Old English / Anglo-Saxon was first written with a version of the Runic alphabet known as Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-Frisian runes, or futhorc/fuþorc. Thereafter Old English script was increasingly influenced by Caroline Minuscule even though it retained a number of distinctive Insular letter-forms. From the 10th century Anglo-Saxon scribes began to use Caroline Minuscule for Latin while continuing to write Old English in Insular minuscule. A less formal version of minuscule was used for to write both Latin and Old English. The Anglo-Saxons adopted the styles of script used by Irish missionaries, such as Insular half-uncial, which was used for books in Latin. The other dialects were Mercian, Northumbrian and Kentish. Most texts were written in West Saxon, one of the four main dialects. Old English began to appear in writing during the early 8th century.

Speakers of Old English called their language Englisc, themselves Angle, Angelcynn or Angelfolc and their home Angelcynn or Englaland.

Old English was the West Germanic language spoken in the area now known as England between the 5th and 11th centuries.

Greek letters in old english font