How was English developed?

Answer 1

Around 450 AD, when the Roman troops withdrew from Britain, the Angles (hence the terms English and england), Frisians, Saxons, and Jutes began to travel from Germany and Northern Europe to Britain. The Saxons were the most dominant group. The Anglo-Saxon languages developed into English. They were functionally illiterate so little is known about the time but in 597 Christian missionaries came and introduced literacy and Christianity to Britain. In 1066, the Normans, Viking who had settled in France 200 years before, took over England. They contributed 10,000 words to the English language. English was considered a peasant language and anyone of a high status spoke French. As the Normans became more isolated from Europe, they began to consider themselves English rather than French. At this time, There were many different dialects of English and often people living in neighbouring towns could not understand each other. English was very casual and there were few rules. They became more regularized through time and word forms were generally reduced. No one can say at which point English became a separate language from the different Germanic dialects but it would have changed quickly as people of different tribes tried to communicate with each other. The waves of new languages that spread over the British Isles greatly broadened the English vocabulary. This is why we have so many homonyms and synonyms, compared to other languages. For more information, read The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way by Bill Bryson.

Answer 2

English was not "invented." Like most natural languages, it evolved over centuries. It is a West Germanic language, meaning that its closest relatives are languages like Dutch and (even more so) Frisian. It shares a common ancestor with all modern Germanic languages, including the North Germanic Scandinavian languages. At what point one calls it a separate language is not really a useful question, since no exact answer is possible.

Answer 3

English was not developed but evolved from an earlier language, known as Anglo-Saxon, which itself was derived from proto-Germanic.

Answer 4

The English language has grown over thousands of years.

Its origins are in Anglo-Saxon, Latin, German and French.