Some Dates on the History of the English Language and the English Vocabulary
| Time | History | Language |
| centuries BC | Celtic tribes on the British isles | traces of their language in place-names: |
| 55/54 BC-AD 410 | romanization | |
| 449 | Angles, Saxons, Jutes from Northern Germany and Southern Scandinavia arrive on the British isles | beginning of Old English period; early Latin influences: |
| since 6th c. | christianization under Irish monks and St. Augustin | Latin influence: |
| 8th c. | Benedictine Reform | first documents in Latin alphabet (instead of runes); further Latin influence: |
| 8th/9th c. | the Vikings invade the Anglo-Saxon territories | Scandinavian influence: |
| 878 | Alfread the Great (871-899) beats the Vikings --> cultural bloom | |
| late 10th/early 11th c. | new attempts by Vikings to conquer England | |
| 1066 | the Normans under William the Conqueror conquer England under King Harold in the Battle of Hastings | beginning of the Middle English
period influence from Northern French: |
| 13th-15th c. | French rulers lack contact with home country --> John Lackland: last Norman king | influence from Parisian French: |
| 14th c. | English becomes the official language at court and at school; Geoffrey Chaucer writes the Canterbury Tales | influence from other languages: |
| 1424-1471 | William Caxton distributes the English language in printed form and influences the standardization process (the dialect around London becomes the basis for our modern standard variety) | |
| 16th/17th c. | William Shakespeare (1564-1616) writes The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Macbeth, a.m.o. | Early Modern English period |
| 1621 | Mayflower lands on America's east coast | this marks the beginning of
the split of English into BrE, AmE, and later also other national varieties;
language influence from other colonializing and colonialized nations: |
| 1755 | Samuel Johnson publishes his first dictionary in Britain | |
| 1776 | American Declaration of Independence | |
| 1783ff./1828 | Noah Webster publishes his first grammars in America and later his dictionary |
The following list gives examples for each of the influencing languages in question (to be used by the referent):
References
BAMMESBERGER Alfred (1984), English Etymology. Heidelberg: Winter.
BAUGH Albert C. / CABLE Thomas (1991), A History of the English
Language. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
SCHELER Manfred (1977), Der englische Wortschatz. Berlin: Schmitt.