The Origins of

The Origins of

English

And they resisted the invading Scots...

...and then proceeded to invade most of the island they called England, land of the Angles.

When they arrived they discovered many new things with Latin names, "Strata", "Castrum"... and they adopted the new words into their language:

"Street," "Lancaster", "Chester"

The new language is known as Anglo-Saxon or Old English.

it is 450 A.D.

Many modern English words come directly from Anglo-Saxon, although they are not always easy to identify.

scip

bricg

halig dæg

husbonda

Can you guess the meaning of the Old-English word "middenaeht"?

Midnight.

The romanized Celts were not warriors now...

they were Roman citizens, and they studied the art of Diplomacy...

...It's called

"Romanization"

With nobody defending Hadrian's wall, the Scots were very happy...

...because now they could invade all of Britain with no opposition.

END OF PART ONE

But the barbarian tribes in the north, called Scots, were too rebellious to romanize, so emperor Hadrian built a wall in 128 A.D. to stop their continuous invasions.

They used diplomacy to convince the Germanic tribes on the continent to defend them in exchange for land. They came across the sea...

the Angles

The wall inspired George R.R.Martin's wall

of ice in his bestseller "Game of Thrones"

the Saxons

As a result of nearly 500 years of Roman domination, most of the people in Britain now spoke Latin as an official language, while the original Celtic languages were reduced to dialects.

But in 410 - 430 A.D. things changed dramatically...

In 410 A.D. Rome, the capital of the empire, was under attack by the Visigoths.

As a result, all the Roman legions received orders to return, urgently, to defend the capital.

the Jutes

When they went away, they left Britain undefended, because the romanized Celts were not fighters now.

...they were merchants, farmers

and politicians.

450 BC (approximately)

In the iron age Britain was occupied by the Celts /kelts/, they were organized in tribes and had a politheistic religion, led by druids.

One of the most famous Celtic monuments still visible today is Stonehenge

The Celts were fighters, who painted their bodies blue with a plant called "woad"

With the spread of Christianty in the English kingdoms, the monastic orders introduced a second wave of Latin words:

School

Library

Family

Discipline

Augustine arrived in Kent in 597, with 40 missionaries. The king of Kent, Æthelberht, was not certain if he should listen to Augustine, or kill him for fear of black magic...

Sacred

Regulation

In the end Augustine successfully converted Æthelberht, and Canterbury became the capital of Christianity in England. Even today, the Christian authority who resides in London is called "Archbishop of Canterbury".

596 A.D.

Pope Gregory the Great sent a Roman Prior to evangelize the pagan Anglo-Saxons. His name was Augustine.

...Augustine was not very happy to go.

54 B.C. Romanization of Britain

There is a name for this

process...

Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 53-54 B.C.

The Roman Empire introduced paved streets, hot and cold running water and sewers, and also imposed justice, crime-fighting and organized military defense.

The Celts were gradually submitted and became Roman citizens, they took up activities like commerce, farming or politics.