Old English Key Terms
OE Key terms
OE Key terms
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Lernkarten
Old English (OE)
The English spoken and written in the rough period 400-1100
Anglo-Saxon
Person who inhabited what is now England during 400-1100
Manuscript (MS), also: codex
Book written by hand on parchment or paper
Compilation
Manuscript in which more than one text is bound
Folio (f.), folios (ff.)
leaf/leaves of parchment or paper of which the two sides are the recto=front and verso=back
Inflection
change in the form of a word in order to express e.g. case, gender, number or person. OE: inflection usually accomplished by addition of a suffix
Case
form of a noun, pronoun or adjective defining its relationship with other words in a sentence, typically by means of inflection (e.g. genitive 's --> possession)
Grammatical gender
Means of classifying nouns, often with little correspondence to biological sex of the object referred to
Number
grammatical distinction of quantity, typically between one and more than one (sg./pl.)
Declension
class of nouns / adjectives sharing the same inflection
strong verb
verb that forms its tenses by changing its root vowel (Ablaut)
Ablaut
systematic alternation of a root vowel in order to indicate the meaning or grammatical function of a word
weak verb
verb that forms its past by adding a suffix (e.g. -ed) to the stem
outer history
events that have happened to the speakers of a language that lead to changes in the language (e.g. invasion)
inner history
changes that occur within the language itself that cannot be attributed to external forces
Futhorc
rune system used by Anglo-Saxons for writing befre wholesale adoption of the Latin alphabet
Insular script
style of writing developed under Irish influence, flourished 600-850, after Christianization
strong adjectives
adjectives that stand alone
weak adjectives
adjectives that are preceded by a demonstrative pronoun or possessive adjective
OE Alliterative verse
verse system used in OE poetry in which, per line, one of the two accented syllables in the first half line must alliterate with the first accented syllable of the second half line
Anglo-Norman
variety of french spoken and written in England from 1066
Middle English (ME)
the English spoken and written in the rough period 1100-1500
Analogy
a process by which one form becomes more like another form with which it is associated; on the basis of a pattern existing in the language; an old form is replaced or a new form is introduced
Synthetic language
a language that tends to express grammatical relationship by means of inflection
Analytical language
A language that tends to express grammatical relationship between words with seperate words (e.g. prepositions) or by word order rather than inflection.
Compounding
the combination of two or more words to make a new word
Loanword
a word adapted from another language or dialect
Ease of Articulation
a motivation for sound change whereby a speaker exerts the least effort in articulating sounds
Conduct text
a text which offers advice on how its readers should behave
Scribe
a copyist of a manuscript book or document
Romance
a narrative relating the adventures of idealized characters in a remote or enchanted setting
Variant reading
a difference observed when comparing two or more versions of the same text
Hagiography
biography of a saint (saint's life)
Analogue
a literary work that shares motifs, characters or events with another, but is not directly related to it
Fabilau
a coarsely humorous short dealing in a bluntly realistic manner with the stock characters of a middle class involved in sexual intrigue or obscene pranks
Dialect
a variety of a language, either social or regional, that is more or less mutually intelligible with other forms of the language
Early Modern English (EME)
the English spoken and written in the rough period 1500-1800
Inkhorn term
a Latinism to which someone objects (so called due to the horn/pot of ink commonly used by writers)
