“The history of English isa fascinating field of study in ts own right, but also provides a valuable perspective forthe contemporary study ‘ofthe language, and thus makes an appropriate opening section for © this book. The historical account promotes a sense of identity and. ‘continuity, and enables us to find coherence in many of the fuctua- tions and conflicts of present-day English language use. Above all, it satisfies the deep-rooted sense of curiosity we have about our lin- sguistic heritage. People like to be aware of thet linguistic roots. ‘We begin as close tothe beginning as we can get, using che su mary accounts of early chronicles to determine the language's con rental origins ($2). The Anglo-Saxon corpus of poetry and prose, dating from around che 7th century, provides the first opportunity to ‘examine the linguisticevidence. $3 outlines the characterstis of Old English texts, and gives a brief account of the sounds, spellings, grammar, and vocabulary which they display. A similar account is given of the Middle English period ($4), beginning with the effects on che language of the French invasion and concluding with a dis- cussion ofthe origins of Standard English. Atall points, special arten- tion is paid tothe historical and cultural secting to which cextsrelace, and to the character ofthe leading literary works, such as Beownlfand The Canterbury Tales. “The Early Modern English period (65) begins with the English oF Caxton and the Renaissance, continues with that of Shakespeare and ‘Amap of Anglo Saxon England takon from Edmund Gibsofs 1692 edition ‘ofthe Anglo Saxon Chronicle. The Latincaption(tople) explain that the map shows the placer mentioned inthe Chronicle and in Od English Terature PART I The history of English the King James Bible, and ends with the landmark publication of Johnson’s Dictionary. A recurring theme is the extent and variery of language change during this period. The next section, on Modern English (66), follows the course of further language change, exam- ines the navure of carly grammars, traces the development of new varieties and arccudes in America, and finds in literature, especially in the novel, an invaluable linguistic mirror. Several present-day usage controversies curn out to have cher origins during this period. By che end of $6, we are within living memory The final section ($7) looks at what hes happened to the English Fanguage in the present century, and in particular at its increasing presence worldwide. The approach is again historical, tracing the ‘way English has travelled to the United States, Canada, Africa, Aus- tralia, South and South-East Asia, and several other pars of the lobe. The section reviews the concept of World English, examines the statistics of usage, and discusses the problems of intelligibilicy and identity which atise when a language achieves such widespread use. The notion of Standard English, seen ftom both national and international perspectives, curns out to be of special importance. Pare I then concludes with some thoughts about the future of the language, and abour the relationships which have grown up (some- times amicable, sometimes antagonistic) between English and other languages.2-THE ORIGINS OF ENGLISH “To Aétius, chrice consul, the groans of the Britons. Thus, according co the Anglo-Saxon historian, the ‘Venerable Bede, began the letter writen to the Roman consul by some of the Celtic people who had survived ‘early decades of che Sth century. “The barbarians drive us to che sea. The sea drives us back towards the bar- barians. Berween them we are exposed 0 two sorts of death: we are cither slain or drowned.” ‘The plea fell on deaf ears. Although the Romans hhad sent assistance in the past, they were now fully ‘occupied by their own wars with Bledla and Aula, kings of the Huns. The attacks from the north con- tinued, and the Bricish were forced to look elsewhere for help. Bede gives a succinct and sober account of what then took place. ‘They consulted what was tobe done, and where they should seck auieance to prevent of repel the crl and frequent incusions ofthe northern nations: and chy all agreed with their King Vorsigern to call over to their ai, from parts beyond che sea, the Saxon nation... Tn che year oF our Lord 449... the nation of the Angles, or Saxons, being invited by the aforesaid king, arcived in Brivain with chee long ships, and had a place assigned them, toresidein by the sameking,n theeastera partofthe island, that they might thus appear 10 be fighting for their countey, ‘whilst cheir real intentions were co enslave ic. Accordingly they engaged with the enemy, who were come from the north ro give bate, and obraned the victory, which, being known at home in their own councry a also the ferclity of the county, and che cowardice ofthe Britons, a more con- siderable fer was quickly sen over, bringing a sill greater number of men, which, being added ro the former, made up an invineibl arn Bede describes the invaders as belonging to the three ‘most powerful nations of Germany ~ the Saxons, the Angles, and che Jutes. The first group to arrive came fiom Jutland, in the northern part of modem Den- smatk, and were led, according to the chroniclers, by B z j “Thehomelande ofthe Germanic invaders according tobece, andthediectionat theiinvasions. Lite known abou the exact loca. ‘lonsofthe bes. The tutes troy have had setlements furthersouth, and links ith the Frisians to the west. The ‘Angles may havelved fur- ther into Germany. The tn- ‘uinicatferences between these groups, likewise, are matters for speculation. The Xetlousclalectsof Old English (p. 28) plainly relate tothe areosinvhich the radersstted, but there aretoo few toxisto make ‘serious comparison posible. Englithiea member ofthe western branch ofthe Germanic family of an- ‘guages. tis closest insruc- {ret Frisian~though hardly anything known about the ancient Fiions ‘ndthelrolein the invasions ‘Of Brits, Germanicisa2+ THE ORIGINS OF ENGLISH foo Jutish brothers, Hengist and Horsa. They landed ‘a Bbbsfleer in che Isle of ‘Thanet, and sectled in the _ eas now known as Kent, the Isle of Wight, and parts ‘Hampshire. The Angles eame from the south of the ish peninsula, and entered Britain much lates along the eastern coast, settling in parts of Mercia, forthurabria (the land vo the north of the Humber, © where in 547 they established a kingdom), and what "snow Ease Anglia. The Saxons came from an area fur- ther south and west, along the coast of the North Sea, and from 477 serted in various pats of southern and south-eastern Briain. The chroniclers talk about groups of East, West, and South Saxons ~ distinctions ‘which ae reflected in che later names of Essex, Wessex, and Sussex. The name Middlesex suggests that there | were Middle Saxons too, Bede's account takes up the sory Ina short time, swarms ofthe aforesaid nations came over the island, and they began ro increase so much that they became cerible to the natives themselves who had invited them, Then, havingon sudden entered inco league with che Picts, whom chey had by this ime expelled by the Force of theic ams chey began to cura their weapons against chit confederates. ‘The Anglo-Saxon Chrosicle (se p.15), compiled over acencury later than Bede under Alfed the Great, gives agrim catalogue of disasters forthe Britons. 457-In this year Hengest and AEs fought against the Brivons ata place which is called Creeganford [Crayford, Kene] and ‘page from one ofthe manuscripts of Bede's Ecclesiastical History. The language is Latin, there slew four chousand men; andthe Britons shen forsook Kent and fed co London in great terror 465: In this year Hengest and Esc fought agains che Welsh near Wippederleot and there slew twelve Welsh nobles: and ‘one ofthe chanes, whose name was Wipped, was slain there 473: In this year Hengest and Aese fought agains che Welsh ‘and capeured innumerable spoils, and the Welsh fed from the English as one flies from fie. The fighting went on for several decades, but the imposition of Anglo-Saxon power was never in doubt. (Over a petiod of about a hundred years. further bands of immigrants continued to arrive, and Anglo-Sexon serelements spread toall areas apart from the highlands ‘of che west and north. By the end of the Sth century, the foundation was established for the emergence of the English language. THE NAME OF THE LANGUAGE With scant respect for priorities, the Germanic invaders ealled the native Celts wealas (foreigners), from which the name Welsh is derived, The Celts called the invaders ‘Saxons’, regardless of their tribe, and this practice was followed by the easly Latin writ- crs. By the end of the Gth century, however, the rem ‘Angi Angles) was in use — as early as 601, a king of Kent, Athelbert, is called rex Angloram (‘King of the Angles) ~ and during the 7th century Anglfor Anglia (for the country) became the usual Latin names. Old English Engle derives from chis usage, and the name of the language found in Old English texts is from the ‘outset referred to as Engltc (the s spelling represent- ing the sound s). References to the name of the coun cry as Englaland (land of che Angles), from which came England, do not appear uncilc. 1000. ‘Te remarkably reserved body ofaman,foundina peat bog in Denmark. Over 500suchremainshave been found throughout northern Europe, many in there formery occupied bythe {Germanic bes. the person har been mrdeved, possibly arasacrfcialvictimto the Earth goddess TheReman historian Tacituswrote of the tribes ins Germania, and at ne point mentions group of tbes including the Eudoses and the Angi: "These tribes are protected by orestsand vers, noris there anything noteworthy about them inlvdally extent that they worship incommon Nerthus,or Mother Earth, fandconcelveher 35 Fntervering inhuman asics, and riding procession through the ctiesof mon. (Grans.Rt Hutton, 1914) ‘The Northumbrian monk, Bede, or Beda, known a5 the Venerable Seca. Born at ‘Monkton on Type in. 673, he was taken atthe age of 7 tothe new monastery at ‘wearmouth, moving in 682 ‘tothe ister monastery at Jaro winere he worked as ‘Burlier and teaches. He died in735, and was buried at Jarrow Hs masterpiece, the Historia Eeclsistca Gents ‘Anglorum (Eclesistcal Hi tory ofthe English Nation’, ‘was Begun in hislater yeas, land fined in 731 focus iethe growth of Chitianity in England, butitsscope is ‘much wider, and itis recog tized as the most valuable source we have fr early English history. wiriten in Latin, an Old Ergish transla tion was made nthe reign of Ares the Great,3-OLD ENGLISH THE EARLY PERIOD Before the Anglo-Saxon invasions (§2), the language (or languages) spoken by the native inhabitants of the British Isles belonged ro the Celtic family, introduced by a people who had come to the islands around the middle ofthe first millennium BC. Many of these set- tlers were, in turn, eventually subjugated by the Romans, who arrived in 43 8C. Bueby 410 che Roman armies had gone, withdrawn co help defend their Empire in Europe. After 2 millennium of settlement by speakers of Celtic, and halfa millennium by speak- crs of Latin, what effect did this have on the language spoken by the arriving Anglo-Saxons? Celtic borrowings There is, surprisingly, very lisle Celtic influence - or perhaps its not so surprising, given the savage way in which’ the Celtic communities were destroyed oz pushed back int the areas we now know as Cornwall, ‘Wales, Cumbria, and the Scottish borders. Some Cele: (or Romano-Celts) doubrless remained in the east and south, perhaps as slaves, perhaps intermarrying, but theit identity would after a few generations have been. lose within Anglo-Saxon socicey. Whatever we might expect from such 2 period of cultural contact, the Celtic language of Roman Britain influenced Old English hardly ac all. Only a handful of Celtic words were horrowed atthe time, and a few have survived into modern English, simecimes in regional dialect use: enag, cum ‘deep valley’, binn ‘bin’, carr'rock’, dunn ‘grey, dun’, Brock ‘badger’, and. sorr ‘peak’. Others include bannoe “piece, rice'rle, gaflue'small spear’, brats‘cloak’, lub ‘lake’, dhy “sorcerer, and clucge “bell”. A few Celtic words of this period ultimately come from Latin, brought in by the Irish missionaries: these include casen ass, ancor ‘hermit, ster ‘history’, and possibly «ro But there cannot be more than exo dozen loan ‘words in all. And there are even very few Celeic-based place names (p.141) in whats now southern and east- en England. They include such civer names as Thames, Avon ‘rivet, Den, Exe, Usk, and Wye. Town names include Dover ‘water, Eccles ‘chuech’, Bray ‘hill, London (a tribal name), Kent (meaning unknown), and the use of caer ‘fortified place’ (as in Carlisle) and pen ‘head, top, hill (asin Pendle. Latin loans Latin has been @ major influence on English through- tory (pp-24,48, 60, §9),and there isevidence ofits role from the earliest moments of contact. The Roman army and merchants gave new names to many local objects and experiences, and introduced several fresh concepts. About half of the new words were to do with plants, animals, food and drink, and household items: Old English pie‘pea’, plante‘plane, win'wine’ ‘ye ‘cheese’, carte‘cat’,cetel ‘kettle’ dive'dsh’,eandel ‘candle’. Other important clusters of words related to clothing (bels‘bele, cemes ‘shite’, suiere shoemaker’), buildings and secclements (rgle ‘tile, wall ‘wall, cease ci sra'coad), macy and legal instications (wie‘camp, diba‘sayin’,srfan decree), commerce (mangian ‘rade’, ceqpian “ouy, pund “pound, and religion (masse ‘Mas’, munue ‘monk, mynster ‘min ster). ‘Whether the Latin words were already used by the Anglo-Saxon tribes on the continent of Europe, or ‘were introduced from within Britain, is nox always clear (though a detailed analysis ofthe sound changes they display can help, p.19), but the total number of Latin words present in English ac the very beginning of the Anglo-Saxon period is not large ~ less than 200. Although Vulgar Latin (the variery of spoken Latin used throughout the Empire) must have continued in use ~at least, as an official language — for some years after che Roman army left for some reason it did not take root in Britain as it had so readily done in Conti- rental Europe, Some commentators see in this the e (i Wine ANGLO-SAXON OR ‘OLD ENGLISH? ‘The name Anglo-Saxon come toreferin the 1ecncentury to allapectsof the eaty period “people, culture, along: ‘age. kiestilthe usvalway coftalking about the people Sndthecuturathistory; but Since the 1th century aber thehistoryof languages ‘ame tobe studiadin deta, ‘OldEngishnasbeen the pre forredame fortnelang- Lage. Taisname emphasizes thecontinuing development lof enals, from Anglo-Saxon timesthvough Middle English tothe present day, anditstheusage of there Sentbook (abbreviated Or} Someauthors, nonetheless, stile the term Angie Saronforthelanguage, the choicecfthisname efiecing theirvewthatthenatureof ‘helanguage inthis early Peri sverydttferent from linatislatertobe found Under the heading of english Aeconstruction of Anglo- ‘Soyon huts at West Stow, Suffolk Each ut issomne 15-20 feat (5-6 min longth3 OLD ENGLISH RUNES conscted of 21 symbols ‘The inscriptions in Od OlsEnglshyrastirst written Engith are found on intherunicalpnabet. This weapon, jewelery, mons alphabetwasusedinnorth- ments, and other artefacts, fem Europe-inseandinavi, and te largely from the present-day Germany, and Sth orth eanturies ap, the he tritshles-andithas earliest fat Caitorby-Not- bbeenpreiervedinabout wich) posblybelng late ‘AoeDinscrptionsanda few ath century. They often say manuscripts itdatesfrom skvply ite made or owned ‘around the sideenturyad. the abject. Most ofthe Nooneknowseractvwhere large une stones sy ile thealphabotcamefrom, but_more than X ralsed this word, but thera sno ev dence that they were pre Sent in Old English. Current resaarch suggests thatthe ‘word run had been thor ‘oughly assimilated into ‘go'Saxon Christiane, ‘and meant simpy sharing ‘of knowledge or thoughts” ‘Any extension tthe world ‘of magic and superstition ot part of the native ade tion. Medern English une is not even asurvival ofthe itseemstobeadevelop-stoneinmemory of Y',end Old Engish word, bute rmentefeneoftheaiphe often the message later borrowing from Norse betsefsouthernEuroze, uncle. via Latin, probablythe Roman, which For the modern, magical Funestesemble closely. The meaning of rune sense of rune we are there Thecommen cunicsipha- What rune (OE run) means boetfound throughouttheisdebatabla, There sa area consisted of 24lettas, long-standing tradition Reanbewrtiennorzon- which sterbutes to itsuch tallyineitherdirection. sch Senses as whisper. ys letterhadaname andthe tery, and secre, suggest- aiphabetatawnclawas Ing thatthe symbols were Glledby henameotitsfirst_cxginally used for magical Sbxletors, the uthorc(in. or mystleal rituals. Such thesamewayastheword asocations were certainly most famously in the mit alphetetcomesfromGreck presantinthe way the | ing f Tolkien (9.185). Sfehe + Deta). everson pagan Vikings (ond possibly (Aer C.€. Fel, 1991) oundinBriteinusedextra the Continental Germans) letterstocopewith the used the corresponding range of sounds foundin fore indebted tothe Seandl- ‘avian and not the Anglo Saxon tradion, tis this senso which surfaced inthe 190) century ina vatoty oF esoteric publications and ‘ohich lives oni the popu larand fantastic imaging tion ofthe 20th, perhaps Old English; in ‘meaning (where ad iemostsevel ‘oped form, in = feoh cattle, wealth Street eee foot Gan uch Nerombrait | F i: woe ° b pane THE ow Re SeeeeeeeSreee ae ee ere EncusHrunic | & on ALPHABET k ag geo it x ier r - pat hal ie BeeBe we | Sgt mene ‘these are known). It + i is = does nat give the ‘ ger vent “many variant shapes t 1 eon ca wathantefcain |. 3 2 fren ec ‘sete ‘tons. The symbols con- & 7 ‘sist mainly of intersect- Y fH ‘sige! —_ {ng straight lines, show- a . tions Tvleg08) mathe pros fr a ‘ toe pes ‘engraving on stone, = ‘wood, meta or Bore. ® ei coh fee ‘Manuscript uses of runes m ba man — Bay 10 exist in a few early * waters foams rota in four i 1 woe gb) Pasages ere the nome - in esate Er oymenul repre x s peer sented), and in the solu- R a dag - OY Yorstosome of the riddles | py a ‘oak In the Exeter Book (0. 12), a * =. ash and arein evidence unt F wee ‘the 11th century, especially F * a - Inthe north but there are t y ae earth vey tewatinem , a 1 gil Randa a F frome weno") * ‘which ean be Interpreted. The picture shows he panel ‘with the adoration ofthe Magi alongside the Germanic EARLY INSCRIPTIONS ‘There are ess then 30 clear ruricingeiptionsin Old English some containing onlyasingle name. The wo ‘mort famous examples both ate fromthe sth century, ‘andrepresent the Northum- Bran dialec (p28). Bethinseriptions makesome ‘set the Roman alphabet aswell, The Ruviwell ross, near Dumfries, Scotland is 18 feet Grp high. ls faces contain panels depicting events in thelifeof Crist andthe eorly Church, a5 well scary ings of birds and beasts, and ines of runes sround the edges are imilrto part of {the 01d English poam The Dream of the Rood” (raed = ‘ros inthe Vercelli Book, Aglested extract isshown below (there are no spaces between the words inthe ceriginal inscription also Somescholars ranacribe “Dood as boat, Ih PRM PLD BPPME Batra ic was mib blode bistemid | was with blood bedewed The Franks Casket it richly carved whalebone box Thusvating mythological and raligous scenes, not al of legend of Wayland (Welane) the Smith. The inscriptions ate partly in Old English, and partyin Latin ' ceeeenenenetmemeeieniain Te box fst come to light in the 19th century, ‘owed by a farmer fom Auzan, France. eis named after Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, ‘through witom Ie came tobe deposited inthe British Museum. One side was missing, Buti later ‘ame into the possesion of the Bargello. tiuseum, Florence, onde cast was made oft so ‘thatthe boxin the British Museum now appears completefa PART ‘THE AUGUSTINIAN MISSION Inwouldbe a considerable eee ecetmaege There isa ‘dark age’ between the arrival of the Anglo- ‘Augustine brought Christian. Saxons and che first Old English manuscripts. A few: ‘ty to Britain, This religion had scattered inscriptionsin the language date from the Sth. teeay arrived throvahre and Gth centuries, written in the runic alphabet which centuryhed ectuallybeen the invaders brought with them (p.9), but these give sven of very litte information abour what the language was like. The lierary age began only after the arrival of the Roman missionaries, led by Augustine, who came to Kent in AD 597. The rapid growth of monastic cences fed to large numbers of Latin manuscripts being pro- duced, especially of the Bible and other religious texts. Because of this increasingly literary climate, Old English manuscripts also began to be written ~ much THE OLD ENGLISH CORPUS St Patek, who converted Ie landin the eel Sth century, anda goodly numberof eaty Welch ints names aro romemberedin placenames beginning with Lian (church [off The tory of St Alban {Galstohave been maryredin 305 nearthe cy of Verulam, modern Stabe) is catles, indeed, than the earliest vernacular texts from ‘erountedindetalbytede, other north European counties, The fist texts, dating guste’ task as mare soelgestines task as me from around 700, are glossaries of Latin words cans- Sarons.Hetiad been provof lated into Old English, and a few catly inscriptions themonssteryofSt raw in and poems. But very little material remains from this, frome beloreeinachesen>* period. Doubtless many manuscripts were burned Heand hiscompanions arrived Inthe ile of Thonet, fo be met Kentin 664had to make a spe- byAthelborhtkingof Kent, clatpleatoonsurethat an andthey musthave been" Aliglo-Saxon speaking bishop heartlyrelieved to find hat WaSappointed so that with a iswifewasalresdya (Catee) — prelateot sown nation and Christian They were given Fanguage the King andhissub- leaveto live and preathinCan- jectsmight be more perfectly terbury, andwithin ayear the | structed inthe words and Kinghirselfwos converted. Tstrlesof the fit Ts was Tree bishopric were estab» thefistexpression of anise THE GREGORIAN PUN Indedethereis an account of St Gregory’ frstmaeting withthe inhabitants of England. Gregory evidantly a punster of come ality himself asked tobe sent to Britain seamis- sionary but the pope ofthe time efused presumably because of Gregory'ssccial pos- tion, theson of asenator and former prefet of the city. When Gregory became pope himself (580), hesent Augustine todo the ob for him. Bede els the story atthe ondothis account of Gregorystife Book 2,Ch. 1 ‘THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH during the 8ch-cenrury Viking invasions (p. 25). The chief literary work of the period, the heroic poem Beowulf, survives ina single copy, made around 1,000 = possibly some 250 years after ir was composed (hough the question of its composition date is highly controversial). There are a number of short poems, again almost entirely preserved in laze manuscripts, ‘over half of them concerned with Christian subjects — legends of the saints, extracts fiom the Bible, and devo- tional pieces. Several others reflect the Germanic tra- dition, dealing with such topics 2s war, travelling, patriotism, and celebration. Most extant Old English texts were written in the period following the reign of King Alfred (849-99), who arranged for many Latin works tobe translated —including Bede's Eeelsastical History (p. 7). But the total corpus is extremely small. The number of words in the corpus of Old English ‘compiled atthe University of Toronto, which contains all che texts (but not all che alternative manuscripts of. a text), isonly 3.5 million ~ che equivalent of about 30 medium-sized modern novels. Only « 5 per cent of this coral (c, 3,000 lines is poewy. Nor isthe account oft Gregory, which hasbeen handed down to usby the tradition of our ancestors, tobe passed by in sllence, n relation tos motives for taking such interest nthe Salvation of our nation (Britain). Risraported that, some merchants, havingjustarrved at Rome on acertain day, exposed many things forsalein ‘tha marketplace, and an abundance of people esorted thither to Buy: Gregory Rimself went with the es, ee amongother things someboys ware sett sl, th bodies white, thei countenancesbeautful and theic ‘alr very ine. Having viewed them he asked sis sad, ‘rom what country or nation they were brought? and Was tol, fom tha Bland Briain, whore Inhabitants ‘were of uch perzonal appearance, He again inquired ‘whether thote landers were Christians, sil Involved in the erorsof paganism’? andiwas informed ‘that thay wore pagar. Then, fetching adeepsigh fromthe bottom ofhisheart, Alas! what pity'sald ha, "that he author of darkness ie porsesredof man ‘ofsuch flr countenances; and thatbeing remark ‘ble for such graceful aspects, their mindsshouldbe ‘old of inward grace. He therefore again asked, ‘what nas the name of that nation? and was ‘answered, thatthey mere called Angles. Right, sald he, for theyhave an Angelic fece, endit becomes Sich tobe cohels with the Angelsnheaven, What isthename, proceededhe, ofthe province rom Which they are brought?" h wos replied thatthe nativesaf that prevince were called Dei."ruly ‘they re De a, saidhe,"witherawn from wrath, and called o the mercy of Gist Howistheking ‘ofthat province called” They told him hs nama twas lla apd he alluding to thename, sal, “Wallen, the praze of Go the Creator mast be sungin thoseparts (rans Stevens, 1723) Ishedbytheendofthe Which would be raised again ecaderwithAugustineas _Severalhundred yeaslatarin archbishop at Canterbury, Englshlanguege history Justusesbishopat Rochester, (P-61) fend Melitusat London, os bithop of the East Saxons. TRtooksome ime for this early success tobbecome cone dated. Foliowing ‘Augustine’ death ‘ious practices Between the Roman CChristiansand their Celtecounterpars, whoa ivedin gol tion from Rome for so Jong. Matterscame toa headin the confit over thedate of Easter, resolved (in favour of Rome) at te Synod of Whitey in 64, Partofthedffeutyin developing the faith must have been linguist: according to Bede, it was nearly 0 years before Anglo-Saten was being used aa missionary tongue King Egbert ofOLD ENGLISH HWAST WE GARDE- What We SpearDanes’ nna, in gear-dagum. beod-cyninga in yorooys,tibe-kings peym ge-frunon hua xpelingas ellen Slory heard, how the leaders courage fiemedon. Of scyld scefing sceapena accomplished, Often Sel, Scet'son from enemies preatum monegum maghum meodo-setla Bands, frommanytriber”—mead-benches ‘oFteah egsode cont syBhan srest weard seized, terrorsedearls since fist hewas fea-sceaftfunden he bes fiofre gebad dlestiute found he is elef knew, ‘weox under wolenum weor8-myadum pah, sew under skies, inhonoursthrove, oBpethim eghwylcpara ymb-sittendra until tohimesch ofthe ‘neighbours ofer hron-rade hyran seolde gomban over whaleoad submitmust, tribute sylden bat was god cyning, Sem cafera wees Yelé: thet was good king! "To him heir was zxfter cenned geong in geardum bone god fer born young in awelings, him Goé sende folce to frofre fyren-Bearfe on- Sent tofolkforsolac; Intense misery geatb hie ex drugon aldor-lelase. lange Saw when they beforefelt” leaderles along hile him pes lifftea_wuldres wealdend while tothemforitLifeLord,giorys Ruler wworold-are for-geaf. beowulf wes breme worldhonourgave, Beow was famed, bled wide sprang scyldeseafera scede- renownwidely sprang of eylesheir Danish landur ‘Swa sceal (geong gluma gode taster tin So sal angen Bocce — 22, 182. Trans ge-wyrcean fromum feoh-giftum. on feder pfioserioon enure, —byfine feegifs —infothers... THE SCOPS TALE 7 isthe fest reat narrative poemin En ‘thesite ef modam Laira, near Copenhagen). Beowulf ravels rom eatin, southern Thisopening page of the Beowulftextistaken from the text now lodged nthe Bithh Libra, London imanuscrit reference, Coton Vitals A. 1). The manuscript sa copy medene 1000, butt Was damaged bye fire atthe Cottonlan Ubrary In 1731, hence the odd shape tothe page. The rae ‘ofthe poet, or cop, whose version is found here s at known, noristclear when the work was first Composed: ane scholarly traction assigns it tothe {8th century; another toe somewhat later date. IRisaheroictale abouts 6th-ertury Scandinavian hero, Beowulf, wha comas otheald of the Danish inglHrothgar Hrothgarsretinue unde daly attack roma monstrour tell, Grendel, atthe all fofHeorot( Har’ n Denmark (located possibiyon ‘Sweden, and after a great fight kllsthe monster, andi asecond ght the monstersvengeful mother, ows returns home, recounts story, ‘andislater made king of the Gea ruling for 50 years. There, asan oldman, hekilsa dragon ine fight thateadstahis own death. "This plot summary doernojutie tothe depth ‘ofmeaning and systicimpact ofthe work. Apart ‘rom ts lauding of courage, heroledetianc, oy. alty to one'slord, and other Germanic vals, Beovnslfintroduces elements of thoroughly ‘Chistian perspective, andtherearemany dro- smaticundercurrentsandirories. Tha mensterisa lala igure in Germai aditon, butik also Said tobeadescendantof ain, anda productot helland the dev The contrast between earthy suegeesand mortality arocurent theme, Wiile Beowulf is being feted in trothgars cour, the poet alludes toclsastrousevents which will one Say afactthe eats, providing anoteof doom thet counterpointsthe ttumphalevents ofthe narrative. The poem's fullofdramatiecontrastsof thisking. ‘Whether the poemis product of oalimprox= satlon or armore consciously contrived literary ‘work hos been abone ofscholarly contention, Many ofitsstriking features, in particulars erative rhythmical formulae (p. 23), are those we ‘would associate with oral composition, farthey ‘would bea valusbleaidtomemorization; onthe ‘otherhand, modern scholarsbave drawn atten- ‘onto the patterned complesity ofits narative structure, tsmetrical control and is excl ich ‘ness suggesting literary proces of composition (p. 23). Thecritie W.P Ker expressedone view, in The Dark Ages (1900) that Boowuifis "book to be eae = ut fortis one which makes maximum Lse ofa stylewich mustoriginallyhave evolved ‘orusein oral poet For an accountfsome ‘Modern investigative tecmniques seep. 437.)2 PARTI THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH THE EARLIEST ENGLISH LITERATURE ‘The Battle of Maldon was foughtin August 991.Aviking fleet hadslled uptheestuary [As with foreign languages, there is never complete agreement about the best way of wanslating Old English texts; nor is there unanimity about the best ‘way of editing them. The extracts on these and adja- ‘ent pages are here to illustrate the range and charac- ter of the literature of the period, bur they also show the varied editorial practice which exists. Some edi- ‘ors have tried to make ther text resemble che original manuscript as closely as possible; others have pro- duced « modernized version. ‘About che need for editing, there is no doubr. To pfine a facsimile of Old English texts would be t0 ‘male them unreadable to all bue the specialist. There is plenty of scope for editorial intervention. Seribal habits of capitalization, punctuation, paragraphing, word spacing, and word division were diverse and inconsistent, and order needs to be imposed. There are no poetic line divisions in the manuscript of Beowulf for example (p.11), and these have to be added. Nonetheless, editorial practices vary greatly in the ‘way texts are made consistent. Some editors silently ‘THE BATTLE OF MALDON Byshapold mabelode, bord hafenode— se pes eald geneat—asc acpehtes he ful baldlice beomnasterde; + “Hige sceal be heardra, heorte be cenre, 1mod sceal pe mare, be ure mazgen ltl. Her li ure caldor call forhcapen, 3od.on greote. A mag gnornian see nu fram bis pigplegan pendan penc= Iceom fred feores. Fram ic ne pill ac ic me be healfe minum hlaforde, be spa leofan men licgan pence.” Spa bi Aelgares bearnealle bylde Bodric vo gube. Ofc he gar forlet, _Bythewold spoke; he grasped hisshield— he was.an old fllower—he shook the ash spear, very botly he exhorted the warriors: ‘Courage shallbe the fercer, heart the bolder, ho intends now to turn from this warplay. ‘am advanced in years. wil not hence, but by the side of my ford, ‘5ys0 dear a man, intend toe" LUkewise, God the son of Athelga, exhorted them all to the batee. Often he let the spear fy oftheRiverBlackwatertothe land of Northey, near Maldon Infssex.Theirpassage across theriver(nowealed Southey Creek) was opposed by Bythtnoth,ealderman of Een, andhishourehold The poem. ‘hich ldksabeginning and fend inthe extant manuscript, {allsofhow the English reject ‘the Viking demand for tribute, then allow them safe passage ‘cross the causeway rom Northey toenablea battleto ‘akeplace Thisturned outta beanunforunate decson correct scribal errors; others draw attention to them in parentheses. Missing levers atthe edge of a torn or burned manuscript may be restored, or their omission may be indicated by special symbols. Some editions add an indication of vowel length. Some replace ‘outmoded letters (p.16) by modem equivalents Poetic halflines may or may not be recognized (both practices are shown below). And editors vary in the attention they pay to the existence of altemative read- ings in different copies of a manuscript. ‘An important feavure, which can add 2 great deal 0 the ‘alien’ appearance of a text, is whether the scribes orthographic abbreviations are retained, ot are expanded. In some texts, forexample, pisused as the abbreviation for fer or for ffs 7 for the various forms of and, and the tilde (©) marks an expansion, usually co following nasal. (For later scribal conven- tions, see p.40.) hherolcally. The extract above s ‘romthelast few lines of the spirit the greater as our strength esens. ‘extant ex when Byehtncld, ere les our chief all havin down, sroldvarie; erases the q rol mich isthe purpose 2 noble man inthe dust. He hos cause ever to mourn Leese “The ford which led’othe ‘mainland, now bultup into ‘auseviay,sshown in the ple- ture. e'sonly some 77 yards 70 ‘long which would thus ‘enable the English and Viking Teaderstoshout thelr demands Pelspere pindan on be picingas; spa he on pam folcefyrmest eode, hheop 7 hynde, 08 per he on hilde gecranc, toeacrother-an exchange the deadly peor speed avay among the Vikings: \whichts dramatically recorded ashe went out in the forefront of the army, Inthepoem. he heved ond struck unt he pels inthe battle HOW DO TWELVE BECOME FIVE? Wer set sx wine mid his wifum twam ‘ond his wegen suno_ ond his twa dobtor, swase gesweostor, ond hyra suno twegen, freolico frumbearn; fieder wes per inne arazpelinga zghwadres mid, cam ond nefs. Ealra weron fife corla ond idesa_insitendra. ‘Aman stat wine with is two wives and histo sons and is two daughters, beloved sisters and their to sons, noble frst borrs the father wasn there cof both of those princes, the uncle and the nephew. inal there were five Jord and aces sitting in there ‘hiss one of the 35 poetic riddles tome of which date from the Bth century in the Exeter Bock, a late tOtecentury complition of seclar and rll gious poetry. By 1072 k belonged to Bishop Leofric of Bxetr, who bequeathed itt his cathe- ‘ral Tha slutign to the riddle comes from the Book of Genesis, where ts said th ‘daughters lay with hi, ancl each bo3. OLD ENGLISH 8 THE RUNE POEM Enchstanza ofthis poem begins with the name of the rune printed alongside (p.9). The poem would have 'been passed on orally, the erythm and alteration ‘making easy to remember, much the same way 25 {hilren today learn "Thirty days hath September. Feoh byb frofur_fira gehwylcum— F iegilbcdhmannageoe milan hye dain sifhewile for Drihtne domes hleotan. Urbypanmod 7 oferhyrned, felafrecne deor, feohteh mid hornum, mare morstapa: is modig wuhe! orn byp deatle scearp, egna gehweyleum. anfeng ys yfyl, ungemetun rebe ‘manna gehwylcun de him mid resed. Os byp ordfruma elere sprece, Af visomes wn and wes fe and eorla gehwam eadnys and tohihe. Rad byb on recyde inca gehwyleum Rr icteantenbine am i sich natin meare megenheardum ofer milpapas. Cen byp owicera gehwam cup on fyre, blac and beorhtlic, byrne oftuse Ser hi zpelingas inne restap. Wealth a joy to every man— ‘but every man must share t well Ite wishes to gain glory inthe sight of the Lord. Aurochs fore, with gigantic horns, ‘a very savage animal, eAghts th horns 8 wellknown moor-stepper:it isa creature of ‘courage! Thorn is very sharp, harmful to every man ‘who soles unsultably severe To.overy man who restson It ‘Mouth isthe creator ofall speech, ‘supporter of wisdom and comfort of wise men, {and 3 blessing and hope to every man. Journey isto every warrior inthe hall pleatant and Btingly tough tohim who sits ‘na mighty steed over the mile paths Torch sto ever ving thing known by its ire; bright and brillag, burns most often FROM ALFRED WITH (Ole