The Origins of English
The origin of the English language actually starts way before then you would think!
You can say that it's starting point was when the Germanic invasion started during the
5th century(AD), at that time there were 3 main invading tribes: the
Angles, The Saxons, and the Jutes. Apart from this, you have to remember that there were already the native people of Britain living there, which spoke a Celtic dialect. The contact between these 4 different ethnicities originated a historical event that resulted in a cultural mix that involved the Celtic dialect spoken by the British and the germanic dialects brought by the invaders.
On the Germanic side, we had very similar languages, which made it easier for British people to learn it. With the years passing by a new language had appeared, this language was the result of the assimilation of the germanic dialects by the already spoken Celtic dialect, this ended in the creation of an entirely new language that we now identified as "Old English". However, if you were to try and compare "Old English" to "Modern-day English" you would find yourself mesmerized by how different they are, you could even find yourself thinking that what you were seeing were two completely different languages.
Nevertheless, despite the differences in Old and Modern English, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English derive from Old English which was spoken until around 1100(BC).
On the Germanic side, we had very similar languages, which made it easier for British people to learn it. With the years passing by a new language had appeared, this language was the result of the assimilation of the germanic dialects by the already spoken Celtic dialect, this ended in the creation of an entirely new language that we now identified as "Old English". However, if you were to try and compare "Old English" to "Modern-day English" you would find yourself mesmerized by how different they are, you could even find yourself thinking that what you were seeing were two completely different languages.
Nevertheless, despite the differences in Old and Modern English, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English derive from Old English which was spoken until around 1100(BC).
Francisco Martins
12ct8
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