The history of English language is interestingly complex. English is classified as a Germanic language, meaning that it belongs to the Germanic language family. More specifically, English belongs to the West Germanic language family group, along with German and Dutch. The Germanic language family originally descended from the Indo-European language family which itself descends from Proto-Indo-European, the parent tongue of English as spoken by European nomads over 5,000 years ago.
Who Created the English Language?
The English language started with just a few groups of European settlers before being heavily influenced by other cultures and languages. The Celts were the first people to inhabit the British Isles around 1,000 B.C.E. However, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes were the first known people to use the English language, settling in Britain between the years 400 and 500 C.E. Although each group of settlers spoke a different dialect, the speech of all three groups was collectively referred to as Englisc because of the Old English name for the Angles, which was Engle. The Old English term originated from the Latin and Common Germanic word for Angles, Angli.
The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes settled in various regions of Britain between 400 and 500 C.E. and are considered to be the first people to have spoken the English language.
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How Was the English Language Created?
The English language was created through a process of including words, phrases, and other features of other languages like Latin and the Romance languages. Words that originated from one language but are used in a different language with little or no changes to their original form are called loanwords. Some examples of loanwords include baguette, ballet, café, and fiancé which originate from French; and alligator, alpaca, burrito, and coyote, which originate from Spanish.
Baguette is an example of a loanword taken from the French language and used in the English language.
How Long Has the English Language Been Around?
When was the English language created? The English language has been around since the Germanic tribes first invaded Britain during the 5th-century C.E.
When Did Old English Become a Language?
Old English was the very first documented version of the English language. It was used from the 7th-century C.E. until the 12th-century C.E.
Importance of Language
Language is a major distinguishing feature of humans as a species. No other species can communicate as clearly and effectively as we can. Across the globe, many different languages have developed over long periods of time. Let's look briefly at how the English language developed.
English Language Timeline
The English language that is spoken today has progressed through several versions throughout history. The history of the English language began with Old English, the earliest known version of the English language, in the 7th-century C.E., then evolved into Middle English by the 12th-century C.E. Middle English is thought of as the transition period between Old English and Early Modern English. It was during this period that the author Geoffrey Chaucer wrote his famous work The Canterbury Tales.
Middle English was spoken until the 16th-century C.E. when Early Modern English began to be used. Early Modern English is the period during which playwright William Shakespeare wrote and produced all of his works. The language expanded into Late Modern English at the turn of the 19th-century, and this is the version of English spoken today. The evolution of the English language, including dates and examples of words in each version, is illustrated in the following table.
| Version | Dates of Use | Examples of Words |
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| Old English | 650–1100 C.E. | mycel, fyr, hus, hu, sunu, him, cwen, hwaet |
| Middle English | 1100–1500 C.E. | muchel, fuir, hous, how, sone, hym, queen, what |
| Early Modern English | 1500–1800 C.E. | much, fire, house, how, son, him, queen, what |
| Late Modern English | 1800–present-day | much, fire, house, how, son, him, queen, what |
The Canterbury Tales, a classic text written by Geoffrey Chaucer, was originally written in Middle English
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By Mohammad Nivyan Asif
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