What is the difference between Old English and Middle English?

Old English was spoken from the mid-5th century to the mid 12th century. It was a west Germanic tongue of the 5th century. The beginnings of Old English can be traced back to Ingvaeonic. Inguaeonic was named after a West Germanic proto tribe cultural group. This language was a grouping of Old Parisian, Old Saxon, and Old English.

Anglo Saxon came to fruition just after the 7th century, and from there, it evolved. Anglo Saxon was the language spoken by the people living in different parts of Modern England and Scotland's Southwestern lands. This language was created from the influence of other languages. It was constantly changing due to these influences. On the other hand, middle English was communicated during the late 11th century to the late 15th century. It was born from Late Old English, which was spoken in Norman England.

Early Middle English came around, and Late Old English inspired it in the second half of the 11th century. It was communicated during the 12th. By the subsequent half of the 14th century, it became popular in literary language. Writing language, which is the language of poets and writers, gradually took Middle English. 13th century was more Anglo-Norman, while in the 15th-century printing began in England, and the language became standardized.

Old English and Middle English are referring to two periods in the past when two forms of English language were in use. Old English was the English language used between the period 400s to about 1100. Middle English refers to a form of English language used from 1100 AD to about 1400s. From their names, it is obvious that Old English came earlier before Middle English. In fact, it was Old English that transformed into Middle English. Old English can be seen as the ancestor of both Middle and Modern English. Another name for Old English is Anglo-Saxon. On the other hand, Middle English is the older language of Modern English. Middle English refers to a language that was spoken in England and some parts of Scotland from 1100 AD to 1400s AD. Unlike Old English, Middle English did have a specific word order. While Middle English is somewhat similar to Modern English, Old English is very different from Modern English.

Old English was a type of language spoken starting from the mid 5th century to the mid 12th century. According to history, the language started as a Germanic language during the middle of the 5th century. Between this period, the old English can be subdivided into three different stages; the prehistoric (a period between c.450 to 650), the Early Old English (a period between c.650 to 900), and the Late Old English (a period between c.900-1066). Old English was influenced by Latin, Celtic, and Norse. This was as a result of the activities of Latin people who converted the Anglo- Saxons to Christianity. On the other hand, middle English was a type of language spoken starting from the mid-11th century to the late 15th century. Middle English came after the Old English era. According to history, middle English was formed from old English. While there were silent words in middle English, there were no silent words in old English.

Old English is known to be the type of language that is spoken during the 5th to mid 12th century. You will see that in Old English, there are some pronouns that were used then that are not being used right now. Some of the pronouns are hir, heore, or even here. Take note that this is very genitive. When you say Middle English, this is going to be a bit different. This is used during the 11th to 15th centuries. Take note that during the time of Middle English, there were still many changes that were being done to the English language before people have reached the type of Modern English language that people are being used right now.

Some may think that there is no difference between old English and modern English until they start reading texts from before and compare them to the words and texts that are available right now, when it comes to the structure, except that it will be the same. It will follow the subject-verb-object agreement. One main difference between the two is that Old English does not come with silent letters. This means that all of the letters that are available in a word will be pronounced.

This is different from modern English; wherein there are some words that come with silent letters. The way that things are written is also different in Old English. The letters are different fro that of Modern English.