Early inhabitants
Which ancient group influenced English mostly through place names rather than vocabulary?
The Celts
During which period was the English language still largely inflected and Germanic in vocabulary?
Old English
Which language gave English legal terms like “jury” and “government”?
French
Who popularized the East Midland dialect and made it influential in standard English development?
Geoffrey Chaucer
What is the most globally used form of English called, often adapted across cultures?
Global English
Which civilization introduced Latin but left little lasting impact on spoken English?
The Romans
In which period did English simplify grammatically and absorb thousands of French terms?
Middle English
Which ancient language contributed spiritual and cultural terms such as “yoga” and “karma”?
Sanskrit
Who introduced thousands of expressions to English, often through creative compounding and metaphor?
William Shakespeare
What do we call words borrowed from other languages?
loanwords
Name the three Germanic tribes that settled in England after the Romans.
The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes
Which period of English began with the Renaissance and saw the rise of printing and Shakespeare?
Early Modern English
Which language influenced English most through science and philosophy during the Renaissance?
Greek
What is the name of the Old English epic poem that begins with “Hwæt”?
Beowulf
What kind of word formation is seen in modern terms like “brunch,” “smog,” and “sitcom”?
Blending
Who brought Old Norse to the English language through invasions?
The Vikings
Which northern European language strongly influenced English syntax and simple vocabulary during the early medieval period?
Old Norse
Which 20th-century literary work introduced a now-global English word for artificial humans?
R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Čapek
During which cultural movement did English borrow a surge of Latin and Greek vocabulary?
The Renaissance
Which Japanese word was adopted into English after a natural disaster?
Tsunami
What major event in 1066 led to French influence on English?
The Norman Conquest
What invention helped unify spelling and make written English more standardized across regions?
The printing press
Which Germanic-related language added words like “sky,” “knife,” and “window” into everyday English?
Old Norse
Which two industries have contributed most new vocabulary to English in the past 30 years?
Technology and entertainment/media
What term describes a language adopted as a bridge between speakers of different native tongues?
Lingua franca