Q. What peoples inhabited the British Isles before the coming of English?
A. Before the coming of English, the Celtic people had inhabited the British Isles for many centuries.

Q. According to Bede, what circumstances brought the Germanic tribesmen to Britain, and which tribes participated in the settlement of the island?
A. According to Bede, around the year 730, the Britons appealed to Rome for help against the Picts from the north , the Scots from the west, and Germanic sea raiders called Saxons. Rome sent shiploads of Germanic warrior-adventurers to help the Celts, who had neither the heart nor skill for warfare.. The first landing of these warriors, in 449, is considered the beginning of the "Old English" period, and the thinking of Britain as England-the land of the Angles , even though the ships carried Jutes, Saxons, Frisians, & other tribes from Germania. [The term Anglo-Saxon applies to this time also.]

Q. What was the influence of the Scandinavian settlement on the English language?
A. Germanic raiders were invaded by other Germanics beginning in the 8^th century. These Vikings raided the south, then for the next 15 years, they conquered almost the entire eastern part of England. In the 10^th century, the second wave of the Viking conquest erupted. [The English called them Danes.] Earlier Scandinavian raiders mainly looted, but by the 11^th century, the northern invaders seemed interested in colonization and assimilation. Old English and Old Norse had many words in common, among them :

man, wife, mother, winter, summer, mine & thine.

Q. Which dialect of Old English was the standard language and from which dialect has Modern English descended?
A. In Anglo-Saxon England 4 dialects were spoken.

The Jutes spoke Kentish in Kent.

West Saxon was spoken south of the Thames, exclusive of Kent.

Mercian was spoken from the Thames to the Humber, exclusive of Wales.

Northumbrian was the fourth dilalect, spoken north of the Humber.

Mercian & Northumbrian had certain features in common that distinguished them from West Saxon & Kentish. They’re sometimes grouped together and called Anglican, since those who spoke these north-of-the -Thames dialects were predominantly Angles.

Although standard Modern English is largely a descendant of Mercian speech, standard Old English dialect was mainly West Saxon.

{ Old English manuscripts largely regarded as literature are in West Saxon.}