Historical Development of the English Language

Dr. Helena Gabčová

9th cen. On fruman ærest wæron þysses ealondes bigengan Bryttes ane, fram þam hit naman onfeng. Is þæt sæd, þæt hi comon fram Armoricano þære mægeþe on Breotone, and þa suþdælas þysses ealondes him gesæton and geahnodon.14th cen. Bretouns wonede first in þis ilond. þei come hider and took hir cours from Armorik, þat now is þe oþer Bretayne; þey helde long tyme þe souþ contrayes of þe ilond.16th cen. At the first this land was inhabited of none other nation but only of the Brittanes, of whom it receiveth his name: which Brittanes comyng out of Armorica (called now little Britany) as it is thought, chose unto them selves the sowth parte of this land.20th cen. The original inhabitants of the island were the Britons, from whom it takes its name, and who, according to tradition, crossed into Britain from Armorica, and occupied the southern parts.Linguistic and lexical comparison of the abovementioned sample text translated from Latin in different periods of time.

sound changes: [ealond] → [i:lond] → [ailend]

[nama] → [na:me] → [neim]

[su:t] → [saθt]morphological changes:

hi comon → þei come

þysses ealondes bigengan → The original inhabitants of the

island

þa suþdælas → the southern parts

it receiveth → it takes

syntactic change: On fruman ærest wæron þysses ealondes bigengan Bryttes ane,

Adjunct V Pve S

Bretouns wonede first in þis ilond

S V Adjunct

semantic change: sellan <give> → sell

deor <animal> → deer

cwic <alive> → quick

borrowings: cours < OF: cours native words: thecontrayes < OF: cuntrée nameinhabited < OF: enhabiter

islandnation < OF: nation

werereceiveth < OF: receivre

southerncalled < ON: calla

whomparte < OF: part

it

Mechanisms of Linguistic Change

Internal: Redundancy: Hie wendon to þæm cyninge; Asymmetries / Holes in the language system: tendency towards symmetry: p t k s f t (R)

b d g z v ð z External: Bilingualism: language contact; mixed communities; substratum /superstratum / adstratum; Fashion / Prestige: spread of an innovation; Social / Political Changes

Psychological: Functional load: the imporance of a linguistic element in the functioning of a language a) high: /p/ - /b/ pill - bill word order: SVO b) low: /ð/ - /t/ gender; principle of ease; frequency; analogy; principle of clearness; creativity

Areas of the World Where Indo-European Languages Are Spoken

OLD ENGLISH

The Indo-European Language FamilyWilliam Jones, 1786„The Sanscrit Language whatever may be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either; yet nearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than could have been produced by accident; so strong that no philologer could examine all the three without believing them to have sprung from a common source which, perhaps, no longer exists. There is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the Gothic and Celtic, though blended with a different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanscrit. The old Persian may be added to the same family.“(Sir William Jones, Third Anniversary Discourse, on the Hindus, Royal Asiatic Society, 1786)

Indo-European cognates:

Sanskrit Greek Latin Old Engl. Old Church German

Slavic

(_kah) (heis) _nus _n edin_ eins

dvau du_ duo tw_ dva zwei

trayah treis tr_s þr_e troje drei

tad to (is- )tud þæt to das

pita pater pater fæder (otec_) Vater

The Germanic Languages

Common Words in Seven Germanic Languages:English German Dutch Swedish Danish Norwegian Icelandicmother Mutter moeder moder moder moder móðirfather Vater vader fader fader fader faðireye Auge oog öga øje øye augafoot Fuss voetfot fod fot fóturone ein een en en en einnthree drei drie tre tre tre þrírmonth Monat maand månad måned måned mánaður

Grimm’s Law:

IE -----> Proto-Germanicp -----> ft -----> tk -----> u -> hb -----> pd -----> tg -----> kbh -----> bdh -----> dgh -----> g

Germanic Languages

Proto-Germanic

West Germanic East Germanic English German Frisian Dutch (Gothic)

& Yiddish & Africaans

North GermanicSwedish Danish Norwegian Faroese Icelandic

Similarities

- Grimm’s Law- stress is on the first syllable- development of weak verbs- development of weak adjective declension- similarities in basic vocabulary:

Donner - thunder - donder (Holl.)Arm - arm - arm (Holl., Schwed., Dän.)Bär - bear- beer (Holl.)Eiche - oak - eik (Holl.) - ek (Sch.) - eg (Dän.)fallen - fall - vallen (H.) - falla (S.) - falde(D.)

Examples of similarity in the Germanic vocabulary

Give us to-day our daily bread(English)

Geef ons heden ons dagelijks brood(Dutch)

Giv os i dag vort daglige brød (Danish)

Giv oss i dag vårt dagliga bröd(Swedish)

Gef oss i dag vort daglegt brauð(Icelandic)

"TO HAVE" IN THE GERMANIC LANGUAGES

GERMAN ENGLISH DUTCH SWEDISH DANISHich habe I have ik heb jag har jeg hardu hast thou hast jij hebt du har du harer hat he has hij heeft han har han harwir haben we have wij hebben vi hava vi harihr habt you have jullie hebben ni hava I harsie haben they have zij hebben de hava de harich hatte I had ik had jag hade jeg havdedu hattest thou hadst jij had du hade du havdeer hatte he had hij had han hade han havdewir hatten we had wij hadden vi hade vi havdeihr hattet you had jullie hadden ni hade I havdesie hatten they had zij hadden de hade de havdeich habe I have had ik heb gehad jag har haft jeg har haft

gehabtich werde I shall have ik zal hebben jag skall hava jeg skal have

haben

History of the English Language

Old English: 500 - 1150

449 Traditional date of coming of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes563 St. Columba brings Celtic Christianity to Iona (Beginning of Christianisation)680 Approximate earliest date for composition of Beowulf700 Date of first linguistic records731 Venerable Bede Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum in Latin793 Viking raids begin871 Alfred becomes king of Wessex886 Boundaries of Danelaw agreed with Guthrum. Alfred

occupies London. (The period of the Alfredian translations and the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.)899 Death of King Alfred 978-1016 Ethelred the Unready reigns.1016-1042 Cnut and his sons reign.1042-1066 Edward the Confessor1066 Harold King; Battle of Hastings; William I King.

