History of English Revision Flashcards
(35 cards)
Old English
500-1100
An example of Old English
Beowulf
Middle English
1100-1500
An example of Middle English
Canterbury Tales
Early Modern English
1500-1800
An example of Early Modern English
Shakespeare
Modern English
1800-present
An example of Modern English
Londonstani
Etymology
The study of language - how words came to be
Anglo-Saxon
Brought to Britain by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes
400AD
Romans invade Britain but don’t leave much Latin behind
865
The Vikings bring Old Norse from Norway, Iceland and Sweden
1066
The Norman Invasion
1100
Middle English is spoken after the Norman invasion brings french words spoken by the upper class
When was the printing press invented
1476
What did the printing press do
It stopped the language from changing so fast, and spelling became standardized
1601
Age of Enlightenment, scientists start moving from Latin to English
What did colonisation do
Spread the English language and brought new words back to Britain
1611
King James Bible - people could understand their religon
What did Shakespeare do
Introduced about 2,000 new words and phrases, made English a literary language
4 Roots of English
Germanic (Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse), French/Norman (spoken by the upper class, words were more academic and fancy), Latinate (medical/scientific words) Greek (educated or academic words)
What did William Caxton do
He printed the dialects of the south-east midlands, which became a national norm
What happened in the 15th century
The Great Vowel Shift - change in pronunciation - weef -> wife
Morpheme
The smallest unit of linguistic meaning it is either a root word, prefix or suffix
