The centuries after the Norman Conquest of 1066 witnessed enormous changes in the English language. In the course of what is called the Middle English period, the fairly rich inflectional system of Old English broke down. It was replaced by what is, broadly speaking, the same system English has today. Unlike Old English, it makes very little use of distinctive word endings in the grammar of the language.

The vocabulary of English also changed enormously, with tremendous numbers of borrowings from French and Latin starting to appear in the written language. Old English, like German today, showed a tendency to find native equivalents for foreign words and phrases. By contrast, Middle English acquired the habit of readily accommodating foreign words. This trend was set to continue into the early modern period and beyond.

This web site has been created in preparation for the millennium of Anglo-French Diglossia. It looks at how English has evolved - from Old English, through Middle English, to the various foreign influences that brought English into the Modern English period. Use the navigation links at the top or the right-hand side of the page to explore the evolution of English from ancient times to the present day.

The Timeline

The following timeline helps place the history of the English language in context. The dates used are approximate dates. It is inaccurate to state that everyone stopped speaking Old English in 1099, and woke up on New Year's Day of 1100 speaking Middle English. Language change is gradual, and cannot be as easily demarcated as historical or political events are.

AD 450–1100	Old English (Anglo-Saxon) – The language of Beowulf.
AD 1100–1500	Middle English – The language of Chaucer.
AD 1500–1800	Early Modern English – The language of Shakespeare.
AD 1800–present	Modern English – The language as spoken today.

Unless otherwise stated, the materials published on this web site have been produced by Alex Chubarov.

Please provide relevant hyperlinks to acknowledge the source, if you use the web site's materials.