Old English

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 Germanic West Germanic Ingvaeonic? Anglo-Frisian Old English
Dialects	Kentish Mercian Northumbrian West Saxon
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 450 AD to 1100 AD. 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. In early centuries it was rarely written down, and when written it was in runes. After the 9th century, the Latin alphabet was used more. Old English grammar is difficult, with complex inflections, and close to Old German. Latin was used by churchmen like the venerable Bede. Old English gradually turned into Middle English after the Norman Conquest of 1066.

Beowulf is written in Old English in an alphabetic script.

Old English comparison

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

Other websites

• Old English -Citizendium