English language: historically - spoken by the populace of British Isles ~A.D.500 - now.
  Practically - a language of vast polulations of England; N.America; Australia; India +.
  (- After World War II?.. - the language of commerce; science; politics; culture.)

   Layers of the English linguistic pie:

Romano-Celtic: ~1000 B.C. - ~A.D. 410 (Romano-British society: Celtic + Latin.)
 Caesar:  55-54 B.C.
 Claudius: 43-48 A.D.
 Queen Boudicca's revolt: 61 A.D. (widow of Prasutagus, Iceni tribe king.- 2 daughters.
  Late husband bequeated his estate to Nero; queen and daughters mistreated. She  challenged Romans and put up a good fight.)
 Agricola, Gn. Iulius: 78-85 A.D. (Conquered most; circumnavigated the island.     Enlightened governor - Legatus Augusti. Romanized Britain. -Tacitus.)
 Hadrian's Wall 122-129 A.D.- 80 miles.
 Antonine's Wall ~142 A.D. - 36 miles.
 Baths, Avon.
    < LATIN:
   castra  > chester
   caupo  > cheap
   strata (via) > street
   vicus  > -wich: Greenwich
   villa   > village
Old English ~450-1066 A.D.  (Romans retreat -- Battle of Hastings)

Romans; Britons//; Picts (N.Scotland); Germanic invasions ~350 A.D. > Anglo-Saxons.
  Celts/Britons vs. Saxons: King Arthur, Camelot & the RoundTable...
   (Irish vs. English...)
Jutes: Kingdom of Kent - 450 A.D.
Saxons: Essex; Wessex; Middlesex (~London).
Angles:  Mercia; Anglia (>England).
 Alfred the Great of Wessex:(871-899) - Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (miscellanea); Beowulf.

SAXON: -y    hol-y
   -en    wood-en
   -ish   child-ish
   -like/ -ly child-like; like-ly
   -ful  care-ful
   -some  win-some
   -ward  back-ward
   -hood  child-hood
   -dom  wis-dom
   -ship  friend-ship
   -ness  wilder-ness
   -th  wea-th
   -er  read-er
   un-  un-pleasant
   for-  for-get
   be-  be-come
  E. Pronouns < OE.
  Degrees of comparison: good-better-best; evil-worse-worst.
+ Vikings - Danes: Danelaw. King Knut/Canute: 11th c.

Middle English A.D. 1066-1500. +French/ + Latin. -- Word order >meaning.
Battle of Hastings 1066: Normans: William the Conqueror. Francophones.
     (English vs. French...)
pig/ pork; folk/ people; deed/ action, etc.
Government/ law terms < Norman French.= Court, bureaucracy, education. > Chaucer.

Modern English 1550 - now.
William Caxton: printing press (1476-90).
 -- Age of Discovery/ colonialism; defeat of the Armada 1588 > British thalassocracy.
 -- Renaissance >> Enlightenment. (< Lat. & Gk. words.)
 -- Industrial revolution.