How did a Germanic language get to the British Isles?

by MABrez

My understanding of the development of English is that it stems from the Germanic languages, and was then largely influenced by French (and therefore Latin) during the Norman invasion. But I'm not clear on how the Germanic language got their first, especially since I thought parts of the British Isles were under Roman control at one point.

Searocksandtrees

You're correct so far, but missing the chapter between the Roman withdrawal (410AD) and the arrival of the Normans (1066), where, among other things, there was a migration of Germanic peoples from northern Europe into Britain. These groups are typically known as the "Angles, Saxons, and Jutes" (sorry other people!), or the Anglo-Saxons (sorry Jutes!) or even just the Saxons (sorry Angles, although they live on in words like England). Their Germanic language is now referred to as Old English. The subject of their migrations and impact on language in Britain is massive, so I've taken a quick look for some general threads from the last year to get you started.

Some of these posts have been archived, so if you have follow-up questions, you can just ask them here and tag the relevant user's username to notify them

Influence on language

More on the Anglo-Saxons