OLD ENGLISH Mid-5th century - mid-12th century
Contents • • • • • • • • • •
Old English intro The Beginnings Historical Background Anglo-Saxon Runes Runic alphabet Grammar Pronunciation Vocabulary and words that survived O.E. Texts and dialects The end of O.E.
oLD enGLIsH • Or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants
• Speakers of Old English called their language Englisc and themselves Angles
tHe BeGInnInGs • Old English belongs to the West Germanic branch of the Germanic languages • The earliest extensive sources found in contemporary copies ‘Old English’ • Latin-English glossaries from around the year 700
HIstoRICAL BACKGRoUnD • Before the Anglo-Saxons, the majority of the population of Britain spoke Celtic languages • During the next several hundred years, England came under Anglo-Saxon control • The conversion of the AngloSaxons to Christianity was an event of huge cultural importance
AnGLo-sAXon RUnes •Anglo-Saxon was first written with a version of the Runic alphabet - Anglo-Frisian runes •This alphabet was an extended version with between 26 and 33 letters •It was replaced by the Latin alphabet from the 7th century
RUnIC ALPHABet
GRAMMAR • Old English is a language rich with morphological diversity • The only remnants of this system in Modern English are in a few pronouns • Old English grammar does not contain a synthetic passive • Old English syntax was similar in many ways to that of modern English
PRonUnCIAtIon
VoCABULARY •The surviving vocabulary of Old English is relatively small •Much of the vocabulary of Mod. E. derives from OE., particularly common words in everyday use(the natural world: earth, sea ; people: man, woman; food, drink; heaven, hell; friend, love, good, evil; hot, cold)
WoRDs tHAt sURVIVeD about
by
from
now
these
almost
come
great
of
this
all
Danish
in
old
thousand
and
do
into
or
time
are
England
it
some
to
as
English
king
speaking
was
at
everyday
many
such
were
borrowings
for
middle
ten
which
brought
French
more
than
word
but
friendly
most
the
year
oLD enGLIsH teXts • Some of the most important surviving works of Old English literature are Beowulf (an epic poem),the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and Caedmon's Hymn
DIALeCts Four major dialects: •Northumbrian, spoken north of the river Humber •Mercian, spoken in the midlands • Kentish, spoken in Kent • West Saxon, spoken in the southwest
tHe enD oF oLD enGLIsH •Changes in grammar and vocabulary begin to become noticeable in the surviving texts •Borrowig words from French and Scandinavian become more frequent •Middle English
Old English References:
Students:
•
www.wikipedia.com
•
www.omniglot.com/writing/oldenglish.htm
Drah Kristina Varga Somogyi Beáta
•
G.C.Thorney and Gwyneth Roberts - An Outline of English Literaure
•
J. Campbell et al., The Anglo-Saxons, (London: Penguin, 1991)
•
M. Lapidge et al., The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999)
•
Mitchell, Bruce and Fred Robinson, A Guide to Old English (Blackwell, 1986)