1. In the year 400 CE the Anglo-saxons and Celts were ruled by Romans.
2. When the Roman Empire crumbled, four Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians) sailed across the water, did away with the Celts, and formed kingdoms in the British Isles.
3. The Germanic language of the Anglo Saxons became the common language, what we call old English.
4. In the 700’s a series of Vikings invasions began - ultimately splitting the island in half - and bringing a new language influence, Old Norse.
5. In 1066 the Norman Conquest brought war again to the British Isles. As a result, for three centuries French was the language of the British royalty.
6. The French also brought Roman Catholic clergymen with them, which brought Latin words to the language.
7. The connotation of nobility and authority has persisted around words of Germanic origin
8. The connotation of “real people”, the “salt of the earth” has persisted around words of Latin origin.
9. A British judge, Sir William Jones discovered the connections between languages and ancient Sanskrit language - that certain words were all part of the same language family.
10. English, Danish, and Dutch languages are all part of the same category of languages - the Germanic tongues.
11. The Germanic tribes, the ancestors of English, include these four tribes: Anglos, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians
12. True
13. Anyone who knows modern English will understand the basic principles of Old English and its structural difference from the English we speak today.
14. It’s the word endings that convey much of the grammar in Old English. (not the prepositions)
*It’s the form of the words, not the word order, that conveys the meaning.
15. Many of the basic words of our language (words like the, this, that, I, me, him, it) are Anglo-Saxon words.