History of English Language

• I BA - Semester II
 What Makes History of Language?

• Gradual development of a national/ standard language out of

diverse usages of different districts.

• Changes in the forms and features of words in different periods.

• The history of the influences affecting word stock or

vocabulary.

• Changes in the inflectional forms which show relationships of

words in a sentence.
 Three Periods

• Old English Period 600- 1100 AD

• Middle English Period 1100- 1500 AD

• Modern English Period 1500 onwards

 Old English Period
• History

• OE Dialects

• OE Grammar

• OE Pronunciation

• OE Spelling

• OE Vocabulary

• Indo-European, Celtic and Latin elements

• Scandinavian/ Danish/ Norse elements

• Anglo- Saxon elements

 I- Old English Period

• Celts — Britons

• Romans (55 BC- 410 AD)

• Teutons (5th c.)

• Jutes (from Jutland)- Southeast of England

• Saxons (N. Germany)- South of Thames/

North bank of lower Thames

• Angles- East part of Island from Thames

— Scotland

• A settlement that took over 150 yrs.

 The Seven Kingdoms of the Heptarchy

• Germanic tribes in Britain formed

seven kingdoms.

• Jutes: The Kent

• Saxons: Essex, Wessex and

Sussex

• Angles: East Anglia,

Northumbria and Mercia
 2- Old English Dialects
• Northumbrian Dialect (b/w
Firth & Humber River)
Anglian
• Mercian (b/w Humber & Thames)

• West Saxon (South of Thames) Saxons

• Kentish (Kent & Surrey) Jutes

Since this dialect was patronised by King Alfred it became the

dominant one. Early old English writings namely Beowulf and
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle were written in this dialect

Most civilised of all kingdoms

 3- Old English Grammar
• Grammar System- complex
Nero interfecit Agrippanam.
• Period of “full inflections” Nero killed Agrippa.

inflections (grammatical endings) of adjectives, nouns and

verbs were preserved in full.

No Syntax ( word order)

• Four cases- Nominative, Accusative, Genitive &

Dative
Modern English SSingular SPlural SPlural Marker
Stone Stan Stanas -as
• Several plural Markers Lamb Lamb Lambru -ru
Sin Synn Synna -a

• Three gender system with no correspondence b/w

natural and grammatical gender

• Two separate declensions for adjectives — Strong and

Weak

• Two tenses for verbs— Past and Present

 4- Old English Pronunciation

• More or less phonetic in character.

• Two major sound changes-

• gradation (ablaut)— From PIE & PG

• i- mutation (umlaut) — took place in OE

 5- Old English Spelling
• RUNIC ALPHABET
 Old English Spelling
• Phonetic in character— Each letter • Certain symbols stood for more
represent a sound & no silent letters than one sound.
OE- feallan= fall
OE- sevfon=
• Seven Vowels- a, e, i, o, u, y, æ • f — /f/ or /v/ seven

• All consonants were pronounced OE- seon= see /s/

OE- wæs= was /z/
• s — /s/ or /z/

OE- geit = gait

OE- gearu = year
• g — /g/ or /j/

cyan (kin)
ceosan (choose)
• c — /k/ or /tʃ/
 Old English Vocabulary

• Mostly a homogenous Anglo-Saxon language

• High degree of purity

• OE Wordstock- Indo Euopean, Celtic, Latin and Scandinavian

 Indo- European Celtic Words
• very few elements
Latin Words Anglo-Saxon Words
Words • Two phases of • Words related to daily affairs,
from Celtic
• close family language survive in influence elementary occupation, natural
relations OE. • Roman occupation
• cardinal no.s 1-10 phenomena
• Place names- Kent, • Christian • Close family relations- father,
• nature, universe London, Cornwall, missionaries
• fundamental York • 1st phase: military & mother, brother
concepts on • First syllable of administrative • Food items- bread, butter,
farming & Winchester, vocabulary milk , meat
cultivation Salisbury,
Worcester can be
weal (wall), mil (mile), • Names of flowers, trees,
• basic weapons win (wine), cheese, vegetation- rose, daisy
• basic colours traced to Celtic.
• River names like butter; suffixes -chester • Weapons- bow, sword, arrow,
e.g. man, tree, moon, & -caster
Thames, Avon, Wye, spear
sun, earth, fire, star, Dover • IInd phase: Religious
shield, red, yellow words • Nature- sun, moon, stars
priest, monk, bishop, • Calender- year, month, week
abbot, cross (cruc), saint • Alternative phrases- kith & kin,
(sanct) fair or foul
Elevation: Lord & Lady originally meant
bread-keeper and bread kneader
• Prefixes- forth-, with-
Association of Ideas: • Suffixes- -down, -ship, -ness,
Steward- one who tended pigs & cattle bead (OE prayer using
Tun- village —> town -hood
rosary of beads; bridal
(OE ale/ drink at • Words underwent change in
wedding), thrill (OE to meaning through processes like
Degradation- knave (young man), silly
pierce), uncouth (OE (i) elevation (ii) degradation
(happy), fiend (enemy)
unknown) (iii) association of ideas
The Scandinavian/ Norse/ Danish Element in English
 Vikings
• Swedes, Norwegians, Danes

• Danish invasions- 790s

• Came as raiders and became settlers

• Treaty of Wedmore (878)- gave sanction

to Danes to settle north of the line
drawn from London to Chester.

• Under Danish King Canute England was

reunited and led to merging of Old
English and Danish languages.
 Key Influences
• Place names– mostly territories occupied by the Norsemen

• Under place names suffixes like –by (town), -toft,

-thwaite (clearing) & -thorpe (village). (Canterbury, Whitby,
Lowestoft, Gunthwaite, Goldthorpe etc.) Whitby

• New vocabulary of Danish or Norse origin

• Modification of existing tongue

• Vocabulary –

• Nouns -- anger, bank, boon, bull, crook, knife, window.

• Adjectives– black, meek, rugged, scant, tight, weak

• Verbs—bait, bask, call, crave, crawl, gape, get, give, kindle etc.

• Body parts- leg, skull, skin

• Nautical terms– haven (merchant’s harbor), skipper (shipman)

• Days of the week, named after Norse god

• Pronouns- they, their, them

• Synonyms– [no, nay], {rear, raise], [shirt, skirt], [shabby, scabby],

[ditch, dike] – first OE, second Norse