IL. The Old English Period (450 - 1150) 5. OE historical background Historically speaking, OE is the linguistic expression of AS sociopolitical and cultural life. The early period involved the replacement of a Roman-Celtic society (with its generally accepted Christian religion) by one of heathen Gme tribes. In many respects, that change may appear to have been a regression; but the dynamic newcomers soon developed their own order. A period of settlement and cultivation of land followed after the initial clashes of the 5" century; then, during the next century, other AS military actions pushed the borders further west. Inthe end, the Cymrie Celts who remained free covered only a broken strip of westernmost territory (Devon, ‘Comwall, Wales, Cumberland). The Gaelic Celts of Ireland remained unscathed; and (direct ties with Rome being severed) they developed a pecutiar kind of Christianity, based on the lore of St Patrick (whose mission to Ireland is said to have started in 432) The nature and effects of the contact between the Anglo-Saxon conquerors and the enslaved natives continue to be debated. The fact that English apparently preserved very little of the Celtic language has made many suppose that slaughter and enforced migration must have been the usual fortune of the defeated. In later centuries, only Ireland, Scotland, and Wales proved able to show traces of old Celtic vigor. As for England, the presence of Celtic names among later Anglo-Saxons is proof of possible intermarriages and (ocally) peaceful relations. For the latter half of the 7* century, there is clear proof of an important Welsh population in Wessex, since some of King Ine’s laws (cf. Sweet 1978) expressedly regard the status of Welsh subjects. For example, the article Be Wilisces monnes landhesfene On Welshman’s landholding’) refers to taxes paid by Welsh natives for the use of their own land. Another article (entitled Be don de deowwealh frione mon ofsleah “On that when a Welsh-slave ‘might Kill @ free man’) is significant for its more detailed reference to the ethno-social Saxon-Welsh relationship; and it is in the same article where the virtual victim, a free (West) Saxon, is designated as Englisene monnan (in the accusative singulas), ic. Englishman’ Penda of Mercia (a heathen Anglian king) allied himself with Cadwallon of North Wales (a Christian Welsh prince) against Christianized Northumbria. At least two of King Alfred's predecessors, Cerdic and Caedwalla, bore Welsh names; and Alfred’s biographer, Asser, was a Welshman by birth, Anyway, in the problem of the Celto-Germanic contaet in Britain, most obvious is the fact that Anglo-Saxons did achieve what Romans could not, namely imposition of a new language in Britain, for centuries to come. ‘The most important tendency in the social life of the victors was @ passage from forms of tribal life (brought from the continental homeland) toa feudal social structure. Among other things, ilitary leaders gradually tumed into petty kings and feudal lords. Then, by the end of the 7" ‘century, a new political community had been established: the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, whose seven kingdoms we now know as Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, During the 7th and the 8* centuries, Kent, Northumbria, and Mercia held, in turn, political supremacy. Christianization, by both Roman missionaries and Irish monks, was also successful at that time, Then, significant superiority was gained by Wessex in the 9® century. But, besides the cultural flourishing at King Alfred’s capital, Winchester (< OE Wintan-ceaster, which perpetuated Celto-Roman Venta Belgarum), that century also witnessed ravages by Scandinavian invaders. ‘The inital stage ofthat troublesome development was concluded by the establishment of Danelaw over a large central English area. Later, in the early 11" century, Cnut of Denmark was offered 21the English crown, an event that marked the establishment of a short-lived North-Sea empire. ‘After that climax of early medieval history, the Wessex monarchy regained the English throne; but the Norman victory at Hastings, in 1066, put an end to Anglo-Saxon political life. 5.1. OE historical tables 449 ‘The attested beginning of the Anglo-Saxon invasion, under Hengest and Horsa, 455 Horsa killed in battle of Aylesford (OE Aegelesderp) against Celtic king Vortigem (Wyrtgeorn. 457 Britons defeated by Hengest (at Crayford) are forced to abandon Kent to Jutes. 2477 Kingdom of Sussex founded. 491 Saxons capture Pevensey (Sussex). 2495 Kingdom of Wessex founded. 2518 Britons led by King Arthur (according to tradition) defeat Saxons at Mount Badon. 2527 Kingdom of Essex founded 2537 Historical Arthur killed in the battle of Camlan. 2540 First attested Welsh poets: Taliesin, Aneirin, Llywarch Hén. 2347 Gildas: Liber de exeidio et conquestu Britanniae. 550 Wales converted to Christianity by St David 563 Irish monks, under Columba, found monastery at Fona and begin to convert Picts. S17 Saxons of Wessex defeat Welsh at Deorham, 2584 Kingdom of Mercia founded, 590 Columba moves to the Continent (Luxeuil, Vosges). 596 Pope Gregory I dispatches Augustine (St Austin) as missionary to England, 396-616 Supremacy of Kent/In 597 Augustine converts King Aethelbert of Kent, who was also regarded as Bretwalda ‘overlord of Britain’ 602 ‘Augustine, establishes archiepiseopal see at Canterbury: 604 Saint Paul’s of London founded. 612 Gallus (Columba’s disciple) founds St Gallen, Switzerland. 613 ‘Northumbrian Angles defeat Welsh near Chester. 614 Columba founds monastery at Bobbio, Italy. 617-685 Supremacy of Northumbria (King Edwin is converted by Paulinus, a Roman missionary, in 625). 625-635 Christianization of East Anglia and Wessex, 626 Edwin of Northumbria founds Edinburgh. 632 Penda of Mercia (a heathen Anglian king) and Cadwallon of North Wales (a Christian Welsh prince) defeat and kill Edwin of Northumbria; Paulinus flees and Northumbrian church collapses. 635 Irish monks from Iona are invited to Northumbria by King Oswald; led by ‘Aidan, they found monastery at Lindisfarne. 636 Souther Irish church resumes ties with Holy See in Rome. 640-650 Early heroie poems composed: Widsith, Deor, Finnsburg, Waldere. 654 Oswin of Northumbria destroys Mercian-Welsh alliance; Penda is killed, 655 Benedictine monastery founded at Peterborough 664 Synod of Whitby establishes Roman dominance over British church/Plague outbreak in Saxon England. 669 ‘Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury and great organizer of AS church. "7680-690 Caedmon's poetic work. 673 First synod of newly established English church, at Hertford. 618 Earliest date for composition of Beowulf. 680 English missionaries to Continent,/Aldhelm, bishop of Sherbome and earliest AS writer of verse and prose. 681 Benedict Biscop founds monasteries at Wearmouth and Jarrow (Bede's school) 2685 686 688 696 697 2698 ns 716-821 Bl 2755 1709 781 793 2790-800 800 802-825, 810 815 825 835-836 84a 850 851 7860 866-870 871-899 876 878 880-900 893 899) 900 10 ou a7 2919 935 937 954 960-970 965 978 980-1000 985-1014 Northumbrian advance into Scotland stopped by Picts’ victory at Nechtansmere. Christianization of England completed (the last kingdom, Sussex), Laws of Ine, king of Wessex./Ine subdues Essex and part of Kent ‘St Willibrord (a missionary from England) becomes Archbishop of Utrecht. Northem Irish church submits to papacy. Lindisfarne Gospels written and illuminated. English Benedictine monk Winftith (future St Boniface) begins mission among, heathen Germans. ‘Supremacy of Mercia; silver currency introduced under King Offa Venerable Bede: Historia ecelesiastica gentis Anglorum. St Boniface martyred in Germany, Mercian King Offa (Rex Anglorum) defeats West Saxons. Alcuin leaves York for Aachen (Charlemagne’s Court), Vikings destroy Lindisfame monastery Cynewult’s poetic work. Charlemagne, King of Franks, crowned Roman Emperor by the Pope. Vikings (especially from Norway) dominate Ireland, which becomes base for later attacks on England. ‘Nynniaw (Nennius): Historia Britonum. Egbert of Wessex defeats Comish Britons. Egbert of Wessex overthrows king of Mercia; beginning of Wessex supremacy over England Danish Vikings raid England, and sack London. Kenneth MacAlpin, King of Scots and Picts. Danish army take winter quarters in England. Aethelwulf of England defeats Danes. King Gorm undertakes unification of Jutland and Danish Isles. Danes occupy Northumbria and East Anglia, then attack Wessex. Alfred the Great, King of England (Rex Angulsaxonum); culture flourishes at Winchester, in both Latin and Old English. ‘Viking kingdom established at York Allred defeats Danes at Edington; King Guthrum and other Danish leaders are forced to accept baptism; Treaty of Wedmore then establishes Danelaw territory (Bast Anglia, Essex, part of Mer Alfredian translations from Latin; beginning ofthe Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Danish invasion of Kent fails; gradual decrease in Danelaw aggressivity follows. Edward the Elder becomes king after Alfied’s death, Kingdom af Denmark established by King Gorm, West Saxons defeat Vikings at York. ‘Treaty of St Clair-sur-Epte establishes dukedom of Normandy on French territory; Rollo, a Viking leader, becomes first Norman duke as Robert I. Edward the Elder, King of England, subdues Danes of East Anglia Welsh princedoms, and kingdoms of Scotland, Strathclyde, York acknowledge Edward the Elder as overlord, Harald Bluetooth, first Christian king of Denmark Athelstan of England (Rex Britannic) defeats Scottish, Viking, and Strathclyde armies at Brunanburh, Eric Bloodaxe, Viking king of York is expelled and Northumbria retums to English control. Benedictine monastic revival. English invade Welsh kingdom of Gwynedd Accession of Aethelred IT (nicknamed Un-reed ‘no-counsel’, ic. “folly” A new wave of Viking attacks on England. Svein, king of Denmark and of Sweden. 