PORTFOLIO ENTRY # 3How did English evolve?

How did English evolve?

In the year 400 C.E the Romans withdrew from Britain and the Germanic tribes, the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians quickly sailed across the water, did away with the Celts, and fromed Kingdoms in the British Isles. Their Germanic language, Anglo Saxon became the common language or “Old English”. In the 700´s a series of Viking invasions began, which continued until a treaty split the island in half. On one side were the Saxon, on the other side were the Danes, who spoke a language called Old Norse and gradually this two cultures mixed their languages. In 1066, the Normans placed a king on the English throne and for three centuries, French was the language of the British royalty. Society in Britain came to have two levels: French-speaking aristocracy and Old English-speaking peasants. The French also brought many Roman Catholic clergymen with them who added Latin words to the mix. English speakers quickly realized what to do if they wanted to sound sophisticated:  they would use words that had come from French or Latin. Anglo Saxon Words seemed to plain like the Anglo Saxon peasants who spoke them. Nowadays the connotation of nobility and authority has persisted around words of French origin. And the connotation of peasantry, real people, has persisted around Saxon words. Our history lives in the words we speak and hear.