Tolkien and Old English (Valovics Dániel)
Origin and history of Old English
Indo-European family  Germanic group
- the Germanic group has three branches: East (extinct), North (or
Scandinavian) and West
- inside the West branch, English itself belongs to the Anglo-Frisian
languages along with its closest relative, Frisian (spoken in the Netherlands,
Denmark and Germany)
- Old English appeared in Britain during the Anglo-Saxon settlement during the 5th century
- the Anglo-Saxons occupied most of present-day England, forcing the Celtic population into Cornwall
and Wales; in these areas the Celtic languages Cornish and Welsh remained spoken + most of Scotland
still used Scottish Gaelic
- four dialects of Old English: Northumbrian, Mercian (these two are together referred as Anglian),
Kentish, West Saxon  they are associated with the independent kingdoms of the island
- 7th century = Christianisation + developing literacy; oldest Old English literature is Caedmon’s Hymn
(between 658 and 680)  Early Old English period
- 9th century: Alfred the Great united the kingdoms and West Saxon became the standard dialect +
education in English alongside Latin + many works translated into Old English + Old English alphabet
 Late Old English period
- by the time of the Norman Conquest and the Battle of Hastings (1066), Old English was far more
developed for the expression of prose and poetry than any other contemporary European language
- following Hastings, English ceased for a time to be a literary language  the new official language
was Anglo-Norman (a dialect of Old French)  here began the period of Middle English
Differences between Old and Modern English:
1) phonetics and phonology: the existence of the phoneme /y/; difference between long and
short vowels
2) morphology: grammatical genders (masculine, feminine and neuter words, like in German);
case-system (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative and instrumental cases); verb inflection
(with a difference between strong and weak verbs; the former change their root vowels during
inflection  Modern English irregular past and third verb forms origin from here); subjunctive
mood
3) syntax: no do-support in questions and negatives; multiple negatives; verb-second word order
(instead of Modern English SVO order)
4) orthography: no <j>, <w>, <k>, <q> and <z> letters; <u> and <v> was no so distinct; four unique
letters (<æ> (ash); <ð> (eth); <þ> (thorn); <ƿ> (wynn)); there are no silent letters
Tolkien’s relation to Old English
- following World War I, Tolkien went to work at the Oxford English Dictionary  history and etymology
of Germanic words beginning with the letter “W”
- 1920. became a Reader at the University of Leeds, wrote A Middle English Dictionary, translated Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Sir Orfeo
- 1925-1945. Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford
- translation of Beowulf in the 1920s (edited and published posthumous by his son, Christopher in
2014)  huge impact on the world of LOTR!
“In many ways, then, The Lord of the Rings makes a good introduction to Beowulf: Beowulf, like
Tolkien's novel, has some great battle-scenes, but at heart it is really a poem of speeches. Its plot is
played out across a panoramic landscape of stories, some recent, some remote, some to come. Both
works differ from most modern novels, in that their action is, fundamentally, not self-contained: it is
from the stories to which they allude and, when necessary, re-tell, that we sense the 'distance and a
great abyss of time' that is so essential to their effect.”
(Alaric Hall, University of Glasgow, 18th December 2002)
The languages of Men in Tolkien’s world
A) Languages of the Houses of the Atanatári
1) Taliska (Hadorian + Bëorian): the languages of the Houses of Hador and Bëor in the First Age
2) Hadorian evolves to Adûnaic and becomes the language of the Númenóreans in the Second
Age
3) following the destruction of Númenór, Adûnaic transforms into Westron or Common Speech;
it is considered as a lingua franca in Middle-Earth
According to Tolkien, Westron was “translated” to Modern English. This means, for example, that
proper names of the heroes are not the actual names as spoken by the characters (Rivendell =
Karningul, Bag End = Labin-nec etc.).
Hobbitish is a sub-dialect of Westron. As it is spoken in a rural environment, it is not “refined” liked the
dialects of Gondor or Rivendell, and it contains many simplifications and archaisms.
B) Languages of the Northmen
These languages are relatives to Westron but they are not intelligible to the speakers of the Common
Speech.
