Foxy,
>So where did the English language come from?
>It would be interesting to know - seeing as we're discussing
>the English language.
>Anyone know?

Yes, I know. The clue is in the name:
It came from England!

English is a West Germanic language that originated
from Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain
in the mid 5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon
settlers. The earliest form of English is called
Old English or Anglo-Saxon (c.550-1066 CE). Old English
developed from a set of North Sea Germanic dialects
originally spoken along the coasts of Frisia, Lower
Saxony, Jutland and Southern Sweden by Germanic tribes
known as the Angles, Saxons and Jutes.

In order to fully grasp where the English language came from
we must travel back in time approx. 5 thousand years to
an area north of the Black Sea in SE Europe. Experts
tell us that they spoke a language called Proto-Indo-
European languages. Proto-Indo European is believed to be
the ancestor of most European languages.

These include those that became ancient Greek, ancient
German and the ancient Latin. Latin disappeared as a
spoken language. Yet it left behind - 3 great languages
that became modern Spanish, French, and Italian. Ancient
Greek became Dutch, Danish, German, Norwegian, Swedish - and
one of the languages that developed into English.

The English language is a result of the invasions of the
island of Britain over many hundreds of years. The invaders
lived along the northern coast of Europe. The first invasions
were as stated earlier by a people called Angles about
one thousand five hundred years ago. And again as
stated earlier the Angles were a Germanic tribe. Later two
more groups - the Saxons and Jutes came. These groups were
called Celts.

Fascinating stuff and worth knowing in a discussion on the
English language. I enjoyed doing a bit of research. I was
hoping others would contribute as well.

Foxy,
Yes there were bits fit from Latin, Greek, Norse etc (and if you go further back, Sanskrit). But there are elements of the english language that are thought to have originated in England and survived the invasions of Romans, Angles, Saxons,Vikings and Normans.

The English language is a result of the invasions of the
island of Britain over many hundreds of years.
Foxy,
There, you've answered your own question !

Dear Aidan,

English originated from Germanic languages which
originated from Sanskrit. English also has a lot of
Latin words but they were borrowed from the Roman
Rule of England.

However many scholars believe that it was not Sanskrit
but a Proto Language which is the ancestor of European
Languages as well as Sanskrit.

You can Google a whole lot of English words that are
derived from Sanskrit via Latin, Greek, and Persian.

Sanskrit belongs to the Indo-European family of Languages.
It is one of three ancient documented languages that arose from
a common root language now referred to as Proto-Indo
European languages. Vedic Sanskrit (c1500-500BCE)
Mycenaean Greek (1450 BCE) and Ancient Greek (c750-400BC).

Individual,

I have tried to answer the question.
And Aidan did very well.

Unfortunately, you did not.