Middle English: 1150 - 1500

1204 King John looses Normandy è Growth of national feeling in the 14th century1337-1453 The Hundred Years' War against France è Further growth of national feeling1340-1400 Geoffrey Chaucer1362 The chancellor opened Parliament for the first time with a speech in English and English becomes again the principal tongue of all England1476 William Caxton introduces book printing in England

Early Modern English: 1500 - 1750

1500-1650 The Renaissance

1584 First settlement in America

1590-1616 Shakespeare's main works written

1600 First trading posts in India

1609 First English settlement in the Caribbian

1713 British control in eastern Canada recognized

Present Day English: 1750 - ...

18th c. "Age of Rule"1755 Publication of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language1762 Publication of Robert Lowth's Short Introduction to English Grammar1788 Establishment of first penal colony in Australia1806 British control established in South Africa1828 Publication of Noah Webster's American

Dictionary of the English Language1840 Official colony established in New Zealand

Old English: 500 - 1150

449: Traditional date of coming of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes:Angles: - North of the river Humber:Northumbrian Dialect

- Between Thames and Humber:Mercian DialectJutes: - South-East England:Kentish DialectSaxons: - South-West England:West-Saxon Dialect

OE: - homogeneous vocabulary:(Westgermanic)

- consociated vocabulary:(large word families:

lran - to teachl_r - sciencel_r-h_s - schooll_r-b_c - manuall_rcræft - knowledgel_rd_m - instructionl_r-_ow - teacherl_rlic - instructive ....)

Celtic Influence: - very small (although divergent opinions)

- substratum (few words, basically toponyms; probably some syntactic structures, though disputed)

- names of some English towns: London, Leeds, Dover,...

- rivers: Avon, Ouse, Derwent, Darent, Dart,Thames,...

- county names: Kent, Devon, Cornwall, Cumberland,...

- words for topographical features: cumb (narrow valley, coomb),...

Latin Influence:

1. On the continent: mint, street, wine,...

2. Settlement period: ceaster (town), port,...

3. Christianization: apostol, biscop, munuc, mynster, abbod, disciple, nun, pilgrim, pope, school,...

- loan translations: Easter, hell, holy, g_dspell, þr_ness

- Latin alphabet

The Old English Phonetics

Gothic language = the most ancient of witnessed Germanic tongues and the most archaic of them

Old English is sometimes moving further in developing the phonetics

comparing OE to the Gothic language Gothic language = similar sounds, morphological forms and

vocabulary with Old English, Old High German, Old Scandinavian and other ancient Germanic languages are quite frequent

Old English phonetics included the majority of sounds typical

for all Germanic speech

Old English Vowels

Could be either short or long in Old English

The distinction between open and close syllablesThis distinction is quite Germanic, and obviously did not existed in Proto-Indo-European where vowels could be short

and long in every position.

The table below explains all Old English (OE) vocals compared to those of Gothic

monn (a man)A special short sound met only before nasals in closed

syllablesoa.

mýs (mice)Long front vowel; i-mutation of ú, German glu"henúý

gylden (golden) Short front vowel; i-mutation of u; German fu"nfu y 

lúcan (to look)Long back vowel; English stoolú ú 

curon (they chose) Short back vowel; used only when the next syllable contains

another back vowel; English booku, au u 

scóc (divided)Long back vowel; English storeoó

coren (chosen) Short back vowel; English costu, au o 

wrítan (to write), hí - hý (they)

Long front vowel; also stable and unstable (mutating to ý); English steal

ieí

bindan (to bind), niht - nyht (a night)

Short front vowel; can be either stable or unstable, the unstable sound can interchange with ie and y; English still

i, ie i

déman (to judge) Long front vowel; resulted from the i-mutation of ó; German

Meer ó é 

sengean (to sing) Short front vowel; as Gothic i, ai noticed only in some

infinitives, otherwise is result of the mutation of i; English bed i, ai, ae 

 stæ'lon (stolen), hæ'lan (to cure)

Long back vowel; as Gothic é found only in some verbal forms, as Gothic á is the result of the so-called i-mutation;

German za"hlen  é, áæ' 

dæg (a day), wæter (water)

Short back vowel; Met mainly in closed syllables, or in open ones, if the next syllable contains a front vowel; English bad

a æ 

 stán (a stone), hátan (to call)

Long back vowel; In any kind of syllables; English star  aiá

macian (to make), habban (to have)

Short back vowel; Mainly in open syllables, when the following one contains a back vowel; English cup

aa

ExamplesDescription; Position; PronunciationGothicOE

Gothic used to have much more diphthongs than Old English

Trend in Indo-European languages - diphthongs turn into simple vowels, and the more developed the language,

the less diphthongs it has

Old English = had two original diphthongs, both composed of long vowel components:

éá - equal to Gothic au, found both in nominal and verbal parts of speech: béám, céás (he chose)

éó - equal to Gothic iu: céósan (to choose); in some dialects and varieties it was written like íó, but this was the same

sound.

ABLAUT = the vowel interchange in the root of nouns and verbs = one of the main phonological and morphological instruments in Common GermanicCommon Germanic and practically in all Germanic languages

ABLAUT = known in all Indo-European groups as a phonetic means; = was of great importance particularly in Germanic, where it was sometimes used instead of verb endings and noun inflections.

The same way of "infixation" of different vowels into the root is known in Semitic and other Afroasiatic languages

COMPARE: the Arabic language which has kataba (he wrote), kutiba (written), katib (writing), kitab (a writing), 'aktaba (he made smb write) as different forms of the root k-t-b, and the English language which uses sing, sang, sung, song as different forms of the root s-ng. This is the Germanic

Ablaut.

