The English language reflects in its entire development the political, social, and cultural history of the English people.

"For two centuries, the Norman Conquest made English mainly the language of the lower classes, while French was used on almost all occasions by the nobles and their close associates. English had undergone some drastic changes from what it had been in 1066 when it once regained supremacy as the language of the elements of the population."

"Other important influences contributed to make English what it is today; such as, the hundred Years War, the rise of an important middle class during and after the plague, the Renaissance, the development of England as an important maritime power, the expansion of the British Empire, and the growth of commerce and industry, and of science and literature."

The Latin vocabulary which forms so important a part in English words have generally entered the language through the medium of writing. Unlike the Scandinavian influence and to a large extent the French influence after the Norman Conquest, the various Latin influences, except the earliest, have been the work of churchmen and scholars. Even the words borrowed from the Romance languages in the Renaissance period came in through books, and the revivals and new formations from native material were due to the efforts of individual writers and their associates.