237990-998 —Aelfrie: Catholic Homilies, and Lives of the Saints. 991 Battle of Maldon; Actheired of England is forced to buy Vikings off. 994 Danegeld instituted after Viking siege of London 1000 Acthelred II ravages Cumberland an¢ Isle of Man./Svein conquers Norway. 1005-1014 Almost annual Danish invasions of England; regular payments of Danegeld. 1013 Danes conquer Northumbria, Wessex, London; Aethelred II flees to Normandy. 1014 Svein dies and is succeeded by Cnut/English leaders call Aethetred back to England/Wullstan: Speech to the English (COE rhythmic-alliterative prose)./ Battle of Clontarf ends Viking rule in Ireland, 1015 ‘Wessex submits to Crt 1017 CChut is recognized as king of England and marries Emma, widow of Aethelred (4. 1016) and daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy. 1028 Cut conquers Norway. 1035 Duke Robert of Normandy dies and is succeeded by his illegitimate son William (later Conqueror of England)./Cnut dies and his son, Harald Harefoot, becomes Harold I of England. 1036 Powerful Earl Godwin kills Alfted, Aethelred’s son 1039 Gruffyd ap Liywelyn, Welsh king of Gwynedd and Powys, defeats English, 1040 Harold I dies and is succeeded by Hardaenut (Cnut and Emma's son). /Dunean of Scotland is slain by Macbeth. 1042 Hardacnut dies and his half-brother, Edward the Confessor (Acthelred and Emma's son), returns from Normandy, to be crowned king of England (Anglorum Basileus on the earliest Great Seal of England). 1051 William of Normandy visits Edward and probably receives promise of suecession to English throne. 1062 Godwin’s sons, Harold (Earl of Wessex) and Tostig subdue Wales. 1066 Edward dies, and his brother-in-law, Harold (Earl Godwin’s son) is ; in September, Harold defeats Norwegian invaders at Stamford Bridge, then has to face William of Normandy, who had landed at Pevensey; on October 14, Harold is defeated and killed at Hastings. 5.2, Original sources of OE history. There are several important writings, in both Lat and OE, which recorded the events that changed Britain into a predominantly Gme territory. Those carly historical texts were written by representatives of different standpoints, with different altitudes towards the historical fate of Britain. A Welsh monk, Gildas, wrote the first known British historical work, Liber de exeidio et conquestu Britanniae (‘Book on the Destruction and Conquest of Britain’). He was one of the cultured “Roman citizens” who escaped to Brittany towards the end of the troubled 5" century. In his book, Gildas laments the state of political disorder in his country afier the withdrawal of Roman troops. He tells us that the Saxones (a generic name for all the early AS invaders) were first called to Britain as mercenaries, o be used in internal conflicts. They proved successful especially against the warlike Scots and Picts of the North; but soon the hirelings became plunderers themselves, and opened the way for others of their kind. ‘The work of Gildas (a pathetic eye-witness) was used by later historians, notably by the Venerable Bede. By his Latin-writien Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (literally “Beclesiastic History of the Kin of the Angles’) Bede established himself as the earliest outstanding personality of a new Britain, that of the Christianized Anglo-Saxons. The Jarrow scholar completed his work in 731; it was translated into English (probably at Alired’s court) only a century and a half after Bede’s death. The Historia provides an early example of English patriotism and scholarly insight, as we may see in the following lines of the Alfedian translation. The fragment describes the geographic position, riches, and early history of Britain: 4Bretene is gar-seoges iegland, det wis geo geara Albion haten: is gesettbetwix nord dele and vest-dele, Germanie and Callie and Hispanie, Osem mastum.dilum Europe, miele face ongean. Bact is nord eahta hund mila Tang, and twa hund mila brad. Hit het fram sub-dele 6a magde ongean de man hactt Gallia Belgiea. Hit fe welig, dis legland, on waestmum and on treowum missenliera cynna, and hit is geserepe on leswe seeapa and neata, and on sumum stowum win-geardas growaé, Swelce exc deos corde is herende missenliera fugla and se-wihta[.,. It hit ea, ds land, sealt-seadas, and hit haf hat waster and hat ad... Swelee hit is enc berende ‘on weega orum, ares and iserhes, Indes and seolfres (On fruman srest wieron disses ieglandes bigengan Breftas ane, fram Ozem hit naman onfeng'. It was Bede who first gave AD 449 as the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon invasion, and indicated that the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes were the Gme tribes which participated in that major historical act. At the beginning of the 9" century, a Latin-writing Welshman, Nynniaw (better known under his Latinized name, Nennius) was writing his own Historia Britonum, using both Bede’s ‘material and traditions unknown to us. Like Gildas before him, Nennius appeared as a supporter of the Britons’ cause, He was also the first known author to exalt the legendary figure of King Arthur, presented as a remarkable adversary of the Anglo-Saxon pagans. ‘As for the Anglo-Saxons” view on their own history, expressed in their own language, it was probably in some Alfredian circle that the work generally known today as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was started. That series of annals, written by a number of authors, through two and a half centuries, furthered Bede's historical tradition and vision. It went on, recording the most significant events until almost a century after William’s Conquest: the Peterborough Chronicle (the final extant continuation of the pre-NC chronicle) closes with the events of the year 1154, A good example of how Bede’s facts were taken over by the Chronicle is the following fragment, which shows the first Anglo-Saxon (Jutish) warriors entering the stage of English history. The general framing of the moment is done by an opening reference to the history of the ‘Roman Empire (at that time partitioned between Marcian and Valentinian III) Anno 449. Her Martianus and Valentinus onfengon rice, and riesodon seofon winter. And on hiera dagum Hengest and Horsa, fram Wyrtgeorne geladode, Bretta eyninge, gesohton Bretene on dxm stede de is genemned Ypwines-fleot, arest Brettum to faltume, ac hie eft on hie fuhton. Se cyning het hie feohtan ongean Peohtas; and hie ‘swa dydon, and sige haefdon [..] da sendon to Angle, and heton him sendan maran fultum; and heton him secgan Bret-weala nahtnesse and Owes landes eyste |..). Da comon da menn of Orim magoum Germanie: of Eald-seaxum, of Englum, of Totum?. Just as Nennius had made of Arthur the hero of his history, a significant part of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle brought into relief the figure of King Alfred of Wessex. He played the leading political role at a time when the heirs of legendary-historical Hengest and Horsa (mentioned in the fragment above) had to defend, in their turn, their British homeland against other Gme invaders, the Danes. 5.3. The ethnic composition of the early Gme invaders of England, “The Coming of the English”, @ formula frequently used in histories of the English people and language, is misleading. An English national identity proper was not brought from outside Britain; it was created on British ground, by a process that took several centuries. The AS element was undeniably of capital importance, though it was not the only ethno-linguistic factor in that process (for instance, a Celtic substrate ~ significant enough in western England, and in Scotland -, and a Danish adstrate may also be considered). The Gme warriors who, by’ sword, tumed Britain into their new homeland, were of WGme origin. Since Bede (himself of Anglian extraction), “Angles, Saxons, and Jutes” has been a traditional formula, which does not exactly comply with the chronologic order of arrivals, but rather with demographic proportion. Besides, Frisians must also have played an important part in the spectacular people-motion of the 5* century. 5.3.1. The Jutes were the earliest Gme (Frankish 2) settlers in England, Initially they had lived in (and given the name to) the Jutland Peninsula, which now contains most of Denmark, as well as the Schleswig-Holstein land of Germany. In a period previous to the invasion of England, 2sthe Jutes had probably moved from their peninsular homeland to the Lower Rhine. They may have been among the Saxones and Franci raiding the eastern shores of Roman Britain during the 3° and 4 centuries Before Bede’s mention of the Jutae (~ Iotas and Jutan in the Chronicle), only vague references had been made to some Eudoses living in the northem tip of Jutland in Tacitus’ time (the 1" century), and to some Euti’ among the Franks of the 6" century. Though the Jutes are generally considered to have been West (not North) Germanic, we cannot neglect their possible links with the Scandinavian context of Beowulf first, the Fotenas of the poem have generally been interpreted as meaning ‘Jutes’; second, the ethnonym under discussion may also be referred fo the name of Beowulf"s own people, the Geatas (the ‘uming of a palatalized /g/ into is frequent in Germanic, and regular in English ~ see OE gear > Mn year). Also, in the same respect, we cannot overlook the early Gautae (Goths) of the Baltic Sea and the Scandinavian South. Finally, what is now known as the New Forest was still called Ytene (a genitive plural of OF Yte ‘lute’ in 11" century England, The warriors of Hengest and Horsa, invited to Britain by an unfortunate local king, Vortigern (Wyrtgeorn), must have been Jutes (though ethnically mixed war-bands were nothing unusual at that time). Later Jutish invaders occupied parts of the English South-East (Kent, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight). Though they managed to found only one lasting state form in England, the kingdom of Kent, it was through that Jutish filter that higher culture was to enter England. from the Continent (Christianization from Rome, then cultural models from the Carolingian Empire). 