cristal - day 1-old english

8/3/2019 Cristal - Day 1-Old English

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ANGLO-SAXON OROLD ENGLISH?The name AnglocSaxon cameto refer inthe 16th century toaIIaspects of the early period- people, culture, and lang-uage.lt isstilltheusualwayoftalking about the peopleand the cultural history; butsincethe 19th century. whenthe histo ry of languagescameW bestud led indeta ii,Old English has bee nth e pre-ferred name for the Iang-uage. Thisname emphasizesthe continuing developmentofEnglish, from Anglo-Saxontimes through 'MiddleEnglish'to the present day.and itisthe usage ofthe pre-sent book (abbreviated OE).Some authors, nonetheless.stilluse the term Anglo-Saxonforthe language. thechoice of this name reflectingthe ifviewthat the nature ofthe language inthis earlyperiod isve ry different fromwhatis later to be foundunder the head ingof English.

3OLD ENGLISHTHE EARLY PERIOD

Before the Anglo-Saxon invasions (2), the language(or languages) spoken by the native inhabitants of rheBritish Isles belonged tothe Celtic family, introducedby a people who had come to the islands around themiddle of the first millennium BCMany of these set-tlers were,in turn, eventually subjugated by theRomans, who arrived in 43 BCBur by 410 the Romanarmies had gone, withdrawn to help defend theirEmpire in Europe. After a millennium ofsettlementby speakers of Celtic, and half a millenniumbyspeak-ers of Latin, what effect did thishave on the languagespoken by the arriving Anglo-Saxons?Celtic borrowingsThere is, surprisingly, very little Celtic influence - orperhaps iris not so surprising, given the savage way inwhich' the Celtic communit ies were destroyed orpushed back into the areas we now know as Cornwall,Wales, Cumbria, and the Scottish borders. Some Celts(orRomano-Celts) doubtless remained in the east andsouth, perhaps as slaves, perhaps intermarrying, buttheir identity would after a few gen(!rations have beenlost within Anglo-Saxon society. Whatever we mightexpect from such a period of cultural contact, theCeltic language of Roman Britain influenced OldEnglish hardly at alLOnly a handful of Celtic words were borrowed at thetime, and a few have survived into modern English,sometimes in regional dialect use: crag, cumb 'deepvalley', binn 'bin', ca rr 'r oc k' , d unn 'grey, dun', brock'badger', and torr 'peak' _ Others include bannoe'piece', rice 'rule', gaftluc 'small spear', bratt 'cloak', luh'lake', dr y 'sorcerer', and clucge 'bell'. A few Celticwords of this period ultimately come from Latin,brought in by the Irish missionaries: these includeassen 'ass', ancor 'hermit', ster 'history', and possiblycross.But there cannotbe more than two dozen loanwords in all. And there are even veryfew Celtic-basedplace names (p, 141) in what is now southern and east-ern England. Theyindude such river names asThames, Avon 'river', Don, Exe, Usk, and WJe-Townnames include Dover 'water', Eccles 'church', Bray'hill', London (a tribal name), Kent (meaningunknown), and the use ofcaer 'fortified place' (as inCarlisle) and pen 'head, top, hill ' (asin Pendle).Latin loansLatin has been a major influence on English through-out its history (pp.24, 48,60, 9), and there isevidence

of its role from the earliest moments of contact. TheRoman army and merchants gave new names tomanylocal objects and experiences, and introduced severalfresh concepts. About half of the new words were to dowith plants, animals, food and drink, and householditems: Old English pise 'pea', plante 'plan r', win 'wine',ryse'cheese', ca tt e' ca t' , c e te l' ke tt le ', d is c 'dish', candel'candle'. Other important clusters of words related toclothing tbels 'belt', cemes'shirt', sutere'shoemaker'),buildings and 'settlements (tigle 'tile', soeall 'wall',ceaster' city', strd!.t'rolld'),military and legal institutions(wic 'camp', diht 'saying', scrifan 'decree'), commerce(mangian'trade', ceapian 'buy', pund'pound'), andr el ig ion (mas se 'Mass', munu c'm o nk ', m yn ste r'm in -srer'),Whether the Latin words were already used bytheAnglo-Saxon tribes on the continent of Europe, or

were introduced from within Britain, is not alwaysclear (though a detailed analysis of the sound changesthey display can help, p.19), but the total number ofLatin words present in English at the very beginningof the Anglo-Saxon period is not large-less than 200.Although Vulgar Latin (the variety of spoken Latinused throughoutthe Empire) must have continued inuse - at least, as an official languag(! - for some y(!arsafter the Roman army left, for some reason it did nottake root in Britain as it had so readily done in Conti-nental Europe. Some commentators see in (his the

A reconstruction of Anglo-Saxon huts atWest Stow,Suffolk. Eachhut issome15-20 feet (5-6 m)in length.


