Old English
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Old English | |
|---|---|
| Ænglisc, Anglisc, Englisc | |
| Region | England (except the extreme southwest and northwest), southern and eastern Scotland, and the eastern fringes of modern Wales. |
| Era | mostly developed into Middle English by the 13th century |
| Language family |
Indo-European
|
| Dialects | |
| Writing system | Runic, later Latin (Old English alphabet). |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | ang |
| ISO 639-3 | ang |
The Old English language, often called Anglo-Saxon, was spoken in England from 450AD to 1100AD. It was spoken by the Anglo-Saxons who came to England from what is now Germany and Denmark.
Old English is very different from Modern English; it has many more Germanic words, and its grammar is more difficult and closer to Old German. Old English slowly turned into Middle English after the Norman Conquest of 1066.
Beowulf is written in Old English.
 |
This language has its own Wikipedia project. See the Old English edition. |