5.3.2. The Saxons were not among the Gme tribes mentioned by Tacitus in his Germania, but they appear in Ptolemy’s works (of the 2 century), as inhabitants of southern Jutland (today’s Holstein). Unlike Angli and Eutit, the name of Saxones and those of Franci and Alamanni most probably did not designate original ethnic units. Militarily minded tribal alliances (of mixed ethnic origins) were a phenomenon specific to the age of early Gme expansion. This assertion is sustained by the fact that, while Angi! sends to an original homeland, Saxones seems to derive from the name of a peculiar weapon, seax or sax (a long knife, or short sword). Similarly, the names of the Franks and of the Langobards probably reflected their usage of characteristic weapons (spears of a frankon type, and long-shafted battle-axes, respectively, cf. Rom. barda). Last but not least, some scholars have supposed that Germani itself is based on the name of a specific spear, ger or gar. A version of that word occurs in Beowulf as first-member of Gar-Dena ‘Spear-Danes' (see first line of that poem). ‘The Saxons came to England soon after the utes, and in great numbers. Their ethnically named kingdoms (Sussex, Wessex, and Essex) had already been established by the end of the 5 century, after fierce battles against the Britons. At the beginning of the next century, the kingdom of the West Saxons (Wessex) extended its domination over formerly Jutish territories (Hampshire and the Isle of Wight). During the Wessex supremacy of the 9" century, the monarchy of that Saxon state became the political representative of the earliest English tendency towards actual national unification. 533. The Angles are the only Germanic constituents of the English people clearly mentioned by Tacitus, as Angli. In the 6" century, the historian Procopius also referred to them; then it was Bede’s Historia which gave more details about their continental homeland, Angulus (placed between the Jutes and the Saxons). The toponym was still in use in Bede’s time, and is perpetuated by today’s Angela (‘angular shore” ?) in Schleswig (Germany). Parts of central and northern England were conquered by Angles in the early 6" century. ‘The kingdoms founded by them were East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria (which unified two earlier kingdoms, Deira and Bemicia). It may be surprising that, though the Angles were the last to come, they gave the name to both country and language. However, the above-mentioned semantic- historical difference between their name, reminiscent of a primeval homeland, and that of the merely military designation of the Saxons (<.sax) may provide some explanation. 26Though (under the Wessex dynasty) the Saxons of Souther England became politically dominant, and more cultured than the Angles in LOE times, they called their own language Englise (Lat fingua anglica) and themselves Englisce menn (see above-mentioned Ine’s laws). These seem to have been echos of the original Anglian homeland mentioned by Bede. ‘The double ethnic name of Anglo-Saxons was a later invention, which has enjoyed scholarly perpetuation. It first appeared with Paulus Diaconus, the historian of the Langobards (in the 8* century). Then, in Bishop Asser's biography of King Alffed, the later is called Rex Angulsaxonum (while, more than century before, King Offa of Mercia claimed to be only Rex Anglorum). Most speakers of LOE probably regarded themselves as Angeleynn (“Angle-kin”). And, at the beginning of the 11® century, the ‘whole country was usualy referred to as Engla-land, 54. OF dialects and written language. Dialectal colors manifest in OE texts (coming from different regions), as well dialectal varieties in today's BrE are due, to a great extent, to the multiple origin of the primeval Gme invaders. Though the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes were closely related from a linguistic standpoint, there certainly existed a number of idiomatic peculiarities with each of the three groups, from the very beginning. Other specific features erystalized on English ‘ground, for instance, under Scandinavian influence (in certain Anglian areas), or due to inter- dialectal exchange, or to intra-dialectal developments. Several classifications of the Gme idioms spoken in AS England can be made. A very ‘general division distinguishes between Anglian (spoken in East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria), and Southern (based on Saxon idioms, plus Jutish contribution). Anglian, in its turn, had two main sub-divisions: Northumbrian (spoken north of the Humber, and in the Scottish Lowlands), and Mercian (the basis of later Midland English). In the case of Southern, we may observe a distinction between West Saxon (a demographic-culturally dominant idiom), and Kentish (which preserved ‘many Jutish peculiarities). There is much quantitative difference among the attested OE dialects as regards written evidence. In some cases the relics are fragmentary and insignificant (short inscriptions, laconic Latin-English charters, bad copies of older texts). In other cases, there are long. poems, abundant prose, and well-formulated laws. 3.4.1. Northumbrian was recorded in a written form quite early. Most significant is the inscription on the stone cross of Ruthwell (Lowland Scotland), belonging to end of the 7" century, or the beginning of the 8". The text is fragment from a well-known Christian poem, The Dream of the Rood, preserved in fuller form in a later manuscript. The earliest written version of Caedmon's famous Creation Hymn was also in Northumbrian, and so was Bede’s own Deathsong. And Aldred’s (10" century) glossing of Bishop Eadfrith’s Lindisfarne Gospels (8" century Lat text) stands for an early stage of a long tradition of biblical translations in England. Northumbrian OE should be regarded as predecessor not only of the Northen dialect of BrE, but also of Scots (Scottish English, which fixed its own standard in later ages). ‘That double development well illustrates, on the one hand, how shifting the border between dialect and literary language can be; on the other hand, it shows how much the passage from dialectal usage to generalized standard may depend on sociopolitical circumstances. Linguistica, there were two fundamental factors at work in Scotland during the OE period: Gaelie vs. Anglian. Irish Gaelic tribes (Scots) politically superimposed themselves ‘upon both primeval Picts and northern Cymaric Britons (whose small kingdoms survived longer in Strathelyde and Galloway, before being either Gaclicized or Anglicized). In the ‘middle of the 9* century, Kenneth MacAlpin became king of Scots and Picts, opening the Scottish dynasty. Between the 10" century and the 13th, there was growing political and cultural influence of the already English-speaking Lowlands on the rest of Scotland. ‘And, by the end of the 12° century, Northumbrian English had become the language of the Scottish Court. 7‘The initial stage of Northumbrian AS culture is perfectly illustrated by a symbolie object, known as the Franks Casket (Franks is just the name of its 19" century owner). It is a Northumbrian item made about AD 700, and it offers us an incredibly condensed view on the basic ethnolinguistic and cultural factors at work in AS times: @) The carving on the lid presents an episode of a heathen Gme legend: Aegil (FIT), bow in hand, defending his house against a body of heavily armed attackers. In Gme mythology, Aegil was known as the brother of mighty Wayland the Smith (Gam Wieland). (b)Two panels on the front present Gme paganism and the newly adopted Christianism side by side: on the left there is Wayland himself, holding the head of an enemy ‘over an anvil; on the right there is a stylized (and Germanicized) Adoration of the ‘Magi, identified by runes (ra x1). (©) Episodes carved on other sides refer to the same Wayland-cycle, and to legends about Sigurdr (Grm Siegfried). Part of the (linguistically hard) runic frame-inscription alludes to the very genesis of the object under discussion. We are told (according to one modem interpretation) how a whale swam aground out of the “fish-flood”” (@ kenning for ‘sea’; it was of whalebone that the casket was made of. That written explanation reflects, in fact, an archaic European practice (well-attested in Greece, Italy, aid Central-Western Europe), namely that of various objects (pots, ‘weapons, tombstones) “introducing themselves” by short inscriptions, often in the first person, (@) Finally, Rome and the Holy Land inspired the panels of another side: Romulus and Remus (the legendary twin founders of Rome) are shown as infants, suckled by their foster-wolf-mother (wylif); by them, we can see Titus and the Jews at war Gerusalem was captured by Titus in AD 70). The identifying inscription of the side under discussion is mostly runic, but one sentence begins in (a not very accurate) Latin and ends in a “runicized” Latin term: HIC FUGIANT HIERUSALIM FIT TFRItH = “here flee [fugiunt, in correct Latin] inhabitants [Northumbrian runic afitatores < Lat habitatores] of Jerusalem’. At this point, it should be remembered that the famous Ruthwell Cross itself (carved in the same period as the Franks Casket, and also in a Northumbrian area) shows an interesting mixture of pre-Christian and Christian elements: a poem about Jesus on the Cross makes use of heathen runes and of Gme heroic prosody (i. alliterative verse of the Beowulf type). Moreover, the poetic species reflected by the Ruthwell Cross inscription is also that of the above-mentioned “speaking-object” poems: the cross (still bearing its