Who were the Anglo-Saxons? What language did they speak?

Who were the Anglo-Saxons? What language did they speak?

The Anglo-Saxons:

The Anglo-Saxons were migrants from northern Europe who settled in England in the fifth and sixth centuries. They came from three very powerful Germanic peoples, the Saxons, Angles and Jutes.  Initially comprising many small groups and divided into a number of kingdoms, the Anglo-Saxons were finally joined into a single political realm – the kingdom of England – during the reign of King Æthelstan (924–939). They remained the dominant political force until the last king of Anglo-Saxon England, Harold II, was killed by the Normans at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Anglo-Saxons spoke the language we now know as Old English, an ancestor of modern-day English. Its closest cousins were other Germanic languages such as Old Friesian, Old Norse and Old High German.

Language Spoken by the Anglo-Saxons:

Surviving Anglo-Saxon manuscripts from Anglo-Saxon England show that there were different dialects spoken in different parts of the country, such as West Saxon, Northumbrian and Mercian. The oldest English poem, Cædmon’s Hymn, was composed in the Northumbrian dialect of English.

A number of other languages were spoken or understood by certain individuals in Anglo-Saxon England, including Latin (the language of the Church and learning), Greek, Cornish and Irish (the latter being the language of many early missionaries). 

From the time of the Viking invasions of England, starting in the 9th century, Old Norse was spoken across many parts of northern and eastern England, as is evident in many surviving place-names: for instance, modern York is derived from the Scandinavian name, Jorvik...................................................

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Milan Tomic

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