The English language did not appear overnight, but despite that, it is considered a relatively modern language compared to Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Ancient Latin.
English has gone through three main stages before reaching the form we know today: Old English, Middle English, and Modern English.
In the 17th century, the Royal Society began paying attention to the English language in its lectures. This period also saw new inventions, which led to the creation of new words such as “electricity” and “gravity.” The emergence of these new words prompted the writer and poet Samuel Johnson to compile the first English dictionary in 1746, providing a reference for the meanings of words.
Seven years later, Johnson improved the dictionary, which became widely known as Johnson’s Dictionary, remaining popular until 1928.
After this final stage of development, English began spreading rapidly. Today, it is the third most widely spoken language in the world and the most used on the internet, with 360 million people speaking it as their first language and 1.5 billion as a second language.
