2007-08-15 18:04:05 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
It evolved from Latin like the other European languages.
2007-08-15 18:10:12 · answer #1 · answered by Mr. Bodhisattva 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
The English language is a combination of the Indo-European family of languages that spread throughout India, Iran, and Europe nearly six thousand years ago from the Indus valley in India. It is a germanic language which includes German, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, and Nowegian. It also borrowed extensivly from Latin, a dead language now, which was spoken by the Romans. The langages that are moat like Latin are Italian, French, and Spanish. They are called Romance languages because they are most like the Latin poken by the Romans.
2007-08-15 18:24:39 · answer #2 · answered by Joseph M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No single person "founded" English. Only artificial languages such as Esperanto are "founded".
English is a Germanic language, thus it is part of the Germano-Slavic branch of Indo-European. Its closest living relative is Dutch. English has a large collection of French and Latinate vocabulary items, but its grammar remains basically Germanic and it is not closely related to any of the Romance languages.
2007-08-19 08:00:18 · answer #3 · answered by kmdavisus 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
English is a mish-mosh of linguistic evolution, immigration, adaptation, and butchery LOL
It's from saxon and germanic languages with a myraid of other influences and borrowings. Old English, circa 600 sounds JUST like german if you read and try to pronounce it. By the 11th century or so it begins to become recognizably english and with some training can be read by english speakers with good middle english dictionaries. So the answer is...well tribes that speak languages not even recongnizable to english speakers developed the original english language, and because so many different influences created the language we have all those strange spellings, pronounciations, and exceptions to the rules that drive other people crazy when they try to learn to speak our messed up language :D
2007-08-15 18:20:03 · answer #4 · answered by pippinstar 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
English derived from the Germanic language spoken by the Anglo-saxons, who invaded England a long time ago. Over time, many Greek and Latin words were added to form what is called,"Old English". From that we get our modern English.
2007-08-15 18:53:23 · answer #5 · answered by J.L. — Dominus Sapiens 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The vikings
2007-08-15 18:12:57 · answer #6 · answered by charles_montgomery_burns_jr 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