When was the English language created?

Answer 1

The English language is firmly rooted in its Nordic origins or Anglo saxon. The language evolved through common useage by Angles (Danes), Saxons(Northern Germans) and Jutes (Danes)whose tribes were in close cultural and physical contact prior to their arrival in England in 449 as invaders. The basic language changed only slightly during the next 500 years although dialects and loan words were absorbed through contact with more recent arrivals from Denmark into the Danelaw in the 9th and 10th centuries.At the time immediately before the arrival of the peculiar patois of Norman French, English was still so closely rooted to its common Germanic stock that Norwegians Icelanders, Danes and English could all communicate reasonably easily. When the cultural oppression that characterised the Norman conquest took over,the only tongue acceptable to the ruling elite was a bastardised French of the Norman variety.

English was thus literally driven underground where it remained for three hundred years kept alive by the commoners only emerging transformed in the 14th century with Chaucer. With notes this is recognisable as modern English and thus has kept its ribald place in the affections of GCSE students throughout the land. The core of any language is based on the most spoken 200 words and all of these are Old English or Anglo Saxon in origin.

From at least the time when the Romans invaded Britain in the first century, until late middle ages many European languages influenced the development of English in quite fundamental ways. After the Latin of the Romans, there was the Germanic languages of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Then the Scandinavian languages of the Vikings. And then the French of the Normans. England had territory in what is now modern France for much of the later Mediaeval period and many of the Kings, Queens and aristocracy following the Norman conquest (AD 1066) could only speak French. It is also important to remember that these other languages were considerably different to those we know today and have also evolved.

I guess it is more relevant to consider how English has become more standardised. Today, as is probably the case through out history, people in England (and throughout the world) don't speak English in the same way. They both pronounce words differently and use differing sets of vocabulary. In some cases they even have different meanings for the same words. Over time these differences has been sustantially affected by such things as communication (travellers, letters, telegraph, telephone, radio and internet). Other major influences such as books and printing presses have had a major influence on people who can read, as has the theatre and travelling poets etc, moving pictures, radio and television. From the eighteenth century people who went to school have been taught from grammar manuals which undoubtedly has had some influence on how we perceive English should be spoken.

English, as with all evolving languages is always changing. As new discoveries and inventions are made so too must words be found to represent these. All manner of historical and social events contibute to hand have contributed to what must be one of the most interesting languages known.

AnswerIt's worth pointing out, as well, that the English language is most heavily based on Germanic languages -- a kind of mix between native British and Germanic languages was achieved during the Anglo-Saxon period (around 900 AD). Even after the Norman Conquest, when many of the nobility spoke only French, the majority of the populace still spoke Anglo-Saxon English. Though we borrowed many words from French, most of our basic, everyday words, have German or Scandinavian origins (the latter from the Viking invasions and settlements during the Anglo-Saxon era), and one can't help but notice that we use grammar far closer to German than the Romance languages. AnswerTo a greater or lesser extent we can say that the English language has evolved over the past 1600 years. It has been subject to many influences, notably Norse, Latin, Amaraic, Quelsh Skythe and Rmumsibald (or Oulde Neuter, as it was referred to in the area south of Colchester). Rmumsibald derived itself from an offshoot of the old Germanic languages and had a slavic influence as well.

R.S. Hawsley in his study "The England and their language: fools and kings and players" (1997, 1st Edition, Cantab) states that the first sighting of English can be traced to a Shropshire village in or around 900 AD and, more importantly, to some form of shopping list, which reads:

"Hawlthve apund, turpenech rife. Hawlthve apund, tregoile.";

before leaving the shopper with the instructions:

"Farths thern hauye, ther morney gophes. Poiep, gophes ther waezil."

It was Chaucer who referred to the language thus: "Aer tur fauwle end, wheunce bipute ofne whyene, tur jifferbeth aure lengoidshe frame felds sarme placethe parsd." [And to the end, where to be placed, the conversation our language takes is framed from far off lands.]

I hope that this allows for more insight into the study of the fabulous and interesting English language.

