Lecture 3: Old English. November 3, Lecture 3: Old English 1. Old English. B/HS2 Linguistics. Language timeline

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1 Old English Lecture 3: Old English B/HS2 Linguistics Celtic influence: place-names and river names The end of Roman occupation around 410 The arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in 449 The Heptarchy: the seven early kingdoms The unification under King Alfred (9th century) Old English: dialects and loan words, West Saxon One sound change: i/j-mutation (or i-umlaut) Old English word order: such assov, AVS, verb-second The Scandinavians: settlements, influence on English, place names, the Danelaw (878-) Time periods in the history of English Old English (OE): Middle English (ME): Early Modern English (EModE): Late Modern English (LModE): Language timeline This chart illustrates the timeline of the various language contacts in the English-speaking world. The Celts It is not until around 500 BC that we can begin to speak about the people of Britain with any kind of authority, for around that time the first Celts arrived. Archaeological evidence suggests that they originated in the Alps, spread out across Gaul (France) and finally into Britain. Around 75 BC, the last of the great Celtic invasions occurred. A new people called the Belgae began to arrive from northern Gaul. In the north of England, Celtic tribes would become known as the Caledonians and the Brigantes. In the south, they acquired the names the Dumnonii, the Coritnai, and the Dobuni. The Celts Celtic influence is small: River names: Avon, Ouse, Thames Place names: Kent, Devon, Cornwall, Leeds, London < Llyndin Lecture 3: Old English 1

2 England before the Anglo- Saxons: the Romans Romanization of Britain Caesar 55 BC, Claudius AD 43, Queen Boadicca s rebellion ca AD 60 withdrawal of Roman forces from Britain AD 410 Two Roman emperors died at York: Septimus Severus in 211 Constantius I (father of Constantius the Great) in 306 End of Roman rule Roman place-names Verulamium (St Albans) Lindum (Lincoln) Eboracum (York) Camulodunum (Colchester) Calleva (Silchester) Venta (Winchester) Ratae (Leicester) Glevum (Gloucester) Londinium (London) The arrival of the Anglo Saxons Post-Roman Britain 410- Angles Saxons Frisians Traces of Saxon pirates in the fourth century A.D.: A city wall was built along the river Thames in London after 360. In about 477 and in 495, the Saxons and Frisians left Germany for Wessex, Essex, and Sussex. Around 547, the Jutes settled in Kent; while the Angles went north into East Anglia (south-east England), Mercia (central area of England), and up to Northumbria (northern England). Conversion to Christianity in 597: King Ǽthelbert of Kent. Lecture 3: Old English 2

3 The Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy: The seven kingdoms 1. Northumbria (Angles) 2. Mercia (Angles) 3. East Anglia (Angles) 4. Kent (Jutes) 5. Essex (Saxons) 6. Sussex (Saxons) 7. Wessex (Saxons) There were also earlier kingdoms (such as Middlesex, Hwicce, and Magonsaete) Anglo-Saxon kingdoms 1. Northumbria (Angles) 2. Mercia (Angles) 3. East Anglia (Angles) 4. Kent (Jutes) 5. Essex (Saxons) 6. Sussex (Saxons) 7. Wessex (Saxons) 8. Hwicce Anglo-Saxon Britain Anglo-Saxon place-name elements Anglo-Saxon place-names: -bury, -ford, -ton, -ham, -worth, -field, -ing, -ley The Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy: Northumbria, Mercia, and East Anglia, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, and Kent. Dialect differences: 4 dialects: West Saxon, Mercian, Kentish, Northumbrian Because of the later dominance of Wessex, the West Saxon dialect is important. Most extant texts are in the West Saxon dialect. Bourne: Stream Burn: Stream Burg: Large village Bury: Fortified place Croft: Small enclosure Ford: Shallow river crossing -Ham: Village -Ing: People Lake: Lake Ley; Lea: Clearing Mere/Mer/Mar: Pool Moor: Moor Moss: Swamp Ney: Island Riding; Rod: Cleared land -stead: place Stoc: Summer pasture Stoke: 'Daughter' settlement Stow: Holy Place -Ton; -Tun: House; Farm Weald; Wold; High Woodland Wic; Wike: Farm; Group of huts Wood: Wood Worth: Fenced land Old English dialects West Saxon Mercian Kentish Northumbrian Old English dialects (why West Saxon is not the ancestor of PDE) Dialect differences. Four dialects: West Saxon, Mercian, Kentish, Northumbrian West Saxon developed a literary standard, but it is not the ancestor of modern English West Saxon Anglian ea o ceald cald > ModE cold ie e hieran heran > ModE hear Lecture 3: Old English 3

