Old English
625 AD: Sutton Hoo helmet
Énglisc Ældgecynd
• Introduction:
Outline
No living language stands still.
Change is constant.
• Part one: Old English origins (Preliminaries, a brief history of Old English.)
The Anglo-Saxons language
The Celts language
The Picts language
• Part two:
Old English pronunciation
Old English Grammar
Some linguistic aspects of Old English
• Sample texts of Old English:
Homily on St. Gregory the Great
Beowulf
• List of references
Introduction
• No living language keeps stagnant.
• The Change is indiscernible.
• Language manifests change under the aspects of
borrowing and coinage.
• English has witnessed four main stages of change:
Old English (1000 (?) BC to 11th Century AD)
Middle English (11th to 15th Century AD)
Early Modern English (15th to 17th Century AD)
Modern English (17th Century AD up till now)
Old English Origin
• Old English is dead, extinct and no more spoken.
• Old English is member of the West Germanic
languages.
• Early ancestors of Old English are:
• Primitive Cumbric, Welsh and Cornish(6th century
BC)
• Ingvaeonic (100 AD)
• Anglo-Frisian (300 AD)
Language tree
http://www.danshort.com/ie/iecentum.htm
• Old English originates from runic script called the
Futhorc.
• The Futhorc represents the language spoken by the
Britons and Anglo-Saxons.
• It contains twenty-four letters, thirty-one to thirtyfour letters in northern England.
• Most famous runic scripts are:
The Ruthwell Cross
The Franks Casket
• The Insular Book Hand illustrates to the change of
writing with the coming of Christian Missionaries.
• Few runic letters have been adopted to represents Old
English sounds: æ, þ, and ƿ.
The Futhorc
Anglo-Saxon runes
http://euroheritage.net
The Celts
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The Celts were organized around warfare.
The Irish culture provides most information about the Celts
and their language.
From around 750 BC to 12 BC, the Celts were the most
powerful people in central and northern Europe. There were
many groups (tribes) of Celts, speaking a vaguely common
language.
Old Celtic, descendent of the Uralic languages, an IndoEuropean branch, was spoken by Celts, a close cousin to
Italic, mother of Latin.
Q-celts spoke Goidelic. (2000 to 1200 BC), from which the
Irish gwyddel savages, later geídil and goidel. This
language lacked the sound p and led to the formation of
Gaelic.
P-celts were speaking Brythonic which gave raise to
Welsh, Cornish and Breton spoken in Brittany.
The difference between Q-cets languages and P-celts
languages is illustrated thus:
The word ekvos in Indo-European, means horse. In Q-Celtic
this was rendered as equos while in P-Celtic it became
epos, the q sound being replaced with a p sound. Another
example is the Latin qui, who. In Q-Celtic this rendered as
cia while in P-Celtic it rendered as pwy.
Map of Celtic speaking zone/ origin
Source of the map:http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlkik/ihm/celts.htm
The Picts Languages
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Pictish was similar to
languages like Welsh, Gaulish
and Gaelic.
The Picts spoke a nonIndo-European language
dating back to the Bronze
Age.
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The Picts spoke a P-Celtic
language - that is a Celtic
language related to the
language of the Ancient
Britons.
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Picts also spoke a Q-Celtic
language that contained
elements of Irish Gaelic.
The writing system known to
be used by the Picts –
Ogham – actually originated
in Ireland.
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Ogham inscription on the Lunnasting
stone
• The Pictich inscription
has been read:
– ttocuhetts: ahehhttmnnn:
hccvvevv: nehhton by
Allen and Anderson
(1903)
– ettecuhetts: ahehhttannn:
hccvvevv: nehhtons by
Forsyth (1996)
Old English Pronunciation
• Old English
pronunciation is not
accurate.
• No evidence is shown
for intonation, pitch
levels and stress.
• These Old English
letters are no more used
in Modern form: æ, þ
and ð.
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Old English Vowels
Long vowels: á áé é í ó ú ý
bát, Cáf, lád (boat),(quick), (journey)
báéd, fáé (bid), (doomed)
fét, mé (fate), (me)
tím, síd (time), (wide)
cóm, gód (come), (good)
hús, úhte (house), (twilight before dawn)
fýr, sý (fire), (be)
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Short vowels: a æ e i o u y
batt, rand (bat), (boss)
fæst, hæleð (fast), (warrior)
bedd, denu (bed), (valley)
rib, sitton (rib), (to sit)
post, ofer (post), (over)
pund, dust (pound), (ashes)
yfel, fyrd (evil), (army)
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Old English had a different quality for vowels from their modern equivalents.
There were seven vowels and fourteen distinct sounds.
Old English vowels extended to long vowels as different from short ones. The long vowels were used with a
macron above the letter, emphasizing vowel length.
There were six diphthongs in Old English: ea, éa, eo, éo, ie, and íe.
Old English Consonants
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Letter
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f
s
sc
þ or ð
h
c
g
cg
ng
position
initial and final position
in middle of word
beside unvoiced consonant
doubled
initial and final position
in middle of word
beside unvoiced consonant
doubled
usually
initial and final position
in middle of word
beside unvoiced consonant
doubled
initial and final position
in middle of word
in general
before e, before i, after i
in general
before e, before i, after i
in middle of word
usually
initial and final position
Pronunciation
f
v
f
f
s
z
s
s
sh
th as in thin
th as in that
th as in thin
th as in thin
h
X as in Loch
k
ch as in church
g as in garden
y as in yellow
gh
j as in bridge
g as in finger
Some Old English lexicon.
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hwæt
hwær
reod
grene
man
werman, secg
dæg
middæg
æfansang
nihte
þus
oþþe
ofer
far
ic
hé
him
nan
in
up
on
under
what
where
red
green
human
man
day
midday
evening
night
thus
or
over
travel
I
he
him
none, no
in
up
on
under
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mann
cyning
beon
willan
don
habban
healdan
þonne
ænig
eall
woruld
lif
cuman
gif
næfre
andswarian
ham
hell
cwellan
lufian
Old English Grammar
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Old English verbs moved from ablaut
to the system of inflection.
Verbs were divided into two sets:
strong verbs and weak verbs.
Strong verbs could not easily be
predicted from their counterparts,
weak verbs.
There were seven classes of
conjugation for strong verbs where
the variation of the verb endings
require four principle parts:
the infinitive
past tense first-person singular
past tense plural
the past participle
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Examples:
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First class verbs:
drífan, dráf, drifon, drifen (drive)
rísan, rás, rison, risen (rise)
bídan, bád, bidon, biden (abide)
Second class verbs:
dréopan, dréap, drupon, dropen (drip)
slúpan, sléap, slupon, slopen (slip)
léogan, léag, lugon, logen (lie)
Third class verbs:
helpan, healp, hulpon, holpen (help)
beorcan, bearc, burcon, burcen (bark)
drincan, dranc, druncon, druncen (drink)
Fourth class verbs:
stelan, stæl, stáélon, stolen (steal)
beran, bær, báéron, boren (bear)
Fifth class verbs:
sprecan, spæc, spéácon, sprecen (speak)
awrecan, awræc, awréácon, awrecen (recite)
Sixth class verbs:
wascan, wósc, wóscon, wascen (wash),
faran, fór, fóron, færen (go)
Seventh class verbs:
láétan, lét, léton, láéten (let)
feallan, féoll, féollon, feallen (fall)
bláwan, bléow, bléowon, bláwen (blow)
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Some linguistic aspects of Old English
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Grimm’s Law
Voiceless stops 'p', 't', and 'k' became voiceless fricatives 'f', 'þ'
Latin: piscis to Old English: fisc (fish).
genu to Old English: cnéow (knee).
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Verner’s Law
Changes in stress where vowels became voiced if the stress follows or precedes the fricative.
sníðan (cut) are not sníðan, snaþ, sniþon, sniþen,
but instead sníðán, snáþ, snidón, snidén.
Palatal Umlaut
A vowel in one syllable affects the vowel in a preceding syllable.
ú to ý, as in túnian to týnan
u to y, as in trummian to trymman
ó to é, as in dómian to déman
o to e, as in morgin to mergen
Velar Umlaut
front vowels 'i', 'e', and 'æ' were shifted into diphthongs 'io', 'eo', and 'ea' by the presence of a
back vowel ('u', 'o', or 'a') in the next syllable. wer becomes weoras
Gemination
Refers to the development of doubled consonants in Old English. All single consonants
except 'r' preceded by a short vowel doubled in length and added a palatal.
dag became dæg
Dental Assimilation
Referred to the process by which a voiced sound, followed by an unvoiced ending, would lose
voice itself. For example, findst to fintst.
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Aelfric’s “Homily on St. Gregory the
Great.”
• “Eft he axode, hu ðære
ðeode nama wære þe hi of
comon. Him wæs
geandwyrd, þæt hi Angle
genemnode wæron. Þa
cwæð he, “Rihtlice hi sind
Angle gehatene, for ðan ðe
hi engla wlite habbað, ond
swilcum gedafenað þæt hi
on heofonum engla geferan
beon.”
• “Again he [St. Gregory]
asked what might be the
name of the people from
which they came. It was
answered to him that they
were named Angles. Then
he said, “Rightly are they
called Angles because they
have the beauty of angels,
and it is fitting that such as
they should be angels’
companions in heaven.”
Beowulf
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hwæt we gardena in geardagum
þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon
oft scyld scefing sceaþena þreatum
monegum mægþum meodosetla ofteah
egsode eorlas syððan ærest wearð
feasceaft funden he þæs frofre gebad
weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum
þah
oðþæt him æghwylc þær ymbsittendra
ofer hronrade hyran scolde
gomban gyldan þæt wæs god cyning
Lo, praise of the prowess of people-kings
of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
we have heard, and what honour the
athelings won!
Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned
foes,
from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,
awing the earls. Since erst he lay,
friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:
for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he
throve,
till before him the folk, both far and near,
who house by the whale-path, heard his
mandate,
gave him gifts: a good king he!
Translation by Francis Gummere (1910).
Time line of English
JRR Tolkein
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John Ronald Reuel (JRR) Tolkien, born on January
1892.
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Tolkien attended Exeter College, Oxford, beginning
near the end of 1911 as a “Classical Exhibitioner in
Residence”.
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Tolkien soon landed a position as a junior editor for
the Oxford English Dictionary.
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During this period he also began to seriously develop
the languages of the elves of Middle Earth, languages
based in Anglo-Saxon, Welsh, and Finnish roots.
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In 1921, Tolkien was offered a post at the University
of Leeds and collaborated with E.V. Gordon on an
acclaimed translation of the Middle-English poem Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight, published by Oxford
University Press in 1925.
References
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The Anglo-Saxon Language:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A695478
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Celtic_languages
The Picts Language:
http://www.experiencefestival.com/picts_-_pictish_language
http://en.allexperts.com/e/p/pi/pictish_language.htm
http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/picts/language.htm
Beowulf: Anonymous. "Beowulf".
[http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/library/oe/texts/a4.1.html]. February 1, 2002. (Original Anglo-Saxon
text.)
Grendel's Lair. "Grendel's Lair: Beowulf".
[http://www.grendel.org/grendel/beowulf.html]. February 1, 2002.
http://www.tolkiensociety.org/
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles translated and edited by Michael Swanton (Phoenix Press, 2000)
Marckwardt, Albert H. Old English Language and Literature. New York: Norton & Company, 1972.
http://www.edwardtbabinski.us/geocentrism/mt_ararat.html
The Origin of Old English dialects revisited, Frederik Kortlandt, an aritcle.
• Ic eornost gescéadnest þancian þu
for éower ágnettung
• I do truly thank you for your
attention.
Fayssal Chafaki