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The Language of the Anglo-Saxons |
The Angles came from what is now southwest Denmark; the Jutes form northwest Denmark and southern Sweden and the Saxons from what is now the northwest coastal area of Germany. The Friesians from the coastal islands of northwest Germany were also involved.
The Saxons settled in what is now southern England, the Jutes in southwest England (Kent and the Isle of Wight) and the Angles in northern England.
The German invasion of Great Britain started about 400 A.D. They brought with them a western branch of the Germanic language family. The nature of this early version of English can be heard in the Friesian language. Friesisan was close to the languages of the Angles and Saxon at the time of the invasion. In particular, the definite article the can still be heard in Friesian speech. But Friesian underwent much less change than did the language of the invaders and now sounds much more Germanic than modern English.
(To be continued.)
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