Introduction

The English language, now spoken by over a billion people worldwide, has undergone remarkable transformations over the centuries. Among its earliest forms is Old English, also known as Anglo-Saxon, the language spoken in England from roughly the mid-5th century to the mid-12th century. This early form of English is almost unrecognizable to modern readers, yet it laid the foundation for what the language would become. The story of Old English is closely intertwined with the migration of Germanic tribes, the Christianization of Britain, Viking invasions, and the Norman Conquest.

Origins and Early Development (c. 450–600)

The roots of Old English trace back to the migration of Germanic tribes—notably the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes—from present-day Denmark and northern Germany to Britain following the withdrawal of Roman forces around 410 AD. These tribes brought with them various dialects of West Germanic, which gradually evolved into a distinct language on British soil.

The term "Old English" refers specifically to the language that developed after these migrations, particularly from around 450 AD onward, as the Germanic settlers established the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms such as Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, and East Anglia.

Old English was highly inflected, meaning that word endings changed depending on grammatical function. It had three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), five cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and instrumental), and a rich system of strong and weak verbs. shutdown123