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England is the largest and arguably the most important constituent country of the United Kingdom and occupies most of the island of Great Britain, the same island which Scotland and Wales are also located on. England is a mixture of various cultures, being shaped by the Celts before the Romans before the Anglo-Saxons (and Vikings) before the Normans invaded and essentially gave birth to the English language as we know it today.

Old English

Originally, the people who lived on Great Britain spoke languages from the Brittonic language branch which include the ancestor languages of today's Welsh, Cornish and Breton. Later, when the Romans ruled modern day England from 43-410 AD Latin had crept its way into the island, but it remained mostly popular among only the elite.

After Rome

When the Romans left, Latin started to decline (except for in the Church, who spoke Latin by tradition and needed it to read the Bible) though some Latin-inspired words remained like 'street', 'city' and 'wine'. The Romans were replaced by various Germanic tribes, most notably the Angles, Saxons and Jutes who replaced Celtic and led to the development of Old English.

Old English was most popular from 450-1150 AD and was developed by the Anglo-Saxons (formed by unification of the Anglo and Saxon tribes). Old English is a true mixture of various languages, with missionary efforts bringing Latin vocabulary to common peoples (600+), Vikings from Norway settling in the north (700-1000) and King Alfred the Great (849–899) heavily promoting the language, most notably by having scholars translate Latin texts into Old English aswell as translating himself.

Middle English

In 1066, after the Battle of Hastings, William the Conquerer who was the Duke of Normandy (a kingdom settled by vikings located in the north of France) replaced Old English, a language developed from Germanic dialects with Norman French among nobility.

This would later become Middle English, where around 10,000 French words would find their way into their English language. Because the Normans had conquered England, words carrying prestige like those relating to luxury (beef, sauce, banquet) military (army, battle, soldier) culture (music, art, romance) and government (crown, jury, parliament) would come from French whilst everyday words remained Old English, used by the peasants.