Old English Vowel Mutations

1. Breaking

æ > ea before combinations of "r+consonant", "l+cons.", "h+cons.", and also before h final: ærm > earm, æld > eald, æhta > eahta, sæh > seah

e > eo before "r+cons.", "lc, lh, h +cons.", and before h final: herte > heorte, melcan > meolcan, selh > seolh, feh > feoh

2. Palatalization

 This is the process which went under the influence of g, c, sc before vowels in the beginning of the word:   e > ie (gefan > giefan)   æ > ea (cæster > ceaster)   æ' > éa (gæ'fon > géafon)   a > ea (scacan > sceacan)   o > eo (scort > sceort)

This palatalization (or softening) is thought by some linguists to influence not vowels but consonants themselves. This means that in some particular position sounds g, c, sc became respectively [g'], [k'], [sk'], and this was marked by a soft vowel after them. So opinions vary on this problem.

3. i-mutation

Is caused by i (ot j) in the next syllable, it affects all vowels, except i and e. Vowels move from their back position to the new front one:

  a > e (framian > fremman)   æ > e (tælian > tellan)   á > æ' (lárian>læ'ran)   o > e (ofstian > efstan)   ó > é (dómian > déman)   u > y (fullian > fyllan)   ú > ý (cúþian > cýþan)   ea > ie (earmiþu > iermþu)   éa > íe (geléafian > gelíefan)   eo > ie (afeorrian > afierran, afyrran)   éo > íe (getréowi > getríewe, getríve)

4. Back Mutation

   Appears before liquids and labial consonants (i.e. r, l; p, b, f, m):   i > io (hira > heora)   e > eo (herot > heorot)   a > ea (saru > searu)

5. Contraction of vowels due to a dropped “h”

   After the consonant had dropped, two vowels met, and they collided into one long vowel:   ah + vowel > eah + vowel > éa, (slahan > sleahan > sléan)   eh,ih + vowel > éo (sehan > seohan > séon)   oh + vowel > ó - (fóhan > fón, hóhan > hón)

The common situation of the Proto-Indo-European laryngeal sound [h] = dropped in all Indo-European languages except Anatolian (Hittite hartagga, Greek arktos, Welsh art - a bear)The drop of this sound usually caused the lengthening of neighbouring sounds. This trend was preserved in Old English as well - h was not stable enough to remain between vowels. The English language was moving towards the analytism.

Old English Consonants

n, mNasals

r, lLiquids

c [k], g, hVelars

d, t, s, þ (English thin), ð (English this)Dentals

p, b, f, vLabials

Consonant Mutations1. Voicing of fricative sounds (h, f, s, þ) appears, if a fricative

is surrounded by vowels:         wíf (a wife; unvoiced) - wífes (voiced); wearþ (a becoming; unvoiced) - weorðan (to become; voiced).

2. Palatalization appears only in Late Old English, but significantly changes the pronunciation making it closer to today's English:         cild [kild] > [child]; scip [skip] > [ship]; everywhere [g], [cg] sounds turn into [dj]: bricg [bricg] > [bridj]

3. Other changes   any velar cons.+ t > -ht-:  sócte > sóhte   any labial cons.+ t > -ft-:  sceapt > sceaft   any dental cons.+ t > -ss-:  witte > wisse   n was lost before h, f, s, p: bronhte > bróhte, sonfte > sófte

In general, Old English phonetics suffered great changes during the whole period from the 5th to the 11th century. Anglo-Saxons did not live in isolation from the world - they contacted with Germanic tribes in France, with Vikings from Scandinavia, with Celtic tribes in Britain, and all these contacts could not but influence the language's pronunciation somehow. The internal development of the English language after languages of Angles, Saxons and Jutes were unified, was rather fast, and sometimes it took only half a century to change some form of the language or replace it with  another one. Old English = suffered constant change.

The Old English Substantive

In Indo-European has always three main categories which change its forms: the number, the case, the genderThe general trend of the Indo-European family is to decrease the number of numbers, cases and genders from the Proto-Indo-European stage to modern languages

Old English, as well as practically all Germanic tongues, generated a lot of analytic forms instead of older inflections, and lost many other of them.

Of eight Proto-Indo-European cases, Old English keeps just four which were inherited from the Common Germanic language.

Four cases appeared in Germanic and later in Old English - nominative, genitive, accusative and dative. These four were the most ancient and therefore stable in the system of the Indo-European morphology.

OLD ENGLISH CASES

1. Genitive - expresses the possessive menaing: whose? of what?         Also after the expression meaning full of , free of , worthy of , guilty of,  etc.

2. Dative - expresses the object towards which the action is directed.         After the after the verbs like "say to smb", "send smb", "give to smb"; "known to smb", "necessary for smth / smb", "close to smb", "peculiar for smth".         Also in the expressions like  from the enemy, against the wind, on the shore.

3. Accusative - expresses the object immediately affected by the action (what?), the direct object.

The loss of genders in Middle English happened due to the drop of the case inflections, when words could no longer be distinguished by its endings.

All Old English nouns were divided into strong (branched declension) and weak (represented by nouns which were already starting to lose their declension system = the same as verbs in Germanic.

The majority of noun stems in Old English should be referred to the strong type.

a-s te m s S in g u la r N o m . s tá n (s to n e ) sc ip (sh ip ) b á n (b o n e ) re c e d (h o u se ) n íe te n (o x ) G e n . s tá n e s sc ip e s b á n e s re c e d e s n íe te n e s D a t. s tá n e sc ip e b á n e re c e d e n íe te n e A c c . s tá n sc ip b á n re c e d n íe te n P lu ra l N o m . s tá n a s sc ip u b á n re c e d n íe te n u G e n . s tá n a sc ip a b á n a re c e d a n íe te n a D a t. s tá n u m sc ip u m b á n u m re c e d u m n íe te n u m A c c . s tá n a s sc ip u b á n re c e d n íe te n u

A little peculiarity of those words that have the sound [æ] in the stem and say farewell to it in the plural:           Masculine                         Neuter      Sing.              Pl.             Sing.               Pl. N  dæg (day) dagas     fæt (vessel)  fatu G  dæges       daga       fætes           fata D  dæge         dagum    fæte            fatum A  dæg           dagas     fæt              fatu

