THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE - PART 1

INTRODUCTION

“The history of every language is unique, because each language is inherently bound to the thinking, nature, and spirit of a people, all of which are continuously altered by the twists and turns of events.” (Crane,Yeager and Whitman. An Introduction to Linguistics)

English Language received influence from Romans with Latin, from Vikings with their Old Norse, from Angles and Saxons with Angle-Saxons and from Danes with Danish.

“English language is the result of a complex history and rooted in a very distant past.

There is evidence of human presence in the British Isles since before the last ice age, when they had not yet separated from the continent and oceans form before the English Channel. This recent geological phenomenon that separated the British Isles from the mainland, occurred about 7,000 years, has also isolated the people living there of the turbulent motions and obscurantism that characterized the early Middle Ages in Europe.

Archaeological sites show that the wetlands that the Romans came to be called Britannia have housed a thriving culture 8,000 years ago, although little is known about it.

STONEHANGE

 CELTIC
The history of England begins with the Celts.

Around 1000 BC, after many migrations, several dialects of Indo-European languages ​​become different language groups; one of these groups was the Celtic. The Celts originated from people who already lived in Europe in the Bronze Age. For nearly eight centuries, from 700 BC to 100 AD, the Celtic people inhabited the region now known as Spain, France, Germany and England. The Celtic became the main group of languages ​​in Europe before the Celts are gone almost completely assimilated into the Roman Empire.

THE PRESENCE OF ROMAN

In 55 and 54 BC, the first Roman invasions of recognition, under the personal command of Julius Caesar occurred. In 44 AD, with the Emperor Claudius, took place the third invasion, when the main British island was annexed to the Roman Empire up to the limits with the Caledonia (now Scotland), and Latin culture began to influence the Celtic-Breton. Three and a half centuries of presence of the Roman legions and their merchants, brought profound influence in the economic, political and social life of the Celtic tribes that inhabited Britain. Latin words naturally came to be used for many new concepts.”

This text was extracted and translated from: http://www.sk.com.br/sk-enhis.html, by Ricardo Schütz.