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History of the English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialects, brought to Britain by Germanic invadersand/or settlers from the places which are now called North West Germany and the Netherlands. It uses a vocabulary unlike other European languages of the same era. A large portion of the modern English vocabulary came from the Anglo-Norman languages. English is considered a "borrowing" language.

Middle English differed from Old English because of two invasions which occurred during the Middle Ages. The 1st invasion was by peoples who spoke North Germanic languages. They conquered and colonized parts of Britain during the 8th and 9th centuries A.D. The 2nd invasion was by the Normans of the 11th century, who spoke Old Norman and eventually developed an English form thereof called Anglo-Norman. New vocabulary used beginning in the time of Middle English heavily influenced many organizations including the church, the court system and the government. European languages including German,Dutch, Latin and Ancient Greek influenced the English vocabulary during the Renaissance.

Old English initially was a diverse group of dialects, reflecting the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Britain. TheLate West Saxon dialect eventually became dominant. Written Old English of 1000 A.D. was similar to other Germanic languages such as Old High German and Old Norse in terms of vocabulary and grammar. Written Old English is relatively unintelligible in contrast to written Modern English and written Middle English. Close contact with the Scandinavians caused much grammatical simplification and lexical enrichment of the English language's Anglo-Frisian bases. These changes did not reach South West England until the Norman Invasion of 1066 A.D. Old English there developed into a full-fledged literary language, which became based on the most common manner of speaking in London during the 13th century A.D. The English language thereby reflected Britain's exposure to the language of Scandinavia.

English as a Universal Language

English is without a doubt the actual universal language. It is the world's second largest native language, the official language in 70 countries, and English-speaking countries are responsible for about 40% of world's total GNP.