The influence of the invasion by the Germanic tribes on the English language

The Germanic tribes who settled in Britain in the 5^th century spoke the very closely related Germanic tongues of their continental homelands. From these developed the English language. In fact, the words English and England are derived from the name of one of these early Germanic peoples, the Angles. English has been spoken in England, changing gradually as languages must. Te Earliest written records of the English language are all but incomprehensible to the speaker of Modern English without special training.

As soon as the Britons were left to themselves, they had very little peace for many years. Sea rovers came sailing in ships from other countries, and the Britons were always busy trying to defend themselves. Among these invaders were some Germanic tribes called Angles, Saxons and Jutes (who lived in the northern and central parts of Europe). They spoke different dialects of the West Germanic language from which modern English developed. A wild and fearless race, they came in hordes from over the North Sea and, try as they might, the Britons could never drive them away. And many battles were fought by the Britons until at last they were forced to retreat to the west of Britain: to Wales, Cornwall and Strathclyde. Those who ventured to stay became the slaves of the invaders and were forced to adopt many of their customs and learn to speak their languages.

The Angles, Saxons and Jutes were pagans, that is to say they believed in many gods. The gods of the Anglo-Saxons were: Tu or Tuesco – god of Darkness, Woden – god of War, Thor – The Thunderer, and Freia – goddess of Prosperity. When people learned to divide up time into weeks and the week into seven days, they gave the names of their gods. It is not hard to guess that Sunday is the day of the Sun, Monday – the day of the Moon, Tuesday – the day of the god Tuesco, Wednesday – Woden’s day, Thursday – Thor’s day, Friday – Freia’s day, and Saturday – Saturn’s day (Saturn was the god of Time worshipped by ancient Romans).