Where did English come from? - Claire Bowern

English, like most languages, has evolved through generations of speakers, undergoing major changes over time. By tracing these changes, we can understand its ancient roots.

The Norman invasion of England in 1066 introduced a massive amount of French and Latin vocabulary into the English language. Before this, the language was known as Old English, the language of Beowulf.

Old English belongs to the Germanic language family, brought to Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. Viking invaders also added borrowings from Old Norse.

Comparative linguistics helps trace the roots of modern English by focusing on grammar, sound changes, and core vocabulary. Examples include the 'p' to 'pf' shift in German and 'sk' to 'sh' in English.

English, Swedish, and German descended from Proto-Germanic, spoken around 500 B.C.E. This in turn can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European, spoken about 6000 years ago in modern-day Ukraine and Russia, the ancestor of nearly all languages in Europe and parts of Asia.

Some of English's distant relatives include Hindi, Persian, and Celtic languages. While Proto-Indo-European is the oldest identifiable ancestor, mysteries remain about even more ancient languages and connections between language families. Despite differences, nearly 3 billion people globally speak words shaped by 6000 years of history.