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Unlike many other areas of the Western Roman Empire, the current majority language is not a Romance language, or a language descended from the pre-Roman inhabitants. The British language at the time of the invasion was Common Brittonic , and remained so after the Romans withdrew.
British Latin or British Vulgar Latin was the Vulgar Latin spoken in Great Britain in the Roman and sub-Roman periods. While Britain formed part of the Roman Empire, Latin became the principal language of the elite and in the urban areas of the more romanised south and east of the island.
One aspect of Roman influence seen in British life was the grant of Roman citizenship. [14] At first this was granted very selectively: to the council members of certain classes of towns, whom Roman practice made citizens; to veterans, either legionaries or soldiers in auxiliary units; and to a number of natives whose patrons obtained citizenship for them.
There was never an official language of the empire, however, Latin and Greek were the main languages. [16] During the early years of the Roman Empire, educated nobles often relied on their knowledge of Greek to meet societal expectations, and knowledge of Latin was useful for a career in the military, government, or law. [17]
Late Old English (c. 900–1150), the final stage of the language leading up to the Norman conquest of England and the subsequent transition to Early Middle English. [ 12 ] The Old English period is followed by Middle English (1150–1500), Early Modern English (1500–1650) and finally Modern English (after 1650), and in Scotland Early Scots ...
Other sources, however, indicate that such a language did exist, and that it was the language descended from the Norman French originally established in England after the Conquest. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] Although Anglo-Norman and Anglo-French were eventually eclipsed by modern English , they had been used widely enough to influence English vocabulary ...
In the monastic culture that followed the Christianisation of Ireland, Latin learning was preserved in Ireland during the Early Middle Ages in contrast to some other parts of Europe, where the period popularly referred to as the Dark Ages followed the loss of Roman imperial authority over Western Europe.
The language had demonstrative pronouns, equivalent to this and that, but did not have the definite article the. The Old English period is considered to have evolved into the Middle English period some time after the Norman conquest of 1066, when the language came to be influenced significantly by the new ruling class's language, Old Norman ...