English

English is a west Germanic language spoken as an official language in a number of countries. Its importance during period was little, with Latin and French being the major languages used for politics and science. As many as half the words in modern English come from Latin (some via Greek) and a great many French words were introduced as a result of the Norman invasion of England during 1066. The combination of Latin, French and Germanic words has lead to a total vocabulary much larger than most other languages and with many words there exists an overlap (e.g. "start" from German and "commence" from French).

It is easy for speakers of Modern English to read text that was produced in the years after around 1400 AD but earlier English is almost unintelligible. The article on Old English provides good examples of this)

See also

• Old English
• Middle English
• Languages