English is aWest Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and eventually became a global lingua franca. It is named after the Angels, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to the area of Great Britain that later took their name, as England. Both names derive from Anglia, a peninsula in the Bltic Sea. The language is closely related to frisian and Low saxon, and its vocabulary has been significantly influenced by other Germanic languages, particularly Norse, and to a greater extent by Ltin and French.


English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a group of West Germanic dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-saxon lettlers in the 5th century, are collectively called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England; this was a period in which the language was influenced by French. Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London, the printing of the King James Bibleand the start of theGreat Vowel Shift.[