TEXTBOOK NOTES # 1

• There is no universal language "English" because many different native groups created it together.
• We thought Britain was the conqueror of the world, dreaming to dominate it, but I never knew that even Britain was conquered by Romans, Germans, Danish, etc.
• Dr. Preston made the connection of Lancaster sounding very similar to Lancel Lannister, a character in the Game of Thrones.
• The literature of the time was more verbal rather than written. The recited poems passed down the generations fell in two categories: heroic poetry ("recounting achievements of warriors") and elegiac poetry ("lamenting the deaths of loved ones and the lost of the past").
• Examples include: Heroic - Beowlf; Elegiac - "The Wanderer." Later on, dramas emerged in the Middle Ages.
• The "Old English" we refer to could also be known as Englisc. 
• Later, there was French influence on the "Old English" making it easier to speak and understand.
• I think English formed with influence of many languages mashed in together: Latin, Greek, French, Sanskrit, etc.