How did the English language evolve from its origins

The English language has come a long way: what began as a dialect of invading peoples, was enriched with the contribution of various cultures until it became the most important language in the world. Here is a review of this interesting story.

English in our day
English is a Germanic language of the Indo-European family. Today it is the second most widely spoken language in the world after Chinese. However, English is the most widely used language in the world and is on its way to becoming the universal language. Here are some of the reasons that explain this supremacy over other languages ​​such as French, Spanish and Arabic:

It is the official or co-official language in more than 45 countries.
Half of all business deals are carried out in English.
Two thirds of scientific studies are written in English.
More than 70% of all emails are written and addressed in English.
It is the language par excellence of science today: computing.
Most of the international tourism, aviation and diplomacy are conducted in English.
In addition, English is present in the cultural, social, political and economic life of most of the countries of the world.
As an interesting fact, we can mention that more English-speaking people live in China than in the United States.

Origin and History
The history of the English can be described from the arrival of three Germanic tribes to the British Isles in the years 500 BC. The Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes crossed the North Sea from what we know today as Denmark and northern Germany. The Anglos received that name due to their homeland Engle or Angels. They called their own language Englisc, a word that derived from English or English.

Before the arrival of the Germanic tribes, the inhabitants of Great Britain spoke a language of Celtic origin. These people were forced to move to Wales, Cornwall and Scotland, which is why the Celtic was quickly displaced. A group migrated to the coast of French Brittany, where their descendants, even today, speak the Breton language, of Celtic origin. Because English serfdom cooked for Norman nobility, the names of most domestic animals are English (ox, cow, calf, sheep, swine, deer), while the names of the meats obtained from these animals They are of French origin (beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, venison).

Eventually, the Germanic form of plurals (house, housen; shoe, shoen), was displaced by the French form of creating plurals: adding an "s" at the end of words (house, houses; shoe, shoes). Only in some cases, the Germanic plural form has been preserved: men, oxen, feet, teeth, children.

The French influence also affected the writing, so that the sound "cw" was written as "qu" (thus, "cween" became "queen")

It was not until the 14th century that English became the dominant language in Britain again. In 1399, Henry IV became the first King of England, since the Norman Conquest, whose mother tongue was English. By that time, the London dialect had emerged as the standard dialect of what is now called Middle English, or Medieval English.

During the last years of the medieval period and the first of the modern period (15th to 17th centuries), a continuous process of standardization of the English language was observed, in the territory that extends south of the border with Scotland. The language spoken and written in London (The London Standard) continued to evolve, spreading its use among the higher sectors of society, especially in formal contexts. The other regional varieties were displaced, under the stigma that indicated a lack of social prestige and education.