HISTORY QUESTION: What language was created first English or Spanish?

Question

History Question i just need to know like a list of what languages were created in what order ETC.

Answer 1

English

English (in the form of Old English) was in the British Isles as early as the fifth century. Spanish did not become its own separate language until about 900 AD. Prior to that, it was still considered Latin. In order to be categorized as a separate language, it must have about a 20% deviation from the parent language. Therefore, Spanish did not qualify until well after English had become an established language in its own right. Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales in Middle English around the time Spanish was just starting to become its own language.

Answer 2

Not for voting. Just a comment.

I agree with what Jimmyiii is trying to say... that languages evolve from earlier languages and therefore are all basically the same age.

At the time of Christ, English existed as Anglo-Saxon and Spanish as Iberian Vulgar Latin but both were still around. In 2,000 B.C., English existed as Proto-Germanic and Latin existed as Italo-Celtic, but both were still around. If you go back to 4000 B.C. Latin and English were both just dialects of a common Indo-European language.

Answer 3

Spanish is 1036* years old. Poem of Mio Cid was written in + - 1200 AD and is pretty easy to understand. The original works of W. Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) can not be understood by the average native English speaker.

*) Not sure with the exact count of years. I wrote the number above based on a news report from Spain some 36 years ago, announcing the 1000 anniversary of the Spanish language.

Answer 4

I would think Spanish would have evolved first but in a form similar to Roman Latin at first. English came along after William the Conquerer (1066 CE) over threw the Anglos and Saxons. William was a Norman, which means he came from Normandy which is in France.

All that blending turned into early, then middle English. Chaucer wrote in middle English. But many of our words still have Lating roots. The Romans were there too.

Answer 5

Spanish.

Answer 6

Spanish was first. you must remember that England was a Roman Penal Colline and the people that where there had to go because it was like jail.they spoke roman as will as other languages.

Answer 7

see, all the present languages were there, as far back as you can go. But they werent in their present form. They were in a different form, they (gasp) EVOLVED. The languages evolved, but the PEOPLE didnt. Its hard to grasp that concept.

Answer 8

I would say Spanish as well, because it evolved from Anglo-Saxon, which in turn evolved from Latin/Germanic languages. That seems like it would come later.

Answer 9

I would say spanish. It is really latin based.

Answer 10

Latin is older than saxon.