Gme torture-device name, since Ruthwell galgu = Gr Galgen “gallows’) speaks in the first person (observe OE ic ‘I’ below) and describes its own Crucifixion experience (notable is that Christ appears rather as a bold hero of the kind so dear to Gme audiences). I will use a Ruthwell fragment to illustrate runie-written Northumbrian OE (Co which a modern transeription in insulat-Latin graphemes is added, as well asa literal interlinear translation into MnE), FAXMRMHE NIGP XE FPAMETTIX Ongerede hinze god almesttig, Unelothed himself god almighty, DE NM PROMI 4 MEDD XIMTINE pa he walde on galgu gistiga [... as he would on gallows climb [..] FNP Ih RUSE Mit ish NT PDERH NORPERM Ahof ic riienae kynine, heafunaes blafard, Heaved 1 powerful king, heaven's lord, 285.4.2. Mercian (which developed on an Anglian basis, with some influence from the Saxon-Jutish south) has a peculiar position in the history of English. Mercian written attestation are rather scarce. But, in later times, it was Midland English (of Mereian descent) which, together with relies of Wessex standard and @ lot of French influence, gave birth to the standard we now recognize as literary English, As regards Mercian OE surviving texts, worth mentioning are the Vespasian Psalter (g collection of hyinns) and the Rushworth Gospels (Lat text glossed by Farmon and Owen in the 10* century); these might give us some idea of the dialect once spoken in the heart of England, 5.4.3. Written West Saxon was very close to producing the earliest general-English standard, It certainly had the richest, most continuous, and most influential tradition, before and after the Normati Conquest. The explanation of that fact lies in both the prominent political position ‘of Wessex, and the prestige of West-Saxon scholars. Alfredian achievements include translations from Latin into English (Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care; philosophic-historical works by Orosius, Boethius, Bede), travel reports (Ohithere’s and Wulfstan’s), religious texts, as well as the beginning of the Chronicle. One century later, the prose of Aelfrie’s Catholic Homilies and Lives of the Saints marked a peak of COE stylistic refinement, whose West Saxon roots were obvious. 54.4. Kentish was closely related to its dominant neighbor, West Saxon. However, Kentish documentary relics, few as they are, reveal some important differences between the two southem dialects, Most of those differences must have originated in the initial linguistie distinction between Saxons and Jutes. A collection of eliarters, and another of psalms are among the surviving Kentish texts worth considering. 55, The Danish factor. Of the Scandinavians who imposed themselves on Anglo-Saxon life, especially between the 8" and the 11" centuries, the Danes were by far the most important for the English development of later ages. But there also were other speakers of Old Norse"who raided and then settled in various parts of Britain. In fact, the earliest attested Scandinavian blows were struck by Norwegian Vikings. As carly as the 7 century, they began raiding northern Irish and British settlements, and especially monasteries. As usual, early attacks were followed by conquest and permanent settlement; and, by the middle of the 9* century, Norwegians were able o found a kingdom in Dublin, Though gradually Gaelicized, the heirs of those Norwegians preserved much of the Viking military way of life, and they repeatedly attacked England and Wales from the west. In their tum, Danish Vikings started their British adventure by war-band actions, which were in fact tribal affairs initiated by various chieftains of the 8°.9" centuries, ‘Then, the Danish contribution the NW European history of the 10"-11 centuries consisted ‘mainly of a series of political actions of the newly founded kingdom of Denmark. Also, ‘we may remember that, besides Denmark, there was another state formation created by Danish Vikings (by military pressure on France): Gallo-Danish Normandy was to become ‘4 major factor in the genesis of the English nation and language. ‘The significant depth of the Danish influence on English may have several explanations: (@) the Danish ethnolinguistic impact came at a time when English, as national language, was still in the m: (&) Danish is NGme, while English is WGme, but the early stages of the two languages hhad more things in common than they have at present (and we cannot overlook the fact that ancient Danes had been among the closest Scandinavian neighbors of all the Jutlandic proto-English tribes); on such a basis, linguistic exchange was easy; (© though totally assimilated in course of time, the Danes settled in central England were ‘numerous enough to be able to embed some of their linguistic patterns in the language of the English natives, after a period of bilingualism. Unlike the above-described OF dialects, the language spoken by Scandinavians who settled in Britain was not recorded in any long texts (or, at least, no such documents have survived). Only a limited number of Norse-runic inscriptions have reached our times. Best-known among these seems to be a Danish one, carved on a grave stone in St Paul's churchyard, in London: Kina:letslekia:stin:auk:tuki, literally “Ginna had this stone laid, also Toki? (observe peculiar 29punctuation, and /ki - /g/ non-distinction). For all that laconism of attestation, a significant Danish influence was to be revealed in LOE and (especially) ME writings. I shall point out Danish ‘elements in several paragraphs below. 5.6. The Christianization factor. The Christianization of England came from two initially divergent, then united sources: from Rome, and from Ireland. Roman soldiers had brought the new religion to Britain, where it was adopted by many of the Celtic natives. After the ‘withdrawal of Rome and the invasion of heathen Gme tribes, communication with the Holy See became quite difficult. So, during the 5% - 6" centuries, without canons and dogmas sent from Rome, the young church of insular Celts developed autonomously. In Ireland, St Patrick's legacy grew into a Christianity of peculiar color, which incorporated much pre-Christian Celtic tradition. At the same time, Irish monks embarked upon missions in neighboring lands. First they converted Pots and Scots in Scotland, then they passed to Angles in Northumbria and Mercia, thus touching. the sphere of Christianization emanating from Augustine's Canterbury. There was conflict between the representatives of the two forms of Christianity, a situation which ended during the latter half of the 7" century, when the Irish church came to accept Roman authority A very important result of Christianization in England was the flourishing of monastic culture, Two centers were to become very productive and influential in that respect: Canterbury in the south, and York in the north. New ties with the Continent were established, not only with Rome, but also with the Carolingian Empire (where Alcuin of York became an outstanding religious-cultural figure at the end of the 8” century). English missionaries contributed to the ‘conversion of their continental Gme relatives, whose paganism lasted much longer than that of the Anglo-Saxons. Also, in a way similar to what had happened with the Roman conquerors in Greece, Scandinavian invaders gradually adopted the religion and higher culture they found in Britain, and propagated them in their original lands (ONor biskup ‘bishop’, kirkja ‘church’, kristinn ‘Christian’, ‘munkr *monk’, prestr “priest” are borrowings from OE). The contribution of Christianization to the history of English was of exceptional importance, and I will illustrate that aspect in passages referring to the consequences of the new kind of ‘writing adopted by the Anglo-Saxons, to Lat lexical borrowings, and to the influence of Lat models. ‘To conclude this general survey of the Old English linguistic-historical factors and circumstances, I will assert that pre-Hastings England developed forms of high culture and of systematic writing, but it did not fully succeed in establishing a national literary standard, for several reasons: {@) the existence of original ethnotinguistic differences among the early Gme conquerors of England traditionally designated as Anglo-Saxons; (b) the long maintained political division of the country; (©) the destabilizing effects of the Danish intrusion, which, toa great extent, disturbed the unifying process initiated by Wessex; (@ an extremely low level of literacy (as even nobility was only partially literate); (©) the final blow of the Norman Conquest, which introduced a new kind of upper-class culture, of French and Latin expression. 6. OE phonology and spelling ‘The phonologie system of OF displayed a number of common Gme features, others that ‘were specific to the North-Sea group, and still others to be found in OE only. To begin with, “Grimm’s Law” (GsL) has already been mentioned (as a Gme law-like phenomenon) in the introduction to this course. A group of exceptions to it — generally regarded as effects of another ‘Gime “law” (Verner’s) ~ were also of some importance, in OF and in subsequent stages. 