Historians say that gentrification took place in ancient Rome and in Roman Britain, where large villas were replacing small shops by the 3rd century, AD. The word "gentrification" derives from "gentry"—which comes from the Old French word "genterise", "of gentle birth" (14th century) and "people of gentle birth" (16th century). In England, "landed gentry" denoted the social class, consisting of gentlemen (and gentlewomen, as they were at that time known). British sociologist Ruth Glass was first to use "gentrification" in its current sense. She used it in 1964 to describe the influx of middle-class people displacing lower-class worker residents in urban neighborhoods; her example was London, and its working-class districts such as Islington: