We want to take you on a brief journey from Old English and Middle English to Modern English to see how the language has developed and thrived over time.
The Origins
The origins of the English language can be traced all the way back to the Neolithic Period around 5000 B.C. when a group of prehistoric people known as the Indo-Europeans or Proto-Indo-Europeans lived. This group also gave rise to many other languages in Europe.
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Many people believe that the Indo-European language is the ancestor of many of the world’s modern languages, including those spoken in the majority of Europe and North and South America. These ancient people lived in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Around 3500-2500 BC, Indo-Europeans spread across Europe and Asia, causing their languages to change and diverge. Germanic or Proto-Germanic was the name given to a particular branch that settled in the Germania region, which is located between modern Germany and southern Sweden. These Germanic tribes eventually made their way to Britain from the continent.
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Old English
This Germanic tribes’ invasion undoubtedly marked the beginning of a change in Britain’s ancient lexicon. Before that, it had already been diluted over time, beginning with the Celts, Britain’s earliest known inhabitants, and progressing through Roman Latin and Viking invaders’ Old Norse.
The Germanic tribes gradually conquered most of the mainland and divided it into smaller kingdoms. Reading, for example, has a place name that begins with the Anglo-Saxon “ing,” which means “people of, and many more,” and continues to provide evidence of their settlements to this day.
The Saxons eventually emerged as the most powerful kingdom. Initially referred to as Britannia by the Romans, this new Anglo-Saxon nation was later shortened to England and given the name England. Many historians believe that around this time, what is now known as Old English, emerged.
Over time, there were four distinct dialects of Old English: Northumbrian, Mercian, West Saxon, and Kentish. There are still a few Old English words that can be recognized or even spelled the same as modern words.
A few examples of words with the same spelling include him, he, for, on, and of. Other words, like “was to was” and “were to were,” have some resemblance to their modern meanings.
Middle English
After a long period of change, Old English was constantly evolving, expanding, and progressing with lexical enrichment. This was the case from the time St. Augustine and his Roman missionaries introduced literacy to the time of massive Viking invasions and Alfred the Great. It had gradually matured into a complete poetic language with alliteration, synonyms, nuances of meaning, and other features.
The transition from Old English to what is now known as Middle English did not begin until the Norman Conquest in 1066. Anglo-Norman French was the rural, Germanic-influenced French spoken by William the Conqueror and the Norman invaders.
A tremendous segment of the country’s populace now, primarily the workers and lower class, actually communicated in English. As people who spoke Old English and Anglo-Norman began to marry each other, the mixture became Middle English. Numerous French-based synonyms, such as amity instead of friendship and liberty instead of freedom, were also introduced into English by the Normans.
Old English started to break down, but the English language survived the Viking and Norman lexical shifts and continued to be the country’s dominant language 200 years after the Norman Conquest.
Moving towards current English
From the starting points of current English writing with Geoffrey Chaucer’s popular “Canterbury Stories” in the mid-1380s to the Incomparable Vowel Shift that stretched out from the sixteenth 100 years to the present day – English gradually formed into the language we currently perceive.
The vowel pattern revolution effectively redistributed their occurrence in many words, resulting in higher long vowel sounds that were pronounced further forward in the mouth – in a manner that was similar to their current pattern. Stone from Stan, heart from Here, and rope from Rap are just a few examples of how different pronunciations have altered entire words.
Vocabulary innovations persisted, and the English Renaissance, which included a significant amount of Elizabethan and Shakespearean influence, occurred in the 16th and early 17th centuries. The introduction of the printing press, one of the most significant technological advancements in history, was another significant factor in the development of English. The lexicon was further influenced by Latin and Greek, and spelling and grammar were stabilized as a result.
Later, as English mixed with other cultures from all over the world, primarily in colonized regions, distinct dialects emerged.
Today’s English
The English language is full of annoying inconsistencies and inexplicable spelling and pronunciation variations, largely as a result of its extensive and intricate history, which we have only scratched the surface of. It continues to be one of the most influential and significant languages in the world today, according to many. English has demonstrated that it is a highly adaptable and durable language that is constantly able to evolve and adapt to new vocabulary and cultures.
It has absorbed and survived invasions and incursions averted extinction on multiple occasions, and has only grown stronger over time, as can be seen by its sheer global diversity today.