Examples of a-stems: earm (an arm), eorl, helm (a helmet), hring (a ring), múþ (a mouth); neuter ones - dor (a gate), hof (a courtyard), geoc (a yoke), word, déor (an animal), bearn (a child), géar (a year).

ja-stems                          Singular                Masculine                             Neuter N  hrycg (back)   here (army) ende (end)  cynn (kind)  ríce (realm) G  hrycges           heriges        endes          cynnes        ríces D  hrycge            herige          ende           cynne          ríce A  hrycg              here            ende           cynn            ríce                          Plural N  hrycgeas        herigeas       endas         cynn            ríciu G  hrycgea          herigea        enda           cynna          rícea D  hrycgium        herigum       endum      cynnum       rícium A  hrycgeas        herigeas       endas         cynn            ríciu

wa-stems                Singular                                Plural       Masc.        Neut.                    Masc.         Neut. N  bearu (wood)  bealu (evil)   bearwas      bealu (-o) G  bearwes           bealwes      bearwa        bealwa D  bearwe            bealwe        bearwum     bealwum A  bearu (-o)        bealu (-o)    bearwas      bealu (-o)

ó-stems                          Sg. N  swaþu (trace) fór (journey)  tigol (brick) G  swaþe            fóre               tigole D  swaþe            fóre               tigole A  swaþe            fóre               tigole                         Pl. N  swaþa           fóra               tigola G  swaþa           fóra               tigola D  swaþum        fórum             tigolum A  swaþa           fóra               tigola

i-stems         Masc.                          Neut.                     Sg. N  sige (victory) hyll (hill)  sife (sieve) G  siges             hylles     sifes D  sige               hylle       sife A  sige               hyll         sife                     Pl. N  sigeas           hyllas      sifu G  sigea             hylla        sifa D  sigum           hyllum     sifum A  sigeas          hyllas       sifu

u-stems           Masc.                       Fem.                         Sg. N  sunu (son)feld (field)  duru (door) hand (hand) G  suna         felda          dura           handa D  suna         felda          dura           handa A  sunu         feld            duru           hand                         Pl. N  suna         felda          dura           handa G  suna         felda          dura           handa D  sunum      feldum       durum         handum A  suna         felda          dura           handa

The other type of nouns according to their declension was the group of Weak nouns, derived from n-nouns is Common Germanic. Their declension is simple and stable, having special endings:

      Masc.             Fem.                  Neut.                     Sg. N  nama (name) cwene (woman)  éage (eye) G  naman           cwenan               éagan D  naman           cwenan               éagan A  naman           cwenan               éage                     Pl. N  naman          cwenan               éagan

G  namena        cwenena        éagena D  namum         cwenum              éagum A  naman          cwenan               éagan

Root-stems which according to Germanic laws of Ablaut, change the root vowel during the declension

In Modern English such words still exist, and we all know them: goose - geese, tooth - teeth, foot - feet, mouse - mice etc. M a sc . F e m .

S g . N m a n n fó t (fo o t) tó þ (to o th ) | h n u tu (n u t) b ó c (b o o k ) g ó s (g o o se ) m ú s (m o u se ) b u rg (b u rg ) G m a n n e s fó te s tó þ e s | h n u t e b ó c e g ó se m ú se b u rg e D m e n n fé t té þ | h n y te b é c g é s m ý s b y ri g A m a n n fó t tó þ | h n u tu b ó k g ó s m ú s b u rg P l. N m e n n fé t té þ | h n y te b é c g é s m ý s b y ri g G m a n n a fó ta tó þ a | h n u ta b ó c a g ó sa m ú sa b u rg a D m a n n u m fó tu m tó þ u m | h n u tu m b ó c u m g ó su m m ú su m b u rg u m A m e n n fé t té þ | h n y te b é c g é s m ý s b y ri g

S tro n g d e c le n s io n (a, ja, wa, ó, jó, wó, i -s te m s). M a sc . N e u t. F e m . S g . P l. S g . P l. S g . P l. N - -a s - - u (-) - -a G - e s -a - e s - a -e -a D - e -u m - e - u m -e -u m A - -a s - - u (-) -e -a

W e a k d e c le n s io n u -s te m s S g . P l. S g . P l. N - -a n - -a G - a n -e n a -a -a D - a n -u m -a -u m A - a n -a n - -a

N o w th a t y o u k n o w th e d e c le n s io n , h e re is a n e x e rc ise fo r y o u to c h e c k y o u r O ld E n g lish . P le a se tr y to d e fin e th e d e c le n s io n o f th e n o u n s b e lo w :

ád (m a sc .) - p ile eofor (m a sc .) - a b o a r fácen (n e u t.) - c rim e , e v i l feging (fe m .) - c o n ju n c ti o n gewrit (n e u t.) - a le tte r prýd (fe m .) - p rid e pund (n e u t., w e a k ) - a p o u n d

Answers

S in g u la r P lu ra l

N ád, eofor, fácen, feging, gewrit, prýd, pund

ádas, eoforas, fácen, feginga, gewritu, prýda, pundan

G ádes, eofores, fácenes, feginge, gewrites, prýde, pundan

áda, eofora, fácena, feginga, gewri ta, prýda, pundena

D áde, eofore, fácene, feginge, gewrite, prýde, pundan

ádum , eoforum , fácenum , fegingum, gewritum, prýdum , pundum

A ád, eofor, fácen, feginge, gewrit, prýde, pundan

ádas, eoforas, fácen, feginga, gewritu, prýda, pundan

The Old English Adjective

In all historical Indo-European languages adjectives possess practically the same morphological features as the nouns.

According to some linguists, adjectives in this Proto-Nostratic tongue were morphologically closer to the verbs than to the nouns.

In Altaic languages, and also in Korean and Japanese, which are originally Altaic, the adjective plays the part of the predicate, and in Korean, for example, the majority of adjectives are predicative.

Adjective "red" is actually translated from Japanese as "to be red".

It was the Proto-Indo-European epoch where adjectives as the part of speech began to transform from a verbal one to a nominal one.

All Indo-European branches already show the close similarity of the structure of adjectives and nouns in the language.

