Old English

Old English refers to the English language as it was from about the middle of the fifth century until around the middle of the twelfth century.

History and Origin of Old English

Old English is a West-Germanic language and as such it is closely related to Dutch, German and especially Frisian, as well as, more distantly the Scandinavian (or North-Germanic languages).

In the fifth century, significant numbers of Angles, Saxons and Jutes from Northern Europe arrived in England. The invaders dominated the original Celtic-speaking inhabitants, whose languages survive largely in Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall. The dialects spoken by the invaders formed what is now called Old English. Later, it was strongly influenced by the North Germanic language Norse, spoken by the Vikings who invaded and settled mainly in the north-east of England (see Jórvík and Danelaw). The new, and the earlier, settlers spoke languages from different branches of the Germanic family; many of their lexical roots were the same or similar, although their grammars were more distinct, including the prefix, suffix and inflection patterns for many of their words. The Germanic language of these Old English speaking inhabitants of Britain was influenced by contact with Norse invaders, which may have been responsible for some of the morphological simplification of Old English, including loss of grammatical gender and explicitly marked case (with the notable exception of the pronouns). The most famous surviving work from the Old English period is most of the epic poem "Beowulf", by an unknown poet, though substantially modified, likely by one or more Christian clerics long after its composition.

Dialects

There were several major dialect areas of Old English: Northumbrian in the north, Kentish in the southeast, West Saxon in the southwest, and Mercian in the central Midlands region. Although Mercian is the most direct ancestor of Modern English, few documents survive in it. The vast majority of written materials that survive are in West Saxon, because of the ravages of the Viking attacks across Britain in the ninth century. Because of King Alfred of Wessex' successful resistance many manuscript escaped the worst. Alfred and his descendants also conquered much of the remaining Norse-dominated England, thus exerting an enormous influence on the rest of the island.

Old English had no written form (aside from the occasional use of runes) until the introduction of Christianity; with it came a relatively phonetic alphabetic system, as well as loanwords from Latin and some Greek. Danish incursions along the Eastern coasts created an area of influence known as the Danelaw, and Danish had a substantial influence, particularly on the pronoun system. The Old English period formally ended with the Norman conquest, when the language was influenced, to an even greater extent, by the Norman French-speaking Normans.

Old English text sample

Beowulf lines 1 to 11, approximately 900

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 þara 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 honor 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)

References

Bibliography

• S.A.J. Bradley. 1982. Anlo-Saxon Poetry. Everyman's Library. London: J.M. Dent/Rutland (VT): Charles E. Tuttle. ISBN 0460870866
• Karl Brunner. 1965. Altenglische Grammatik nach der Angelsächsischen Grammatik von Eduard Sievers. 3rd ed. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
• Bruce Mitchell. 1995. An Invitation to Old English and Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford (UK)/Cambridge (USA): Blackwell. ISBN 0631174354; ISBN 0631174362 (pbk)
• Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson. 1992. A Guide to Old English. Oxford (UK)/Cambridge (USA): Blackwell. ISBN 0631166564; ISBN 0631166572 (pbk)
• Eduard Sievers. 1903. Old English Grammar. Albert S. Cook trs. Boston/London: Ginn & Co. (Still a very good grammar; the German version by Karl Brunner, 1965, is also good.)
• Elaine Treharne ed. 2000. Old and Middle English. An Anthology. Oxford (UK)/Malden (Mass.): Blackwell. ISBN 063120462; ISBN 0631204660 (pbk)