English 12A
Page #1
The History of the English Language
Objective
In this lesson, you will
A Brief History of the English Language
Key Term
Languages
English is a
Etymology is the study of the
they gradually encountered new
inventions led to the creation of new
language
and the development of
have the
over hundreds of thousands of years. As humans spread across the
old scenery, wildlife, and climates. New encounters and
Clashes with other tribes or groups of people led to
less languages.
Scholars compare cognates to determine whether languages are
: words that look
can be
meaning.
English
brother
milk
stone
bread
language that belongs to the Indo-European language family.
Cognates are literary
through different languages, and
Germanic Cognates
German
bruder
more
milch
stein
brot
Dutch
broer
melk
and
steen
brood
Swedish
broder
mjölk
of words.
sten
bröd