English poetic manuscripts contained no titles. Titles such as Beowulfor The Seafarerhave been added by editors, usually in the 19th century. Most of the poetry is also anonymous, the chief exceptions being the few lines known to be by Cedmon (p.20) and four poems containing the name of Cynewulf woven is runes into the rextsasan acrostic (p. 398), so that read- cers could pray for him, We know more of the prose authors, who included King Alfred, Archbishop Walf- stan, and Abbot /Blfric, but even here most of the surviving material, 2s in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (p.14),is anonymous. Alfred kyninghate gretan \Waerferp bscephiswerdum luli ond reondlee. king alfred sendshisgreat- ingsto Bishop Werferh nis ‘oumworés,Inoveand “THE OPENING LINES OF THE SEAFARER Magicbemesyifum sodgied wrecan, sibas ecgan, huie geswinedagum earfodhwile oftprowade, eee bitrebreostceare gebiden hebbe, easneeewnet gecunnad in ecole cearseldafela, avo ya geweale. Can labout myself true poem ution offoumeystellhowlintoisome-days hharship-timos often suffered Bittorheartsorrow have endured, cometo knowonship manysorrowhais crucirling of aves tovelis( Pastoral care), made 893, Alfedcontraststhe ‘arly days of English Cris, anigywithhisewn time for hich the dest uction caused bythevikir beantargalyto blame (0.25) FROM THE DREAM OF THE ROOD Pact wes geara iu— ic bat gyta geman— eticwas aheawen holtesonende astyred ofstfneminum. Genaman meder nefforttorepairthe damage, organizing the ‘rarslaton of majortexts ‘ini previously hadbeen ‘auilablecnly in Latin. Most ‘ofthe surviving manuscis seange fend ek sfoaeraih ae geworhtoa him par to wafersyne, hetoame singan, bonne he geseah ba hearpan him nealecan, bonne aras he tosing, when hesow theharp him approach, then arosehe forscome from hem symble, ond ham eodetohishuse. ba he for shame from the feast, and homewenttois house. When he. beet pasumnre tide dyde, pet he forlec bethus pees thata certain timed, thathe left the houseofthe gebeorscipes, ondut was gongendetoneata scipene, banquet, are cutwas going to ofcattlestal para heord him wespareneahtebeboden: pa hed per ofwhichkeeping him was that night entusted: whenhe there hin gclimplice tide hisleomu on reste gesete ond onslepte, at suitable time his imbs at rest. set and ‘elleseep, was gelyfdre ylde; ond he nafre nenig leod geleomnode, ond he and he gedemed, pet hen ealleseolden purh endebyrdnesse be hearpan thansteodhim acartainman beséein dream, and him hailed cond grete, ond hine be his noman nemnde, ‘Cedmon, sing me and greeted. and him by his name called. ‘Cardmon, sing me hhwethwugu.’ pa _ondswarede he, ond owe, ‘Necon ie nohe something.’ Then answered he, and said, ‘Notean 1 nothing singan; ond icforpon of eossum gebeorscipe ut eode ond hider sing; ond 1 for that fomthis banquet outwertand hither 15 gewat,forbonicnaht singanne awe.’ Eft hecwad, came, because | nothingtosing_nothnew how” Againhe spoke, sede wid hine sprecende was, HwaiBre pu meaht me hhethatwithhim speaking was, ‘However youcan forme singan.’ba_cwe he, “Hwaet seal ic singan?” Gwad he, Sing sing.’ Thensaid he, ‘What shall t sing? Said he, ‘Sing ‘mefrumsceaft’ ba heda pasandsware onfeng, pa ongon he When received then began he sona _singanin herenesse Godes Scyppendes, ba fers Immediatelytosing in prake ofGod Creator, thoseverses mondpa word pe he nzfre gehyrde... ‘and those words that henever had heard ime creat thisanswer ‘WORD ORDER ‘The varying forms of nouns adjectives, and articles tellushow the parts ofthe ‘ause relate to each other In Medern English the difference between (and Aidisa matter of word order: ©) the woman saw the man (1) the mansawthe woman In Old English, the two sentences would be: (@ st¥aven geseah pone guman (i) se quma geseah pa cwen. ive feminine form se in ) has changed to an accusative frm, the ccusative masculine form pone in) has become aroraleg- "tis thusalwaysclearwhois doing what to whom, regardless of the order in ‘which the noun phrases appear: pone guman geseah seBewen hesthe seme meaning 0.3. OLD ENGLISH 1” WASHESE MON... Thepresenttenseforms, tarda, severalitferencesinthe ay. ex, and bbs bioto er : however show severl Sinofon) standard. thetwosetsofverbewere eis eft Tere sa dear ws dferences Tobeainwith, + ben {sed though bre insu example ofthis eifeencein ssterssotthevers ON Enulshhadtwosebot —” BEDIst sa. Sentevidercetodraw tp. oneaf the Homies where Amepen erate ved adsogrenng henson bat snd. fardendostrlexne, (hespeker addres Fe eee em eee. oneporatelto Latin Bid 3rd. beenformswerepreferred Holy Tne | | Oldtnolih mes aparfom seandineothertolatin BEB tstlinddrdp _in habitual ondrepettive of a. hewitcewsietaure Bbtondncar anim fuses ters Therewereatosubjunctve, whentherewass future bry andnu cart aneimbtg | care wer’ 2nd. swetan Imperative, and participa Implication dificslatn God. youwhoaivaye were, Iron were’ is2ndrd* om istsg. forms of both verbs Grammaractually equates andoverwilbe, and mow eortandsy "Therescemtohavebeen com care sto Latin sume, toasheo'she whereas +g8 ye"(ol)nom. Inaddition thetanguage forms were supplanted by Immgden’girisneutec and” Bony acct Shonedtheremainsofs Scandinavian formssome “hepersona pronoun Wwouldbereferredtoashit. _ @Ower"youre gen, “dual personal prenoun _tmeafter te Norman Con- \jstemhadmoremembers Chis tstgvesthestandord» het) ‘he’ nom system, butonlyinthe st quest perhaps because thinwefindin dodern —formafoundinlate est hin (1) in ace and2nd pesons.the st people felt they needed to | Enolihandseveralofthem Saxon(@.28),endigneres Fis) "is gen Berson formmeant'wetwo! Moka deer differencein _[rawoliusrtediatns.” Splingvoretors) pins to) ni dat (hom, wfe accAdat-une gen. pronundason between the “eee the numbers below hi she' nom. near the 2nd person form Sraperson singular and [eertoline) Moser *e(3)"" nom. ther ace Syou'wo inom.af ac/det. plural forms in pate: aunelentformoare given "m8 (16) me aceldat hirerhers gen dot Ingen ince Tsdsap- lar muthavebbeena below butthesedonotcap- mining gen, shit nomloce pesredby the i3theentary. source of confusion. What turethewayinwhichthe "+8 eno, ists gen. “Thereareobviour corre. averthareazen, Viking inf pronounewereusedin Olt OF "uF accdat imo} dt. spondenceswiththe modern ence prevalled, andthe Epulthwheregender's —_Ure‘our gen. shihes theyre fronoursin mostcases, Put” modern Englth formsrow Grammatical (p 209;for + pC thou' arom." omiace fotbetweenthe oldand begin with (For the _[ Blample. bocbook’iefemi- pete’ acid Fira tel’ gen modern set of 3aperion __spedalproblem of she, 328 ne ondwouldbe reerred _inthine gen ie) ther dt. ural forme ThevestSanon 9.43) ‘Old English nouns maybe | masculine feminine, or | neuter regardiessof tebio- loglealsexof hee referents. ‘They aso appear innomine- tive, accusative, genitive, and | dative forms(p, 202), depending on thelr function inthedause.Thenominative masculine former thedet- niteartide,se, seen here ‘with mon (scommon spling forman);the equivalent fern Inineform,s€6, woule be found with hearpe rp! andthe equhalert neuter ‘orm, part, would be found with ds Other formsof the artdlecenbeseen inthe ‘extract-thoughitshould be potedthatartidesarenot Used asmuch as they would beinModem Engish scan bbe seen from in dreamy (1) andothersuch eases: ABBREVIATIONS +a The aces. formot sta, folloning ie prepostiono® | 3& accusative nti" orarobjectoftne | 8 dative care WerbG.7htasoappearsas | 9° genitive cse Trea plotpaetiozy), | Aom-nominate care “pee (@)hedotsg oft, | Bl plural {elloningthe preposition | 58. Singular from Te iperon . egen-sg.otpar, | 24 anderson eee 3rd 3rd person sn geseted ‘There arethvee main kinds ‘of Modern English verbs (9.209) andall three can be ‘faced backtoOld English. 4 Those forming tele past [tense by aing-edo the ‘oot form ofthe present tense: umpjumped. hen as now, the majority of verbs | areotmhirype. 2 Those forming thee past tenseby changing avowelin | therootformot the present tense: seolovn These are _talled vocaicor ‘strong’ verbs | InOldEnglsh grammes and the patterned changesin owel quality which hey dis boy are described as vowel Gradation orablaut. 2 Whollyiregular forms, Such acon will and be (soe above) Verb inflections “The modern verb hasveny {ew inflectional endings. Past tense for regular verbsis ‘markedby the ed suffix in sll persons and in the pe Senttense ony the 3rd person singular is distinctive (2). 0ldEnglsh made ar ‘mare distinctions asean be Seen fromthe following paradigm (aration Between diferent clases of verosisnotshown): ‘resent tense felufe'liove ‘a lufast"you (sa) love" heineaiitluted hele Toves’ 98 bi lufad watyou (platey over ‘eclufode'Vovee! a hifodest'you fs )Noves” hina tufode“nesvert loved” alge lufodon 'welyou (olithey loved | Some of the present tense ndings weakened and di ‘appeared soon afterthe Old English period. Butthe 2nd and3rd person singular forms stayed on, developing into the famikar-ext and “eth form of Miadle Engh (iovest lover. Tel later developments described on pa. “There Were several other lsttive intecional feo turesof the Old English verb: + Thetifintive @ 208): an orlanwasaddedtothe ig foot Eromplesinthe ast tence q fronton nga Bip cican speach Tere Gugreumnecs gurmpaioneatne Liege gone temia Eee Ceiea antei, See pret ag rtrd nee ponds aon TERIREDOZONS Stoninaao nh Eramplesinthetextare#9¢¢#talled)- See En eet rare aid esti 9 reelmen, iietae Beecreragen™ Eereedrorts craton aed besiege camceraiony, | cag pec Seer ea, momen, coeaonem pecolatece or rele meeanenesamale ce a nee jinsadiomipaomeins sets vowelchongesand endings exampleinthe texts asec today butitakohad _ seatden should (0). ‘special prefix ge-(asinall ther West Germaniclan-2 PART 1 THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH OLD ENGLISH VOCABULARY ‘The vocabulary of Old English presents a mixed pic- ‘ure, to chose encountering it for the frst time. The majority of the words in the Cxdmon extract (p. 20) are very close to Modern English — once we allow for the unfamiliar spelling (p.16) and the unexpected inflections (p. 21) ~ whereas those in the poetic texts {p.12) are not. In the Cxdmon text we would have litle difficulty recognizing singan as sing or std as stood and ondswarede is quite close to answered, onslepte 0 asleep, and geleornode to learned. Omitting the ge- prefix helps enormously, making -sered more like seated, -eah like saw, and -byrde like heard. Most of the prepositions and pronouns are identical in form (though not always in meaning): for, from, in, ata’) bbe, him his (On the other hand, some of the words look very strange, because they have since disappeared from the Janguage. In the Cadmon extract these include gelimplice’swtable’, neata ‘cate, swefh ‘dreams, bebo- den ‘encrusted’, and fixmnsceaft ‘creation’, a5 well as some of the grammatical words, suchas e‘the (p. 21), “These examples also illustrae the chief characteristic of the Old English lexicon, the readiness to build up words from a number of parts ~ a feacure which has stayed with English ever since (p. 128), Frequent use is made of prefixes and suffixes, and compound words are everywhere in evidence. The meaning of these ‘words often emerges quite quickly, once their parts are identified. Thus, endebyrdnese is a combination of ende'endl + byrd “birth, rank’ + -new, which conveys the meaning of ‘arrangement’, or (in the present con- text) of people ‘aking their tumn.. Gebeorscpe seems to have nothing to do with ‘banquet’ until we see that it isbasicaly ‘beer’ + ‘hip’. Particular care must be taken with words which look familiar, but whose meaning is diferent in Modern English. An Anglo-Saxon wif was any woman, married or not. A figol fowl’ was any bird, not just a farmyard one. Séna (soon) meant ‘ion ately’, not ‘in a litte while’; wor (wan) meant “dack’, not ‘pale’ and fast (fast) meant ‘firm, fixed’, not ‘rapidly’. These ae ‘false fiends, when transating out of Old English WORD-BUILDING _singewfe oder tn goino oo's'waner)———_urhgangotrough ‘The way Old English voceb- gangoytt privy, lundergan undergo Uyteicsuntwoogniie Speer rab ‘gen 904? ovmcatatnioneed Sayenoscesor ——oung at enatgencen ee San sen bytecngtheveyatene Pelton Giang formiswsed throughout the begenge inhad ‘wipgen go egsinst ison Semen alge ra CCniyascecionottemsh feepin gotetore ———_ laerD.Ratowa 852) iver, andonly onepossible forgén passover NotallOld English pa eaningofaachform) —ferbgan goferth fees have come down nto jngan goin Modern English. Among sginigangen go ingang entrance those whieh have been fost gang journey Dibergan descend are ge-(.21) ob-Caway), ofeagan passover ibe. down’}, and yb ‘Compounding ofergenga traveller {Carounc!). There 6a memo- txftergengnest succession ofan demand tial to to-n today, towards, firicgang churengoing —ongan approach andtogether feriggang adultery obgin goaney SELF-EXPLAINING COMPOUNDS 8dspel< gd "good" + spel "tings" gospel Sunnandaeg obudesse “abbess altars sitar ‘akar ‘2postolus> gpostl ‘apostle’ tilpa>ejpe “fault isa masse “ass >onnus> nonne'monk’ lfferre> ofan ‘saris! raecicare> predician "preacn solo > 10! ichoo! versus> fers "verse" (sed Inthe Cardmonextact, .20,119) General ‘alendae >calond ‘month ‘avellum> cau! basket epistula>episto ‘etter enestra> fenester “window ‘hum tite" forganumm > orgel ‘organ’ picus> pc pike planta > plane plant” ‘tudere> studin “ake careot LATE LATIN LOANS (AFTER 1000) Ecclesiastical apostata> apostata “apostate” visa rsa ‘ches’ ‘lericus> ceric ‘derk” credo> creda ‘ceed ‘daemon > demon ‘Semen’ iselpules> dieipul ‘cpl poradises> paradls “parade! prior prior ‘prior {nbbatim> sabbat sabbath’ Generat Dbiblotheca> bibliopece "ibrar" chorus chor ‘cho chorus! elinare> dediion “decline” elphinus> dein ‘dolphin’ ‘arammatica> grammatic ‘grammar ‘bymnus> yen ‘rye ‘machanieus> mechani ‘mechanical persicum> pene ‘peach’ Dhilesophus > philosoph ‘hilosopher" seutula>seute sete, dish?3. OLD ENGLISH fhe second big linguistic invasion came as a result of ‘Viking raids on Britain, which began in AD 787 continued at intervals for some 200 years. Regular clement began in the mid-9th century, and within a years the Danes controlled most of eastern Eng- “und. They were prevented from further gains by their fear in 878 at Ethandun (p.26). By the Treaty of “Wedmore (886) the Danes agreed to setle only in the th-east third of the country ~exst ofa ine cunning “oughly from Chester co London — an area thae was ubject to Danish lav, and which thus became known the Denelaw. In 991, a further invasion brought a fies of victories for the Danish army (including the Barde of Maldon, p. 12), and resulted in the English Athelred, being forced into exile and the Danes the throne. England then stayed under Danish. tule for 25 years. ‘The linguistic rsulcof this prolonged period of con- tact was threefold, A large number of settlements with Danish names appeared in England. There was a "marked increase in personal names of Scandinavian ign (p.26). And many general words entered the language, nearly 1,000 eventually becoming past of Standard English. Only 150 ofthese words appear in ‘Old English manuscripts, the earliest in the treaty berwcen Alfred and Guthrum, and in the northern manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (D and B, p15). They include landing, score, beck follow, take, Austing, and steersman, as well as many words which did not survive in later English (mostly terms to do ‘vith Danish aw and culture, which died away after the ‘Norman Conquest). The vast majority of loans do not begin to appear until che carly 12th century (p.48). ‘These include many of our modern words which use [sk-} sounds (an Old Norse feature), such as skirt sks and skin, as well as most of the words listed below. “The closeness of che contact berween the Anglo- Saxons and the Danish seers is clearly shown by the ‘extensive borrowings. Some of the commonest words in Modern English came into the language at that time, such as both, same, get and give. Even the per- _sonal pronoun system was affected (p.21), with they, 2 SCANDINAVIAN PLACE NAMES. ‘Scandinavian parish namesin England, __Applethwaite, a Storthalt ‘elated to the boundarylineof the Danelave “There are over In Altharp, Astonthorpe, and Linthorpe: -thwite ( foresetnys ‘oniunctio “joining > gedeodnys | episcopatus “episcopate > biscophad sgnificaio signification’ > getacnung sunicarnis ‘anicorn’ > anborn aspergere “sprinkle > onstregdan inebriare ‘wake drunk’ > indrencen trnizas ‘init’ > priness ‘eontradictio ‘conradiction >widcwedennis ‘comparativus ‘comparative > widmetendlic Alftic is one who used them widely in his writing, specially when developing the terminology of his Grammar p16). a Widmetennis ‘A final comparison. ‘There are, itis thought, around 24,000 different lexical items ($8) in the Old English ‘corpus. This lexicon, however, is fundamentally dif {ferent from the one we find in Modern English. About £85 percent of Old English words are no longer in use. ‘Moreover, only 3 percent of che words in Old English are loan words, compared with over 70 per cent today. Old English vocabulary was thus profoundly Ger- | manic, in a way that is no longer the case. Nearly balf ‘of Modern English general vocabulary comes fiom _ Latin or French, asa result of the huge influx of words ~ in the Middle English period (p.46). And the readi- ness to absorb foreign elements has given the modern torally lacking in Old English. Ie is this situation, \ indeed, which latter-day Anglo-Sexonist language _teformers find intolerable (p.125). FRENCH BEFORE 1066 French vocabulary influ enced Middle Engh so ‘markedly after the Norman Conquest (9.30) that it 28/0 ignore the fact that French lean worde canbe found in Old English too, Indeed, itweuld besurpris+ ingittherehad been no suchinfluence, en the ‘love contacts whichhad ‘osm upin the 10th and ‘itheentuties, The monas- ticrevival (9.24) in particu {ay badstarted in Fronce, ‘ang many English monks ‘must have studied there, “Above al thee was clase contect between the two cultures fllowing the exile ‘to Normandy of Edward the Confessor theson of Athaleedl the uraed or ‘ivadvised) and Emma, daughter ofthe Duke of Normandy. Edward tved thore for 25 years, returning to. nglandin 108 with ‘many French courtiers. When succeeded to the throne, severalofthe French nobles were given high positons-a source of corsicerable grievance larong thelr Anglo-Soxon counterparts. ‘Whateverthe political consequences ofthese ‘events, the linguist conse ‘quences were ahanctulof Franch len word, among them capun eaponservan ‘serve’, bacun bacon arblast ‘weapon’ risun ‘prism, castal'astle’, and (ancelers ‘chancellor Some ‘words gave rise to related forms, notably pug "proud, ‘whose derivatives nduded rutness’prie’ and ofer- ‘rom old Saxon and embed- ‘dedwithin the OW English poem Genesis (and known 25Genesi).Initwe find Sich forms hear Tord, sia’ chain, landsipe ‘region heodbeg today, anda few others allof Which are thought tobe Ole prut‘haughty (compare tater ofermod, 9.22) 0d Saxon One other language pro- vided asmallnumber of Joan words-that spoken by the Saxons who haa Femained on the continent of Europe. tisknown that opiesof Old Saxon toxts ‘ware being made insouth- fern England during the 10th fontury A pertonage known ae ohn the Old Seon helped Aled io his sducatonal forms There so exitsa passage trans: ‘Saxons to take escalate Fal rom allavaiable ourcesa feature which hascharecterized the fan- ‘guage ever since. - language a remarkable etymological variety which was ¢ ‘THE LORD'S PRAYER ‘The predominantly Germaniccharacter of Old English vocabulary ‘the standard version ofthe ‘Our Father (Long vowels ate show ‘lon:se0p.18) Reeder are, pit becart on heofonum, st bin nama gehalgod, ‘To becumepin ice. Gewhe 2a willaon eorBan sw’ sw8 on heofonum. fcan hlafsyle ds 05 deg, re gy, swi sw we forgyfa8 Grum gyltendum. ‘And ne geld ba os on cosenunge, acijsis ofyfele. AmenBy PART 1 ‘THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH OLD ENGLISH DIALECTS ‘The Old English texts which have survived come from several parts ofthe country, and from the way they are written they provide evidence of dialects. As there was no standardized system of spelling (p.16), scribes tended to spell words as they sounded: but because everyone used the same Latin-based alphabetic system, there was an underlying consistency, and itis possible to use the spellings to work out dialect di ferences. For example, in the south-east, the word for ‘evil’ was written ofl, whereas in other places it was _Weh, suggesting that the latter vowel was unrounded and mote open (p.238). Hundreds of such spelling differences exist. Most of the Old English corpus is written in the ‘West Saxon dialect (see map). reflecting the political and cultural importance of this area in the 10th cen- tury Dialects from other areas are very sparsely repre- sented, with only abouta dozen texts of any substance — inscriptions, charters, glosses, and verse fragments — spread over a 300-year period. Nonetheless, Old English scholars have found a few diagnostic Features which enable us to identify dialec areas. ‘The historical setting ‘The major arcas are traditionally thought to relate to the setvlements of the invading tribes, with their di ferent linguistic backgrounds; but what happened the 300 years after the invasions is obscure. There is evidence of at least 12 kingdoms in England by the year 600, Seven are traditionally called the Anglo- ‘Seton Heptarchy (Northumbria, Mercia, Fast Anj Kent, Essex, Sussex, Wessea), but itis dificultto know ‘what realities underlie such a grouping. From a lin- gstic poinc of view, only three kingdoms emerged ‘with enough power for there to be clear dialectal con- sequences: Northumbria, in the 7th cencary, then Mercia, and by the 9th cencury Wessex, the lacter ‘emerging under King Egbert (ruled 802-39). These three areas, zlong with Kent (whose early importance is suggested by the Augustine story, p.10) have led to the recognition of four major dialecs in Old English, To «alk about regional dialects at all is somewhat dosing, given that the areasare so approximate, and the vexts are 50 few. Indeed, regional definition may norbe the best approach, given the political and religious sit uation ofthe time. Social and literary factors may have been paramount. Because the writing of manuscripts was in the hands of monastic copyists, and copies (as well as the copyiss)eravelled berween centres, dialect feacutes would appear outside a particular geographi- cal region. The use ofa ‘koiné’ of poetic conventions say have been widespread, Manuscripts with ‘mixed’ dialect feacures are thus common. ‘The chief dialect areas of (ld English. The map also Shows some of the more Important Anglo-Saxon ‘Kingdoms known ftom the ‘early period, and thelr ‘approximate locations. DIALECT SIGNPOSTS _bepointing, Given the realities of sib error and diolect mixture, ts ot uncommon tof tet pointing inseve Old English datectology is complex subject, fllof ‘meticulous deteription, cau Slate stance Touegemaaton er “ imedcepeandighen Some eanelestn- the limited evidence) con. trolled frustration. There arero ingle indicator ‘veh wil definitively locate text. Rather, ‘work involves comparing a large number of posible agnostic signpost, and ‘drawing a conclusion onthe Dasisof the arection to ‘which most of them seem to « ttyouseea manuseript focmwith the sping, ‘ris key tobe a West ct Saxon toxt withthe symbol representing diphthong. Inotherdalects there ‘wouldbea pure vowel. Example: yet wouldbe get invest Saxon, but get ese: where. + fyouseean obetorea asl consonant O79), ieisprobabiy storie bron or tern to (Compara te Sot pronun- Cation of mon for man weday) Example: and would bo fad n West Saxons Kan- tishrbutlondfuthernacth * Hfyousee the personal Pronouns mec ust bee, and eowicinstead of me, us, bbe, and eow 20), the text Is kely fo be Northumbrian“The area originally occupis ise to two main dialer ‘Northumbrian was spoken north of a line run- ring approximately between the Humber and Mersey rivers. It extended into the eastern low- | Iands of present-day Scotland, where it confronted + the Celtic language of the Strathelyde Britons. A riod of Northumbrian political power in the late ‘7eh century made the north aculcural centre, with “several monasteries. (notably, Wearmouth and Jarrow) and the work of Bede pre-eminent. Most + of che earliest Old English texts (7ch-8ch century) “are Northumbrian, as a result. They include Cedmon's Hymn (see opposite), Bede's Death Song, the Ruthwell Cross and the Franks Casket inscriptions (p.9}, a short poem known as the Leiden Riddle, 2 few glosses, and the 6,000 or so names of people and places in Bede's Ecclesiastical History 0.7). ‘+ Mercian was spoken in the Midlands, roughly berween the River Thames and the River Humber, and as far west as the boundary with present-day ‘Wales. Very few linguistic remains exist, presum- ably because of the destructive influence of the Vikings. The chief texts are various charters, a famous gloss to the Vespasian Psalter, and a few other Latin glossaries. The chief period of Mercian powcr was the carly Sth century, but many later ‘West Saxon texts show the influence of Mercian, partly because several scholars from this area (eg. ‘Werferth) were enlisted by King Alfred to help the literary renaissance he inspired. * Kentish, spoken in the area of Jutish setclement, ‘was used mainly in present-day Kent and the Ise of Wight. There is very litle excant material ~ afew charters ofthe Sth-9¢h centuries, a psalm, ahymn, and sporadic glosses. Scholars have also made some farcher deductions about this dialect from the way it developed in Middle English (p.50), where there * The rest of England, south of the Thames and west as far as Cornwall (where Celtic was 20 spoken) was settled by (West) Saxons, and became Known as Wessex. Moxt ofthe Old English corpusis ‘written inthe Wessex dialecr, West Saxon, because it was this kingdom, under King Alfied, which became the leading political and cultural force at the end of the 9h century. Howeves, it isone of the ironies of English linguistic history that modern Standard English is descended not from West Saxon, but from Mercian, which was the dialect by the Angles gave spoken in the area around London when that city; became powerful in the Middle Ages (pp. 41,50). 