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Chapter 2 The Development of the English Vocabulary 1．The Indo-European Language Family 2．A Historical Overview of the English Vocabulary 1） Three Historical Periods of English Development （1） Old English （450-1150） The beginning of Old English is marked by the arrival of the Germanic tribes called Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. People generally refer to Anglo-Saxon as Old English.Old English is a highly inflected language. In this period, many latin words and Scandinavian words came into the English language. （2）Middle English （1150-1500） Middle English period began with the Norman conquest. In this period, many words of French and Dutch origins were borrowed into English. Middle English was charaterized by its losses of many inflectional endings so that it was a language of levelled endings. （3）Modern English（1500-Now） Modern English began with the establishment of printing in England. Because of the influence of the Renaissance Movement, many words of Latin and Greek origins, etc came into English. Also because of the fast development in science and technology, many new words were created. Though borrowing remained an important means of English vocabulary expansion, yet more words were created through word formation | 
