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
|
| 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 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. It was rarely written down, and when written it was in runes. This is an alphabet completely different from the Latin alphabet used for English today. Old English grammar is difficult, 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 scrip
This short article about the United Kingdom can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it. |
This language has its own Wikipedia project. See the Old English edition. |