Hector

The origins of the words 'England' and 'The English' and the Language 'English'The words 'English' and 'England' come from the Anglo-Saxon. The Anglo-Saxons were not a single people, and may not have been even a formal confederation originally. Primarily made up of Jutes from Jutland where they are still called Jutes in that area, the Engle or Angles from Angeln in Denmark, also called the 'Anglii' (Latin for Engle,) by the Roman historian Tacitus, and the Seax, named after their formidable fighting knife of the same name, who came from Saxony Elbe-Weser region in Germany. Smaller number of Frisians came from the small islands in the North Sea.There were also Jutes from the lower Rhineland, and Swabians, Franks and Alamanni. However the Anglian and Saxon tribes were the most prominent. These tribes called the Anglii-Saxones by Paul The Deacon to cover a single 'insular Germanic' identity, or Saxons (after the dominant tribe,) for short in more modern times. They were a formidable set of three North Sea Germanic tribes. From this combination of tribes we get an evolution through the words Engle, Angles, Anglii, - or Englisc, Anglisc which were apart of the Nerthus-Worshipping peoples mentioned in Tacitus's Germania. Anglii (the Latin version of the word Engle) is the earliest recorded form of the folk-name which gave rise to 'Eng' in England. However, the people called themselves Anglisc (Angle-ish, Anglian) and the national identity was assumed under the heading Anglisc or Englisc, 'English'. The people gave their name to their territory, thus the Englisc gave their name to Englalond (England). Englisc was used from the time of Alfred the Great onwards to describe both in the sense of 'Englishman' and as meaning the 'English' language. See http://www.englandandenglishhistory.com/england_english_englishness/default.aspx

Answer 2

The foundation of the English language was first built when the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes came to England. The Old Saxon language was the most spoken in England until the Vikings from mainly Norway and Denmark invaded Britain. This lead to many Scandinavian words entering the English Language. And when some Vikings settled in Normandy, they began to adopt French as their main language, eventually replacing Danish. And when they conquered England in 1066, they brought over and introduced around 30,000 French words to the ever growing English Language. The French addition to the English Language was the true start of Modern English. Answer

The situation is much more complex than is outlined above. The main framework of Modern English is still Old English, which was evolving long before the Normans invaded. The contact between Old Norse and Old English speakers had led to a simplification of the complex OE inflection system, and the adoption of many Norse words. Sometimes there were two similar words which came to have different meanings (skirt-ON, shirt, OE) and similar arrangements occurred later when Norman French (NOT Paris French) speakers tried to learn English. Again, similar words came to have different meanings . Chattel is from Old French, cattle is from Norman French. If there are 30,000 words of French origin in English, they have come from many sources over centuries, not with the Norman invasion, which gave words mainly to do with the nobility, and food (sheep (OE)-mutton, cow(OE) -beef etc). There were a great many borrowings from Latin at this and earlier times as well (especially ecclesiastical and law terms, from the influence of the Church) and later coinages and borrowings from Greek and other languages.

The slow change of Old English to Modern English (Early Modern in place by about middle of 16th century, late Modern by around middle of 18th century) belies the influence French and other languages had given that the Norman invasion took place in 1066. In addition to the above, the original Celtic language of Britain, while supplanted by Saxon in England, continued in place names (such as River Thames etc) so many geographical features (and therefore peoples' names) are Celtic in origin and many Celtic words (such as whiskey) came into English over the centuries.

Answer 3

the language was not created. From historic times it evolved and developed as human beings became more intelligent. English is a West Germanic language brought to England by Germanic invaders One of these dialects the Late West Saxon came to dominate during the 5th Century AD

Answer 4

Historical accident. In the past, other languages like Latin and French have served as the "international language." It just happens that we've had two successive English-speaking nations as the most powerful in the world - first Great Britain, then the United States.

At the height of British power, it was literally true that the sun never set on their Empire - they had significant holdings in places all over the world and on every continent. Furthermore, they were a major mercantile nation, and English traders could be found almost anywhere. English was a highly useful language to learn for this reason.

As American power eclipsed that of Great Britain, people didn't have to learn a new language to deal with the new power - Americans spoke English, too. So English's position became more entrenched.

Meanwhile, the world became smaller as transportation in the British/American age eclipsed what came before it. In less than a century, trips that took weeks or months by ship could be made in hours by airplane. In this environment, anyone could theoretically go anywhere - and the best option for many of them was to go to the rich Western countries, many of which were Anglophone, for education. Thus, English again was reinforced as an international language

Answer 5

English developed as a language in the 17th Century among the Anglo-Saxons of England and Southwestern Scotland.

Answer 6

Answer
Languages (with the exception of artificial languages) are not invented. Instead, they develop over many centuries.

Answer 7

The English alphabet was adapted from the Latin alphabet around the 8th or 9th Century.

Answer 8

No-one created it: it evolved.