Old English Research Paper

Coming from Scandinavian countries, predominantly Denmark and Norway, the Vikings began raiding the British Isles in the late 700s (James). The Vikings primarily targeted monasteries, because that is where most of the wealth was concentrated (Loughrey). These raids were very violent, people were killed, and the survivors were sold into slavery (Loughrey). These violent raids earned the Vikings the reputation of barbarians, much like the Mongols a few centuries later in Asia. After some time, once the Vikings exhausted most of the wealth in the monasteries, they turned their interest into settling the British Isles (James). By the late 9th century the Vikings had conquered most of England (James). However, even though these Viking kingdoms did not last very long, the Scandinavians who resided there stayed. These Scandinavians would go on to change the British Isles in many ways. Despite the violent and negative impacts of Viking raids on the British Isles, once the Vikings settled down, they had a significant and positive peaceful impact on the British Isles culturally, politically, and economically.

In 865, the Great Heathen Army attacked East Anglia (England). After that invasion failed, they attacked England once again in 1066, but were defeated at the battle of Stamford Bridge. The Vikings attack England again during the Reign of Canute the Great Again in 1066, the Normans invaded and conquered England. The Vikings could not defeat Paris but the King was so impressed that he gave me land.

By the mid-800s, the lands of Ireland, Scotland and England were attracting Viking settlers as well as raiders. Viking settlers founded Ireland’s first trading towns, including Dublin and Limerick. They used ports on the Irish coast to launch attacks within Ireland and against English

“The History of the English Language”. http://www.uni-due.de/SHE/. Univ. of Duisburg Essen. April 2013. Web 4 Oct. 2013.

Old English dates back to approximately the year 700. If you go back even farther, Dutch, German and old English can all be traced back to the same source. French had a large impact on the English language during the medieval centuries primarily because England was ruled by the upper class that spoke French. English today has spread across the globe. People around the world will adapt English into their own cultural practices.

The Anglo-Saxon period was a time around 410 AD where settlers from Modern Germany invaded Britain after the failure of the Roman Empire. Anglo-Saxon warriors were hired to preserve the Roman way of life but decided the land was good for themselves. Therefore, Britain became their home. Anglo-Saxons contributed greatly to the foundations of Britain by spreading their culture in ways of their language, literature, religion and traditions in law and government. They were referred to as the “First Englishmen” and left the strongest reminder of their presence in ways such as the Exeter Book. The Exeter Book was literature that expressed all the ways and values of the Anglo-Saxon people. “The seafarer”, “the wanderer”, and “the wife's lament” being part of the Exeter book expressed the central theme of isolationism.

In more modern times the interaction of English speakers with other languages, through first colonialism, and later the emergence of English as a global language has enriched the vocabulary (‘pyjama’) and led to the evolution of different versions of English around the world, for example the hybrid ‘Singlish’ that has emerged in Singapore.

Languages are always changing and evolving. The English language itself is full of words from other languages.

Shortly before the ninth century, North-west Europe was exposed to raids and attacks from the Scandinavians. They had discovered the wealth that could be obtained from the richer communities of Britain and Frankia, both in currency and natural resources (the latter being found especially in Ireland). As time went on, during the course of the ninth century, the leaders of the attacks on these countries grew more ambitious and soon there were different motives for raiding these places. Many leaders had become content to stay and settle permanently in these abundantly richer countries. This process of Viking settlement led to the integration of two cultures, between the peoples of the

English is the main language of the Western world. Many English words originated from the Roman language of Latin. Simple English words such as ?architecture?, ?balm?, ?determine? and ?say? have been derived from Latin. Just flip through a dictionary and an endless amount of words have come from Latin. If the Ancient Romans didn?t have and create the language of Latin, we would probably lose half our vocabulary, because of the great role it has played in making the language of English. The

Each colony created their own language which they spoke following this the languages continued to evolve and develop. Interestingly, there is no one universal English language or world standard of English, there are diverse varieties and accents differentiating each form of English spoken.

The Anglo Saxon period is the oldest known period of time that had a complex culture with stable government, art, and a fairly large amount of literature. Many people believe that the culture then was extremely unsophisticated, but it was actually extremely advanced for the time. Despite the many advancements, the period was almost always in a state of war. Despite this fact, the Anglo-Saxon period is a time filled with great advancements and discoveries in culture, society, government, religion, literature, and art.

Quite a few of the Old English vocabulary can still be found in the Modern English we speak and read today, it is just the spelling that differ is some places. Therefore, if read from a vocabulary perspective, there are familiar words, for example, “awriten” which is “written”, “læst” is “last”, “forð” is “forth”, “steorra” is “star”, etc. These are words which seems familiar, but because of the various influences and where English comes from there is differences and unfamiliar words. Modern English differ from Old English because as the language grew it took in more words and replaced old versions of words (2011:22). For example, the word “sacerda” which means “priests” is from the Latin word “sacerdos” and “folc” and “ic” is Germanic words for “people” and “I”. There are also words from Anglo-Saxon, like “heretoga” which is now “leader or commander” and “tungelwitegan” which is now “wise

“The English language belongs to the West Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages,” according to M Boyanova. The Indo-European family started in Europe and South Asia, later spreading to other parts of the world. The West Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family includes the Afrikaans (spoken in South Africa), Dutch (spoken in Holland), English (spoken in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and Canada), German (spoken in Germany), and Yiddish (spoken in Germany and Israel) languages (Thompson). Even though Scottish belongs to the Celtic branch (Thompson), it is one of the English language’s closest living relative, along with Frisian. Frisian is located in the Dutch province of Friesland, in nearby areas of Germany, and on a few islands in the North Sea. It is only spoken by approximately half a million people (Boyanova).

Anglo-Saxon is a term to describe any Germanic people during the 5th century until the Norman Conquest. Anglo-Saxon, as discussed Is composed of 3 Germanic tribes; the Anglos, Saxons, and the Jutes. They are also known as the last people who settled in Britain. They started out invading with small number of people, then increased in number, then invaded different areas, and had several kingdoms which were constantly in war at each other.