The evolution of English

[Carol]

Cabal: 
> I never said the Anglos or Saxon's spoke German. I'm saying that
English evolved from German, the first spoken language in Great
Britain. That the Anglo/Saxon and later the French influenced the
language and it's development. Old English (Beowolf) is an evolution
from the language the Germanic Tribes living there spoke, after the
French occupation Old English evolved into Middle English. Anyone who
has ever spoken any form of English in history is speaking a language
that started as a form of German. That's just the facts of it.

Carol responds:
Those are *not* the facts, as you would no doubt discover if you
consulted your textbooks.

Once more: The people after whom English is named were Angles, not
Anglos, and they (like the Saxons and Jutes) spoke a form of Germanic,
not German, which is the modern language now spoken in Germany, just
as English is the language now spoken in England (and many other places.

"German"--or rather Germanic-- was *not* the first language spoken in
Britain. Ignoring a few cave sites that date to Paleolithic times, it
was originally settled by Neolithic peoples whose language is lost. It
was settled by Brythonic and Goidelic Celts, who blended with the
original inhabitants. Then came the Romans, who occupied Britain. Many
of the Britonic Celts became Romanized and accepted Christianity, by
then the religion of the Roman Empire. The Goidelic Celts of what is
now Scotland and Ireland, and the Picts, who may or may not have been
Celtic, remained pagan and barbarian (or whatever the PC term is for
rejecting the Latin language and Roman civilization). Not until after
the Romans left (around 414 A.D.) did the Germanic peoples--Angles
(not Angles), Saxons, and Jutes) arrive, settling different parts of
England and establishing their own kingdoms. ("Anglo-" is a combining
form; it is not the name of the tribe. If your textbook says
otherwise, it is inaccurate, and its author has done you a great
disservice by passing on misinformation.)

These Germanic tribes spoke a West Germanic language (call it what you
will, but it was certainly not what we now call German any more than
it was what we now call English) that by 600 A.D. was distinct from
the Germanic spoken in continental Europe. We call the language that
developed after they settled in Britain Old English or Anglo-Saxon
(because the Angles and Saxons had merged into one people). After the
Norman French (the Normans were originally Vikings: "Norman" = "North
man") occupation, Old English lost its inflections and adopted many
Norman French words, evolving into Middle English.

We at least agree that Old English evolved into Middle English under
the influence of (Norman) French and, presumably, that Middle English
evolved into Modern English.

Carol, who has simplified the facts in this post, leaving out
influences such as Old Norse, the language of the Vikings, and the
different dialects spoken by the Germanic tribes