1. Old English A History of the English Language
Dr Vahid Nimehchisalem
Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Putra Malaysia
04/07/2014

2. 27. The language in England before English
English: only 1500 years old
England: at least years old
Language of England during Paleolithic or Neolithic periods: No info avilable
The Basques: A small community in Spain whose language may be a clue to the Neolithic cultures of Europe
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3. 27. The language in England before English
Celts: The first people in England we know of
Celtic: The language of England before English
Latin: Used extensively in England (when it was a province of the Roman Empire) for four centuries before the English came
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4. 27. The language in England before English
Celtic branches:
Gaelic (Goidelic)
Brythonic
Pictish
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5. 28. The Romans in Britain Julius Caesar’s 3 attacks to England:
55 and 54 B.C.: unsuccessful
53 B.C.: successful > tribute exacted but not paid by the Celts
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6. 29. The Romans conquest
A.D. 43: Claudius’ attack and capturing central and southeastern regions
A.D. 61: Boudicca’s uprising > Romans massacred
Romans never penetrated Wales and Scotland
England under Roman rule for 300 years
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7. 30. Romanization of the Island
Roman architecture and culture spread in England
By the third century Christianity made progress
A.D. 314: Bishops from London and York attended a church council in Gaul
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8. 31. The Latin language in Britain
Latin inscriptions found from military and official class
Latin replaced Celtic in Gaul but not in Britain
Latin used by
Upper class members
Certain people in urban areas
Well-to-do citizens
Its use declined after 410 when Roman legions withdrew
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9. 32. The German conquest
449: Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians invaded all the island but the highlands in the west and north
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10. 32. The German conquest
The four German tribes: from Denmark and the low countries
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11. 33. Anglo-Saxon civilization
Roman towns burnt and abandoned
Sharp distinction between eorls (aristocrats) and ceorls (commoners)
Tribes combined and produced 7 small kingdoms, the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy: Northumbria, Mercia, East-Anglia, Kent, Essex, Sussex, and Wessex
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12. 33. Anglo-Saxon civilization
The Anglo-Saxon heptarchy
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13. 33. Anglo-Saxon civilization
7th century: Northumbria gained political supremacy
8th century: leadership passed to Mercia
In 830: All England and chieftains of Wales acknowledged Egbert’s overlordship from Wessex
West Saxon kings maintained their claim
Under Alfred Wessex attained prosperity
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14. 34. The names ‘England’ and ‘English’
Celts called Germanic conquerors Saxons
Early Latin writers called them Saxones and their land Saxonia, but later Angli and Anglia generally covering all the west Germanic tribes
The tribes called themselves Englisc (English) and their land Angelcynn (Anglekin, race of the Angles) and later in 1000 Englaland
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15. 35. The origin and position of ‘English’
English resulted from the dialects spoken by the Germanic tribes who came to England.
English belongs to the Low West Germanic branch of the Indo-European family.
Two of the main features of Old English (OE):
Weak (regular) and strong (irregular) declensions (inflections)
Adoption of a strong stress accent on the first or the root syllable of most word
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16. 36. The periods of the history of English
Three main periods
Old English 450 to 1150
Middle English 1150 to 1500
Modern English 1500 onward (period of lost inflections)
Inflections: changing the word (with affixes) to express different grammatical categories, genders, numbers, tense, etc.
Strong (irregular) inflections: break - broke - broken
Weak (regular) inflections: fill - filled - filled
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17. 37. The dialects of Old English
Four main dialects
Northumbrian
Mercian
West Saxon
Kentish
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18. 37. The dialects of Old English
Northumbrian and Mercian: north of the Thames settled by the Angles
West Saxon: attained the position of a literary standard
Kentish: Dialect of the Jutes in the southeast
Norman conquest (11th century) reduced the importance of these dialects.
In the late Middle English period the dialect of East Midlands became the standard.
