic languages of Scotland and Ireland and in Welsh. Cornish, unfortunately, is, in 
linguistic terms, now a dead language. (The last native Cornish speaker died in 1777). 
The Old English language, also called Anglo-Saxon, was the earliest form of English. 
It is difficult to give exact dates for the rise and development of any language, because 
changes in languages do not occur suddenly. However, Old English was in use from about 
600 AD to about 1100, shortly after which occurred the most important event in the 
development and history of the English language, the Norman Conquest. 
Old English, whose best known surviving example is the poem Beowulf, 
 The greatest Old English poem is Beowulf, 
which belongs to the seventh century. It is a story of 
about 3,000 lines, and it is the first English epic (a 
story in poetry of the adventures of a brave man or 
men). The name of its author is unknown. 
 Beowulf is not based upon events in England, but 
about Hrothgar, King of the Danes, and about a brave 
young man, Beowulf, from southern Sweden, who 
goes to help him. Hrothgar is in trouble. His great hall, 
called Heorot, is visited by night by a terrible creature 
named Grendel, which lives in a lake and comes to kill 
and eat Hrothgar's men. One night Beowulf waits in 
The first page of 
the Beowulf manuscript :
http://www.anglik.net/oldenglish.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf
The History of English 
 
 Page 23 
 
secret for Grendel, attacks it, and in a fierce fght pulls 
its arm off! It manages to reach the lake again, but 
dies there. Then its mother comes to the hall in search 
ofrevenge, and the attacks begin again. Beowulf 
follows her to the bottom of the lake and after a 
struggle kills her there. Later, as an aged warrior-
king, Beowulf has to defend his country against a fire-
breathing dragon, guarding a huge treasure. He kills 
the creature but is badly wounded in the fight, and 
dies. The poem ends with a sorrowful description of 
Beowulf's funeral fire. Here are a few lines of it: 
"... alegdon tha tomiddes maerne theoden 
laeleth hiofende hlaford leofne 
ongunnon tha on beorge bael-fyra maest 
wigend weccan wudu-rec astah 
sweart ofer swiothole swogende leg 
wope bewunden" 
Or a modern English translation might go something 
like this ... " The sorrowing soldiers then laid the 
glorious prince, their dear lord, in the middle. Then on 
the hill the war-men began to light the greatest of 
funeral fires. The wood-smoke rose black above the 
flames, the noisy fire, mixed with sorrowful cries" 
As you can see Old English is almost 
impossible to read now except by those who have 
made a special study of it! 
 
 
 
 
QUESTIONS: 
A. From which language have most languages in Europe originated? 
B. How can that be easily demonstrated? 
C. Indicate to what branches of this primal language the following languages belong: 
Swedish, Sanskrit, Italian, Frisian, Czech, Lithuanian, Welsh and Flemish. 
D. What were the origins of the several tribes that came to Britain? Mention names and 
areas of origin. 
E. What are the roots of English, i.e. what two branches of proto-Germanic or 
languages of the Indo European family is English a product of? 
F. Which of the two branches is the most dominant part of the ‘ancestry’ of present-day 
English? Explain. 
G. Explain what happened to the peoples living there before the arrivals of these tribes 
from the continent and what has happened to their languages? 
H. Explain in what way the poem Beowulf shows how the Anglo-Saxon origin is really 
continental, i.e. from northern Europe. 
 
UNIT 3 Lesson 
19 
History of English with focus on Linguistic features 
Some Linguistic features of Old English 
 
The dialects spoken by the invading Germanic tribes formed what is called Old 
English or Anglo-Saxon. "Anglo-Saxon" is also the term applied to the English-speaking 
http://www.1066andallthat.com/wiki/Old_English_language
http://www.1066andallthat.com/wiki/Old_English_language
http://www.1066andallthat.com/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beowulf.firstpage.jpeg
The History of English 
 