In Old English adjective is one of the nominal parts of speech.

As well as the noun, the adjective can be declined in case, gender and number.

Adjectives must follow sequence with nouns which they define - that is why the same adjective can be masculine, neuter and feminine and therefore be declined in two different types: one for masculine and neuter, the other for feminine nouns.

One-syllable adjectives ("monosyllabic") have different declension than two-syllable ones ("disyllabic"). "I" means that very instrumental case, answering the question (by what? with whom? with the help of what?).

S tro n g D e c le n s io n a, ó-s te m s M o n o sy lla b ic S g . M a sc . N e u t. F e m . N b læ c (b la c k ) b læ c b la c u G b la c e s b la c e s b læ c re D b la c u m b la c u m b læ c re A b læ c n e b læ c b la c e I b la c e b la c e - P l. N b la c e b la c u b la c a G b la c ra b la c ra b la c ra D b la c u m b la c u m b la c u m A b la c e b la c u b la c a

D isy lla b ic M a sc . N e u t. F e m . S g . N é a d i g (h a p p y ) é a d ig é a d i g u G é a d i g e s é a d i g e s é a d i g re D é a d i g u m é a d i g u m é a d ig re A é a d i g n e é a d i g é a d i g e I é a d i g e é a d i g e P l. N é a d i g e é a d i g u é a d i g a G é a d i g ra é a d i g ra é a d i g ra D é a d i g u m é a d i g u m é a d ig u m A é a d i g e é a d i g u é a d i g u

ja, jó -s te m s ( swéte - sw e e t) S g . P l. M a sc . N e u t. F e m . M a sc . N e u t. F e m . N sw é te sw é t e sw é tu sw é te sw é tu sw é ta G sw é te s sw é t e s sw é tre sw é tra sw é t ra sw é tra D sw é tu m sw é tu m sw é tre sw é tu m sw é tu m sw é tu m A sw é tn e sw é t e sw é te sw é te sw é tu sw é ta I sw é te sw é te -

wa, wó- s te m s S g . M a sc . N e u t. F e m . N n e a ru (n a rro w ) n e a ru n e a ru G n e a rw e s n e a rw e s n e a ro re D n e a rw u m n e a rw u m n e a ro re A n e a ro n e n e a ru n e a rw e I n e a rw e n e a rw e P l. N n e a rw e n e a ru n e a rw a G n e a ro ra n e a ro ra n e a ro ra D n e a rw u m n e a rw u m n e a rw u m A n e a rw e n e a ru n e a rw a

STRONG ADJECTIVESThe adjectival declension is the same as a whole for all stems, as concerns the strong type.

M a sc . F e m . N e u t. S g . P l. S g . P l. S g . P l. N - -e - u - a - -u G - e s -ra - re - ra -e s -ra D - u m -u m - re - u m -u m -u m A - n e -e - e - a - -u I - e -e

WEAK ADJECTIVES

No need not learn by heart which adjective is which type - strong or weak, as you should do with the nouns. If you have a weak noun as a subject, its attributive adjective will be weak as well → a strong adjective for a strong noun, a weak adjective for a weak noun.

Weak declension has a single plural for all genders.w e a k d e c le n s io n e x a m p le ( blaca - b la c k ):

S g . P l. M a sc . N e u t. F e m . N b la c a b la c e b la c e b la c a n G b la c a n b la c a n b la c a n b læ c ra D b la c a n b la c a n b la c a n b la c u m A b la c a n b la c e b la c a n b la c a n

Adjectives: degrees of comparison

The traditional Indo-European structure is preserved here: three degrees (absolutive, comparative, superlative).

The suffices we are used to see in Modern English, those -er and -est in weak, weaker, the weakest, are the direct descendants of the Old English ones. At that time they sounded as -ra and -est.

Examples: earm (p o o r) - earm ra - earm ost blæ c (b la c k ) - blæ cra - blacost

M a n y a d je c tiv e s c h a n g e d th e ro o t v o w e l - a n o th e r e x a m p le o f th e G e rm a n i c a b la u t:

eald (o ld ) - ieldra - ieldest strong - strengra - strengest long - lengra - lengest geong (y o u n g ) - gingra - gingest

T h e m o s t w id e sp re a d a n d w id e l y u se d a d je c tiv e s a lw a y s h a d th e ir d e g re e s fo rm e d fro m a n o th e r s te m , w h ic h is c a lle d "su p p le tiv e " in lin g u is tic s . M a n y o f th e m a re s till se e n in to d a y 's E n g lish :

gód (g o o d ) - betera - betst (o r sélra - sélest ) yfel (b a d ) - w iersa - w ierest m icel (m u c h ) - m ára - máést lýtel (little ) - læ 'ssa - læ 'st fear (fa r) - fierra - fierrest, fyrrest néah (n e a r) - néarra - níehst, nýhst æ 'r (e a rl y ) - æ 'rra - æ 'rest fore (b e fo re ) - furþra - fyrest (firs t)

N o w y o u se e w h a t th e w o rd "fi rs t" m e a n s - ju s t th e su p e rla tiv e d e g re e fro m th e a d je c tiv e "b e fo re , fo rw a rd ". T h e sa m e is w ith níehst fro m néah (n e a r) w h ic h is n o w "n e x t".

