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2006-12-12 09:13:03 · 4 answers · asked by SonicZ 2 in Society & Culture Languages

4 answers

I assume you are referring to the use of the Latin alphabet to write the English language (rather than the use IN England of the Latin alphabet, first by the Romans themselves...long before it WAS "England", before those who spoke what would become English had migrated to the British Isles).

In that case, the answer is -- about. the 7th century AD. Before this, beginning in the 5th century, the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc had been used. For some time BOTH were used, and certain letters from the Futhorc, or influenced by it were added to the form of the Latin alphabet used in England, viz., the letters thorn þ and wynn ƿ. and later eth ð as a modification of d, etc. The Latin alphabet had basically replaced the Futhorc by the 9th century. (Incidentally, the roots of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc going back to the 2nd century AD may itself be found either in the Latin alphabet, or perhaps Old Italic alphabet.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_alphabet#Old_English
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_Futhorc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elder_Futhark (see esp. "Origins")
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Italic_alphabet

2006-12-13 21:19:54 · answer #1 · answered by bruhaha 7 · 0 0

Before the Romans conquered England, the Celtic inhabitants spoke (hardly wrote) Celtic (Gaelic).
As this language was totally suppressed by the Romans, they all had to speak Latin, and consequently the few who were able to read and write had to adopt the Roman letter.
From 54 BC on.

2006-12-12 17:25:13 · answer #2 · answered by saehli 6 · 0 1

When the Normans took over (1066). English proper didn't need all those compound letters like th, sh, wh and so on. Each of them stands for an Anglo Saxon letter. It made English look like every other European language even if it buggered up our spelling.

2006-12-12 17:25:58 · answer #3 · answered by malcolm c 1 · 0 1

the question is not clear as to what you mean

2006-12-12 17:19:31 · answer #4 · answered by davidbareuk 2 · 0 1

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