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**saumemeva** · 07-07-2007, 04:15 PM

I beg to differ, sir.

From: http://www.m-w.com/help/faq/history.htm

The history of English is conventionally, if perhaps too neatly, divided into three periods usually called Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), Middle English, and Modern English. The earliest period begins with the migration of certain Germanic tribes from the continent to Britain in the fifth century A.D., though no records of their language survive from before the seventh century, and it continues until the end of the eleventh century or a bit later. By that time Latin, Old Norse (the language of the Viking invaders), and especially the Anglo-Norman French of the dominant class after the Norman Conquest in 1066 had begun to have a substantial impact on the lexicon, and the well-developed inflectional system that typifies the grammar of Old English had begun to break down.

It really doesn't matter much of course, since in about twenty years time, we'll all be speaking Mandarin Chinese.

07-07-2007, 04:15 PM	#15
saumemeva Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 440 Senior Member	I beg to differ, sir. From: http://www.m-w.com/help/faq/history.htm The history of English is conventionally, if perhaps too neatly, divided into three periods usually called Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), Middle English, and Modern English. The earliest period begins with the migration of certain Germanic tribes from the continent to Britain in the fifth century A.D., though no records of their language survive from before the seventh century, and it continues until the end of the eleventh century or a bit later. By that time Latin, Old Norse (the language of the Viking invaders), and especially the Anglo-Norman French of the dominant class after the Norman Conquest in 1066 had begun to have a substantial impact on the lexicon, and the well-developed inflectional system that typifies the grammar of Old English had begun to break down. It really doesn't matter much of course, since in about twenty years time, we'll all be speaking Mandarin Chinese.
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