THEA 241 History of the English Language

Romance languages/Latin Languages

French/Spanish/Italian/Portuguese/Romanian

Germanic Languages

German/English/Danish/Dutch/Norwegian/Swedish

Long Words

creating new words/making words longer

compound words

combining two or more separate words to create a new word with a different meaning

old english

450-1100

middle english

1100-1500

modern english

1500-

Europe/old english

angles/saxons/jews

Beowulf

old english

c.750

vikings came

Norwegian words

old/bag/ugly/knife/flat/dirt

in 1066

the king of England died/Harold assumed the throne/Duke of Normandy invaded Britain

the battle of Hastings

the normans were outnumbered by the British/Prince John lost Normandy to the French

in c. 1387

Canterbury tales were written in English/stories were told on the way to Canterbury/Thomas a’ Becket killed king Henry

1362

the king gave a speech to parliament in English

French Lone Words

nation/prince/government/monarch/duke/military words

the reason Latin never became a language

1. the Protestant Reformation

2. the rise of nationalism

3. the rise of the middle class