British English English and the other West Germanic languages. Initially, Old English was a diverse group of dialects, reflecting the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms of England. One of these dialects, Late West Saxon, eventually came to dominate. The original Old English language was then influenced by two waves of invasion: the first was by speakers of the Scandinavian branch of the Germanic family, who conquered and colonised parts of Britain in the 8th and 9th centuries; the second was the Normans in the 11th century, who spoke Old Norman and ultimately developed an English variety of this called Anglo-Norman. These
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant "Anglo-Saxon" referred to the language of indigenous inhabitants of England before 1066, especially in contrast to Norman French influence after that. Since the 19th century it has been in common use in the English-speaking world, but not in Britain itself (in this context), to refer to Protestants of principally English descent. The "W" and "P" were added in the 1950s to form a humorous epithet with an undertone of "waspishness" (which means a person who is easily irritated and quick to take offense). The first published mention of the term "WASP" was provided by political scientist Andrew Hacker in 1957,