London

Selected Languages

and Accents

of the Brittish Isles

The Celts - legend and myth

They've been called "barbarians" and savages

but who were these mysterious people

that where the first known

people to  live on the British Isles?

(also known as the Britons)

Queen Maev

by J.C. Leyndecker.

Women among the Celts could be both kings and warriors.

Remnants of the Celtic language

Crag

Combe

Brat

Brock

Tor

Caer

Thames

Dover

London

Romans!

Latin and Greek

43-410
A.D.

Roman ruins and architecture

Bath Spa

Hadrian's wall

Trade and battle with Romans

anchor,  camp, chest, cook, copper, devil, dish, fork, gem, inch, kitchen, mile, mill, mint (coin), noon, pillow, pound (unit of weight), punt (boat), sack, street, wall, wine

Western germanic tribes

West germanic tribes from the lowlands of Europe migrated to Britain during the 5 Century. They were warlike and adventurous and wanted more land.

ca. 450 -

Old English

Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians

The dialects of Old English are more or less co-terminous with the regional kingdoms. The various Germanic tribes brought their own dialects which were then continued in England.

Thus we have a Northumbrian dialect

(Anglian in origin), a Kentish dialect (Jutish in origin).

Frisiian, Old Low german, Old norse

Buter

Brea

Tsiis

Miel

Sliepe

Stoarm

Snie

Boat

Friisian words

Old norse

Offal

Bairn

Cake

Egg

Freckle

Husband

Ill

Knife

Old german

Aardvark

Bouy
Freeboater

Keelhaul

Schooner

Skipper

Waggon

Yacht

Vikings raids

793-850

Viking invasions and Danelaw

865-950

980-1012

Wessex

Alfred the Great

A defender of the English language

849-899

Beowulf

ca. 700-1000

The lord's prayer in Old English

Normand conquest

The Bayeaux tapistry

1066

William the conqueror

or Guillaume the Bastard

Was illiterate and never spoke English.

but had the greatest influence on the English language than anybody else before or since.

1028-1087

Battle of Hastings 1066

A hearty welcome

A cordial reception

The great Vowel shift

1350-1600

Why?

Deaths due to plague
Educated speakers of latin and french died?
 

Social mobility

Wars with France

General dialectal interactions
 

Maybe the old germanic languages have it "built into them"

- Den stora vokaldansen

Middle English

1150-1500

During this time the language continued to change. How to pronounce words and how to spell them became uniform and grammar was simplified.

Not many texts of the early middle English period survived due to norman domination - french became the language of culture, commerce and politics.

Stone

Kirk

Church

Kyrk

Kyrke

Chyrce

Kirke

Kerk

Kerke

Churche

Cherche

Chirche

Chyrche

Chyrge

schyrche

Running

Runnand

Runnend

Runnind

1469-1479

xal - schal - shall

The Canterbury tales

Geoffrey Chaucer

1387-1400

Shakespeare

1564-1616

Early
modern
English

The English renaissance

Elisabeth I

The Globe theatre

Influx of words

English started to spread

but also to absorb Words

from other languages.

Swear Words and cussing

Shakespearean insults

Romeo och Julia

A language that has survived the test of time

and works just as well in modern 20'th Century films.

Indoeuropean, Western branch

West European, Germanic, West Germanic

Anglo-Frisian, Old English, English.