30By furthering some assumptions of Rasmus Rask, Jakob Grimm formulated his “law” in 1822. Then, in 1877, Karl Vener published a study on a series of exceptions to the changes presented by Grimm. Verner considered that those peculiar deviations reflected an early (pre-Germanic) linguistic stage, during which the intensive stress was not yet fixed on initial syllables (as in later Germanic). According to Verner, unless the ancient stress had been on an immediately preceding syllable, Primitive Indo-European voiceless stops like 'p tk’ became voiced fticatives, /B 0 y/, instead of becoming voiceless /f@ bi (in keeping ‘with GL). In similar conditions, IE /s! changed into voiced /2/. By further (WGme) changes, the voiced fricatives of VsL became either /v 6 w/ (as generally preserved in English) oF /b d g/ (as in German); also by VsL. older /2/ shifted toa special kind of (ef, PDE was vs. were; of. also rear as relative of raise), 6.1. In the field of OE vocalism, the phenomena known as gradation (4b/au‘) and ‘mutation (Umlaut) ~ both of proto-English Gme origin — had effects comparable in importance with those of GsL and VsL. In all periods of English, gradation appears as an alternation in root- vowels, by which a grammatical distinction could be made between forms of the same verb (as still, visible, for instance, in drink-drank-drunk < OE drincan-dranc-gedruncen), ot between etymologically related words (see MnE shear, shorn, share, sharp, all ultimately derived from a common IE root, *sker- ‘to cut’). In its tum, mutation is the effect of a positional articulatory ‘mechanism, its occurrence depending on neighboring sounds. Most common is the i-Uimlaut, by which central and back vowels are fronted, in anticipation of a front vowel in the following syllable. Results of ancient mutations may still be seen in MnE foor-feet, or mouse-mice (< OE fo- fet, mus-mys, respectively); the proto-English palatal sounds which originally caused those changes had, however, been lost (together with the plural endings that contained them). ‘The OE set of phonemes included the following vowels (in a simplificatory arrangement, observing articulatory position: ifich tylyt hal wd el ex! fol of feel wh Jal at OE vowet quantity seems to have had a consistent phonemie value, although that important feature was generally left unmarked by both runie writing and the later insular-Latin seript. OE did contain ‘opposition-pairs in which vowel quantity seems to have been the element that ensured semantic distinction: e.g. for /for! “for’ — for /fo:r! ‘course, way"; hran fhran/ ‘whale’ — ran hra:t ‘reindeer’, Of the OE systematic quantitative (long-short) distinction in vowels, hardly anything survives in MnE (much unlike standard Grm in that respect). As for specific aspects of vowel ‘quality, OE rounded-front /y/y:/ may sound rather unfamiliar to PDE speakers; for a comparison, ‘consider the vowels represented by ii in Grm (Kiinstler ‘artist; Biihne ‘stage’. In some transcriptions of EOE words, an adaptation of Lat digraph oe indicated the existence of yet another pair of rounded-front vowels, comparable to the sounds written 6 in Grm (kéinnen ‘can’, schén *beautful’), and o in Dan (boge “beech, stotte “support, pop’); I did not include that OF pair in the diagram since the two vowels under discussion ‘seem to have generally been simplified (by unrounding) in most OE dialects at an early date. ‘The vocali system of OF (or atleast of LOE) must also have had some kind of central vowel of the schwa type, as pronunciation of OE a, «, e, 0, u in unstressed, especially final positions (cf. the final sound of MnB villa), The articulatory habit of neutralizing final vowels played a very important part in the gradual simplification of English inflectional grammar (implying gradual weakening and dropping of unstressed endings) Besides the simple vowels (monophthongs) presented above, the OE vocalic system also included a series of complex sounds, traditionally known as diphthongs (some only dialectally used); their exact pronunciation cannot be reconstructed with absolute certainty. The OE diphthongs transcribed as ea, eo, ie occurred frequently, and, like simple vowels, they could be long or short. Most of them are said to have been falling diphthongs (ic. the first element was a full vowel, and the second was semivocalic), structurally comparable with the ones transcribed by 31ow and ew in PDE show and sew, respectively. But many OE vocalic digraphs could also be just dialectal orthographic solutions for peculiar OE monophthongs that were too far from the traditional values of Lat simple letters. Thus, OE ea could sometimes have been used for // sounds; and an i like that of OE tieme ‘team’ could be just the mark of a palatalized /t, rather than the first element of a diphthong 6.2. In general, OF consonants were qualitatively similar to their MnE heirs (and, in that domain, we may assert that there has been good perpetuation of articulatory habits from OE to PDE). Among the OE peculiar sounds, there was a [¢] - generally written h ~, which may be regarded as a palatalized allophone of /x/ (ef. Grm ich-Laut vs. ach-Laut): OF niht ‘night” must have sounded like Grm nicht ‘not’, whereas OE naht ‘naught’ may be phonetically imagined as Grm Nacht ‘night’. For the same [¢], even the sound of h in an emphatic BrE huge may be used for a comparison. Another specific OE sound was a position-induced palatalized version of /g/, generally transcribed by 3 “yogh” (normal g here, as in gear ‘year’, or sige ‘vietory’). Its pronunciation (before becoming /j/) may be compared to those of g in vernacular AmE versions of ‘get, ot together. As for OF /y/— in boga “bow’, or folgian ‘to follow’ -, its sound (before becoming /w/) must have been close to certain Grm pronunciations of g, as in sagen, or taugen. Certain OF, initial consonantal clusters, such as /bY (hlud ‘noisy, loud’), Ahr! (hring ring’), or “kn! (enafa “child, boy, servant’ > MnE knave) may also appear as unusual to speakers of PDE (most of those clusters were simplified as early as ME). Finally, it may be assumed that certain contemporary Scandinavian articulatory tums, such as the retroflex rendering of in-word clusters like /r, /n/, ‘tsi, may be helpful in reconstructions of OE speech. 6.3. As regards the writing of OE sounds, I have alrcady mentioned the Anglo-Saxon variant of the runic seript (the one of the Ruthwell Cross). It was a relic of pre-Christian times, and ‘was used and understood only by a limited number of people. After Christianization (and due to it), runes may have been regarded, in England and elsewhere, as heathen symbols. However, such a supposition seems to be contradicted by the fact the the Ruthwell Cross was not a singular phenomenon. Many (less-known) crosses of the same kind can be found still standing, and most remarkable among them are the ones on the Isle of Man which have Norse-Gaclic inscriptions. But, ‘while runes enjoyed their short Christian history, Irish monks brought to England their own way of writing Latin graphiemes, and, at the same time, Roman missionaries more consistently contributed to the spreading of Latin writing. The writing surface was no longer stone, wood, and metal, but ‘mainly parchment. It was that technical shift which made transcription of longer texts possible. A later influence on OE writing was that of the Carolingian minuscule from the Continent, In the cend, an insular hand was bor of those diverse sources. ‘Among the most peculiar graphemes used by COE scribes and scholars, there were two ‘runes that survived (still bearing runic names) through the whole of the OE period: “thorn” for/0/ ‘and /8/ consonants, and > “wynn” for /w/; they were probably preserved since they marked specific English sounds. However, in some of the oldest Lat-OE glossaries, th was already used for /0/8 (e. ‘heok “high, and /w/ was rendered by early versions of u and, of “literal double-t, ie. two u's (es in suifi ‘swift, crawe ‘crow’, and uu ‘wife’, respectively). OE Of the graphemes derived from the Trish hand, two are worth mentioning: 6 “eth” and 5 “yogh” (later replaced by Carolingian g). Those two are now used in phonetic transcriptions (and I must also mention at this point that, since both “thom” and “eth” had the value of the later generalized digraph sh, and were used rather indifferently in OE texts, I could afford to regularize things and write only “eth”, as d, in most OE examples below). Another special letter, “ash” derived from Lat digraph ae and was used for a specific English front-low vowel (sill transcribed phonetically as /ae/in PDE). Each sound was usually represented by one letter in OE, but some digraphs were also used: se transcribed /)/ (OE fise = MnE fish): eg was used for /d3) (bryes bridge); and, as in MnB, the Gme nasal velar /q/ was usually written ng (cf. OE ding ‘thing’) ‘Though OE spelling appears as more “phonetic” than the one of MnE, it also contains ambiguities that must be taken info account, when we try to read OE aloud. 32~ OE e was used for both soft (palatal) /t/, as in cin ‘chin’, and hard (velat) /k/, as in ‘coning ‘king’ (k became a functional grapheme only in ME writings). — The main functions of 5“yogh” (written as normal g here) were to mark: velar stop /g/ (gleed ‘glad’); palatal /g’, on its way towards becoming / (giese ‘yes"); voiced velar fricative /y/, which later turned into /w’ (boga “bow. — OB A represented the / still in use in PDE, especially in initial positions (e.g, home < OE ham, house < OE hus); but, as mentioned abave, h also transcribed Grm-like allophones of /x/ (for which digraph gh was to be generalized in ME). = OE f, 4, s most probably had double (voiceless-voiced) values: they were generally pronounced /f 8 s/, respectively, in initial and final positions (as well as in most consonant clusters); but they sounded closer to /v 6 z/ in intervocalie positions, certain ME/ MnE forms being proof of that distinction: often < OE off; over < OE ofers thin < OE dynne; rather < OE hrador; sin < OE synn; rise < OB risan. ‘Simplistcally, one may assert that several of the OF ambiguities given above were due to lack (or unsystematic employment) of useful letters like &, v, z. But the OE use of one and the same letter for what we now consider as a pair of phonemically distinct (Voiced vs. voiceless) consonants is a complicated matter. We may suspect that literate speakers of OE “felt” those consonants as only variants of one and the same sound (cf. the /k/g/ non- distinction in the ONor inscription mentioned in 5.6.). We may also consider a comparison with today’s