O ld E n g lish a ffix a tio n fo r a d je c tiv e s :

1 . -ede (g ro u p "a d je c tiv e s te m + su b s ta n tiv e s te m ") - m icelhéafdede (la rg e -h e a d e d ) 2 . -ihte (fro m su b s ta n tiv e s w ith m u ta tio n ) - þirnihte (th o rn y ) 3 . -ig (fro m su b s ta n tiv e s w ith m u ta tio n ) - hálig (h o l y ), m istig (m is t y ) 4 . -en, - in (w ith m u ta tio n ) - gyld en (g o ld e n ), wyllen (w ó lle n ) 5 . -isc (n a tio n a lit y ) - Englisc, Welisc, m ennisc (h u m a n ) 6 . -sum (fro m s te m s o f v e rb s , a d je c tiv e s , su b s ta n tiv e s) - sibbsum (p e a c e fu l), híersum (o b e d ie n t) 7 . -feald (fro m s te m s o f n u m e ra ls , a d je c tiv e s) - þríefeald (th re e fo ld ) 8 . -full (fro m a b s tra c t su b s ta n tiv e s te m s) - sorgfull (so rro w fu l) 9 . -léás (fro m v e rb a l a n d n o m in a l s te m s) - slæ pléás (s le e p le ss) 1 0 . -líc (fro m su b s ta n tiv e a n d a d je c tiv e s te m s) - eorþlíc (e a rth l y ) 1 1 . -weard (fro m a d j e c t iv e , su b s ta n tiv e , a d v e rb s te m s) - inneweard (in te rn a l), hám weard (h o m e w a rd )

The Old English Pronoun

The only part of speech in Old English which preserved the dual number in declension.Most of pronouns are declined in number, case and gender, in plural the majority have only one form for all genders.

Personal Pronouns

1 st p e rso n S in g u la r P lu ra l D u a l N ic , íc w é w it G m ín ú re u n c e r D m é ú s u n c A m e c , m é ú s ic , ú s u n c it, u n c

2 n d p e rso n N þ ú g é g it G þ ín é o w e r in c e r D þ é é o w in c A þ é c , þ é é o w ic , é o w in c it, in c

3 rd p e rso n N h é (m a sc .), h é o (fe m .), h i t

(n e u t .) h íe (m a sc ., n e u t.), h é o (fe m .)

G h is , h ire , h is h ie ra , h e o ra D h im , h ire , h im h im A h in e , h íe , h it h íe , h é o

Demonstrative Pronouns

sé (th a t) M a sc u lin e F e m in in e N e u te r P lu ra l N sé sé o þ æ t þ á G þ æ s þ æ 're þ æ s þ á ra D þ æ 'm þ æ 're þ æ 'm þ á m A þ o n e þ á þ æ t þ á

I þ ý , þ o n - þ ý , þ o n

-

þes (th is ) N þ e s þ é o s , þ ío s þ is þ á s G þ isse s þ isse þ isse s þ issa D þ issu m , þ e o ssu m þ isse þ issu m þ issu m A þ isn e , þ y sn e þ á s þ is þ á s

I þ is , þ y s - þ ý s , þ is

-

Interrogative Pronouns

N h w á h w æ t G h w æ s h w æ s D h w æ 'm h w æ 'm A h w o n e h w æ t I - h w ý , h w í

Other interrogative pronouns, or adverbs, as they are sometimes called, include the following, all beginning with hw:

hwilc 'which?' - is declined as the strong adjective (see adjectives above)

hwonne 'when?' - this and following are not declined, naturally

hwæ'r 'where?'

hwider 'whither?'

hwonan 'whence?'

Other kinds of pronouns

a) definite   gehwá (every) - declined the same way as hwá   gehwilc (each),   ćgţer (either),   ć'lc (each),   swilc (such) - all declined like strong adjectives   sé ylca (the same) - declined like a weak adjective

b) indefinite   sum (some),   ć'nig (any) - both behave the same way as strong adjectives

c) negative   nán, nć'nig (no, none) - declined like strong adjectives

d) relative   ţe (which, that)   séţe (which, that) - they are not declined

The Article

In Proto-Indo-European no traces of definite or indefinite articles can be found, and the majority of ancient Indo-European languages lack it too.

Old English did not use the article.

The definite article appeared later for the demonstrative pronoun.

The indefinite article was a product of the Old English numerals.

The Old English Numeral

All Indo-European languages have the general trend of transformation from the synthetic (or inflectional) stage to the analytic one.

In Proto-Indo-European all numerals, both cardinal and ordinal, were declined, as they derived on a very ancient stage from nouns or adjectives.

There are still language groups within the family which decline their numerals, e.g. Slavic and Baltic.

The Old English language preserves this system of declension only for three numerals. Modern English lacks declension at all.

1 án 2 0 twentig 2 twá 2 1 twentig ond án 3 þríe 3 0 þrítig 4 féower 4 0 féowertig 5 fíf 5 0 fíftig 6 six, syx, siex 6 0 siextig 7 seofon, syofn 7 0 siofontig 8 eahta 8 0 eahtatig 9 nigon 9 0 nigontig 1 0 tien, týn 1 0 0 hundtéontig, hund, hundred 1 1 endlefan 1 1 0 hundæ lleftig 1 2 twelf 1 2 0 hundtwelftig 1 3 þríotíene 2 0 0 tú hund 1 4 féowertíene 1 0 0 0 þúsend 1 5 fíftíene . . . 2 0 0 0 tú þúsendu

1 án is declined just like a strong adjective, can be only singular, but has masculine, neuter and feminine genders. It is the source of the future indefinite article 'a, an' in Modern English. So 'a house' in fact means "one house", here -n disappeared before a consonant. When at school, many of us thought that 'an' derived from 'a' and it appeares vice versa.

2 twá:         Masc.    Neut.                  Fem. N  twegen     tú, twá                 twá G                twégea, twégra D                twć'm, twám A  twegen     tú, twá                 twá

3 ţríe:       Masc.               Neut.              Fem. N  ţríe, ţrí, ţrý   ţrío, ţréo       ţrío, ţréo G                        ţríora, ţréora D                        ţrím A  ţríe, ţrí, ţrý   ţrío, ţréo       ţrío, ţréo

A typical i-stem noun. Strange is the following: while in the case of "two" the Modern English lost masculine and neuter forms and picked up the feminine one for use ('two' < twá), here we have another case, when the feminine and neuter were forgotten, and today's three comes directly from the masculine ţríe.

The last is the numeral begen, bú, bá (both) which is declined the same way as twá and is also dual.

Ordinal numerals use the suffix -ta or -ţa, etymologically a common Indo-European one (*-to-).