 Page 24 
 
inhabitants of Britain up to the time of the Norman Conquest (1066), when the Anglo-Saxon 
line of English kings came to an end. 
Old English shared its Germanic heritage in vocabulary, sentence structure and 
grammar with its sister languages in continental Europe (notably Frisian which still exists 
and the ancestor languages of modern German and Dutch referred to as West Germanic 
languages). Some features were specific to the West Germanic language family while some 
other features were inherited from the older Proto-Germanic or Indo-European languages. 
 Old English was fully inflected with five grammatical cases like German today: the 
nominative, accusative, genitive, dative and instrumental. It had dual plural forms for 
referring to groups of two objects, in addition to the usual singular and plural forms. It 
assigned gender to all nouns, including those that describe inanimate objects: for 
example, sēo sunne (the Sun) was feminine, while se mōna (the Moon) was masculine (cf. 
modern German die Sonnevs. der Mond) 
 
Example of the Strong Noun Declension for each Gender 
Case 
Masculine 
engel 'angel' 
Neuter 
scip 'ship' 
Feminine 
sorg 'sorrow' 
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural 
Nominative engel englas Scip scipu sorg Sorga 
Accusative engel englas Scip scipu sorge sorga/sorge 
Genitive engles engla scipes scipa sorge Sorga 
Dative engle englum Scipe scipum sorge Sorgum 
 The instrumental case indicated an instrument used to achieve something, for 
example lifde sweorde, "he lived by the sword", where sweorde is the instrumental form 
of sweord. During the Old English period, the instrumental was falling out of use, having 
largely merged with the dative. Only pronouns and strong adjectives retained separate 
forms for the instrumental. 
 Old English was spelled essentially as it was pronounced. Words were spelt as 
they were pronounced (“phonetic” spelling). The "silent" letters in many Modern English 
words, such as the "k" in "knight", were pronounced in Old English (OE cniht). Spelling was 
extremely variable; writers could practically invent their own spelling and there was no 
national or regional standard, only conventions that a writer could adhere to if he so wished. 
The spelling of a word would usually reflect differences in the phonetics of the writer's 
regional dialect. For example, the word "and" could be spelt either and or ond. Most present 
day students of Old English learn the language using normalised versions (no variant 
spellings). 
 Below is an excerpt of The Nativity according to Luke in Old English. If you look at it 
carefully, you can see the similarities with the German or a Scandinavian language and we 
can see why English is called a sister language of German. Also, there was a time back in 
the Old English period when the Scandinavian languages (Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, 
Icelandic) and English were mutually understandable. English is certainly the one that has 
broken further away from the other four (Scandinavians can still pretty much understand 
each other's dialects), but the strong influence of Latin (mostly through the church and 
scholars) and the Norman invasion of England brought about significant changes in the 
language, as did a host of smaller influences. 
The Nativity has been chosen because the gospels are available in all three "languages". 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
http://www.1066andallthat.com/wiki/West_Germanic_language
http://www.1066andallthat.com/wiki/Proto-Germanic
http://www.1066andallthat.com/wiki/Inflection
http://www.1066andallthat.com/wiki/Grammatical_case
http://www.1066andallthat.com/wiki/Genitive_case
http://www.1066andallthat.com/wiki/Dative_case
http://www.1066andallthat.com/wiki/Instrumental_case
http://www.1066andallthat.com/wiki/Dual_(grammatical_number%2529
http://www.1066andallthat.com/wiki/Grammatical_gender
http://www.1066andallthat.com/wiki/Noun
http://www.1066andallthat.com/wiki/Sun
http://www.1066andallthat.com/wiki/Moon
The History of English 
 