Danish, which does not show actual voiced-voiceless opposition, but rather pairs of strong-weak (fortis-Ienis) voiceless consonantal sounds (most Dan lenis stops tending to be articulated witha supplementary “explosion” Punctuation and capitalization were scarce and unsystematic in OE writings. As already mentioned, vowel quantity (though phonemic) was not marked; later philologists placed maerons ‘on OE letters which assumedly transcribed long vowels (as deduced from comparisons that other Gme languages, and with PDE pronunciation). In a number of OE manuscripts, accent-marks (sometimes double) are placed on certain vowel-leters, rather for rhetorical emphasis than as an indication of vowel length (which is indicated by accent-marks in modern orthographies like those of Irish and Hungarian). As for the actual accent of OF, it was generally unmarked, but that poses no serious reading problem: the already mentioned Gme rule of initial stress was certainly observed in OF. Words of more than one syllable were stressed on their opening syllables, unless they contained prefixes, most of which were unstressed in OE (only a very small number of emphatic prefixes were stressed, such as bi in bileoft ‘food’, or fo in tocuman “to arrive’) For the perpetuation of that speech habit in PDE, see (and read aloud): carelessness, frolicking, strikingly, in comparison with beloved, forgegful, understanding. ‘We might get the general impression that the OE system of sound-transcription had too ‘many shortcomings. It was not flawless, to be sure. But it certainly was easier to learn than the one ESL leamers, and even native English speakers have to deal with today. 7. OE grammar ‘The evident difference between OF and MnE means of grammatical expression may lead ‘one to regard the language of the Anglo-Saxons not exactly as a stage of English, but rather as an independent Gme language of archaic substance, almost as Gothic was. The specific tools of the OE inflectional system (suffixes, endings, r0ot-vowel alternations) make OE look as more closely, related to Grm than to MnE. The most significant part in any study of OE morphology is, generally speaking, an analysis of various forms of inflection as capital instruments of a synthetic type of language 33Fora simplification, Iwill generally designate as markers the purely grammatical additions to one and the same word (e.g. work, works, worked, of work, to work), and as formants the additions that produce radical semantic and/or part-of-speech shifts (¢-g. work, worker, ‘worktess, anti-wword). I should also mention that the traditional image of an TE word is that ‘of a Jexical-grammatical unit composed of: (2) a root or radical (as bearer of a general sense contained by all the cognates of one and the same lexical family); (b) one or several affixes (prefixes and suffixes, which add semantic andlor ‘grammatical precision tothe root sense), () usually, one ending (by which grammatical concord is marked). Linguists have also used terms ike stem, extension, or theme in referring to root + affix combinations. Although a full image of the traditional word-model i rarely visible in MaE (where bare roots and zero endings have become dominant), we may still observe it in inflected forms (however few) of derivative words: such as endings itself, analysed as end-ing-s (root + suffix + pl. marker). Case, number, and person markers have traditionally been called endings, while mood, tense, and gender markers have been regarded as affixes. Also, effects of gradation and ‘mutation have been considered to be Gm synthetic means of gramamatcal expression. ‘We may assume that there are three main categories of OE inflection, namely nominal, pronominal, and verbal. One might add an adjectival inflection (specific to adjectives, adverbs, ‘and numerals), but, as illustrated by some paradigms below, adjectival endings are mostly of ‘nominal and pronominal origin, 7.1. OE nouns. The grammatical categories observed by OE nouns are gender (formally manifest especially in nominal derivatives and compounds), ease, and number. An important difference between OB and Mnf is that gender in the former was mainly grammatical, while the latter shows a natural-togieal approach to that category. In OE, as in Grm, there were many gender-manifestations which may look illogical to PDE speakers: for instance, wifimann ‘woman’ (Gvif ‘wife’ + mann ‘man’) was grammatically handled as masc., because it was felt as a compound with a mase. second member. Also in OE, brveg “bridge” was fem. (like Grm Briicke), and cild “child” was neut. (like Germ. Kind ‘child’ — ef. MnE baby, which can be replaced by neut. pronoun it). 7.1.1. The dominant declension types of OF nouns had their origins in what is usually presented as “vocalie «/o stems” in Gme studies. There were also an OE development of a type of ‘Gme consonantal, or “weak” declension (making use of a nasal suffix), and several irregular types. I will illustrate the dominant declensions by paradigms of three nouns, one for each ‘grammatical gender: se stan “the stone” (masc.), deetscip ‘the ship’ (neut.), seo bryeg ‘the bridge’ (fem.). Nominative, accusative, dative, genitive forms are given (an OE instrumental case was visible by some peculiar forms of the article, rather than by nominal inflection proper). We can observe that, in both nouns and articles, there were OE inflections with multiple functions: e.g. in various combinations, -as could simultaneously mark three categories, such as N. masc. pl, oF A. rneut. pl (these are in fact perfect illustrations of what inflected language means). masculine neuter ingular plural singular plural No sestan dastanas det scip /a/ > zero). 7.1.2. The consonantal n-declension, Next in importance, after the dominant vocalic types of declension, was an OE consonantal type, which made use of a Gme n-suffix. Nouns of that declension belonged to all three genders; but, since gender distinction was visible only in N. sg. forms (masc. -a, neut. and fem, -e), I will simplify things by presenting only the paradigm of se ‘guma “the man’ (a masculine, as logically expected in this case). Markedness rather by article than by noun endings is even more obvious here: singular plural se guma da. guman done guman da guman des guman dara gumena dem guman dem gumum éy guman dem gumum rporz Among other semantically important nouns of this all-gender declension were: (se) nama ‘name’, (se) wita ‘wise man, councillor’, (seo) eyrice ‘church’, (seo) eorthe ‘earth’, (seo) heorte “heart”, (Seo) hleefdige ‘mistress, lady’, (Beet) eage ‘eye’, (Acet) care ‘ear’. We may suppose that the endings pointed out in the guman-paradigm were touched by the same gradual (phonologie-grammatical) weakening as those of the dominant vocalic declensions. However, ‘races of the ancient n-suffix are still visible in some of today’s irregular plurals (brethren, oxen). 7.1.3. OF irregular declensions included those with mutated plurals, as in (seo) boc (6a) bee (much later regularized as book — books). Other important OE nouns of the same category ‘were mann ‘man’ (included as second-member in wifmann ‘woman’, fot ‘foot’, gos “goose”, 103 “tooth”, which had as mutated pl. forms menn, fet (also regular fotas), ges, 1e0, respectively. ‘The original cause of such mutations was proto-English, Linguists have reconstructed PGme plural ending *-iz, whose front vowel must have influenced the articulation of the ‘one in the root. In some of the OF irregulat declensions mutation also functioned as ease ‘marker: for instance, N. sg. brador ‘brother’, dohtor ‘daughter’ had D. sg, breder, dehter. 7.2. OE adjectives. To a certain extent, OF preserved the PGme distinction betwen an indefinite (“strong”) adjectival declension and a definite (“weak”) one. The former normally ‘occurred when the adjective-noun phrase was not preceded by a determiner, the latter when there was a determiner, mainly a definite article (compare Grm guter Mann ‘good man’ to der gute ‘Mann ‘the good man’. 7.2.1. The indefinite inflection of OF trum “firm, strong’ (placed in front of stan, scip, and brycg, as representatives of the three nominal genders) would look like this: masculine neuter feminine sg N, trum stan trum scip, — trumu——bryeg, A. trumne stan tum scip trume —_—brycge j- trumes stanes trumre —_brycge D. trumum stane trumum scipe trumre —_brycge 1 trume stane trume scipe trumre —_brycge 35pl N/A. trume stanas tumu sciputruma—_brycga G. trumra stana ‘trumra scipatrumra—_brycga Dé. trumum stanum {rumum scipum trumum — bryegum T have already noted that OE adjectival inflection makes use of endings that generally ‘occur in nouns (es, -um, -e), and in pronouns (-ne, re, -ra, which are also present in forms of the def. art, itself of pronominal origin). The gender distinction in adjectival plural forms is as slightly ‘marked as in nouns. 7.2.2. The definite declension of OF adjectives had, especially by the presence of def. articles, a particularizing function (cf. se goda cyning ‘the good king’, as different from indef. ‘god cyning ‘good king’). It would be superfluous to present a whole paradigm here because OE definite-adjectival endings almost perfecily coincided with the ones of the nominal n-declension (see guma above), the only exception being G. pl., for which adjectives used pronominal -ra instead of nominal -ena. 7.23. Synthetic comparison was another form of OE adjectival inflection. The comparison-degree markers employed were PGme (and ultimately IE) -R and -ST suffixes, asin: eof ‘dear’; leofra ‘dearer’; leofost ‘dearest’. Comperatives and superlatives were generally declined definitely. There also existed two types of adjectival irregular comparison (which were to prove remarkably enduring in English): (1) forms (due to the unattested, most probably palatal vowels of PGme suffixes *-ire, *-isto): OE eald-yldra-yldrest (= MnE old-elder-eldesi); OE lang-lengra-lengest (© MnE long-longer-longest, with regularized, i.e. de-mutated forms). (2) toot-distinctions between degree-forms of one and the same adjective (obvious similarities existing only between comparatives and superlatives): OE god-betra- betst (= MnE good-better-best); OF yfel-wyrsa-wyrst (= Mn ill-worse-worst). 