1. Brief History of English
José A. Alcalde López

2. Basic questions
English is today’s most international
language (20% speak it), but…
• When and where was it born?
• How did it evolve?
• How did it spread around the globe?
• What languages are related to
English?
• What other languages influenced
English?

3. The Origins
It is impossible to say the exact
time and place when a
language is born.
There are always previous
languages that give some
material, contacts with other
languages, etc.

4. The Celtic Stock
The Celtic language was one of
the first known to be recorded
in Britain before the following
invasions of the island.
Celtic tribes (coming from
Europe) lived in Britain in the
Iron Age for over 500 years
until the arrival of the Romans.

5. The Celts in Europe

6. The Roman invasion
Julius Caesar conquered Britain
in 55 BC and Claudius in 43 AD,
but it wasn’t permanent or
really influential.
Latin was never the language of
the people, it was only the
language of the ruling class.

7. The Roman invasion
Rome introduced Latin words in
commerce, religion, army,
some place names, etc.
Christianity introduced more
Latin in the English language
later on.

8. The Roman Empire

9. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest
Different Germanic tribes coming
from current Denmark
conquered Britain in 449 AD.
The Angles and the Saxons were
very important and gave English
its basic vocabulary and
structures. English is Teutonic
in essence.

10. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest

11. Old English
The Anglo-Saxon language is also
known as Old English and it is
the primitive form of modern
English.
The Angles gave the name of the
country (England, “land of
Angles”).

12. Old English
Some words coming from Anglo-
Saxon are:
This language also left the “Saxon
Genitive” (Terry’s brother)
man eat house
work woman

13. The Germanic family

14. The Vikings
In the 9th and 10th centuries
Vikings from Scandinavia
occupied the North-East of
Britain.
Their language, Old Norse
(connected with the Anglo-
Saxon), gave many words to the
English language.

15. The Viking Invasion

16. Old Norse
Some basic everyday words in
English come from Old Norse:
sky leg take
window call
dirty church

17. The Norman Conquest
The Normans came from
Normandy, Northern France in
1066.
It was the last invasion in England
but had an enormous influence
in many aspects of British life:
habits, language, society,
literature, justice, etc.

18. The Norman Conquest

19. French Influence
French was the language of the
top of society (government,
church, justice…) and little by
little its influence spread a bit
to the rest of the population
who always spoke English.
This is the birth of Anglo-French.

20. French Influence
The Normans brought more than
10,000 words into English, 75% still
in use and no longer felt as foreign.
By the 13th / 14th centuries only the
top class uses French. By 15th
century it disappears but always as
a favourite foreign language.
With French also came a lot of Latin
vocabulary.

21. Middle English
This is the span from 11th to 15th
centuries.
Some French words incorporated
were:
court advise
mutton govern
sovereign duke

22. Middle English
The Great Vowel Shift meant the
complete dissolution between
spelling and pronunciation (the
first was kept while the second
evolved a lot).
English was not a unique
language but a collection of
dialects (Southern dialects
were more important).

23. Middle English dialects

24. Early Modern English
This is the span from 15th to 17th
centuries.
The use of the printed press
helped to fix the language.
The Renaissance meant the
arrival of many classical terms
from Latin and Greek (only at
cultivated level).

25. Classical languages
These languages gave many
words for different sciences
and disciplines (not for
common language) and
grammar rules.
physics radius
history architecture
educate algebra

26. The British Isles
English is now the official
language imposed on the whole
of Great Britain and also taken
to Ireland.
More regional languages (Welsh
and Pictish) are pushed away
and nearly disappeared.

27. The British Empire
Britain is now a powerful nation
and begins its colonial
expansion.
North America was the first
colony but later many more
territories were incorporated to
the Empire.

28. The British Empire
By 1870 67% of non-European
countries are British.

29. Other languages
The expansion of English
worldwide meant contact with
other languages that gave
more new words to English:
tea tornado sauna
tattoo yatch futon
boomerang pasta

30. Lingua Franca
Today English is an international
language for communication
with more than 1,000 million
speakers:
• 400 m as native speakers
• 600 m as second language
speakers

31. Varieties of English
English has different variations in
every country (British,
American, Australian…) and
also more local dialects
(Brummie, Geordie, Cockney…
in the UK)
American English is no doubt the
predominant one (TV, cinema,
music, the Internet…)

32. Future of English
English will probably be the
international language in the
future.
Today’s communication prevents
the breaking up of English into
different languages.

33. Brief History of English
José A. Alcalde López