Welcome to the History of English Podcast, a podcast about the history of the English language.

This is episode 28, Angle, Saxons, Jutes, and Freesians.

This time, we're going to turn our attention northward to the peoples of Northern Europe

who spoke the Germanic dialects which became Old English.

These were the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, and we can probably add in the Freesians, as well

as some Franks.

All of these peoples spoke closely related West Germanic languages, and they all lived

in the same general region near the North Sea before the migrations to Britain began

around the fourth and fifth centuries.

It probably goes without saying that the historical events described over the next couple

of episodes are some of the most important and significant events in the overall history

of the English language.

And that's because these events represent the origin of the language.

If these events had not occurred, there would be no England or English language.

The Germanic dialects of the early Anglo-Saxon tribes would have remained on the continent,

and there they would have likely blended into the modern, low German, and Dutch dialects.

And in fact, that's what happened to the language of the Saxons who actually remained

on the continent.

And even if the language of the Anglo-Saxons had somehow survived as a distinct language

on the continent, it wouldn't be a language that we would recognize today.

Meanwhile, in the British Isles, the Celtic languages would have continued to dominate

the entire region, at least until the arrival of the Vikings and the Normans.

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