English - A Historical Summary

Old English

Period

• The languages in England before English:

-Stone Age

-Bronze Age

-Iron Age

Stone Age-Paleolithic (Old Stone) Age-Neolithic (New Stone) Age

The Romans in Britain

• The Roman Conquest

• The Romanization of the island

•The Latin Language in Britain

The Germanic Conquest

Jutes Saxons Angles

Map of Thanet

 

Map of Anglo-Saxon England

• Anglo-Saxon Civilization

-Northumbria -Mercia -East Anglia -Kent -Essex -Sussex -Wessex

• The names “England” and “English” -Saxones -Saxonia -Angli -Anglia -Englisc (English) -Angles (Engle) -Anglecynn

The origin and position of The origin and position of EnglishEnglish

• The periods in the history of English

Old Middle Modern

• WaterWater• StrongStrong• TheThe• OfOf• AA• HeHe• NoNo

• The Dialects of Old English -Northumbrian

-Mercian

-West Saxon

-Kentish

• Characteristics of Old English:

- Spelling and pronunciations Example. Scip (Ship), Benc (bench)

-

-Vocabulary

The vocabulary of old English is almost purely Germanic . A large number of words borrowed from French and Latin.

Grammar

InflectionalInflectional languagelanguage

SyntheticSynthetic AnalyticAnalytic

Foreign influence on old English literature

• Latin through Celtic Transmission (Latin Influence of the first period

• The Earlier Influence of Christianity on the Vocabulary

• The Scandinavian Invasions of England

• The contact of English with other languages:

• The Celtic influence

• Celtic place-names and Other loanwords

The RomansCeltsThe Scan-dinavian

English

• Three Latin influences on old English:- It was a language of a highly regarded

civilization - For several hundred years , while the Germanic

tribes who later became the English were still occupying their continental homes, they had various relation with the Romans through which they acquired a considerable number of Latin words.

- And century and half later still, when Roman missionaries reintroduced Christianity into the island, this new culture influence resulted in a quite extensive Latin elements into the language.

Old English Literature

• Pagan• Christianity

Great literary works

• Beowulf • Widsith• Deor• The Wanderer• The Seafarer• The Ruin• The Battle of Brunanburh• The Battle of Maldon

Beowulf

The End