The Anglo-Saxon people spoke what they called Englisc. Scholars today call it Anglo-Saxon English, or just simply Anglo-Saxon. It is also commonly referred to as Old English. You may have thought Shakespeare spoke Old English, but he didn’t, at least not by linguistic standards, though it may sound very old to you and me. Actually, Shakespeare was the best-known writer of modern English. Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, is so different from our own speech that it is almost like a foreign language. It has to be translated or we can’t understand it.