3+ OLD ENGLISH » CADMON'S HYMN ‘The version of Caxdmon’s yr (p. 20) usualy printed isn erary ate West Saxon, and the text heres rom an Ti th-century manuscript. However, a Northumbrian ve vived nan sth-century manuscript, whichis thus very cose tothe language Bede mmusthave used. the differences are very evident, though in ony anecae (3) doesan impor- {ant varlant reading occu Northumbrian Nuscyluahergan hefuenricaes ward, smerudes maecti end his modgidanc, vere uuldurfadus, suche uundta gihuaes, ecidryetin, orastelide, Heaeristseop aclda baum Iheben cilrofe, haleg scepen ‘chamiddungeard_ moneynnesuard, ecidryerin, aftertinde, ig. firum foldu, freaallmectig. Wiest Saxon Nuwesceolsnhergean heofonices weard, retodes mi. 7 his modgepanc, vwerawuldorfader, swahe woldes gebwas, ecedrihen, ord onsteale Hears[]gezop cordanbearnum, hreafon orofe, baligseyppend; bamiddengeard moncynnesweard, exedribten, afterteode, Gram foldan, fra ‘ovr we shal praise the keeper of the heevenly kingdom, thepower ofthe ord of destinyand his imagination, the glorious father of men, the deeds ofthe glorious father, the, the eterna lord ordained the beginning. He fistshaped forthe children of earth thehaaven as. roof, the haly creator: then the uardian of mankind, the eternal ord, afterwards made migele-2arth: ‘the almighty lord (made) and for ing beings. } when of every glorious thing [:aonrereina, WS feder urea pe eart on heofonurn No, fader urer a arin heofau(ea) Me, der wre pu cart in heofenun, “father our thou (which) arcin heaven? ‘The opening tine from a West Saxon (WS late ‘tth century), Northumbrian (Noy (ate 1 cantury), and Mercian (Me, earl 1th cen- fun) vation ofthe Lord's Prayer Mutat ‘wo of the Important clalect femures oF Old Englsh. (after €. Toon, 1982), + father’ The original Germanic vowel hat ‘ome forward in WS, and even further for ‘ward in Me, but has stayed back i No. an WS and Me have developed adi ‘thong before |r] anda following consonant. Thistasnot happened in No, where the vowelhasstayed low, and ako moved further back, Thitextract alo shows how aot lithe vari tons found in 3 comparison of manuscripts shouldbe interpreted as dlalectal + The use of etter ‘et rather than thorrin the mordsfor'thov' isnot dalect matte 33 these symbols were often interchangeeble 19. + isnot posible to read much nto the dt- ferent pelings of the unstressed allable of “heaven, asthe sound quality wouldhave been indeterminate (ust asitisin Modem English) and thaspaling unsystematic. = Tyereisnstfcent claect evidence nthe (ld English corpusto draw any firm condu- sions from the grammatical variations. Of cours, wien we fistexamine 3 manuscript, we have to work such thinesout for ourselves. Weare not given the informa: lon in aeance. Every variant form sa poss ble signpost Finding out which oad somewhere andiwhichdownet is what makes (Old English ilectalogy so engrossing. An ‘he story isby no mears over, for thare are ‘many alec questions which remain to be ‘nowore.4-MIDDLE ENGLISH "The year 1066 marks the beginning of anew social and linguistic er in Britain, but it does not actually iden tify che boundary berween Old and Middle English Ic ‘was along time before the effects of che Norman inva- sion worked their way into the language, and Old English continued to be used meanwhile. Even a cen- tury later, tests were sill being composed in the West Saxon variety that had developed in the years follow- ing the reign of King Alfred (p.29). “The petiod we call Middle English runs from che beginning ofthe 12th century until the middle of she 15th. Itisadificultperiod to defineand discuss, largely because of the changes raking place beewcen the much ‘more distinctive and identifiable worlds of Old English (63) and Modern English (§§5-6). The manuscripts give an impression of considerable linguistic variety and rapid teansition. Als, the gradual decay of Anglo- Saxon traditions and literary practices, overlapping ‘with che sudden emergence of French and Latin lite. ‘acy, gives much ofthis period an elusiveand unfocused character. Ieisnotuncl 1400 thata clear focusemerges, in the work of Chaucer, buy then the period is almost cover. Chaucer himself, indeed, is more often seen as a forerunner of Modern English poetry than asa climax to Midele English, The rise of French ‘The main influence on English was, of course, French ~ seicly, Norman French, the language introduced to Britain by the invader. Following William of Nor- rmandy’s accession, French was rapidly established in the corridors of power. French-speaking barons were appointed, who brought over their ovn etinues. Soon after, French-speaking abbots and bishops were in place. Lanfianc, Abbot of St Stephen's at Caen, was made Archbishop of Canterbury as eatly as 1070. ‘Within 20 years of the invasion, almose all che reli- gious houses were under French-speaking superiors, and several new foundations were solely French. Large ‘numbers of French merchants and crafismen crossed the Channel to take advantage of the commercial ‘opportunities provided by the new regime. And aris- tocratic links remained strong with Normandy, where ‘the nobles kept their estates Doubess bilingualism quickly flourished among chose who crossed the social divide ~ English people learning French in order to gain advantages from the aistocracy, and baronial staff learning English as part of he daly contact with local communities. But there is hardly any sign of English being used among the new hierarchy ~a situation which was to continue for lover a century. DOMESDAY A deta from the opening follo of Great Domesday thelarger of the two volumes which ‘makeup the Domesday Book the survey of English fand compiled by Willam in TOBE. ts ‘wetten n atin, but sof value to the English language historian forthe information it provides about english personal names and (toa lesser extent) placenames. The spelling, ‘however Is roubleserne, forte eribes used Latin conventions whieh Were an Inadequate OULTHREEKINGS ——Willmt(G637 pk And ter? Mostofthearglonarmen SRO8MIMHETCIGDIN | Stphen 1125-58 woskent Miorwereunnetocom ores Oatiatfreet —intngondthcugh truncoeatalintngiane foweweenneteting fla Shieknowedge ‘oF English not known. Henry U(1154-88) spent a ‘otal of 20 yearsin France: he ‘though it ssaid some used it the chronteter Ordericus meeps Reuance ‘theend of the 14th century, English at the age of 43, but Eisen oe ‘Sietipawrid Williams 11087-1100) neeeee people engi rng the cea Eageh duing he eet ebouthal hsreign in Richardt (1189-96) spent ance hsknowtedges! oniyefen moni HenrylVespeeches at Ricnaccepostion were — Englihisnetknown, Englond he probebly spoke no fnglth madein Engish.and Henrys Henry! (1100-35) spent willwasweitteningnglish” aaryhalthisrelgain John (1199-1216 lived {(1413)~the frst royal ill to France, often several yearsat_ mainly in England after 120% beso, tina’ the only king tohave the extent otis english ‘anEnglbhwifeuntl Edward not known IV (1461-83), hemay have known some Engish weitars velar“The rise of English Dosing te (2dhceair Eng eae more widely “used among the upper classes, and there was an cnor- us amount of intermarriage with English people. ‘The largely monolingual French-speaking court was x typical of the rest of the country. Richard Fire de Scaccario(‘A Dialogue on the Exche- quer’), written in 1177, reports: = thatthe English and Normans have been dveing “together, marrying and giving in marriage, the two ftom hve become so mised that ir seatsy posible ‘today, speaking of free men, to tell who is English, who of ‘Noman 1c: accounts suggest that some children of the nobility spoke English as a mother tongue, and had to be taught French in school, French continued to be used in Parliament, the courts, and in public proceedings, bbuewe know that translations into English increased in frequency throughout the peviod, asd the number of handbooks written forthe teaching of French. From 1204, a different political climate emerged. King John of England came into conflict with King - Philip of France, and was obliged to give up control of Normandy. The English nobility lose their estates in France, and antagonism grew between the two coun- tries, leading ultimately to the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). The status of French diminished as a spirit of English nasionalism grew, culminating in the Barons’ War (1264-5). In 1362, English was used for the frst time at the opening of Parliament. By about 1425 icappeats that English was widely used in Eng- land, in writing aswell as in speech. Reasons for survi How had the language maneged to survive the French invasion? Afie all, Celtic had noc survived the Anglo- Saxon invasions 500 years before (p.8). Evidently the English language in the 11th century was too well ‘tablished fori to be supplanted by another language. Unlike Celtic, it had a considerable written literature and a strong oral tradition. It would have caken several | hundred years of French immigration, and large mum- bors of immigrants, to have changed things ~ bur the ‘good relations between England and France lasted for only 150 years, and some historians have estimated that the number of Normans in the councry may have been as low as 2 per cent of the total population. This 150 years, nonetheless, is something ofa ‘dark age’ in the history ofthe language. There is hardly any written evidence of English, and we can thus only speculate about what was happening co the language - during that period. Judging by the documents which have survived, i seems that French was the language _ of government, law, administration, literature, and “the Church, with Latin also used in administration, | By che end of the 12th century, contemporary |g? education, and worship. The position of English THE ONOMASTIC becomes clearer in the 13th century, when we find an CONQUEST increasing number of sermons, prayers, romances, Amoderndrawing of songs, and other documents. Finally, in the 14th Seuthsmpton,tampsnire, century, we have'the major achievements of Middle — the twomest important English literature, cul -roets of the town wascalled nating inthe owriting of Fomeh Seat Rotana Geoffrey Chaucer (p. 38), running north-south), evi- lent alocation or ary Frenehmerchantsaset tiem Severalothertownsin thesouthshowed es Infueneof trench set ‘rewayof wnat pl French nfoenceiite peiodisivough he onl. {sot boptmalnames {Eee re dscuton af one asi, p M0). Naive Peeconguesinames were {het Wert Gomanie (p.8,butchowedthe ‘livenesofScancinvin