Originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialect, it was introduced to Britain when the Germans (mainly from today's northwestern Germany and the Netherlands) invaded. The original Old English consisted of a number of dialects, which also reflected the fact that the origins of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom on the Isle of England were diverse. One of these dialects, the late West Saxon eventually became the language of unified English.
The English language has undergone tremendous changes in the Middle Ages. Written Old English in 1000 AD is similar in vocabulary and grammar to other ancient Germanic languages (such as Old High German, Ancient Norse), and modern people cannot understand Old English at this time. The English that modern people know is largely similar to the written Middle English in 1400 AD. This shift was caused by two invasions in history.
The first was an invasion from the Northern Germanic branch (also known as the Scandinavian branch), which conquered and made part of the British Isles their colony in AD VIII and IX.
The second was the invasion of the Normans in the eleventh century. The ancient Norman language they spoke eventually developed into a variant of English called Anglo-Norman.
Close interaction with Scandinavia has led to a large number of grammatical simplifications in English, as well as the expansion of the Anglo-Frisian vocabulary (the language is at the heart of English).
However, these changes did not affect the southwestern part of England until the 9th century. It is precisely because of this that the ancient English of the region has gradually developed into a sound language. When written English first came to the fore, it was based on the spoken language of the London region, which is closer to the center of the Scandinavian colony.
Most of the vocabulary related to technology and culture evolved from the ancient Norman language, especially by the church, the court and the ruling class. Later in the Renaissance, like most other developing European languages (such as German, Dutch, Latin, and Ancient Greek), Norman and French were replaced as the main language source.
At this point, English has formed a mixed form in which the vocabulary is borrowed in large quantities and the sources of different vocabularies are different.
起源于盎格鲁-弗里西亚方言，是在日耳曼人（主要来自今天的德国西北地区以及荷兰）入侵时被引入不列颠的。最初的古英语由多种方言组成，这也同时也反映了当时英格兰岛上的盎格鲁-撒克逊王国的起源具有多样性这一事实。这些方言其中的一种，晚期西撒克逊语最终成为了统一英语的语言。
扩展资料
英语语言在中世纪经历了巨大的变化。公元1000年的书面古英语在词汇和语法上与其他古日耳曼语（如古高地德语、古诺尔斯语）相似，现代人完全不能理解这个时期的古英语。现代人所认识的英语，很大程度上和公元1400年的书面中古英语相似。
与斯堪的那维亚半岛的密切来往引起了英语中大量的语法简化，同时也扩充了盎格鲁-弗里西亚语的词汇量（该语言处于英语核心地位）。然而，直到公元9世纪这些改变都还没有影响到英格兰的西南地区。也正是因为如此，该地区的古英语得以渐渐发展成为一门健全的语言。
文艺复兴时期，取代了诺曼语和法语作为主要语言来源。至此，英语形成了一种词汇大量外借、不同词汇的来源迥异的混合形态。
公元9至10世纪，居住在斯堪的纳维亚的北欧日耳曼人（即诺曼人），征服了今天法国北部的高卢地区。但他们的语言和文化却很快被当地说古法语的高卢人所征服。
这部分法语化了的诺曼人在11世纪又渡海北上征服了整个不列颠，在几个世纪中统治着英国，但在语言的征服上不太成功。这一时期，古英语吸收了大量的古法语和法语化了的希腊拉丁语词汇，使英语的词汇和语法结构发生了巨大的变化。
公元16世纪，进入了近代英语和现代英语的发展时期。这一时期的英语是以英王詹姆斯钦定《圣经》英译本和莎士比亚戏剧为代表的，但和现代英语还有相当大的不同。
18世纪以后，英语的书面语就和现在我们看到的基本上一致了。本回答被网友采纳
如果说英语如何发展？自然离不开她的殖民扩张，而基本原因也在英国工业革命带来的先进技术的传播以及原属英殖民国经济的发展和散布地域的广泛。