English is a curious language. With non-rhyming words like bough and cough, non-phonetic words like knife and thumb, and words with complicated spellings like rhythm and vacuum, it’s a wonder English has any rules at all!
Whether you’ve spoken English your whole life or you’re learning it as a second language, the key to truly understanding English lies in its history. So how old is English, and who came up with the English language, anyway? Discover where English came from and why the answer to your English language questions may be better found in your history books than in your dictionary.
Table of Contents
Timeline of the English Language
English has evolved quite a bit over the last several millennia, incorporating dialects from the island of England and languages from neighboring cultures and countries (Britannica, 2026). Its oldest recorded form is Old English, which English speakers spoke before 1100 C.E.
Written forms of the English alphabet and vocabulary then transitioned into 12th-15th century Middle English, which looks more similar to the English language we use today. Take a look at the way everyday English words evolved from Old English to Modern English:
| Old English* | Middle English | Modern English |
| fæder | fā̆der | father |
| wifman | womman | woman |
| eow | yǒu | you |
| singan | singen | sing |
| eorþe | erthe | earth |
| bōc | bok | book |
| þuma | thoume | thumb |
| æppel | appel | apple |
*from etymonline.com
Note that a few letters from Old English, including æ (ash) and þ (thorn), begin to change to more modern letters and vowel sounds. Both letters are still used in many Germanic languages, with Danish and Norwegian using æ and Icelandic using both æ and þ.
English origins: Brittonic Celtic
So where did English come from? It began with Celtic languages in England around 600-800 B.C.E., and included Welsh, Gaulish, and Irish. This dialect on the English aisle became known as Brittonic Celtic, and was a common tongue until the early first century C.E. (Britannica, 2026).
Due to the many political and linguistic changes over the last 2,000 years, modern-day English hasn’t retained many Celtic words (although 21st-century Irish, Welsh, and Cornish are close descendants of ancient Celtic languages). But you may see Celtic influence in a few English words in everyday speech and in the names of locations throughout England.
| Celtic Word | Old English Word | Modern English Word |
| bwg | bugge | bug |
| wlana | flanen | flannel |
| carr | carre | car |
Latin influences on the English language
In 43 C.E., the Roman Empire invaded Britannia (as England became known during the 400-year Roman rule). This period in history saw many changes in both Roman and English cultures, as English was influenced by the Latin language, and Roman culture adopted many Celtic traditions (including Halloween).
Perhaps the biggest influence on the English language was the Latin alphabet, which fundamentally changed the spelling and vocabulary patterns of 1st-5th century England. By the time Rome withdrew from England around 410 C.E., the Latin script and vocabulary had begun to separate Brittonic Celtic from other Celtic languages.
| Latin Word | Old English Word | Modern English Word |
| schola | scōl | school |
| caseus | cȳse | cheese |
| nona | nōn | noon |
Old English: Anglo-Saxon and Germanic roots
Regarding when English was invented, most scholars believe it was during Anglo-Saxon rule in 5th-11th century England. These Germanic tribes, including Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, migrated to England from northern Germany and spoke various dialects derived from a protolanguage known as Proto-Germanic. The mixture of these Germanic dialects with Brittonic Celtic over the next few centuries became known as Old English. Even the word English comes from the Old English adjective Anglisc, meaning “of the Angles,” indicating the beginning of the English language itself.
Germanic vocabulary is known as the main base of Old English, and is the source of many of the more confusing English spelling patterns that are no longer phonetic (such as rough, which used to have a guttural “gh” sound in Old English). It also connects English to other modern Germanic languages, including Frisian, the closest language to English.
| Proto-Germanic Word | Old English | Modern English |
| watr | wæter | water |
| fodon | foda | food |
| ganog | genog | enough |
Norse vocabulary from Vikings
In the late 8th century, Viking from Scandinavia (modern-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) first arrived in England. While the Anglo-Saxons remained in power during this period, Vikings made their way into all areas of England, and Old Norse, the language spoken in Scandinavia, did as well.
Old Norse and Old English shared Germanic roots, so many words and speech patterns were similar. But several words we use today reflect this period of Viking presence on the British Isles, making Norse influence an important point of where the English language comes from.
| Old Norse Word | Old English Word | Modern English Word |
| þierra | theiren | their |
| knifr | cnif | knife |
| leggr | leg | leg |
Middle English: The Norman Conquest
Another pivotal moment in the English language evolution was the Norman Conquest of 1066, which took England from Anglo-Saxon rule to Norman power—and the introduction of Norman French to the British Isles. Vocabulary from this dialect of Old French became infused into Old English as the language of the elite and the courts, joining Latin as Britain’s two main written languages until the 13th century, when English began to appear in literature and public writing.
This form of English is known by historians and linguists as Middle English, and is marked by the loss of the thorn and ash in the English alphabet, as well as many added diphthongs and vowel sounds in a period known as The Great Vowel Shift. Additionally, the Middle English era adopted many French words and spelling patterns, particularly in words related to law and nobility. Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is a notable example of the Germanic and French influences throughout Middle English.
| Old French Word | Middle English Word | Modern English Word |
| servant | servaunt | servant |
| governement | governement | government |
| juger | iugen | judge |
Early Modern English: Return to the Classics
There are three main historical markers of the next era of English, known as Early Modern English: Johannes Gutenberg’s 15th-century invention of the printing press, William Shakespeare’s body of work at the turn of the 17th century, and the 1611 King James Bible publication. Set against the backdrop of the European Renaissance, these seminal events helped to develop the English language into a closer version of how we know it today.
The Renaissance brought a new interest in the Classics to Elizabethan Britain, including Ancient Greek and Roman literature, arts, and sciences. Along with these cultural influences came academic vocabulary, which consisted of Latin and Greek loanwords. Most of the Latin in Old and Middle English consisted of religious terms, while the Latin and Latinized Greek words added during the Early Modern English period reflected England’s interest in Classical science and humanities. Their spellings often remained the same in English, leading to additional spelling rules (and exceptions).
| Greek Word | Middle English Word | Modern English Word |
| vacuum | vacuum | vacuum |
| rhythmus | rhythm | rhythm |
| philosophia | philosophie | philosophy |
Modern English: Today’s Spoken Language
The first steps toward the English we speak today took place in the first English dictionaries. Lexicographer Samuel Johnson’s 1755 Dictionary of the English Language and Robert Lowth’s 1762 A Short Introduction to English Grammar began to standardize English spelling and grammar rules in the English lexicon, incorporating historic influences from centuries of change and evolution. Noah Webster would later go on to complete An American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828, further standardizing the spread of English beyond the British borders.
Today, there are an estimated one million words in the English language. Many of these words come from the roots of English, including Brittonic Celtic, Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norman French, and Latinized Greek. But English’s growth doesn’t stop there! Thanks to its spread to all corners of the globe, there are hundreds of dialects of English, many of which have distinctive vocabularies, influences, and spelling systems.
What type of language is English?
Based on its historical foundations, English is a Germanic language. It shares much of its everyday vocabulary, verb forms, and grammar patterns with other Germanic languages, including German, Dutch, Norwegian, and Icelandic. These languages are all in the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family.
But doesn’t the Latin influence in English mean it’s a Romance language, like French or Spanish? Despite the strong Latin presence in Old, Middle, and Modern English, English is not a Romance language. Most Latin-based words in English are loanwords, or came into English well into the Anglo-Saxon period, which formed Old English. However, thanks to where English came from in history, learning both Germanic and Romance languages can be straightforward for English speakers looking to learn a new way of speaking.
0 Commentaires