The English language emerged as a homogeneous linguistic system whose roots can be exclusively traced to the Celtic communities originally settled in Britain, later only superficially altered by external invasions.

The Roman presence in Britain was the decisive and almost singular factor responsible for the linguistic matrix from which Old English directly developed.

The arrival of Scandinavian peoples represented the immediate replacement of Old English by a Northern Germanic standard that eventually evolved into Modern English.

The constitution of English is historically associated with a gradual process of territorial occupation, cultural superposition, and contact among distinct linguistic communities, which contributed cumulatively to its formation.

The denomination Old English refers to a merely geographical variation of Latin spoken by Roman soldiers in the southern territories of ancient Britain.