 Page 25 
 
THE BIBLE NATIVITY STORY 
KJV Bible--Luke 2:1-38, Matthew 2:1-23 
Old English Present day English 
Soþlice on þam dagum wæs geworden gebod 
fram þam casereAugusto, þæt eall 
ymbehwyrft wære tomearcod. Þeos 
tomearcodneswæs æryst geworden fram þam 
deman Syrige Cirino. And ealle hig eodon,and 
syndrige ferdon on hyra ceastre. Ða ferde 
Iosep fram Galilea of þæreceastre Nazareth 
on Iudeisce ceastre Dauides, seo is 
genemned Bethleem, for þam þe he wæs of 
Dauides huse and hirede; þæt he ferde mid 
Marianþe him beweddod wæs, and wæs 
geeacnod. 
 Soþlice wæs geworden þa hi þar wæron, 
hire dagas wæron gefyllede þæt heo cende. 
And heo cende hyre frumcennedan sunu, and 
hine mid cildclaþum bewand, and hine on 
binne alede, for þam þe hig næfdon rum on 
cumena huse. 
 And hyrdas wæron on þam ylcan rice 
waciende, and nihtwæccan healdende ofer 
heora heorda. Þa stod Drihtnes engel wiþ hig, 
and Godes beorhtnes him ymbe scean; and hi 
him mycelum ege adredon. And se engel him 
to cwæð, Nelle ge eow adrædan; soþlice nu ic 
eow bodie mycelne gefean, se bið eallum 
folce; for þam to dæg eow ys Hælend 
acenned, se is Drihten Crist, on Dauides 
ceastre. 
 
 And it came to pass in those days, that there 
went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that 
all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing 
was first made when Cyrenius was governor 
in Syria.) And all wentto be taxed, every one 
into his own city. And Joseph also went up 
from Galilee, out of Nazareth, into Judaea, 
unto the city of David, which is called 
Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and 
lineage of David.) To be taxed with Mary his 
espoused wife, being great with child. 
 And so it was, that while they were there, 
the days were accomplished that she should 
be delivered. And she brought forth her 
firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling 
cloths, and laid him in a manger, because 
there was no room for them in the inn. 
 And there were in the same country 
shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch 
over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of 
the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the 
Lord shone round about them; and they were 
sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, 
Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings 
of great joy, which shall be to all people. For 
unto you is born this day in the city of David a 
Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 
 
 
 
 
QUESTIONS: 
A. What linguistic features did Anglo-Saxon or Old English have in common with the 
West Germanic languages spoken at the time? 
B. In what ways was old English spelled differently from the way present day English is 
spelled? 
C. Was there an Old English standard spelling? Explain. 
D. What impression does Old English make on you comparing it to present day English 
(See the Bible “Nativity Story” by Lucas). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The History of English 
 
 Page 26 
 
UNIT 3 Lesson 
20 
History of English with focus on Linguistic features 
Main Influences on Old English 
Sources: 
http://www.1066andallthat.com/beowulf.asp 
 http://www.krysstal.com/english.html 
 
The majority of words in modern English come from foreign, not Old English roots. In 
fact, only about one sixth of the known Old English words have descendants surviving 
today. But this is deceptive; Old English is much more important than these statistics would 
indicate. About half of the most commonly used words in modern English have Old English 
roots. Words like be, water, and strong, for example, derive from Old English roots. 
Old English is remarkable in the number and type of language-contact situations 
which the Anglo-Saxons experienced within their own borders. In the six centuries between 
500 and 1100, the people had to deal routinely with speakers of no fewer than four language 
families, including: 
a) Celtic (chiefly Old Welsh) 
b) Italic (Vulgar Latin, Classical Latin) 
c) Other branches of Germanic (Old Norse, Old Saxon, Frisian) 
d) Romance (Old French, Norman French) < after 1066 
No subsequent period in British history introduced such a diverse set of linguistic 
influences within the British Isles 
 The Germanic tribes were exposed to Latin before they invaded England, so the 
languages they spoke did have some Latin influence. After the Anglo-Saxons converted to 
Christianity, Latin had more influence, as evidenced in words pertaining to the church. 
Celtic, on the other hand, did not have a large impact on English, as only a few place names 
are of Celtic origin, but Danish (Old Scandinavian) did contribute many vocabulary words. 
 
