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Before the Roman Empire conquered England, the English people spoke a Celtic Language. That language remained but sprinkled with Latin while Rome ruled. Rome withdrew its legions around 500 A.D. At that point various Germanic peoples moved to England. Celtic remained spoken in Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall.

Still, Old English, a mixture of Germanic languages and Celtic had mainly formed by 600 A.D. It had many similarities to Frisian. It also had a number of differences with its many conjugations and declensions. We can only read Chaucer in translation and he was much later.

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