was english your language before the royalties came from hannover, germany?

Question

or were there a native language like welch or celtic in england, too. i grew up in nothern germany, and my grandparents used to talk lower german accent(plattdeutsch). this sounds very similar to english oftentimes.

ok, english was spoken before the hannoveraners. i didn't know that and i realize some of you think because i don't, i'm a bit stupid (some other not)i have just wondered myself, what it is all about and where the roots are. i have been to britain and irland a few times and saw citynames in wales f-e-. it is just, that is a totally different language, or? i mean german and english have more in common than english and other britanique languages.

Answer 1

Umm - small point here

The Anglo-Saxons who invaded after the Romans in the Dark Ages (500-600AD ish) introduced "Anglish" or "English", not "Royalties frm Hannover" who came here in the 16th/17th Centuries, well over 1000 years later! My God where do you get your info from?!?!?!?

Before the Anglo Saxons came British people would have spoken an ancient form of Welsh "Brythonic" (probably very little like today's modern Welsh) or Latin (as the Romans had ruled for a good few hundred years) or a mixture of other Celtic dialects, no-one is exactly sure what.

The original language of my country (Wales) is Welsh, and an ancient variant of this was probably spoken all over the biritsh Isles (except Pictish Scotland) in the pre-Anglo Saxon days.

Like a lot of Welsh people (for my "shame") I do not speak Welsh fluently, many of us in Wales don't, we are just brought up with English. You do get some fluent Welsh speaking people in Wales who speak nothing but Welsh and some people who don't speak a word of it, it depends where they grew up (more Welsh speakers in the country areas and up North/West Wales than the industrial South East), did their parents speak it, did they learn it at school etc.

The Welsh Assembly are trying to change that by making all schoolkids study Welsh up to age 16, setting up lots of Welsh playgroups, schools etc so the next generation will all be speaking it. But for us 30 somethings thisd all came a bit late. There are adult evening classes you can go to, I might try and do one next year if I have the time.

Answer 2

Yes we did have a native language before the Hanoverians as said in previous answers.
But we also have the regional dialects as plattdeutsch is, as I understand it, a regional dialect of North Germany. My wife's Grandparents also came from North Germany, from what is now Gdansk in Poland, When he was alive Opa ( who couldn't speak English) took great delight in being able to ask "what's the clock"
Also the village of Helpup close to Bielefeld supposedly got it's name because of it being on a hill, During the winter month's people called out "help up" for help to push the waggon's up the hill and the name stuck.
The only instance I know of German being used in English local dialect was using the word "Ei" for eggs in Kent and some of the villages along the Thames estuary but this had virtually died out by 1900.
I think this shared dialect must have came about by the trade that took place between Germany and England at the time. German and English sailors spending time in each country and picking up bits of the language and then bringing it home.

Great question by the way. :o)

Answer 3

With all due respect, Schnatzel, I'm amazed that you can think that English only began to be spoken in England in the Hanoverian period. The first English were brought to Britain by the Romans in about AD400. The English are from Frisia and Schleswig-Holstein. Take a trip to that part of Germany called ANGELN (Schleswig, Schlei Fiord and Flensburg). You'll find some of our forefathers still there!

Answer 4

There is no language called Celtic. There is Welsh, and there is Scots Gaelic and Irish Gaelic. Also ancient Cornish and Manx.

Old English has been around for over a thousand years.

Shakespeare and Chaucer wrote in English.

The Hanovers did not arrive until late in the 17th century.

Answer 5

The Hanovers came to England in 1714. People had spoken English for centuries before that. Gaelic was not spoken in England, but the county of Cornwall had its native language, Cornish, which was declining in the 18th century.

Answer 6

the english language is dirived from celtic, fench and german due to different invasions thru out history as a whole no single country can be said as the main influence as it was regional dialect originaly the english royalty decided to teach language to help with commerce which then became known as english think it was in the 12th century this happened

Answer 7

Celtic was the language, Welsh is its closest relative

And actually, English as a common language was created by decree of King Henry, until then it was all very regional

Answer 8

Wow, good question!

There is so much in common between the two languages, but my understanding is that the major German influence arrived quite recently in our history (battenburgs). Hope you get some interesting answers from someone who knows more about this.

Answer 9

My family was from Russia and England, the English people I think had parents that spoke Celtic or something like that?

Answer 10

Er, it was English...

English developed from the invasion of the Angles, over 1500 years ago...it has nothing to do with the Hannoverians...

NB
Sam, your pretty spot on. Thats 2 good answers ive seen from you, good to see someone with some knowledge