关于英语的历史

英语的历史从1500多年前的北欧开始。 在公元5世纪左右，称为天使、撒克逊和黄麻的人们的部落从德国和丹麦旅行向西过北海。 他们迁入英国，并且在7世纪末以前，他们讲早期的形式英语。

在8世纪末，斯堪的那维亚人攻占英国。 战争持续了将近200年。 在这个时期，很多拉丁语、丹麦和古斯堪的那维亚的单词融入英语。 象炊具和杯子与生活息息相关一样，拉丁语给了英语很多单词。 从丹麦语和古斯堪的那维亚语中，英国人借鉴过来了皮肤、腿、以及各种词格的代词“他们”、“他们的”。 来自古斯堪的那维亚语的很多同义词统一到英语中，例如，愤怒(英语的wrath和古斯堪的那维亚语的anger)；生病(英语的sick和古斯堪的那维亚语的ill)，都在英语中进行了统一。

1066年，诺曼人征服英国。 法语成为富人的语言和强有力的象征，但穷人主要讲英语。 在14世纪末，英语再次成为第一语言。 到这时，英国人使用的很多词汇来自法语或者拉丁语，并且许多早期的词汇已经不复存在。

到了第16和17世纪，人们对古典作品感兴趣。 在这个时期，来自拉丁语和希腊语的词汇被归入英语。 许多词汇或者单词的组成部分，从那些语言被用现代英语引进使用。 今天，英语有来自大多数世界性语言的泊来单词。 你或许能找到英语使用的某个词汇是最先来自你的母语。

English is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries and of the United States since the mid 20th century,it has become the lingua franca in many parts of the world. It is used extensively as a second language and as an official language in Commonwealth countries and many international organizations.

Historically, English originated from several dialects, now collectively termed Old English, which were brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers beginning in the 5th century. The language was influenced by the Old Norse language of Viking invaders. After the Norman conquest, Old English developed into Middle English, borrowing heavily from the Norman (Anglo-French) vocabulary and spelling conventions. The etymology of the word "English" is a derivation from 12th century Old English: englisc or Engle, and plural form Angles; definition of, relating to, or characteristic of England. Modern English developed with the Great Vowel Shift that began in 15th-century England, and continues to adopt foreign words from a variety of languages, as well as coining new words. A significant number of English words, especially technical words, have been constructed based on roots from Latin and ancient Greek.