RP357 The Great Absorber

 RP357 The Great Absorber

The story of English is one of a language constantly evolving and absorbing outside influences. It begins thousands of years ago when the Celtic-speaking Britons inhabited Britain Their lives were turned upside down in A.D.43, when the island was conquered by the Roman Empire. These Roman soldiers didn't just bring weapons, but their Latin language as well. This was the first army to alter the course of Britain's linguistic development. It wouldn't be the last.
As the Roman Empire crumbled in the fifth century, it withdrew its armies from Britain. However, it wasn't long before they were replaced by invading tribes from Germany such as the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. These Anglo-Saxons brought their own German dialect with them. Over the years, it blended with the Celtic and Roman influences on the island. As a result, Old English was born. By A.D.600, Old English had become distinct from dialects that were spoken in Germany.
In A.D.787, Vikings arrived from Denmark and Norway. They set up permanent settlements in the north of Britain and even ruled over the entire island briefly in the early eleventh century. The Viking period created more cultural mixing, and it exposed Old English to various Scandinavian words. For example, this is where the pronouns they, them, and their came from.
One of the last contributions to Old English was the Norman conquest of Britain in 1066. The Norman conquerors brought the French language with them. As a result, English absorbed several French words, like liberty, continue, and journey to name a few.
The Middle English era lasted from A.D.1100 to 1500. It was a period when the elites spoke French but the peasants spoke English. As a result, Middle English grammar was simplified, and it lost many of the complex rules that once existed in Old English. Vowel sounds also became simplified during The Great Vowel Shift, which occurred from 1350 to 1500.
The last dramatic change in the evolution of English took place in 1474. That was when the first printing press was brought into England. Thereafter, standard spelling and grammar could be delivered to the masses via the prose of Chaucer, Milton, and Shakespeare. Modern English was born.