7.3. OF adverbs. Adverbs appeared either as independent words (oft, wel), or as derivatives. Some came from adjectives, usually by suffix -e, itself an original Dil-marker (see paradigms above): adj. heard > adv. hearde ‘hard’; others from original comparatives. and superlatives: crra ‘earlier’, erest ‘first’; and still others visibly from case-forms (especially D and G) of nouns and adjectives: nium “between whiles, sometimes’ < hil ‘while’; ealles ‘entirely’ < all ‘all’; nihtes ‘at night” < niht “night”. Adverbs, like adjectives used synthetic means of comparison: oft-ofior-ofiost. Mustrative samples of adverbial irregularity are: wel-bet-betst, yfle- Wyrsewprst 74, OE numerals, The 1-10 cardinals were: an, twa (owegen), Oreo (Ory), feower, fif yx, seofon, eahta, nigon, tien (tyn). Only the frst three were usually declined, and they indicated gender (other numerals were inflected only when they stood alone). Numerals 1/ and 12 were ‘written endleofan and twelf in COF; 13-79 were formed by -tyne (fifyne, syxtyne), and 20-90 by - tig suffixed to basic forms of 2-9 numerals (fig, syxtig); 70, 80, and 90 had also fund attached as, a prefix (Iundnigontig *ninety’), anticipating 100, which, in its turn, could be expressed either by und only, or by compounds like hundred! hundrad (hund + rad ‘number’) and hundtcontig Numerals like 2/ or 35 observed an ancient Gme pattem: an and twentig, fif and dritig. OF dusend “thousand? was not very frequently used (however, there were compounds like dusendmann “captain of a thousand’, or dusendriea ‘chief of a thousand’), ‘The first two ordinal numerals were fyrsta (forma) and oder (literally ‘other’). The rest of them were formed from cardinals by means of suffix -0/-d (Oridda, feorda, ete); all were declined definitely, except oder, wich was felt as indefinite. 7.8. OE pronouns. The pronominal inflection had its own set of gender-case-number markers. We may regard OF pronouns as very strong and "influential" grammatical elements: on the one hand, they imposed their inflection on other parts of specch (adjectives), on the other hand, ‘other parts of speech derived from them (def. articles, and adverbs like da ‘then’, hu “how”, nvy ‘why’) 7.8.1. The OE personal pronouns for the 1" and 2 persons already showed considerable reduction of case-forms, but they also were the only OE morphologic elements which still marked a Gme dual number: wit ‘the two of us’, gt ‘the two of you" (as different from pl. swe and ge). The special feature of 3rd pers. pronouns was (and still is) their gender distinetion in the sg. (not also in the pl.). The paradigmatic image was the following: 36Ast person singular dual plural ie wit we ADA. me une us G. min uncer ure 2nd person N. du ait se ADIL de ine cow Goin incer cower 3rd person singular plural ase. neut. fem, (all genders) N. he hit heo hi hie) A. ine hit hi (hie) hi hie) G. his his hire hira Dil. him him hire him ‘The G forms of pers. pronouns were used as declinable possessives (besides forms that were to survive until MnE ~ cf. mine, his ~, there was an OE sin, used as a 3rd pers. all-gender possessive ~ ef. Grm sein ‘his, its’). Also, since there were no special reflexive pronouns in OE, pers. pronouns were often used reflexively: e.g. he hine bearg (literally ‘he protected him") *he protected himsel? 7.5.2. Since its earliest stage English has had two kinds of demonstrative pronouns. In OE they still were gender-marked: se/deo/det, and desidisideos. The former, with a specifying function, is now represented by MnE that; it was also used, with its full inflection (though probably with a weaker pronunciation), a8 a definite article (for which see noun-declension paradigms above). In its tum, OE, des’ dis/ deos had the same deietie function as its direct heir, MnE this, and it was inflected in keeping with the following model: singular plural masculine neuter feminine (all genders) N. des is eos as A disme dis éas as G. disses disses disse dissa D. dissum — dissum disse dissum L dys dys disse dissum Notable is the preservation of archaic forms like those of 1. mase./neut, but also the ‘manifest simplification by ease syncretism (see, for example, multifunctional -um) 7.8.3. There were several interrogative pronouns in OE. Of them, Inveder ‘which (of two)’ and invile ‘which (of many)” observed the OE model of indef. adjectival declension. Basic Iwalhweet *wholwhat? reflected a mascJ/nent. distinction (originally animate/inanimate). ‘That pronoun had special forms for neither fem. nor pl; its case-forms, presented below, were to prove (with the exception of the now extinct A-case, marked by -ne) impressively persistent in post-OE times. masculine neuter N. hwa hwat A. hwone hwweet G. hwaes wes D. hwem hwem 1 hwem hwy (hu, hwon) 754. The indefinite-pronoun function was performed by interrogatives, or by derivatives from the latter: hwile ‘which, whichever’, afwa ‘anyone’ (< hwa ‘who'), ahweet (© Iovet ‘what"). In their turn, nathwa ‘someone’ and nathwet ‘something or other’ 37‘were contractions from phrases meaning ‘I don’t know who/ what” (nat being a contracted form of rne wat, literally ‘not know’ ~ ef. Lat nescio quis, of similar origin and funetion). Other indefinites were ele ‘each’, eenig ‘any’, swyle ‘such’, as well as two derived from nouns: man ‘one, they” (as impersonal pronouns) < mann ‘man’ (cf. Grm man sagt ‘they say’ = Fr on dit, in which on is @ reduced form of homme ‘man’); wihe (awiht, aukt) ‘anything’ and mawiht (nauht, naht) ‘naught, nothing’ < wiht ‘creature, thing’, surviving in MnE (not a) whit 7.6, OE verbs. By their own forms (ie. synthetically), OE verbs could indicate the following grammatical categories: tense, mood, person, and number. Besides, there were some relics of an ancient synthetic passive voice; and some OE prefixes (preverbs) can be interpreted as markers of aspeet. Here are some distinctive features of the OE verbal inflection: (@)OE preserved a number of Gme markers of person (e.g. for present indicative singular: 1st pers. -e, 2nd pers. -st, 3rd pers. -a), mood suffixes (infinitive -an, present participle -ende, past participle -en); (b)the Gme two-tense system (present & preterite) was still functional in OE; (©)the synthetic subjunctive, though much simplified, had some forms of its own; (@)prefix ge-/gi-(cf. Grm gebrochen ‘broken’, geschwommen ‘swum’) was, rather optionally, attached to past participles; the original Gme meaning of that prefix was collective-intensive (ef. Grm Gestein ‘rocky mass or area” < Stein ‘stone, rock’, Geschrei ‘shouting, yelling, crying” < Schrei ‘shout, ery’), and as such it still appeared in OE derivatives: e.g. gefiltuma ‘helper’ (< fultum ‘help'), gebeor “companion, guest’ (< beor ‘strong drink, beer, mead’), gesegnes ‘expression’ (& segn *matk, sign’). Three groups of verbs can be distinguished in OE: (1) voralie (using vowel gradation as functional marker): (2) consonantal (indicating pret. and past perf. by a dental suffix); G) irregular (a group of apparently unsystematic verbs, with both vocalic and consonantal characteristics). 7.6.1. OF vocalie verbs have traditionally been divided into seven classes, in keeping with a common classification of Gme verbs (however, little of the reconstructed Gme stem- distinctions was still visible in OE). That classification also exposes the types of vowel gradation coveurring in basic verbal forms. Many OE verbs had different stem-vowels for each of these forms, but simplification was at work there too. As illustrations of the seven vowel-gradation series, I will use the OE forms of what we have in MnB as drive, choose, bind, bear, speak, bake, hold. The five members of each series are: inf/3, sg. pres. ind, (used as proof of presence or absence of vowel- ‘mutation)/1/3. sg, pret. indJall-person pl. pret. indic./p. part. ~ Class £ rifan-drif0-drat-drifon-gedrifen = Class TI: ceosan-cyst-ceas-curon-gecoren, = Class IM: binden-bint-band-bundon-gebunden Class IV: beran-bird-beer-beeron-geboren — Class V: sprecan-spricd-spraee-sprazcon-gesprocen = Class VI bacan-baeed-boc-bocon-gebacen = Class VII: healdan-hylt-heold-heoldon-gehealden ‘Simplifying tendencies can be observed in several of the classes above, in which there is coincidence of stem vowel in two or three of the definitional forms. OE ceosan shows effects of VsL. (/2/ > /n!). Five of the verbs have forms with vowel-mutation (cyst, bird, spricd, baecd, hy). As regards the last class, it represents Gme reduplicative verbs. But IE reduplication was no longer so visible in OE (in comparison with Gk, Lat, or Goth). We may, however, find remarkable fossils like OF pret. beoft (with proto-English /b/ > OE /v/) of beatan ‘to beat’, or pret. leole (mark its second 1) of lacan; dyde ‘did’ might also show an older syilable-repetition, rather than a pret dental suffix). For a complete view on OE vocalic two-tense inflection, I will use drifam, accompanied by pers. pronouns (Which, in many instances, prove to be markers as useful as the article-like demonstratives of the nominal declension): 38present preterite indicative Isg. ic rife 1&35g, icthe drat 2sg. du drifst 2sg. du drife 3g. he/heoshit drifa 1-3pl.welge/hi drifon 1-3 pl. welgeshi drifad subjunctive 1-3 sg. icldwhe rife 1-3 sg. ic/dwhe drife 13 pl. we'ge/hi drifen 13pl. welge/hi drifen imperative 28g. drif! 2pl. drifaa! Present ast participle drifende participle _gedtrifen 7.6.2. Though OE consonantal verbs were less variable than the vocalic ones, several types can be distinguished, two of which are worth considering: () verbs whose stems show a proto-English vowel mutation, such as deman ‘to judge’ (cf. OE dom “doom, judgement’, and Goth doman ‘to judge’, both with unmutated roots); (2) verbs whose infinitives (in their written forms) do not end in the usual -an, but in -ian (Gf. jan in the Goth verb above): andswarian “to answer’, lufian ‘to love’. OE deman may offer & typical consonantal-verb paradigm: present preterite indicative Isg. ic deme 183 sg. icfhe — demde 2se. du demst 2sg. du demdest 38g. he/heo/hit demo 1-3pl.welge/hi demdon 1-3pl. welgehi demad subjunctive 1-3 sg, icidwhe deme 1-3sg. ic/dwhe demde 1-3 pl. welge/hi demen 1-3pl.welge/hi demden imperative 28g. dem! 2pl. demad! Present past participle demende participle — gedemed Observe the occurrence of the specific dental suffix as marker of pret. (-de) and of p. perf. (ed). Endings are basically the same as the ones of vocalic verbs (see 2. sg. pret. indic., as notable exception), but vowel gradation is absent. However, it must be mentioned that some OF consonantal verbs did show root-vowel alternation based not on gradation, but on (proto-English) mutation, which modified their infinitive stems (while their preterites and past participles remained unaffected). Good examples in this respect are: bycgan-bohte-(ge)boht, sellan-seald-(ge)seald, secan-sohte-(ge)sohe (the given forms representing int/1/3. sg. pret. ind/p. part.) ~ ef. MnE buy bought, sell-sold, seek-sought, respectively. 