The Mother Tongue: The First Thousand Years About 1500 years a few people in a remote corner of what we now call England, an awkward Germanic tongue was spoken which we now call English. But how did this insignificant language of barbarians grow to become the dominating language of the western world? This journey was a delicate and risky survival and adaptation of our language. When English was first spoken is was a tongue that nearly …showed first 75 words of 680 total…

…showed last 75 words of 680 total…added. Many of these words are from the great bard himself. Shakespeare invented over 2000 words and terms including “be in a pickle,” foul play,” “in to thin air,” and “salad days.” Although it seemed English was growing quickly it still had a long way to go. Newton’s works were still published in Latin, and Edward Gibbon wrote his works in French. “As Baugh and Cable noted, ‘The use of English was frankly experimental.’” (p.66)