How long has the English language been around ?

Question

I'm writing a letter to a friend of mine, and I need some idea of how long the English language has been around . I doubt if anybody can give me a hard and fast answer, but I need a ball park figure . How can I find a website that might give me an answer ? What information can anybody give me ?

Answer 1

English, roughly three periods!

Old English, mixture of Latin and Germanic (Angles and Saxons)
from the 4th century to 1066
1066 William the Conqueror ”imported” French, again mixture to

Middle English (Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, 1400)

Modern English as a result of Henry VIII’s split from Rome, the translation of the Bible into the vernacular,
the invention of the press
and Shakespeare’s ingenuity at coining new phrases and expressions.

No clear dates, I’m afraid

You are welcome!

Answer 2

English has been around since the 400s AD. It is an Anglo-Frisian language that was brought to Britain by Germanic settlers. But at this time it was in the form of the Dutch, Flemish, and German languages. Old English then started to develop around 1000 AD, Middle English from 1066 AD - the 15th century AD, Early Modern English from 15th-17th centuries, and then American English from 18th century to present.

Answer 3

I would desire to trust Bruce fort in this . submit Norman English continues to be English as all of us comprehend English albeit with some transformations as quickly as a individual masters the spelling a minimum of ninety% of the words are recognisable in some way or the different Pre Norman is something else lower back, its no extra convenient than studying a thoroughly different language

Answer 4

Depends what you mean by English. basically, it is an amalgum of Germanic (Anglos Saxon) and Old French (Norman). I suppose you could start to date it from 1066. Chaucer wrote The Canturbury Tales in English in the 1300s. however, if you read then, it is not modern English

In al the parisshe wif ne was ther noon
That to the offrynge bifore hire sholde goon;
And if ther dide, certeyn so wrooth was she,
That she was out of alle charitee.

as an example.

by the time you get to Shakespeare, it is a little easier to read

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

Answer 5

In one form or another it's been around for about 1400 years. But it has had a lot of influenced from Scandinavia and French. The proper English language has been around for about 900 years but it has changed an awful lot gradually.

Answer 6

You are right I do not know . But know Hebrew Greek and were what the Bible was written in and some Chaldean, was not translated to English till the 1600s