ANGLO-SAXON / OLD ENGLISH
Background
Anglo-Saxon (also called Old English) was an early form of the English language that existed in England some 1000 years ago. It was a West Germanic language and was very similar to Old Norse (Norway). Unlike modern English, Old English was a language rich with diversity.
Old English was not a static form. Its usage covered a period of some 700 or so years from approximately 450 C.E. (common era= A.D) to some time after the Norman invasion in 1066 when the language underwent a major and dramatic transitory upheaval, during a period which is (generally) now referred to as Middle English. During the 700 years in which it was in use it assimilated some aspects of the Germanic Anglo-Saxon tribes (450 C.E.), Latin from Christian missionaries (600 C.E.), Norse from Viking warriors (787-1000 C.E.), and French from Norman conquerors (1066) which marked the end of the Old English language.
Germanic words assimilated into the Old English language are mainly basic ones (to, and, for, man, child, fight, sleep, eat, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday).
The Latin loanwords tend to be related to the Christian church (altar, monk, preach, school, angel, candle, offer, hymn, priest).
The Scandinavian loanwords which were to impact on the Anglo-Saxon language tend to be everyday words (lift, take, give, live, sky, dirt, husband).
The French impact on Old English was so intense (10,000 words or so) that it changed the language to Middle English.
Special Characters in the Anglo-Saxon Alphabet
The Old English alphabet, like the Modern English alphabet, is based on the Roman letters, but the alphabet is slightly different than the one we use. The Anglo-Saxons did not use the letters v and j (which were invented later), and q and z were used only very occasionally.
æ - ash (æsc) pronounced as the 'a' in Modern English "cat"
þ - thorn which represents the Modern English pair "th"
ð - eth which also represents the Modern English pair "th"