intheDanelay and aso ckcaticintheborder Stese- code, bert ‘ied te Haale, fare andthe the Wihinacenuryaf he ‘Conquest mato these hdbeen elaedy such namesossohe, Peter, Sinon ord ‘Stephen A Canterbury suveymasin he ‘eorshown thet Per fentofthementoe| Continental names. ‘ALL UNDERSTAND THE ENGLISH TONGUE Contemporarywriters In English tongeIschal gow tlle, ramen 42shmesolonge wi dll tags into the inguit wil speke no [mor] waste, sStateofthenation A eeeea teas « efarmen ve mast mo), tmoch-quoted exmplels TomilionsoPhaye- he ete] man vadertande, tonespevinger “v.. bor nlgelande Miroroftite(c 1325). Forpatlangsge is most chewyd [sbow} Althouahsome who hove Os (as wel among lee (cared] os lewyd [unlearned Headehesa nobody Latyn,asT wowe [Oeieve] can nane [now none) Rombronseni trench, Butbo[escepe hoe parhaueth icin scale tae choo! Everyone, whatever their learning, knows English Gorgrammoticalendings, seep 44 spalling eoaver- ‘ons, sep. 40. The cecgct uses two carter Engish symbols(p. 14): ‘horn pater replaced by ‘hand yooh, 3, later replaced by. tossora vis wwtten aid vie versa) 1s ‘And S. ‘ame can [some know] Frensche and no Larya, parvsed han (ve cowre [ow] and dwellen rei, ‘And somme cin of arya. pay (part] Paceanof Feensche bu febly (bbs ‘Andsomme vndestonde wel Englyich, Pexenber eer Layne ass Paki French. Bofe eed and lewed, olde and gonge, ‘Allevndestonden english onge-2 PART 1 THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH THE TRANSITION FROM OLD ENGLISH ‘A fundamental change in the seucture of English took. place during the 11h and 12th centuries~one without precedent in the history ofthe language, and without parallel thereafter. Grammatical relaionships in Old English had been expressed chiefly by the use of inflec- tional endings (p.20). In Middle English, they came to be expressed (as they are today) chiefly by word order. ‘Why dd this change take place? Few subjectsin the his- tory of English have attracted so much speculation. ‘The decay of inflections ‘About one fact there is no doubt. There are clear signs during the Old English period of the decay of the inflectional system, The surviving texts suggest that the change started in the north of the country, and slovily spread south, Several ofthe old endings are still present in the 12th-century text of the Peterborough (Chronicle opposite, but they are not used with much. consistency, and they no longer seem to play an impor- tant role in conveying meaning, Bur why did the Old English inflectional endings decay? The most obvious explanation i that it became increasingly difficult ro hear them, because ofthe way ‘words had come robe stressed during the evolution of the Germanic languages (p. 6). The ancestor language ‘of Germanic, Indo-European, had a ‘fee’ system of saccentuation, in which che stress within a word moved accondiig to intricare rules (p. 248). In Germanic, this system changed, and most words came to carry the main stress on their first syllable. This isthe system found throughout Old English, As always, there were exceptions the ge-prefix, for example (p. 21), isnever stressed. Having the main sues at the beginning of a word can realy give rise ro an auditory problem at the end, This is especially so when there are several endings which are phonetically very similar, such as -em -07, and -an. In rapid conversational speech ic would have been difficult to distinguish them. The situation is not too far removed from that which sell obtains in ‘Modern English, where people often make such forms as ibleand -able(isble washable) or Belgianand Bel- gitun sound the same. This ‘neutralization’ of vowel ‘qualities undoubtedly affected the Old English systern, ‘The contact situation However, auditory confusion cannot be the sole reason. Other Germanic languages had a strong initial stress, t00, yet they retained their inflectional system (as is sill seen in modern German). Why was che change so much greater in English? Some scholars cite the Viking setdement as the decisive factor (p.25). During the period ofthe Danclaw, they argue, thecon- act berween English and Scandinavian would have led to the emergence of a pidgin-like variety of speech between the wo cultures, and pechaps even eventually to akind of creole which was used asa lingua franca {p-344). As wich pidgins everywhere, there would have been a loss of word endings, and greater reliance con word order. Gradually, this pattern would have spread until ic affected the whole of che Bast Midlands area from which Standard English was eventually to emerge (p-50). At the very least, they conclude, this situation would have accelerated the process of inflec- tional decay —and may even have searted it. ‘Whether such arguments are valid depends on how farwe believe tat the speakers of Old English and Old Norse were unable to understand each other ar the time, and this is largely a matter of speculation. Per- hhaps there existed a considerable degree of mucual intlligibily, given thar the wo languages had diverged only afew hundred years before. The roots of many words were the same, and in the Icelandic sagas itissaid that che Vikings and the English could under- stand each other, Whatever the case, we can tell ftom the surviving Middle English texts that the Danelaw ‘was a much more progressive area, linguistically speak ing, than the rest of the country. Change which began here affected southern areas later. Some form of Viking influence cannot easily be dismissed. AAs inflections decayed, so the reliance on word order became critical, resulting in a grammatical system which is very similar o that found today. There is no sign in the Peerborough Chronicle extract of the ‘Old English tendency to put the object before the verb, for example (p. 44). The Subject-Verb-Object order, already a noticeable feature of Old English, has become firmly established by the beginning of che INFLECTIONAL, CARRYING POWER, Tris ealit ofthe mortimpor tantendingsin ldEnglch regular nouns and verbs (20), along withone lexical ‘example ofeach all endings which consictedof usta ‘owe ora vowel plurnasal, ‘appeared from the an: ‘Quage during the Middle Engh period. The only end Ings tosurvive were the ones with greater carving power thehigh-pitched forms (kings, king's, vest the-th ‘orms{loveth, ater replaced by 59.44), and the distinctive sends ofthe particple iter Nouns {eyning ing sp sie lot ‘plove! ume men) -2-n(aee sg) glofe,guman i "e-(gen.tg) ninges, siofe, gumon (6.58) gninge, guman SRS oom pl ings sp, gota spine 9) guman, ‘yningas,sipu lof -ayeena, (en. pLiomninga, ‘slots, gumena cin tp eringum, slofum, gumum Verbs (fremman perform, fin "love deman judee?) 2139. pres.ind) ‘rem, lute, dems est ost 259. pres. ind) ‘remes, ufst, der +20, 20,4 (39. pres. inc) fremed, lua, dema 2801-3 pps. ind) ‘emma, lee, demas e399 pres subj) fremime, lufe, deme -en{t-3pl. pres. si)) fermen, teflon, demen de (10359, pastind) ‘remede,lutode, deme -dest(2g past ind) tremedest.lutodest, demdest don (1-3 pasting) den 1-3. past sub) ‘remeden, lufoden, demden vende pres. pert) ‘remmende, lfiende, demande ‘Abbreviations ee Port) ace accusative; dat dative; gen genitive ind indicative: ‘om. nominative; part. pati ple; pl plurals pres. present {ense;s9.singular subj sub- Juretvg 1,23 1st 2nd, 3rd person,4+ MIDDLE ENGLISH 2 _THE PETERBOROUGH CHRONICLE ‘aguinin 1154, afterthe death of Stephen, adding indeed argued at enath about whatherit bast : ‘several events from theintervening years. Thelan-tocall Tate Old Engl or eatly Middle English’ Wo acefortunatetahavethelateryearcafthe guage snow quitadiferent.Destepointsof Somestratthe archaic features fthatert, point / AngiosSazen Chrenicie(p. 14), whichcontinuesto simlartywiththe preveuswork,theoverall ing tosimilarities withthe West Saxon dalectof impressionisthatthe writer starting again, Old English (p. 29} othersstressthe differences, [ Innodotehange.in i 1emanthermerarery ing vocabulary and grammatical pattersibich andcomside ttobethectlestsunvivng Mice | Mretrborougronsdestoyedty've slong wth ‘elethelangtageorhirume andioclty and. Engahter. The Choniceturemesvey deat, inveningfresapelingconvendonstocepewity thedFistyofdrowingssharpbounty ewsounds Theestocharbeensetoutina” bytween diferent stgesnthecevelonmentof horowedtheteroftechoniceromancther_ wordoranerstandaton betuniketheold_ language, But does mo tem longer before "| onsen, coieditout ancthencarie omwt- EngishenrectaboutCacmen np. 20), tino theuncerainty staves. Other tex tom tne ijuneitorythemectes Teycortinuedunellongernecesarytowddaireetonsationsswel. {2inertuny contr the nen destonin which “Tiat,butthenthewritingstopped-—daoubtless Apart froma few phrases,thelenguagenow_thelanguage wesmoving: and within a century of bacauseof the chooticcondionsofvilwar _ seemsmuchdoser to Modem Engh. the dose ofthe Chronicle, thereisno doubtthat | whichexitadinthereignofKingStephen, come Thelatermateralfromthe Peterborough major change har taken place nthe structure of, of which are described intheextractbelon. ChronilelocksbecktowordsOldErglshand English. (The frst twelvelines ofthe illustration Thivedractisfromthe Chronidewhenitbegins aheadtowards Middle English. Seholarshave _aretranielbedand tandated below) ROS Fi [Mc dide cnovted strenges abuton here] hazued and ae [One placed knotted cords about their] head and tuurythen it dat it gede tobe hames. Hi diden twisted it that it entered tothe brains. Thay put hheom in quartemepar_nadres and snakesand pades ‘them in cell whereadders and snakes and toads weroninne, and drapen heom swa. Sumehi diden in : | ee in ard illed them so. Some theyput in HH ONES 5 crucethur, Gat isinan ceste bat was scort, and nareu, indi teureboc hatin © dest tat washer and na heron Sie and undep, and didescerpe stanesperinne, and ie oenan BS shoes a pt Sort mane rth ed he prengdepe man per-inne,2ar him brecon alee limes. pred the man tecn, that they broke all the ins, Inmaniofpe castleswaron lof andgrin, Bat Inmary of thecasies wore headband and ater that wreron rchenteges at twa cher thre men hadden onoh wre fetes that twoortheemen had enough 10 roberon onne; pat was sua maced, dat is festned roan tober one, tat verso made, thats faceredtoe beom, and diden an scarp iren abuton ba mannes throse team and puta sharp lon abut the mans Sweat and hishals, Sat hene myheenowiderwardes, ne sitten ‘and his neck thathe notmight innodirection, —neithersit ne lienne slepen, oc beronal Sat iren. Mani noc lie nor sleep, butbear all thatiron. Many pusen hi drapenmid hunger. thourandtheykiled by meansof hunger. || 15 Inecan ne Ine maitellen alle pe wunder ne alle be ‘I rotknow nor! notean tell all theatvoctesnocall_ the pines Yat hi diden wreccemen on pis and, and at crvelties that they did to. wretched peope inthis land, and that lastede pe xix wintre wile Stephne was king, and wure_itwas lasted the 19 winters while Stephen was king, and alwaysit was a eae bo aati |] worse and wore Orford, Bodleian ibrar, MS Loud Ms. 626, ol. 09 “id uuerse and wuerse.» Part t THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH THE MIDDLE ENGLISH CORPUS ‘The Middle English petiod has a much richer docu- ‘mentation than is found in Old English (p. 10). This is pardy the result of the post-Conquest political sicu- ation. The newly centralized monarchy commissioned national and local surveys, beginning with the Domes- day Book (p.30), and there is a marked increase in the number of public and private documents — mandates, charters, contracts, x-rolls, and other administrative cr judicial papers. However, che extly material is of limited value to those interested in the linguistic his- tory of English because iis largely written in Latin or French, and the only relevant data which can be extracted relate to English place and personal names (G10). Most religious publication falls inco the same category, with Latin maintaining ts presence through- ‘out the period as che oficial language of the Church. ‘A major difference from Old English isthe absence of a continuing tradition of historical writing in the native language, asin the Anglo-Sexon Chronicle ~ a fanction which Latin supplanted, and which was not revived uneil the 15th century. ‘Material in English appears as a trickle in the 13th century, but within 150 years ihas