What Were The Early Origins Of The English Language?
English belongs to the Indo-European family, the most widely spoken group of languages in the world. It may have originated from what is now eastern Turkey around 6,000 BC. The Indo-European family is subdivided into nine branches. Another theory is that English is a Germadic language, developed from the speech of Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who were Germadic tribes that invaded England from Northern Germany and Southern Denmark in the 5th Century. Old English began with the invasion of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. At the time of invasion, England was occupied by Celtic tribes who were driven out towards the edge of Britain. In England, language was almost completely overtaken by the Anglo-Saxons. Only a handful of Celtic words survived in modern day English. Towards the end of the 8th Century, Vikings from Scandinavia began invading England. Their Old Norse language was very similar to Anglo-Saxon invaders and much of the vocabulary was absorbed into Old English.
