The origin of English language

By Thorn Mulli

That what we now know as modern English has its roots in old English, a form of English today’s users would find hard to understand?

 Interestingly, old English is believed to have originated from Germanic tribes that had invaded modern day England.

It would later undergo evolution after adopting various words from other languages to become the world’s most widespread language, both spoken and written.

It is a fact that among all recorded languages, English has the widest vocabulary. Now, it has many varieties that include: American English with Spanish, African and French influences, British, New Zealand, Canadian, South African, West African, Indian, and Caribbean English.

At one time, English was considered language of the commoners much like sheng is in Kenya, French, on the other hand, was the language for diplomacy, Latin was language for the church and Greek considered the language for philosophy and science, hence the phrase ‘talking Greek’ to imply one talking complex matters.

Amazingly, China has more English speakers than the United States of America.

The first English dictionary The Table Alphabeticall and Daily English Newspaper ‘Daily Courant’ were both published in 1604 and 1702, respectively in London.