The Literary Explorer

A Brief History of the English Language
Author of this webpage: Renée Goodvin

The history of the English language can be considered in three ways. While most modern scholars study English according to the third method, it is up to the reader to decide how he/she will view the history of the English language.

The Three Methods of Studying the English Language:

  1. One language changing over time -
    Old English to (Late) Modern English is seen as "the same language"

  2. One language evolving into another over time -
    Old English is seen as changing over time and becoming Modern English

  3. The language as a cluster of related forms of speech shifting historically and geographically eventually becoming another, larger cluster of related forms speech, writing, and print called "English"
Chronology of the English Language:

Indo-European Roots:

The roots of modern day English lie in the coastal areas of what are today southern Denmark and northwestern Germany and derives from the West Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. This parent language (West Germanic) was a major dialect of Primitive (or Common) Germanic, and from West Germanic, four "sister languages" developed: Dutch, Frisian, German, and English.

What is today known as "Old English" began as a West Germanic dialect. It is unintelligible to the user of Modern English and must be learned like Greek, Latin, or any other "foreign" language.

From (Pre) Old English to (Late) Modern English:

(Pre) Old English:

In the 5th Century A.D., the Angles and Saxons invaded England. This invasion and the consequent settling of the area was the chief political event that led to the development of English from a West Germanic dialect into a separate language. No written records exist and the language spoken at this time is sometimes called Anglo-Saxon or Pre Old English.

There are four recognized Old English dialects: West Saxon, Kentish, Mercian, and Northumbrian. The earliest written records of Old English appear in the 8th Century A.D. and use runic letters. As England converted to Christianity, clerical scribes learned Latin and represented this in the vernacular by adapting Latin letters to Old English, though some runic letters and letter shapes used by Irish scribes remained.

However, it wasn't until the reign of King Alfred (849-899) that written Old English became prevalent. Because King Alfred spoke the West Saxon dialect, it became the "standard" literary language and most Old English documentation, including the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, is in the West Saxon dialect. As a result of King Alfred's encouragement of the literary usage of Old English, the great Germanic epic poem, Beowulf was composed.

In 1066, the Normans invaded and conquered England, bringing with them their French language and culture. As a result, Old English was demoted to the language of the peasants. For about 150 years, French was the language of the English royalty.

Middle English:

Between 1066 and 1100, Old English began to evolve into Middle English. Early Middle English can be described as late Old English dialects modified by natural evolution combined with Norman-French influences. The Middle English dialect referred to as Northern is descended from the Old English dialect Northumbrian; Southern (or South Western) from West Saxon; Kentish (or South Eastern) from Kentish; and East Midland (spoken in and around London) and West Midland from Mercian.

Middle English has a complicated history. Unlike Old English, Middle English lacked a nationally recognized written standard. As a result, Middle English was written according to dialects and produced writings of great diversity. Furthermore, The Great Vowel Shift (1350 - 1550) caused verbal changes in Early and Late Middle English as well as Early Modern English. For the modern reader, though Middle English has linguistic similarities to Modern English, its writing and pronunciation is only comprehensible with interpretation.

During the Middle Ages, London began to dominate England as a social, political, and economic center. In addition, by about 1200, the Normans were still in power, but they had been virtually cut off from French sovereignty. Slowly they began to view themselves as "English," and their heavily Latin-influenced East Midland dialect became the basis for standard Modern English.

Early Modern English:

In 1485, the House of Tudor ascended to the English throne, ushering in the English Renaissance and a surge of confidence in vernacular writing. Early Modern English is characterized by the Renaissance's influence upon it.

Throughout the Renaissance, English received a great influx of vocabulary. Developments in the arts and sciences resulted in borrowed words from classical languages as well as French and Italian. Exploration added many new words to the English vocabulary, and the status of English was enhanced by establishing it in new colonies, particularly America.

In 1611, the first Authorized Version of the Bible (also known as the King James Version) was published in English. Its verbal beauty and status as that by which all subsequent Bible translations in English have been measured set it apart as an acclaimed landmark in the evolution of the English language.

(Late) Modern English:

The Authorized Version of the Bible initiated standardization attempts in English. By about 1700, spelling uniformity had begun to increase and there were attempts at dictionaries and grammars. Finally, in the mid 19th century, the Oxford English Dictionary was begun.

In the 18th century, academics began moving away from Latin and towards English as their preferred publication method. For that reason, English became increasingly significant as a medium of science, technology, commerce, communication, education, and literature, with two focal points for the standard: Britain and the United States.

During the 19th century, new British colonies in Canada, India, and Australia facilitated the spread of English throughout the globe, developing at least five major dialects in addition to American English:

  1. Canadian English
  2. Australian English
  3. Indian English
  4. Irish English
  5. Scottish English
American English is derived from 17th century English and has three recognized dialects:
  1. New England (or Northern)
  2. General American (or Midland)
  3. Southern
Today over 350 million people speak English as a mother tongue, while up to a billion more speak it as a second language. At the beginning of the 21st century, English is truly a global language: more widely scattered, spoken, and written than any other language has ever been.

Recommended Reading:

All of the following books are available at Amazon.com!

Some information for the following page was adapted from:
"A Brief History of the English Language," by Morton W. Bloomfield from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
and The Oxford Companion to the English Language, ed., by Tom McArthur

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Last updated January 27, 2005