Old English language

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

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Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/old-english-language

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the language family?West Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family
2. What is the period of use?Approximately 450 AD to 1150 AD
3. What is Old English?Old English was the language spoken in England a long time ago, before modern English. It was the ancestor of the English we use today.
4. Why did Old English change after the Norman Conquest?After 1066, the Norman French language became the language of the rulers, government, and law. This added many French words to English and changed the language a lot.

West Germanic: A major subgroup of the Germanic languages, encompassing English, German, Dutch, and Frisian.
Inflection: The modification of a word's form to express grammatical functions such as tense, mood, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, and case.
Loanword: A word adopted from one language into another.
Norman Conquest: The 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by Norman, Breton, and French forces.