What is the historical development of the English language from Old English to New English?

Answer

This is a massive question. You'll have to dig in and do some reading. A good layman's book is "The Story of English" by Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil, and William Cran, Penguin, 2002.

Yes, you can do some reading, but here's the short of it:

Old English comes from the Anglo-Saxon (West Germanic) languages, which comingled and was brought to England after the Roman troops had left. (Other tribal languages no doubt had some impact on the language - most likely the Jutes and perhaps the Frisians.) It had already, at this point, been introduced to some latin (older texts read heofon - say it aloud - that's heaven). A good place to check out Old English would be the wonder page at the University of Virginia (http://faculty.virginia.edu/OldEnglish/anthology/). The language was then introduced to languages already surviving on the island, such as Welsh and British. The Language was then introduced to Old Norse from the Norse invasions. Then, with the arrival of the French-speaking government, English began to be heavily influenced by the French, and over time, was turned into what we call Anglo-Norman English, or Middle English (although there's early middle english, late middle english, etc, and different dialects all over the island at this time). A good place to find Middle English is eChaucer (http://www.umm.maine.edu/faculty/necastro/chaucer/ ...Make sure to check out the original texts, instead of just the translations). The Middle English continued to be influenced by other European languages, especially in such a time of international (across Europe, and beyond) exchange. And, just as words change over time, so did the language - into what we call Renaissance English (Shakespeare). And from there, Victorian English (Jane Austen). And from there, Contemporary, or Modern English.

First answer by Emdrgreg. Last edit by ContagisBlondnes. Contributor trust: 2 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 49 [recommend question]