The History of English Timeline by

3500 BC-2500 BC

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 20:18:33 UTC

Indo-Europeans were a patriarchal society who were warlike people. They migrated through Central Asia and Europe and took their language, Tocharian, with them. As they moved, they split into 6 language groups: Celtic, Germanic, Italic, Greek, Indo-Iranian, Slavic

800 BC

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 20:23:31 UTC

Celts arrived in England. They were the first of the Indo-Europeans to spread over Europe settling in France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, and Italy.

50 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 20:29:25 UTC

Roman Emperor Claudius I responsible for the successful expansion of the Roman Empire into  Britain.  Celtic and Latin languages coexist.

395 CE - 450 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 20:52:00 UTC

Romans left Britain, Rome crumbling.
The Angles, Saxons and Jutes invade and Anglo Saxon replaces Celtic.
The land they settled in was 'Angle-land', or England. If we use the modern names for the countries they came from, the Saxons were German-Dutch, the Angles were southern Danish, and the Jutes were northern Danish.

600 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 20:57:42 UTC

England divides into 7 Kingdoms. Northumbria becomes the dominant Christian kingdom that is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. *Latin

43 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 21:05:17 UTC

Britain became part of the Roman Empire under Claudius I. Celts resisted, Romans fought hard and posted legions and built forts along the coasts. In 121 CE Romans built Hadrian's Wall. Roads were built along with temples, barracks, amphitheaters and roads.

787 CE - 800 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 21:10:22 UTC

Danes (the Vikings) invade England. Mixed with Anglo-Saxons. The mix of Anglo-Saxon and Norse = Old English.

871 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 21:12:06 UTC

Alfred the Great became King and united the Anglo-Saxons.

878 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 21:22:23 UTC

The Vikings and King Alfred agreed to a treaty. Because of this agreement, over 1,000 new words were added to English from the Vikings.

1066 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 21:26:09 UTC

William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, Invades Britain. Norman French becomes the official language of the state while the language of the people is English.
This is the beginning of the transition from Old English to Middle English. **Huge impact on our language**
For 300 years no English king spoke English.

Middle English 1150-1500

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 21:31:16 UTC

Mix of French and Old English

Old English 450-1150 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 21:32:49 UTC

Mix of Anglo-Saxon and Norse

Pre English

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 21:33:48 UTC

1350 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 21:38:36 UTC

Edward III takes control. English is the official language of the state.

1348 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 21:39:54 UTC

The Black Plague arrives in England and kills roughly 1/3 of the population.

1380 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 21:45:31 UTC

Books were written in English, including Canterbury Tales.

1420 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 21:46:53 UTC

Henry V becomes the first English King to write in Middle English.

1452 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 21:48:18 UTC

The Printing Press is invented by William Caxton.

1475 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 21:49:56 UTC

The Renaissance reaches England. English borrows from Latin and Greek. 10,000-12,000 new English words. William Caxton begins printing English so more people learned English.

Early Modern English 1150-1500 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 21:51:36 UTC

1400 CE - 1700 CE The Great Vowel Shift

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 22:02:05 UTC

Long vowels shift upwards and are pronounced differently, higher in the mouth. Shifted before Modern English occured in Southern England. This had a profound effect on English in regards to pronunciation and spelling. This led to changes in the correspondences between vowel letters and vowel phonemes.

1600 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 22:04:34 UTC

Queen Elizabeth l and Shakespeare wrote in Modern English. Shakespeare contributes many words to English. Some examples are: assassination, bump, lonely.

1755 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 22:05:52 UTC

Samuel Johnson wrote the first comprehensive dictionary of English.

1828 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 22:07:17 UTC

Noah Webster compiles the dictionary of American English.

1400 CE - 1800 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 22:10:18 UTC

International trade increased the number of words used from other cultures.

1611 CE

jbuchanan124 — 2022-04-01 22:13:18 UTC

The King James Bible Published. This influenced many phrases such as, "apple of his eye" and "salt of the earth".