Origins of English 01

English is the language with themost learners in the world and about two billion people now use English.

Old Englishoriginated from the Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons, Frisians, and Jutes whoentered the British Isles and developed it. The vocabulary of Old English wasmainly Germanic, including words from Latin and Old Norse. Germanic tribes fromwhat are now Denmark and northern Germany invaded Britain in the fifth centuryAD. The Germanic people spoke their own languages, including Old Norse,Frankish, Frisian, and Saxon, which were similar to today’s German and formedthe foundation of English. The Angles gave the invaded country and its languagethe names “England” and “English”. This naming marked a historic cultural andlinguistic shift in the region.