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19. 38. Old English pronunciation
Very different from that of Modern English
Needs special study
As strange as Italian or French
Employs different alphabet
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20. Main vowels in English Long vowels: Short vowels: /i:/ bee /I/ pit
/a:/ bar
/o:/ door
/u:/ zoo
/З:/ burr
Short vowels:
/I/ pit
/e/ pet
/æ/ pat
/D/ pot
/u/ put
/^/ cut
/Ə/ about
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21. 38. Old English pronunciation
Long vowels undergone considerable change
Old English /ei/  Modern English /o/
Example: stān  stone
Old English /ō/  Modern English /u:/
Example: fōt  foot
Old English /ē/  Modern English /e:/
Example: cēne  keen
Old English /ē/  Modern English /ai/
Example: riht  right
Old English /ū/  Modern English /aw/
Example: hū  how
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22. 38. Old English pronunciation
For –th- in modern English, Old English used
ð : ðā (then)
Ƥ : wiƤ (with)
For –a- in modern English, Old English used
æ : hæt (hat)
For –sh- in modern English, Old English used
sc : scēap (sheep)
For –k- in modern English, Old English used
c : cynn (kin)
For –ch- in modern English, Old English used
c : spræc (speech)
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23. 39. Old English vocabulary
Very few words from Latin
No words from French
Almost purely Germanic
85% of OE vocabulary no longer in use
Basic high frequency English words today come from OE: mann (man), gærs (grass), etan (eat), drincan (drink), feohtan (fight), libban (live)
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24. 40. Old English grammar Old English: inflectional
Inflectional languages
Synthetic languages: use inflections to show the relationship between the words in a sentences
Analytic languages: don’t use inflections; use prepositions, auxiliary, word order
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25. 40. Old English grammar Synthetic vs. Analytic languages:
e.g., Latin vs. Modern English
Nominative murus  The wall collapsed (subjective)
Genitive muri  The color of the wall is red (possessive)
Dative muro  They gave a name to the wall (objective, indirect)
Accusative murum  They destroyed the wall (objective, direct)
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26. Stān (singular)  Stāna (plural)
41. The noun
OE noun differentiates between
Number
Stān (singular)  Stāna (plural)
Case (whether a noun is a subject, object, etc):
Nominative (subjective): stān
Genitive (possessive): stānes
Dative (objective, indirect): stāne
Accusative (objective, direct): stān
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27. OE noun differentiates between Masculine stān (stone), wīfmann (woman)
42. Grammatical gender
OE noun differentiates between
Masculine
stān (stone), wīfmann (woman)
Feminine
sunne (sun)
Neuter
cild (child), wīf (wife)
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28. OE adjective differentiates between Masculine adjectives sē gōda mann
43. The adjective
OE adjective differentiates between
Masculine adjectives
sē gōda mann
Feminine adjectives
sēo gōde sunne
Neuter adjectives
ðæt gōde wīf
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29. OE had inflected definite article Masculine sē mann Feminine sēo sunne
44. The definite article
OE had inflected definite article
Masculine
sē mann
Feminine
sēo sunne
Neuter
ðæt wīf
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30. 45. The personal pronoun OE had distinctive pronouns for different
Genders
Masculine: hē (he)
Feminine: hēo (she)
Neuter: hit (it)
Persons
Singular: ic (I)
Dual: wit (we two)
Plural: wē (we more than two)
Cases
Nominative (subjective): ic (I)
Genitive (possessive): mīn (my)
Dative (objective, indirect): mē (me)
Accusative (objective, direct): mē /mec (me)
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31. OE verb differentiates between Weak forms (regular)
46. The verb
OE verb differentiates between
Weak forms (regular)
walk, walked, walked
Strong forms (irregular)
break, broke, broken
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32. 46. The verb
OE verb was conjugated: ic drīfe ðū drīfst hē drīfð wē drīfað gē drīfað hīe drīfað
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33. 48. The resourcefulness of OE vocabulary
OE vocabulary: flexible
Prefixes and suffixes often used
mōd (mood): heart, mind, spirit, courage, pride
mōdig (adj): bold, arrogant
mōdiglic (adj): magnanimous
mōdiglīce (adv): boldly
mōdignes (n): pride
mōdigian (v): to rage
gemōdod (adj): willing
mōdfull (adj): haughty
mōdlēas (adj): spiritless
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34. 49. Self-explaining compunds
Adaptation of two or more native words to signify a new concept instead of borrowing a loan word (e.g., greenhouse, railway)
English tends to borrow (hydrogen) unlike German (wasserstoff; i.e., water-stuff)
Unlike Modern English, OE commonly used self-explaining compounds:
lēohtfœt: lamp lēoh (light) + fœt (vessel)
ēarhring: earring
ealohūs: ale-house, tavern
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35. Paratactic style using short sentences (e.g., Hemingway)
51. Syntax and style
Hypotactic style using many long sentences with a plenty of subordination (e.g., Milton)
Paratactic style using short sentences (e.g., Hemingway)
Unlike OE, in English today paratactic style is interpreted immature and childish.
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36. 52. Old English literature
Two sorts of literature
Pagan: brought by the Germanic conquerors, preserved in oral tradition
Religious: reintroduction of Christianity
hard to distinguish between the two
Themes: life in the heroic age, physical endurance, courage, sense of duty, loyalty, honor, war, exile, and ruined cities
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37. 52. Old English literature
Beowulf
greatest single work of OE
folk epic of 3000 lines
For other examples, refer to pp
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