History of Old English (450-1150)

450-1150 AD

OE is the earliest recorded stage of the English Language. Old English is a Germanic Language that had French influences

• Celtic.
• Latin was brought to England during the Roman invasion 43 AD- 410 AD. Latin remained important after the Romans had left. It became the language of the church, education, science, law and culture.
• The influence of Celtic upon Old English was slight. In fact, very few Celtic words have lived on in the English language because the Celtic population was “romanized”.

where, why and by whom the language was used; the political and social factors causing change

• 450 arrival of Germanic settlers in Britain (Angles, Saxes, Jutes)
• by 600 the Germanic speech of England was already distinct from continental Germanic languages
• after 600:  conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity
• by 800 the 4 kingdoms Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia & Northumbria were politically viable
• 871-899 (the golden era) King Alfred reigned over Wessex -> promotes one single dialect of English
• 1066 Norman Invasion

Beowulf : a heroic, epic poem of unknown authorship. It has Scandinavian, Irish and Icelandic influences. It was performed in the 8^th century and written down in the 10^th century.

• Latin alphabet did not require all sounds used in OE and Runic letters from the “futhorc” alphabet, like æ in apple, were added
• all vowels should be pronounced, distinction between long and short vowels, and diphthongs: a, æ, e, i, o, u and eo, ie, ea as in German. Long vowels are marked with macrons. Y is pronounced like the ü in German.
• all consonants must be pronounced. No silent consonants

• Cases: 4 : nominative, accusative, genitive, dative
• numbers: 2: singular plural
• five groups of declension: 1.General masculine declension (strong), 2.General feminine declension (strong), 3.General neuter declension (strong), 4.The –an declension (weak), 5.Irregular declension
• Verbs are either strong or weak. The difference is visible in the past tense by adding - ede or –ode suffix to the weak verbs

• The word order in OE is much freer than in PDE. The 4 types are subject – verb- object, o-s-v, v-s-o and s-v.

• The OE lexicon consists of Latin, Scandinavian and Celtic borrowings

• Word formation: amalgamated compounds: midwife -> mid ‚with’ + wif ‚wife’ Metaphoric compounds: Beaduleoma (‚Battle-light) -> sword, Prefixation: (derivation today most produtive) Ingang entrance

• The main dialects Kentish, West Saxon, Mercian and Northumbrian formed by physiography, military and political history, Christianity, education and contact with other languages.