become a flood. In the carly period, we see a great deal of religious prose ‘writing, in the form of homilies, tacts, lives of the saints, and other aids to devotion and meditation, Sometimes a text was written with a specific readership in mind: the Ancrene Riwle (Anchorives’ Guide), for ‘example, was compiled by a spiritual director for three rnoblewomen who had abandoned che world to live as anchoresses. During the 14th cenrury, there is a marked increase in the number of translated writings from French and Latin, and of texts for teaching these languages (p.31). Guild records, proclamations, proverbs, dialogues allegories, and lewers illustrate the diverse range of new styles and genres. Towards the end of the century, the translations of the Bible inspired by John Wycliff appear amid considerable controversy, and the associated movement produces many ‘manuscripts (p.54). Finally in the 1430s, chere is a vast output in English from the office of the London Chancery scribes, which strongly influenced the devel- opment of a standard written language (p.41). ‘The poetic puzale Poetry presents a puzzle. The Anglo-Saxon poetic tra- dition apparently dies our in the 1th century, to reap- pear patchly in the 13th. A lengthy poetic history of Britain known as Lagamon’ Bru (p. 36) is one of the catiese works to survive from Middle English, and in the 14th century come the important texts of Piers Plowmanand Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (p.37). ‘What is surprising is thar the alliterasive Old English style (p. 23) isstill present inal these works, despite an apparent break in poetic continuity of atleast hun- dred years. The conundrum has generared much dis- cussion, Perhaps th allterative technique was retained through prose: several Middle English prose texts are strongly alliterative, and itis sometimes dificult to tel from a manuscript which genre (poetry ot prose) a piece belongs to, because the line divisions are not shown. Perhaps the Old English syle survived through the medium of oral cransmission. Or pethaps it is simply that most poetic manuscripts have been lost, Middle English poetry was inevitably much influ- enced by French literary eraditions, both in content and style. One of the earliest examples is the 13¢h- century verse-contest known as The Owl and the Nightingale (p. 36). Later works include romances in the French styl, secular lyrics, bestiries, ballads, bib- lical poetry, Christian legends, hymns, prayers, and POETRY OR PROSE? ‘The Wercester Fragments are ‘the remains of amanuscript which was used tomrake the ‘over ofa book inthe Chap ‘er Library at Worcaster.The result of placing together the fragments wasa piece of con- tinuous text, probably copied (1200 froma much eorier text Themanuscrpt contains ifles Grammar(6.16).3 passage on the Debate ofthe Souland the Body. andan Remon thedsuse of English, Portof tislast iter is ive here. Modern editions Usualy print the textin lines, ‘sit twereapoem, but the fhythmandaliteration are ‘extremely freeand unpre. onal kind- in other words, wouldbejustasplausibieto print he material ax prose. ‘Troedtorhas filled out the tertina few paces where there were holes inthe ‘manuscript. Aninteresting linguistic feature s the preservation of he iret form of thenoun for ‘boo bee. After 8.Dickins BRM. Wilson, 1951) lod. Nuis peo leore forleten, and ee fol isforlren.. _Eific abd, pe we Alqie hotep, he was boeare,and pe fifbec wende, Genesis, xodus, Veronomius, Numeras,Leiccus, uth peor werenilerdeureleoden on Englite. get meren eosbiscopes be bodeden Cristendom: WilfidofRipum,Tokan ofBeofrsi, Cuthbert of, Dunholme, Oswald of Wirecsastre, Egwin of Heoueshame, ldelm of Malmesbur, Swithun,thelwold Aidan, Biers of Winceste, Paulin of Rofecestr,S. Dunston, andS. lich of Camorcbusi geoslerdenuteleodan on Englse. Nes deorcheorein, achic fire clegies. The mystical dream-vision, popular in Italy and France, iswellllustrated by the poem modern edi- tors have called Peark, in which the writer recalls the death of his two-year-old daughter, who then acts as his spiritual comforter. Drama also begins to make its presence flit, inthe form of dialogues, pageants, and the famous cycles of mystery plays (p.58). ‘Much of Middle English literature is of unknown authorship, but by the end of the period this situation has changed. Among the prominent names which emerge in the latter part of the L4ch century are John Gower, William Langland, John Wycliff,and Geoffrey (Chaucer, and some time later John Lydgate, Thomas Malory, William Caxton, and the poets who are col- lectively known as the Scottish Chaucerians (p. 53). Rather than a somewhat random collection of inter- ‘sting texts there is now a major body of icerature’ in the modern sense. Itis this which provides the final ppattof the bridge between Middle and Early Modemn English ($5). Abbot Aiflc whomwe call ‘Alguin, hewasavatter nd translated feboots, Genesis Exes, Deuteronamy, Numbers, Leviieus. Trough these our ‘people were taughtin eng- fish: these were the bishops vio preached Christianity Yaltié ofRipum, ohan of Beoferli, Cuthbert of Dunholime, Oswaldof Wireceastre, Egnin of Heaveshame, Aideln of Malmesbur Swithun, Aihelwvold, Adan, Blem of ‘Wincasstre, Poulin of Rofecastre, S. Ounston, and S-Alfeih of Contoreburi These taught aur peoplein English. Theirightwasnot dart, arditshorebrighty. Nowisthisknowledge sban- Cloned, andthe people damned.4+ MIDDLE ENGLISH 8 JOHN OF TREVISA ‘The Comishman John of Trevisa (1402), who becamean Oxfordscholar “and clergyman, made n 1387 a translation of Ranulfigdens atin Poly ‘hronicon called becavielt was the chronicle of many age, fom the ‘reation to 1852. Atone pont, Higden reviews the language eachingsit- ‘ation in England, and glves two reasons for the decline ofthe other | tongue. | Onysfordydeminsok, Onefeaonlisthat citer in | agenespewsageand mancreofal school contrary theusage and | obernacions, bub compelled for customofllother nations are foleachereoune longage, and for compelled to abandon theirown | toconstrue here lessons and here language, and ocarryon their ingesa Freynsch, and habbep —_lesionsand theirefarsin French, Subthep: Normanscome first andhavedonesince the Normans Jnto Eogelond, Also gentil en fistcameto England. Aso the children bub yraugefor to speke _chitrenofgentiemensre taught to | Preynsch iam ymebacabup —speakFrench rom te time that yrolkedin bere cradel, and theyarerockedintheircrade, and | connepspckeand playewipa __eartospeakandplaywitha ys brouch;and oplondysch chiles tinket-andrstc men wil men wollykne hamsylfto gentil eiake themselves ike gentlemen, _ men, and fondep wib gret bysynes _andsseek withgreat industry to fortospeke Feeynsch fortobe speak French tobemorehishy more yold of, thoughtof -Atthispoint, John of Trevsa adds the following: Thisproctice was much used before the fest plague andhas since been somewhat changed. ForJobn " Pysmancrewasmochey-reed {oforee fuse noreya, and ys ‘tepthe somdel ychaunged. For TohanCornwalamayscrof Cornwall ateacherof gramnat agramere,chayngedepelorein __changedthe texchingin grammar gramerscoleandconstruccionof — schoofandthe canstuing of French Freynsch into Englyschsand into Engi and Richard Penkridge Richard Pencrychlurnedepat learned thatmethodof teaching manereechyngofhym,and obet from him, and othermen from men ofPencrych,sobatnow.be Penkridge sothat now, AD 1385, ‘gerofourcLordabousondpre_theninthyearofthereignofthe hhondeed fourescoreand fyue. of second King Richarcafter the esccundekyng Richard aferpe Conquest, inallthegrammar ‘Conquest syne, inal be schootsof England children sramerscoles of Engelond ‘abandon French and compose and childern leach Frensch, and lernin English and have thereby ‘onstruband lumnepan Englysch, anadvantageon theone hand, and, ‘and habbep pesby avauntage in on _aclsadvantageon theother: The ‘yr, anddesavantauge yn anober. advantagetsthat they learn their Hlereavauntageyspatalume grammariniesstime than children hheregramerynlassecymefan used to do. Thedisacvontage that childem werywoned to do. nowadeyschikirenat grammar Desavauntageyspatnowchildem —schootnow ne more French than ‘ofgramerscoleconnehnomore —_theirlefthee, end thatiso Frenschpancanberelifthede, misfortune for themif they should andpayysharmforhamanda cress theseoand'ravelin foreign Schollepassebescand tauaylein countries andinothersuch strange londes, and in meny cas creumstances Also, gentlemen also. Alsogentl men habbepaow have nowlargelyabandoned mocheyletforcotechehere teaching theirhildrep French, childern Frensch. ‘ Phuscachange. APASTON LETTER ‘Thisisan extrac fromone of the collection of Jesters written by members ofthe Norfolk family of aston during the 15th century. Thee ton, dealing with everything fromlegalmat- terstodomesticgossip,andwritten ‘throughout ina natural and often vivid style. ‘Most ofthe collection spew in the rtish Mus- ‘eum. The present example comesfromaletter ‘written i haste] by Margaret Paton toher hus band John on 19.May 1448, Trnty Sunday evening. -Ryght worshipullhusbond, Iracomaund me to you, and prey yow to \wete that on Friday last pased before noon the parson of Oxened beyng _stmesse in aura parossh cirche, evn attelevacion ofthe sakeryng, Jams loys hadde ben in the toune and come hommward by Wymondams gate. And Wymondam std in his gate, and Jahr Norwodehismanstod By hy. and Thomas Hawyshis othr manstod inthe strete by the canel se. And Jars Gloys come vy his hatte on his hede betwen bothe his men as he wos wort of custome to do, And whannieGloys was ayenst ‘Wymondham, he sed thus:"Covere thy heed And Gloysseidageyn Sol forthe. Ard whanne Gloys was forther passed bythe space office strede, Wymondham drew owt his dagger and sec, Shalt thovrs0, ‘nave?’ And therwith Gloysturned hym, and drewe owthis dagger and defendet hy, fleyng into my moderis place; and Wymondham and his ‘man Hawys est storys and dreve Gloysintomy moder place, and Hawy: {eolwydinto my moders place andkestaston 1 meche asa fordyng lof Into the halle after Gloys, and than ran ov ofthe place ageyn- And Gloys {olnyd owt and stodwythout the gate, and thannieimondham called Goys thet and seid he shuld dye, and Gloysseidhe ed and called hyn ‘hart and bad hym come ym elf or ollthe best man he had, and loys ‘Wold answers ym on for on And thane Haway ran into Wymondham place and feeds spere and a swerd, and toke ismaisterhisswerd. And ‘wth the noise of this aseut and affray my modle and icome owtof the chirche fromthe sakeryng, and Iba Gloys<0 into my modarts place ‘ageyn,andso hedede, And thane Wymondham called my moder and Ime strong hores and seld the Pastons and alle ky were [hole ‘aper...seid he ed, knave and chal as hewas. And hetiad meche large fangage, es yeshallknowe herafter by movahe. My dear husband, commend myselfto you, nd want you to know that, last ride before noon, the parson of xnead wassaying Mass our ‘parish church and atthe very moment of elevating the host James Gloys, ‘nfo eel been in town, was coming home past Wyndham gate. And Wyndham was standing nis gateway with hs mon Jahn Norwood by his side, and his ather man, Thomas Hawes, wasstending inthe street by the ‘gutter Ard omes Gloys come with hisaton his hesd Between both his ‘men, a he usualy de. And when Gloys was opposite Wiyrdham, Wynd ‘hamsaid ‘Cover your head” And Gloys retorted, So|shallfor you!’ And when Gloyshad gone on three or four strides, Wyndham drew out his ddagger and sod, "Wil you, indeed, knave? Andwith tha Glos turned ‘on him, and drew outhis dagger and defended himself, fleeing intomy ‘mother place; ane Wyndham and hisman Hawes threw stones and Grove Glaysinto my mothers house, and Hawes followed into my ‘mothersand threwastoneas big as ferting-oaf into the halt loys {and then ran out of te place again. And Gloystollowed him out and ‘stood outside the gate, and then Wyndham called loysa thief andsaid ine had to dle, and Gloys sid he led and called him a peasant, and told ‘lento come himself or else the best man he had, and Gloys would answer him, one ageinstane. And then Hawes ran into Wyndham’ place and fetched spear anda sword and gave his master Mssword. Andat the ‘ole of thisattack and uproar my mother and came aut ofthe church {rom the sacrament and told Gloys to go intomy mother’sagai, and be