1 form a, fyresta 1 5 fíftéoþa 2 óþer, æ fterra 1 6 sixtéoþa 3 þridda, þirda 1 7 siofontéoþa 4 féorþa 1 8 eahtatéoþa 5 fífta 1 9 nigontéoþa 6 siexta, syxta 2 0 twentigoþa 7 siofoþa 3 0 þrittigoþa 8 eahtoþa 4 0 féowertigoþa 9 nigoþa 5 0 fíftigoþa 1 0 téoþa 1 0 0 hundtéontiogoþa 1 1 endlefta 1 2 twelfta 1 3 þreotéoþa 1 4 féowertéoþa

T h e tw o v a ria n ts fo r th e w o rd " firs t" a c tu a ll y m e a n d iffe re n t a ttrib u te s : form a is tra n s la te d a s "fo rw a rd ", a n d fyresta is "th e fa rth e s t ", "th e firs t " . A g a in d o u b le v a ria n ts fo r th e se c o n d n o m in a l m e a n re sp e c tiv e l y "th e o th e r" a n d "th e fo llo w in g ".

Mainly according to Old English texts ordinal numerals were used with the demonstrative pronoun ţá before them. This is where the definite article in 'the first', 'the third' comes from.

To say "the 22nd", for example, you should combine the following: either twá and twenigoţa (two and twentieth), or óţer éac twentigum (second with twenty).

So the order is different from the modern English, but instead closer to Modern German where "the 22nd" sounds like zwei und zwanzig (two and twenty).

The Old English Adverb

They can be either primary (original adverbs) or derive from the adjectives.

Adverbs appeared in the language rather late, and eraly Proto-Indo-European did not use them, but later some auxiliary nouns and pronouns losing their declension started to play the role of adverbial modifiers. That's how thew primary adverbs emerged.

In Old English the basic primary adverbs were the following ones:

ţa (then) ţonne (then) ţœ'r (there) ţider (thither) nú (now) hér (here) hider (hither) heonan (hence) sóna (soon) oft (often) eft (again) swá (so) hwílum (sometimes).

Secondary adverbs originated from the instrumental singular of the neuter adjectives of strong declension.

They all add the suffix -e: wide (widely), déope (deeply), fœste (fast), hearde (hard).

Another major sugroup of them used the suffixes -líc, -líce from more complexed adjectives: bealdlíce (boldly), freondlíce (in a friendly way).

Adverbs, as well as adjectives, had their degrees of comparison:

wíde - wídor - wídost (widely - more widely - most widely)

long - leng (long - longer) feorr (far) - fierr sófte (softly) - séft éaţe (easily) - íeţ wel (well) - betre - best yfele (badly) - wiers, wyrs - wierst micele (much) - máre – mœ'st

The Old English Verb

Modern English makes a distinction between regular and irregular verbs.

This distinction goes back to the Old English system of strong and weak verbs: the ones which used the ancient Germanic type of conjugation (the Ablaut), and the ones which just added endings to their past and participle forms.

Strong verbs make the clear majority.

According to the traditional division, which is taken form Gothic and is accepted by modern linguistics, all strong verbs are distinguished between seven classes, each having its peculiarities in conjugation and in the stem structure.

Table showing the root vowels of all strong verb classes. Except the VII class, they all have exact stem vowels for all four main forms:  

C la ss I II IIIa IIIb IIIc IV V V I V II In fin itiv e í é o i e o e e e a d iffe re n t P a s t s in g u la r

á é a a e a e a æ æ ó é , e o ,é o

P a s t p lu ra l

i u u u u æ ' æ ' ó é , e o , é o

P a rtic ip le II

i o u o o o e a a , á , e a

Strong verbs

In fin itiv e , P a s t s in g u la r, P a s t p lu ra l, P a rtic ip le II (o r P a s t P a rtic ip le ) C la ss I wrítan (to w rite ), wrát, writon, writen snípan (to c u t), snáþ, snidon, sniden O th e r e x a m p le s : belífan (s ta y ), clífan (c lin g ), ygrípan (c lu tc h ), bítan (b ite ), slítan (s lit), besm ítan (d irt y ), gewítan (g o ), blícan (g litte r), sícan (s ig h ), stígan (m o u n t), scínan (sh in e ), árísan (a rise ), líþan (g o ).

C la ss II béodan (to o ffe r), béad, budon, boden céosan (to c h o o se ), céas, curon, coren O th e r e x a m p le s : créopan (c re e p ), cléofan (c le a v e ), fléotan (fle e t), géotan (p o u r), gréotan (w e e p ), néotan (e n jo y ), scéotan (sh o o t), léogan (lie ), bréowan (b re w ), dréosan (fa ll), fréosan (fre e z e ), forléosan (lo se ).

C la ss III IIIa ) a n a sa l c o n so n a n t drincan (to d rin k ), dranc, druncon, druncen O th e r: sw indan (v a n ish ), onginnan (b e g in ), sinnan (re fle c t), winnan (w o rk ), gelim pan (h a p p e n ), sw imm an (sw im ). IIIb ) l + a c o n so n a n t helpan (to h e lp ), healp, hulpon, holpen O th e r: delfan (d e lv e ), swelgan (sw a llo w ), sweltan (d ie ), bellan (b a rk ), m elcan (m ilk ). IIIc ) r, h + a c o n so n a n t steorfan (to d ie ), stearf, sturfon, storfen weorþan (to b e c o m e ), wearþ, wurdon, worden feohtan (to fig h t), feaht, fuhton, fohten M o re : ceorfan (c a rv e ), hweorfan (tu rn ), weorpan (th ro w ), beorgan (c o n c e a l), beorcan (b a rk ).

C la ss IV stelan (to s te a l), stæ 'l, stæ 'lon, sto len beran (to b e a r), bæ 'r, bæ 'ron, boren M o re : cwelan (d ie ), helan (c o n c e a l), teran (te a r), brecan (b re a k ).

C la ss V tredan (to tre a d ), træ 'd, træ 'don, treden cweþan (to sa y ), cwæ 'þ, cwæ 'don, cweden M o re : m etan (m e a s u re ), swefan (s le e p ), wefan (w e a v e ), sprecan (to sp e a k ), wrecan (p e rse c u te ), lesan (g a th e r), etan (e a t), wesan (b e ).

