English is currently one of the most prolific languages ​​in the world, with recent figures from the British Council showing that around two billion people speak it in at least seventy-five countries (British Council, 2014). Often considered a borrowed language, English has borrowed and continues to borrow words from almost every language it encounters, with the majority of words coming from Latin, French, and Greek (Durkin, “Borrowed Words » 2014). This linguistic promiscuity has led to the English language being given the somewhat brutal nickname “bastard language” (Nordquist, nd). In this essay, we will discuss the history of English, tracking its origins in the Germanic languages, the influence of Latin and other European languages, and the standardization that has occurred in modern English. The origins of English can be traced with relative certainty to the 5th and 6th centuries AD, when an assortment of three continental European tribes, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, invaded Britain. While the Hengest brothers and Horsa were initially invited to Britain by King Wurtgern with the aim of defeating the Picts, a tribe in northeastern Scotland, they later decided to fight against the British for their wealthy lands, deeming the original inhabitants worthless and weak. The brothers then called for help from the three great German powers of the time, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes; This migration of Germanic peoples to Britain is what most scholars consider to be the first step in the genesis of the English language (Ingram, 2008; Durkin, “History,” 2014; English Club, 2014; Merriam-Webster , 2014). The veracity of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is doubtful as it was written hundreds of years later...... middle of paper ......ies (Durkin, "History", 2014; English Club , 2014; Merriam-Webster, 2014).Works citedDurkin, Philip. “Borrowed into English.” OxfordBlog. Np, March 4, 2014.Web. April 21, 2014. Durkin, Philip. “The History of English.” - Oxford Dictionaries (United States). Np, 2014. Web.April 21, 2014.FAQ's The English Language. " BritishCouncil.com Np, nd Web. April 21, 2014."History" Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, nd Web. April 20, 2014." History of the English Language." English Club. Np, nd Web. April 21, 2014. Ingram, James H. "The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle." http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/657/pg657. html. Douglas B. Killings, August 3, 2008. Web. April 21, 2014. “Interesting Facts About the Ancient Celts.” About.com Grammar and Composition. Np, nd Web. April 21. 2014.