History of English

A webpage about the [url=http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_old.html]history of the English language[/url] and how it came to be. I was just going to post the link above for the origin of the English Language, but decided to integrate it with the origin of Great Britain using my own acquired historical knowledge below. The British people often look at ourselves as a pedigree nation, which is responsible for the most widespread language in the modern world, but across most of Britain, we are mostly mongrel and our language evolved from and still bares many similarities to the old NW German & Danish languages, along with other mixes and influences of Latin, Greek, Scandinavian, Dutch & French. Our modern Royal family are all direct descendants of modern Germany (Queen Victoria's 1st language was German and she had to learn English). The Anglo-Saxon references of Great Britain all derive from the Angles of Angeln (a neck of land connecting Denmark to Germany) & the Saxons of Saxony (NW Germany) and to a lesser degree, the Jutes of Jutland (modern Denmark). All our original native Celts were pushed out of Anglaland/Englaland/England, further North & West, never able to integrate with the Germans & Danes, who they saw as Barbarians to their much more sophisticated culture acquired from their previous Roman integration. The Celtic Natives who spoke a variety of languages from their Albion/Brittanic/British ancestors, also incorporating some new words from the ancient languages of Latin & Greek brought in with the Romans, became know to the Anglo-Saxons as Waeles, meaning both [i]Slaves & Foreigners[/i], which later became known as Wales and formed isolated nations, not just in the modern principality of Wales (previously Cambria), but at the time also the whole of Devon & Cornwall (previously part of Britannia), which was known as West Wales. They were also pushed further north and west to join their native cousins in Scotland (previously Caledonia) & Ireland (previously Hibernia), who all retained their original languages in various dialects for hundreds of years after and in some parts of Wales, Scotland & Ireland, the languages are still spoken and written today. To get a real taste of ancient Albions (British), you only need to look at our oldest languages, the celtic languages , however, Britain would never have come to be [b]Britain[/b] and a future [b]British Empire[/b] and a widespread spoken language of English, without the integration of the Roman, Viking, Angle, Jute & Saxon invaders and it would also never have been known as [b]Great Britain[/b] without the previous separation of it's natives to Ireland, Scotland & Wales who later rejoined the greater (Great) part of a single ruling Monarch, ruling over the whole of the Isles of Britain (later becoming only England, Scotland, Wales & [u]Northern Ireland[/u] in 1922). Although the original Celtic nations are still treated like Great Britain's little brothers and less English than England, they are nonetheless, the closest thing to a British (Albion) Pedigree and most probably only got their names and retained their old languages from their defiance and opposition to the rule of invaders/conquerors of the largest area of their island now know as England. This is why there is never any animosity among the Celtic nations (Scotland, Ireland & Wales), we share a common history and persecution in our ancestors land and so that the English nation of Britain and the whole world can understand, we do not consider ourselves as different nations or any more pedigree, we simply do not see England as our mother country or even as our big brother, we only see them as the [b]conquered and compliant mongrel part of our country[/b]. Without doubt, even the Celtic nations are mixed with the Celts who fled the land now known as England when the invasions and dissent toward the natives (Waeles) began. Therefore England can rest assured that their historical DNA is still preserved in the Celtic Natives in Scotland, Wales & Ireland. However, I for one, am not one for living in the past and wish for the time of total unification of one nation with one language, even though [b]English is ironically the official language of Wales & Scotland, but not England[/b] !

Tis interesting but somewhat controversial to me. I cannot help but associate the spread of the English language with colonialism, which was very traumatic, to say the least, for the indigenous people who were colonised. Good to know about the origins of my first language none-the-less. Thanks for sharing.

Oh I agree, the British Empire was nothing short of World Domination at the expense of the natives all over the world and I most certainly do not condone it. This page was [b]not[/b] about the British Empire, it was about the origins of the English Language and how so many different cultures and interbreeding had to be involved to form what has now become the most widespread language in the world. Of course the actions of our ancestors were historic and nothing to do with anyone alive today, but the Empire was the result of the desires of the wealthy and the aristocracy to acquire new land and resources and therefore, power! Did everyone know that Reich means Empire?