C la ss V I faran (to g o ), fór, fóron, faren M o re : galan (s in g ), grafan (d ig ), hladan (la d e ), wadan (w a lk ), dragan (d ra g ), gnagan (g n a w ), bacan (b a k e ), scacan (sh a k e ), wascan (w a sh ).

C la ss V II hátan (to c a ll), hét, héton, háten feallan (to fa ll), feoll, feollon, feallen cnéawan (to k n o w ), cnéow, cnéowon, cnáwen M o re : blondan (b le n d ), ondræ 'dan (fe a r), lácan (ju m p ), scadan (d iv id e ), fealdan (fo ld ), healdan (h o ld ), sponnan (sp a n ), béatan (b e a t), blówan (flo u rish ), hlówan (lo w ), spówan (flo u rish ), m áwan (m o w ), sáwan (so w ), ráwan (tu rn ).

Weak Verbs

Weak verbs in Old English (today's English regular verbs) were conjugated in a simpler way than the strong ones

Did not use the ablaut interchanges of the vowel stems.

Are divided into three classes.

They did have the three forms - the infinitive, the past tense, the participle II.

C la ss I R e g u la r v e rb s In f. P a s t P P dém an (to ju d g e ), dém de, dém ed híeran (to h e a r), híerde, híered nerian (to sa v e ), nerede, nered styrian (to s tir), styrede, styred fremm an (to c o m m it), frem ede, frem ed cnyssan (to p u sh ), cnysede, cnysed

W h e n th e su ffix is p re c e d e d b y a v o ic e le ss c o n so n a n t th e e n d in g c h a n g e s a little b it: cépan (to k e e p ), cépte, cépt / céped grétan (to g re e t), grétte, grét / gréted

If th e v e rb s t e m e n d s in c o n so n a n t p lu s d o r t: sendan (to se n d ), sende, send / sended restan (to re s t), reste, rest / rested

Irre g u l a r sellan (to g iv e ), sealde, seald tellan (to te ll), tealde, teald cwellan (to k ill), cwealde, cweald tæ 'can (to te a c h ), táhte, táht ræ 'can (to re a c h ), ráhte, ráht bycgan (to b u y ), bohte, boht sécan ( to se e k ), sóhte, sóht wyrcan (to w o rk ), worhte, worht þencan (to th in k ), þóhte, þóht bringan (to b rin g ), bróhte, bróht

C la ss II m acian (to m a k e ), m acode, m acod lufian (to lo v e ), lufode, lufod hopian (to h o p e ), hopode, hopod

T h is c la ss m a k e s q u ite a sm a ll g ro u p o f v e rb s , a ll o f th e m h a v in g -o- b e fo re th e p a s t e n d in g s . O th e r sa m p le s : lofian (p ra ise ), stician (p ie rc e ), eardian (d w e ll), scéawian (lo o k ), weorþian (h o n o u r), wundrian (w o n d e r), fæ stnian (fa s te n ), m æ rsian (g lo rif y ).

C la ss I II habban (to h a v e ), hæ fde, hæ fd libban (to liv e ), lifde, lifd secgan (to sa y ), sæ gde, sæ gd hycgan (to th in k ), hogde, hogod þréagan (to th re a te n ), þréade, þréad sm éagan (to th in k ), sm éade, sm éad fréogan (to fre e ), fréode, fréod féogan (to h a te ), féode, féod

Conjugation

Old English verbs are conjugated having two tenses - the Present tense and the Past tense

And three moods - indicative, subjunctive, and imperative.

Only the subjunctive mood has disappeared in the English language, acquiring an analytic construction instead of inflections; and the imperative mood has coincided with the infinitive form (to write - write!). In the Old English period they all looked different.

All verbal forms were generated in Old English from three verb stems, and each verb had its own three ones: the Infinitive stem, the Past Singular stem, the Past Plural stem.

wrítan, for example, those three stems are: wrít- (infinitive without the ending -an), wrát- (the Past singular), writ- (the Past plural without the ending -on).

Verb conjugation: common table

P re se n t P a s t S in g u la r

(in fin itiv e s te m + )

P lu ra l (in fin itiv e s te m

+ )

S in g u la r P lu ra l (p a s t p lu ra l s te m + )

1 s t p e rso n (I, w e )

-e - a þ P a s t s in g u la r s te m -o n

2 n d p e rso n (th o u , y o u )

-e s t - a þ P a s t p lu ra l s te m + -e

-o n

3 rd p e rso n (h e , sh e , th e y )

-e þ - a þ P a s t s in g u la r s te m -o n

S u b ju n c tiv e -e - e n P a s t p lu ra l s te m + -e

-e n

Im p e ra tiv e in fin itiv e s te m - a þ

Old English Tenses

Syntactically, the language had only two main tenses - the Present and the Past.

No progressive (or Continuous) tenses were used, they were invented only in the Early Middle English period.

Such complex tenses as modern Future in the Past, Future Perfect Continuous did not exist either.

However, some analytic construction were in use, and first of all the perfective constructions. The example Hie geweorc geworhten hæfdon 'they have build a fortress' shows the exact Perfect tense, but at that time it was not the tense really, just a participle construction showing that the action has been done.

Seldom you can also find such Past constructions, which later became the Past Perfect Tense.

Verb syntax includes a number of suffixes and prefixes which can be met in Old English texts and especially in poetry:

        Suffixes:   1. -s- (from substantive or adjective stems) - mæ'rsian (to announce; from mæ're - famous)   2. -læc- - néálæcan (to approach)   3. -ett- - bliccettan (to sparkle)           Prefixes:  1. á- = out of, from - árísan (arise), áwakan (awake), áberan (sustain)   2. be- = over, around, by - begán (go around), beþencan (think over), behéafdian (behead)   3. for- = destruction or loss - fordón (destroy), forweorþan (perish)   4. mis- = negation or bad quality - mislícian (displease)   5. of- = reinfors - ofsléan (kill), oftéon (take away)   6. on- = change or separation - onbindan (unbind), onlúcan (unlock)   7. tó- = destruction - tóbrecan (break)