Old English

Old English (Englisċ or Ænglisc) or Anglo-Saxon,By the 16th century the term Anglo-Saxon came to refer to all things of the early English period, including language, culture, and people. While it remains the normal term for the latter two aspects, the language began to be called Old English towards the end of the 19th century, as a result of the increasingly strong anti-German nationalism in English society of the 1890s and early 1900s. However, many authors still also use the term Anglo-Saxon to refer to the language. was spoken in Anglo-Saxon England from 450 AD to 1100 AD. It was spoken by the Anglo-Saxons, who came to Great Britain from what are now Germany and Denmark. Different Anglo-Saxon kingdoms spoke different dialects, but a western dialect became the main literary version. Both modern languages of England and Scotland (English and Scots) came from the language of the Anglo-Saxons.

Old English is a West Germanic language and developed out of Ingvaeonic, which is very different from Modern English because it is closer to German than to English and has for its closest relatives Old Frisian and Old Saxon. It has many more Germanic words, difficult grammar and complex inflections.

In early centuries, Old English was rarely written down, and even then, it was in runes. After the 8th century, the Latin alphabet was used more often by churchmen like the Venerable Bede. After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Old English was replaced by Anglo-Norman, which gradually turned into Middle English.

The epic poem Beowulf is written in Old English in an alphabetic script.

 Old English comparison Languages  wordlist English apple  path  eat  tide  make  child  give  day Old English æppel  pæþ  etan  tid  macian  cild  giefan  dæg German Apfel  Pfad  essen  Tide  machen Kind  geben  Tag

 References 

 Other websites 

 Old English -Citizendium