The extraordinary story of the development and spread of the English language, from Dark Age Britain to the age of the Internet Born as a Germanic tongue with the arrival in Britain of the Anglo-Saxons in the early medieval period, heavily influenced by Norman French from the 11th century, and finally emerging as modern English from the late Middle Ages, the English language has grown to become the linguistic equivalent of a superpower, now sometimes described as the world's lingua franca. This study tells the story of the English language in all its richness and variety, from the intriguing origins and changing definitions of common words such as "OK," "beserk," "curfew," "cabal," and "pow-wow;" to the massive transformations wrought in the vocabulary and structure of the language by Anglo-Saxon and Norman conquest; through to the literary triumphs of Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, and the works of Shakespeare. This is a fascinating tale of linguistic, social, and cultural transformation, accessibly and authoritatively told by an author in perfect command of his material.