4 Dialects today: Old English short y cynn > kinn kin = /ı/ Northern / East Midlands kunn = /ʊ/ West Saxon kenn = /e/ Kent / Southern OE myrige > merry (Southern) OE lyft > left (Southern) OE byrgan > bury (West Saxon) /berɪ/ (Southern) OE bysig > busy (West Saxon) /bɪzɪ/ (Northern) Kentish ken < kin, zen < sin in Fennell p. 113 Old English grammar OE morphology: Three numbers: singular, plural and dual Four cases in the noun, Nominative, Accusative, Dative, Genitive. The verb inflected for person, number, and mood. Two tenses (present and past) Mood (the indicative and the subjunctive) Strong and weak adjectives Old English syntax SOV in subordinate clauses, AVSO in clauses with initial adverbials (verb-second), Det + N as well as N + Det ða ongan ic then began I A V S Compare Swedish: Imorgon reser jag OE syntax: initial adverbials (= Verb-second) A V S Od þy ilcan geare gesette Ælfred cyning Lundenburg the same year besieged king Alfred London [þy ilcan geare][gesette][ælfred cyning][lundenburg] OE syntax: word order (a) Him folgiað fuglas scyne him-dative follow fair birds O V S = fair birds will follow him (b) Þā eodon hie ut then went they out = then they went out OE syntax: word order (1) Her hiene bestael se here on midne winter ofer twelftan niht to cippanhamme = Here itself stole-away the army in mid-winter after twelfth night to Chippenham (2) & þæs on eastron wrohte ælfred cyning lytle werede geweorc at æþelinga = And after at Easter built Alfred king with-little force fortress at Athelney Lecture 3: Old English 4

5 The Norsemen Scandinavian assimilation The Danelaw, line from London to Chester Scandinavian place names: -by, -thorp, -toft, -thwaite Scandinavian loan words: sk- Scandinavian 3. person plural forms: they, them, their The verb form are Raiding stage: Settlement stage: Assimilation stage: (after conversion to Christianity) The Danelaw Note the boundary from Chester in the north west to London Grammatical features from Old Norse Scandinavian 3. person plural forms: they, them, their (replacing hie, hi(e)m, hiera). Chaucer still has hem, hire, but uses they. Prepositions: til, fro Verb: are (be) Infinitive marker: att, as in ado Scandinavian place-name elements Scandinavian place-name elements -by: Whitby, Derby, Rugby, Grimsby -thorpe: Althorpe, Linthorpe, Bishopsthorpe -thwaite /Ɵveıt/: Braithwaite, Langthwaite Akr: Acre Beck: Stream Booth: Summer pasture By: Farm; Village Ey: Island Fell; How: Hill or mound Fiord: Fiord Fiskr: Fish Gardr: Yard; landing place Garth: Enclosure Gate: Road Gill: Ravine or valley Holm(r): Island Hus: House Ings: Marsh; meadow Kelda: Spring, stream Kirk: Church Laithe: Barn Lin: Flax Lund: Grove Melr: Sandbank Orme: Serpent Slack: Stream in a valley Stakkr: Rock in the sea Stan: Stone Stokkr: Sound Thorp: Daughter settlement Thwaite: Forest clearing Toft: Homestead Lecture 3: Old English 5