Men of Dale: Dalish (relative to Rohirric; appears as Old Norse in the text)
Rohan: Rohirric (appears as Old English in the text)
Some Rohirric name bears the element lô-/loh- (corresponding to the Anglo-Saxon “éo-“), which means
“horse”. The Old English plural “-as” and the German patronymic (a component of a personal name
based on the given name of one's father, grandfather, or an even-earlier male ancestor) “-ing” in the
name Eorlingas. Also, Théoden was referred to as "Théoden King", rather than "King Théoden", just as
Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon kings had the word "konungr"/"cyning" ("king") added after their
names rather than before.
The Rohirrim
- the term “Rohirrim” is used by outsiders, they call
themselves Eorlingas after their king Eorl the Young
- the Dúnedain called them Middle Men, that being inferior
to the High Men of Gondor in both culture and descent, but
superior to the Men of Darkness who had worshipped and
served Sauron
The Rohirrim represent Tolkien’s greatest inspiration of
Old English and Anglo-Saxon culture:
a) They are tall, blond and usually have blue eyes.
b) Their ancestry lies in the North of Middle-Earth
(they are related to the Men of Dale).
c) Their earliest record is the Ynglinga Saga (“The saga of the people of Yngvi”).
d) A strong warrior culture. The Rohirrim army itself is divided into irregular units, éroreds, and
they are usually called upon times of war only. On many illustrations (including the film
adaptation), their clothing and armor, especially their helms, are very Saxon-like.
e) They live in small settlements, not in cities. The villages are built around main halls: meeting
places for the rural population. Their buildings are made of wood and have many carvings as
ornaments.
f)
They speak Rohirric, a seemingly archaic version of Westron, that is represented as Old English
in LOTR. Rohirric is written with a Mannish version of cirth, the rune-writing in LOTR mainly
used by Dwarves (related to the real-life Anglo-Saxon runic alphabet, the futhark or futhorc).
The inscription on Balin’s tombstone in Moira, written with cirth
g) They have a strong oral tradition (compare to Anglo-Saxon heroic sagas).
However, there are differences:
a) the lack of naval life
b) there are no slaves (in Anglo-Saxon culture, society is divided into three groups: slaves,
freemen and nobles)
c) horsemanship has too much of importance in Rohirrim life
Éadwine and Ælfwine
– Ælfwine was an Anglo-Saxon born around 869 AD in Britain
- a descendant of Eärendil, thus he had sea-longing in his blood
His father, Éadwine, sailed off with his ship, Éarendel when Ælfwine was nine years old and never
returned.
- from the attacks of the Danes, he fled with his mother to West Wales and returned only as an adult
to Somerset
During his journeys, he visited both Wales and Ireland many times. He heard much stories about
people went for sailing. Among these tales, one occupied with a great island to the west that had been
cast down (Númenór). The survivors settled on Ireland and dwelled there. However, their descendants
all had the sea-longing in their blood: they sailed off west and never returned. Thus Ælfwine believed
he was one of these descendants.
Around 915 AD., Ælfwine sailed to west with three of his friends: Tréowine, Ceola and Geraint. After
passing Ireland, a “dreamlike death” came over the voyagers and they all passed out while the world
plunged down under them. This was the beginning of the Straight Road. When Ælfwine woke up, he
found himself lying on a beach of Tol Eressëa and a group of Elves pulling up his ship on the shore. He
came to Tavrobel, where lived Pengolodh who told him the Ainulindalë, and he was shown the
Lammas, the Quenta Silmarillion, the Golden Book, the Narn i Chîn Húrin, and the Annals of Aman and
Beleriand. Ælfwine learned much of this lore. When he returned to England, he translated the
Silmarillion, the Annals and the Narn into Old English, giving explanations on the many names.
- he is a frame character to whom many texts are functionally attributed as he acquired lore directly
from the Elves
The themes of the sea, sailing (westwards) and settling are recurring Anglo-Saxon aspects in Tolkien’s
world; and the story of Númenór unites both Atlantis and the Anglo-Saxon invasion.