By the time anything resembling a language policy was introduced, English had already reached all corners of the globe. For example, English-speaking puritans were not the only Europeans to arrive in North America: Spanish, French, Dutch and German were also widely spoken.
immemorial - long past; beyond the limits of memory or tradition or recorded history; time immemorial. old - of long duration; not new; old tradition; old house; old wine; old country; old friendships; old money.
noun. 1 A tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values: they hated the sinful materialism of the wicked city. More example sentences. 1  Perceptions now abound of the West being held in the grip of materialism and spiritual values being sidelined.