HISTORY OF ENGLISH

Now here's my Christmas present for all you blog readers!
A series of instructive videos made by Oxford University, of interest for any lexicologist...
1. In which the Empire falls, the Saxons arrive, and Beowulf is written in Old English, aside from the Viking raids so common in the Dark Ages:

2. In which the French (otherwise known as Normans) arrive, win a decisive battle, unify the Saxon kingdoms, and change the language forever:

3. In which a chap from the Cotswolds writes a series of tragedies and comedies at the turn of the seventeenth century, supplying the English language with oodles of winged words:

4. In which, as Shakespeare writes his plays, the Protestant Reformation urges King James to translate the Good Book into English, supplying the language with even more winged words:

5. In which the Enlightenment causes a progress in life and health sciences, which also affects the English lexicon:

6. In which imperialism and the subsequent contact with strange nations shape the lexicon of English even further:

7. In which some Enlightened lexicologists decide to put some order into the English language by means of an official dictionary:

8. In which the language develops, in the States, in parallel with its British variant:

9. N wch th lxcn of th Eng lang s rvltnzed (or rther, btchrd) by th apprnc of IT, SMS, & scl
ntwrx =" like Fcbk:

10: In which a meditation of the future of the English language ensues: