HISTORY OF ENGLISH
Part I: Britons and Anglo-Saxon Period
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Celts and Romans
750 B.C. – 410 A.D.
Anglo-Saxons
410 A.D. – 850 A.D.
Viking Effect: Multiple Invasions
800 A.D. – 1066 A.D.
ROMANS INVADE: 43 A.D.
• 40,000 troops
• 4 years to consolidate power
• Never conquered Scottish
Highlands
• Hadrian’s Wall – demarcation
line
• Latin present but did not take
root except in names ending
in:
- chester, - cester, + caster
(castra = camp)
- Doncaster and Winchester
ROMANS + BRITONS (CELTS)
CELTIC LEGACY
• Landscape Features
• Place Names
- London, Thames, Avon, Tor (hill), combe or cwm (hollow/valley)
- Devon resort – Salcombe
- Welsh town – Cwmbran
• Our word: SLOGAN:
SLUAGH (army or host) + GAIRM (cry) = war cry
• Irish = Celtic language
ROMAN LEGACY (LEFT BY 410 A.D.)
Hadrian’s Wall
Architecture
Roman arch
in Lincoln –
once a fort,
now a city
Latin: family - familia
library – liber
millennium – mille
school - schola
Christianity: Celts (through
Romans), Anglo-Saxons
(through St. Augustine +
King Aethelbert’s wife
Bertha in 601 A.D.)
ANGLO-SAXON LEGACY (TO 1066)
Beowulf – 750-900 A.D. by Anonymous
Lindisfarne Gospels - 700 A.D. by Eadfrith, bishop
Sutton Hoo (Saxon ship burial) – 7th century
Language:
Tiw - Tuesday
Thor - (Thors-day) Thursday
Friya – Friday
Place Names:
Towns that end in: -ton, -wick, -worth, -burn, -hurst, den or
-ham
Framingham and Warwick – for example
ANGLO-SAXON LANGUAGE
LEGACY
• OUR SYNTAX: (or arrangement of words in a sentence)
• PREFERENCE AND EASE WITH NOUNS
• TENDENCY TO SIMPLIFY GRAMMAR & SHORTEN WORDS
• “LAW OF RECESSIVE ACCENT”: tendency to place accent on first
syllable and slur over rest like “quantity” and “contrary”
• USE OF METAPHOR/KENNING/ALLITERATION/LITOTES
• ORAL TRADITION: scops
BEOWULF – BEE-HUNTER (BEAR)
Heroic values:
1. recklessness, bravery, loyalty, ruthlessness
2. War band (comitatus): chief + troop of warriors sworn to protect
him with their lives
3. King or chief: generous (ring-giver)
4. Kinship: wergild: blood price
Religion:
1. comingling of Christian and pagan beliefs
2. Pagan: emphasis on material wealth and results and fate
3. Willing to try Christianity because their religion wasn’t working so
well
BEOWULF
Example: Saxon view of God as chief of a war band
In Hrothgar's speech to thank Beowulf, he offers him everything he has as a
reward. God is conceived of as the biggest and most generous war band
leader:
..you have done such a deed that your fame is assured,
will live forever. May Almighty God
reward you with good, as he has today
(Chickering p55)
BEOWULF
KENNING
ALLITERATION
~ compound expressions,
representing a single
noun
~ repetition of consonant sounds at the
beginning of words in a line of verse
Whale-road: sea
Battle-sweat: blood
Sea-wood: ship
Shield-bearer: warrior
LO, praise of the prowess of peoplekings
of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
we have heard, and what honor the
athelings won!
Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned
foes,
GOOD VS. EVIL
Heroes
Villains
Beowulf: hero/protagonist
King Hrothgar: also victim
Wiglaf: Geat warrior
All warriors fighting demons
God
Grendel: monster/demon
Grendel’s mother/demon
Dragon: monster
Unferth: minor loser
Satan
BEOWULF THEMES
Legacy: concern with fame after death
Good vs. Evil: heroes vs. monsters – God vs. Evil
(mix of religions)
Importance of skill and strength: battle
Acquisition of Wealth: generosity and fame
(promotion)
Fate and courage: meet death with honor
Importance of tradition and custom in preserving
culture (giving of wealth, wergild, loyalty, boasting)