Day 73 of 365
March 14
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Language The Evolution of English
English evolved from Germanic languages brought to Britain by Anglo-Saxon invaders around 450 CE. Viking invasions added Old Norse vocabulary, while Norman conquest in 1066 introduced massive French influence. This history explains English's huge vocabulary with multiple synonyms from different origins. Modern English emerged around 1500, though speakers from that era would find today's English barely comprehensible.
💡 Did you know?
English has the largest vocabulary of any language with over 170,000 words in current use and possibly a million total including technical terms!
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