6 Scandinavian loan words: usually everyday vocabulary sister, leg, neck, bag, cake, dirt, fellow, fog, knife, skill, skin, sky, window. Flat, loose, low, odd, ugly, wrong. Call, drag, get, give, raise, smile, take, want, though, bask, busk, thwart ON they them their instead of OE hie him hiera (Note that Chaucer still uses hem and hire) More Scandinavian loans (ON = Old Norse) English church [tʃ], ON kirk English ditch ON dike English shirt ON skirt Germanic /sk/ > /ʃ/ in OE, but not in ON: skirt, sky, skill take < ON taka, gate < ON gata, cf. Aldgate, Cripplegate, Bishopsgate Sound changes: i/j-mutation (i-umlaut) More on i-mutation: examples (note the front vowel in the second item) Front / i-mutation / i-umlaut: back vowel + /ɪ/, /i:/, or /j/ in the following syllable: u: > y: > i: o: > e: Gothic OE Mod E *mūsiz > mȳs (Umlaut) mice /maɪs/ (GVS) *fŭlljan > fyllan (Umlaut) fill /fɪll/ (no GVS) *fōdjan > fēdan (Umlaut) feed /fi:d/ (GVS) mouse-mice, full-fill, gold-gild, fox-vixen, food-feed, doom-deem, goose-geese tooth-teeth, book-beech, man-men, Canterbury-Kent, long-length, tale-tell old-elder-eldest strong-strength sit-set Some important texts Caedmon s Hymn: c Prose: Gildas, The Ruin of Britain (540s) in Latin Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the British People (731) in both Latin and OE The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ( ) in OE Ohtere and Wulfstan in OE Poetry: (30,000 lines survive), the earliest being Caedmon s Hymn (c. 660) The Battle of Malden Beowulf nu scylun hergan metudæs maecti uerc uuldurfadur eci dryctin he aerist scop heben til hrofe tha middungeard eci dryctin firum foldu hefaenricaes uard end his modgidanc swe he uundra gihwaes or astelidæ aelda barnum haleg scepen. moncynnæs uard æfter tiadæ frea allmectig Lecture 3: Old English 6

7 Caedmon s Hymn: English translation Alliterative poetry: The Battle of Malden Now [we] must honour the guardian of heaven, the might of the architect, and his purpose, the work of the father of glory as he, the eternal lord, established the beginning of wonders; he first created for the children of me heaven as a roof, the holy creator Then the guardian of mankind, ʹByrhtwold maþelode ʹbord hafenode (se wæs ʹeald geneat), ʹæsc ʹacwehte; he ful baldlice ʹbeornas lærde: Hige sceal þe ʹheardra, ʹheorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe ʹmare, þe ure ʹmægen lytlað. Her lið ure ʹealdor ʹeall forheawen, Byrhtwold spoke, shield raised aloft -- he was an old loyal retainer -- and brandished his spear; he very boldly commanded the warriors: "Our hearts must grow resolute, our courage more valiant, our spirits must be greater, though our strength grows less. Here lies our Lord all hewn down, Beowulf: 8th century 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 Beowulf and Sweden In the poem, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats in Scandinavia, comes to the help of Hroðgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall (in Heorot) has been under attack by a monster known as Grendel. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother attacks the hall and is then also defeated. Beowulf goes home to Geatland in Sweden and later becomes king of the Geats. After a period of fifty years has passed, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is fatally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants bury him in a tumulus, a burial mound, in Geatland. Beowulf: 3182 lines, early 8th century 19th-century archeological evidence may confirm elements of the Beowulf story. Eadgils was buried at Uppsala, according to Snorri Sturluson. When Eadgils' mound was excavated in 1874, the finds supported Beowulf and the sagas. They showed that a powerful man was buried in a large barrow, c 575, on a bear skin with two dogs and rich grave offerings. Summary The Celts, the Romans Early Anglo-Saxon England Anglo-Saxon dialects and kingdoms Scandinavian influence: grammar, loan words, place names West Saxon standard not the ancestor of Modern English One sound change: I-mutation or Umlaut Lecture 3: Old English 7

8 Next: Middle English Middle English: The arrival of the Normans in 1066 French influence over a 400-year period The Canterbury Tales extract Introduction to the Great Vowel Shift, which begins around 1400 The emergence of standard English from one Middle English dialect Lecture 3: Old English 8