Latin Influence on Old English language 
 Latin was the lingua franca of Europe at the time. A large percentage of the educated 
and literate population (monks, clerics, etc.) were competent in Latin. There were at least 
three notable periods of Latin influence: 
- The first occurred before the ancestral Saxons left continental Europe for England. 
- The second began when the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity in the late sixth 
and seventh centuries, and Latin-speaking priests became widespread 
- The third occurred following the Norman invasion of 1066, after which an enormous 
number of Norman words entered the language (most of them were themselves derived 
from classical Latin). 
Old English word 
Modern English 
gloss 
Latin origin 
Alter 
biblioþece 
cancer 
creda 
cucumer 
culpe 
deacon 
fenester 
fers 
grammatic 
mamma 
notere 
altar 
library 
crab 
creed, belief 
cucumber 
guilt, fault 
deacon 
window 
verse 
grammar 
breast 
notary 
Altar 
bibliotheca 
cancer 
credo 
cucumer 
culpa 
diaconus 
fenestra 
versus 
grammatica 
mamma 
notarius 
http://www.1066andallthat.com/beowulf.asp
http://www.krysstal.com/english.html
The History of English 
 
 Page 27 
 
offrian 
orgel 
papa 
philosoph 
predician 
regol 
sabbat 
scol 
sacrifice 
organ 
pope 
philosopher 
preach 
religious rule 
Sabbath 
School 
offere 
organum 
papa 
philosophus 
praedicare 
regula 
sabbatum 
scola 
 
Influence of North Germanic or Old Norse 
 
During the 7th and 8th Centuries, Northumbria's culture and language dominated 
Britain (see bottom page 20). The Viking invasions of the 9th Century brought this 
domination to an end (along with the destruction of Mercia). Only Wessex remained as an 
independent kingdom. 
Norse invasions and settlement, beginning around 850, brought many North 
Germanic words into the language, particularly in the north of England. 
 Old Norse was a North Germanic language, spoken by the Vikings who settled 
mainly in the north-east and the east coast down to London. Old Norse was related to Old 
English: both derived from the same ancestral Proto-Germanic language. It spread during 
the Viking invasions of the ninth and tenth centuries. 
 The everyday flavour of the Scandinavian loans can be seen in these examples, all of 
which survived into modern Standard English: anger, awkward, bond, cake, crooked, dirt, 
dregs, egg, fog, freckle, get, kid, leg, lurk, meek, muggy, neck, seem, sister, skill, skirt, 
smile, Thursday, window, take, get. Its influence was reflected in place names, items of 
basic vocabulary, and words concerned with particular administrative aspects of the 
Danelaw. 
 
 Old Norse is also credited with the introduction of a new set of third-person plural 
pronouns, they, them, and their. These replaced the earlier Old English inflected forms: hi 
or hie (in the nominative and accusative cases, 'they / them'), hira or heora (in the genitive 
case, 'their, of them'), and him or heom (in the dative case, 'to them, for them'). 
 A mixture of Old Norse and Old English helped accelerate the decline of case endings 
in Old English. Many pairs of English and Norse words coexisted giving us two words with 
the same or slightly differing meanings. Some examples are dream, which had meant 'joy' 
until the Vikings imparted its current meaning on it from the Scandinavian cognate draumr, 
and skirt, which continues to live alongside its native English cognate shirt. More examples 
follow: 
Norse English 
anger wrath 
any no 
fro from 
raise rear 
iIl sick 
bask bathe 
skill craft 
skin hide 
dike ditch 
scatter shatter 
skip shift 
 
 By the 10th Century, the West Saxon dialect became the official language of 
The History of English 
 
 Page 28 
 
Britain. Written Old English is mainly known from this period. It was written in an alphabet 
called Runic, derived from the Scandinavian languages. The Runic alphabets were a set of 
related alphabets using letters (known as runes), used to write Germanic languages before 
and shortly after the Christianization of Scandinavia and the British Isles. Old English shifted 
to the Latin alphabet after the Anglo-Saxons' conversion to Christianity. The Latin Alphabet 
was brought over from Ireland by Christian missionaries. This has remained the writing 
system of English. 
 Concluding, the vocabulary of Old English consisted of an Anglo Saxon base with 
borrowed words from the Scandinavian languages (Danish and Norse) and Latin. Besides 
the words you find in the table above, many more words were added from Latin such as: 
street, kitchen, kettle, cup, cheese, wine, angel, bishop, martyr and candle.