History of the English Language

The English language is an interesting thing. It is one of the most common languages around the world and is used everyday by millions of people. It is hugely popular but do any of us really know where it comes from or what has gone into the creation of this language.

Not many people think about the history or background of a language but it might surprise some people to learn that English isn't one of the first languages, it originated approximately in the time period 400-1100 A.D and even then the English of that time period is completely different than what we use today. It started as a mixture of a few languages and it is interesting because it comes from different groups of people that invaded  England. This language was called Old English, it is different than ours because the pronunciation of vowels and consonants is different and to write they used the Roman alphabet but used the sound of words to spell them. Barely any from that time literature has survived but a few texts have such as the poem Beowulf, it is the most famous of the remaining texts and is still used in university classes to teach English.Old English might not be easy to understand but it was the beginning of a new language.

As we all know English evolved into what it is today, but there are a few more time periods in between such as Middle English. That lasted from approximately 1100-1500 AD and was a little more advanced than Old English but still not quite like our language. It was a mix of Norman French and Old English, French was used for higher class things such as the court, the government, art, culture and literature, whereas Old English was used by the lower class, labour and farming. A lot of literature is still around from that time and still studied by many people today. As well as mystery and morality, two things that started during that time, are still read and are still very popular to this day.
 There were a couple of great writers from that time as well such as Chaucer, he wrote the Canterbury Tales as well as many stories that are still widely known nowadays.

Next was Early Modern English, from 1500-1800 AD. Not a very creative name but is a very crucial period for the English Language, it is when the printing press started, where sonnets started becoming popular, especially from people like Sir Philip Sidney or Anne Locke and this is when Biblical printing started, which caused faith to become a reason to learn the language and to read and write.

Finally there is present day English, the name is pretty self explanatory, it is what we speak now. Everything we have now is thanks to all the things that have contributed to the evolution of the language. Even new words that created or slang that is used has to come from somewhere and it's all due to the growth of English itself.

Not many people like learning about history, but especially not the history of a language. Most of the time it is pretty boring and puts people to sleep. The thing is, the language we speak today is due to everything that has happened in the past and we should all learn about and appreciate it at some point in our lives.