7.6.3. Irregular verbs have always been of significant importance in English. They are very frequently used, and they also are difficult to classify. However, three main groups of such OE verbs may be distinguished: (l)verbs which, though imegular, are obviously related to the consonantal type: habban— eafd-hafde-(geJhefd secgan-scegd-saede-(ge)sced (ef. MnE have-had, say-said); 39@)anomalous verbs, such as the double-rooted beon/ wesan ‘to be’, as well as willan ‘will’, don ‘to do’, gan ‘to go’; their irregular-shaped preterites were wolde, dyde, and eode, respectively; ()preterite-present verbs, whose Gme preterites had come (by certain logical-semantic shifts) {0 be felt and used as forms of present. More important of this group were: witan ‘to know” (from a Gme preterite of an IE verb basically meaning ‘to see’ — cf. Lat, video); sculan ‘must’ (ef. biblical Thou shalt not); eunnan ‘to know, to be able to’; magan ‘to be able to’. New (consonantal) preterites were constructed for such verbs (wiste, sceolde, cude, meahte, respectively). It is not easy to draw complete paradigmatic models for irregular verbs, first of all decause not all their forms have been recorded, and defective forms are difficult to reconstruct, accurately. However, the inflectional pattem of the most important of them, beon/wesan, can be presented as follows: present preterite indicative Isg. ic eom(beo) Isg ic wees 25g. du 2s. du waere 3sg. he(ete) is(bid) 35g. he (etc) wars 1-3pl. we (etc) sind (beod) 1-3 pl. we (etc) waron subjunctive 135g, ie (ete) sy (be) 1-3sg. ic (ete) ware 1-3 pl. we(etc) sym (beon) 1-3 pl. we (ete) weeren imperative 2sg. wes! 2pl wesad! present Past participle wesende participle beon Mark the presence of several IE roots within the paradigm of one and the same verb. The OE pres. indie. beforms (ef, Grm ich bin ‘I am’, du bist ‘thou art’) were often used with a future sense in LOE, and be (as inf. or subj.) still is part of MnE; of the s-forms (ef. Grm wir sind ‘we are’ ‘and subj.-imperat. sei "be") nothing survives in PDE. 7.7. OE syntax. No general discussion of OF grammar can be complete without @ presentation of syntactic features. In fact, a morpho-syntactic vision is always advisable; there should be no border drawn between morphologic shapes, like the ones discussed so far, and syntactic pattems and mechanisms, such as concord, coordination, subordination, or word-order. 7.1.1. Some of the most important manifestations of eoncord (grammatical agreement in category and form) have already been illustrated by the nominal, adjectival, and pronominal paradigms above. (Observe especially the ones containing adjectives and def. articles that agree in gender, number, and case with the determined nouns.) In the case of verbal inflectional patterns, the agreement between subjects (represented by personal pronouns) and predicates is in person and ‘number. Another form of concord is the one between pronouns and the nouns they can replace. 1 must observe here that OE pronouns did not strictly comply with the grammatical gender of corresponding nouns: masc. (s¢) wifmann ‘woman’ and neut. (dcet) maegden ‘maiden’ could be replaced by heo ‘she’ (in keeping with sex), rather than by he and hit, respectively (as their ‘grammatical gender would require). 7.1.2. The syntactic functions of OE ease-forms were, according to traditional grammar, the same as the ones of MnE (though logically, rather than formally). One may still say that subjects are nominative, direct objects are accusative, and indirect objects are dative; but most possibilities of synthetically expressing grammatical relationship vanished along with OE inflection. 40‘The OE A-case could have adverbial functions indicated directly through inflection, not through analytic addition of prepositions: done winter ‘during that winter’, ealne weg ‘all the way” (cf. Grm den ganzen Tag ‘all day long’), A-case was used, as in other languages, after prepositions indicating movement: ofer, durh, wid, ete; the same prepositions required D-case when the reference was to a static happening (cf. Grm er geht in die Stadt ‘he goes to town’ vs, er lebt in der ‘Stadt “he lives in town’). The OE synthetic G-case (which had several markers, not only the s-ending which survives in PDE) was very rich in functions: besides the common indication of possession, it could also mark origin: Beowulf Geata “Beowulf of the Geats’. There was a G of measure (fiftiges fotgemearces lang ‘fifty foot long’, anes mondes first ‘one month's space’), and one of definition (mycles cynnes ‘of great lineage’ ~ cf. Rom de neam mare). A. partitive G was also expressed synthetically: usa beist “best of houses’, an hira ‘one of them’. Some G constructions had an instrumental meaning: nida overcumen ‘overcome by needs’, his gewealdes “of his own free will’ G forms (like D and A ones) could function adverbially, for both space and time: rided ale his weges ‘each rides on his way’ (ef. Grm er ging seines Weges ‘he went on his way"); by frequent usage, certain such forms came to be felt as mere adverbs, not as nominal genitives (deeges “by day’, nihtes ‘at night’ = Grm nachts). Prepositions like andlang ‘along’ (= Grm enilang, requiring D), temporal to ‘until’, wid ‘towards’ were followed by G. ‘The OE D-ease was multifunctional too, mainly because it had taken over usages of other cases, whose inflections had wom out completely (the locative), or to a great extent (the instrumental). It is worth mentioning that, in its specific indirect-object function, the D-case often made use of an apparently redundant marker, namely preposition 10: gifan to aenigum “to give to anyone’, he cweed to me “he said to me’ (ef. Rom imi zise, literally ‘me he said’, and zise cdtre ‘mine *he said towards me’). The locative, instrumental, and temporal functions of the D-case could also be double-marked (prepositions like on, cet, of, fram, 10 + inflection). However, synthetic-only usage was not unusual in such cases: sumum deege ‘some day’, wicum wunian “to live in settlements’, wundum werig ‘weary with wounds’ (we can see here the origins of the already mentioned OE adverbs ending in -e and -um). Partitive constructions using an analytic! synthetic markers, namely of + D, were also not unusual: do me swa ane of dinum hyrlingum ‘do to me as to one of your hited men’ (in the MnE phrase, of is the sole marker). Possessively oriented D forms were common in OF, such instances being closer (in construction) to Rom than to MnE: he sette his hond him on dee heafod “he put his hand on his head” = Rom i-a pus mana-n cap (where i isa D clitic), literally “to him has put hand in head’. A. similar typological resemblance with Rom usages may be observed in OE reflexive datives: him wes lad “he was loath to" ‘it was disagreeable to him’) = Rom. ii era neplacut, literally “to him was unpleasant’ 7.1.3. Uhave already dealt with the OE use of determiners (adjectives, articles, numerals) in the paragraphs on morphology. We should keep in mind that the forms and functions of the OE def. article were not yet distincily separated from those of the OE dem. pronoun se/deet! seo (we ‘may, however, be sure that the article had a stressless-weakened pronunciation, in comparison with that of the demonstrative proper). The existence of an OE indef. article is even harder to assert. Both sum ‘some, certain’ and an “one” were used as indef. adjectives with functions very close to those of Mn alan: ic heebbe sume cnapan “I have a boy"; dee wees an cyning ‘he was a (peerless) king’. But, in Beowulf, a meaning very similar to that of the latter sentence was expressed by dcet was god cyning, and, in fact, the basic functions of MnE a/an were generally marked by zero article in OE (cf. also ie sceal erian fulne aecer ‘I must plough a whole acre’) 7.74, OE verbal functions still observed the Gme two-tense system (expressed by synthetic present and preterite forms). But there also were early signs of compound tenses. ‘Verbs like willan and seulan (+ inf.) began to be used not only modally (to express volition and obligation, respectively), but also as future-tense indicators. At the same time, pret. forms of ‘habban and wesan (+ past part.), came to express past perfect. Such constructions implied both ast tense and perfective aspect (however, since past participles stil showed agreement with the subject, they appeared as predicative adjectives rather than as parts of tense forms). In general, a