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3 . OLD ENGLISH 9

EARLVfNSCRIPTfONSThere are lessthan 30 clearrunicinscriptlonsinOldEnglish,some containingon 1 '1 a single name. The twomost famous examples bothdate from the 8th century,and represent the Northum-brian dialect (p.28).Both inscriptions make someuse ofthe Roman alphabetaswell. TheRuthwellCross, nearDumfries, Scotland, is 16feet(5m) high. Itsfaces contain.panels depicting events inthe lifeof Christand theearly Church, aswell as carv-ingsof birds and beasts, andlines of runes around theedges are similar to part ofthe Old English poem 'TheDream of the Rood' (rood '"'cross') inthe Vercelli Book.Aglossed extract isshownbelow {there are no spacesbetween the words intheoriginal inscription; alsosome scholarstranscribe'blood' asblodl1.

probably the Roman,whichrunes resemble close 1 ' 1 . The meaning of runeThecommon runic alpha- What rune (DErun) meansbetfoundthroughoutthe isdebatable. There isaarea.consistedof 24letters. lonq-standinqtradltion .Itcan bewritten horizon- which attributes to it suchtally in either direction. Each senses as 'whisper', 'mys-letter had a name, and the tery', and 'secret',suggest-alphabet as awhole was ing that the symbols werecalled bythe nameof itsfrs r o[ig inally used for magicalsixletters, the futhorc(in or mystical rituals. Suchthesame way asthe word .associationswere certainlyalphabet comesfrom Greek present in the way thealpha -l-.beta}. Theversion pagan Vikings (and possiblyfound inBritainused extra the ContinentalGermanslletters to cope with~t:h~e~_~u:s:e~d~t:he:co:r:re:s~p~o:n~d~in~g=_ ::::~::::::-lange of sounds found in"whereknoVlln)Old English;in Meaning \itsmost devel- Anglo-SalCon Nameoped form, jn Rune cattle, wealthieoh )9th-century\" f bison (aurochsNorthumbria,it Oru iliMnporn h.god/mout05 .'J 'ourney/ridlngfad torchcen

gieiugift\NYn joyha:!gl hailnecessity/troubleniedis icegear yeareohyewpeer ?eolh ?sedge.sigel sunTiw (a god)tiw/tifbeorc bircheon horse

m an m anwater/sealagu Ing (a hero)ing land/estateepelda:!9 _ day

Old Englishwas firstwritteninthe runic aIphabet. Thisalphabet was.used innorth-ern Europe - inScandinavia,present-day Germahy,andthe BritishIsles- and it hasbeen preserved inabout4,000 inscriptions and a fewmanuscripts. Itdates from.around the 3rd century AD.Noone knows exactly wherethe alphabet camefrom, butitseems to be a deveton-

This list givesthenames of the symbolsinOld English,andtheir meanings (whereare known). Itnot givethevariant shapescan be found in

consisted of31 symbols.The inscriptions in OldEnglish are found onweapons, jewellery, monu-ments, and other artefacts,and date largely from the5th or 6th centuries Ao,theearliest (at Calstor-by-Nor-wkh) possibly being late4th century. Theyoften saysimplywho madeor ownedthe object. Most ofthelarge rune stones say littlemore tha n 'X raisedthisstone in memory of y', andoften the message isunclear.

word, but there isno evi-dence that they were pre-sent in OldEnglish.Currentresearch suggests that theword ru n had been thor-oughlyassimilatedintoAngloSaxon Christianity,and meant simply 'sharingof knowledge or thoughts'.Any extension to the worldof magic and superstition isnot part of thenalive tradi-.tion. Modern English rune isnot even a survival of theOldEnglishword, butaIatsrborrowlnq from Norsevia Latin.Forthe modern, magicalsense of rune weare there-fore indebted to the Scandi-navian andnot the Anglo-Saxon tradition. It isthiss e n s e which surfaced inthe19th century ina variety ofesoteric publications, andwhich liveson In thepopu-lar and fantasticimagina-tion ofthe 20th, perhapsmost famously inthe writ-ing ofTolkien (p.18S).(After CEo Fell,1991.)

["\..~~k' ")(~H- \ .\l'S 'hl'Y 1\~MMI*'X _\1rrIi\- r)(rb* -

orcg l \ 1whn

j3Pxtbemngoed oak

as hboW?earth

. ac&5Cyreargar

yeagb'lkk

spear?sandal/chalice/chalkcalc(name unknown)

ic w re S m ip bl a d re b is te midI w as wit h b 10 0 d bed ewe d The FranksCasket isa richly carved whalebone box,illustrating mythological and religious scenes, not all ofwhich canbe interpreted. The picture shows the panelwith the Adoration ofthe Magi alongside the Germaniclegend of Wayland (Weiand) the Smith. The inscriptionsare partly inOld English, and partly inLatin.

The box first carne to light inthe 19th century,owned bya farmerfrom Auzon, France. Itisnamed after SirAugustus WollastOn Franks,throughwhom it came to be deposited intheB.ritishMuseum. One side was missing, but it latercame into the possession ofthe BarqelloMuseum, Florence, and a cast was made of it, sothat the box.in the BritishMuseum now appearscomplete. .


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PART I . THE HISTORYOFENGLlSH

L E X IC A L . IN V A S IO N She history of early English vocabulary is one ofpeated invasions, with newcomers to the islandsinging their own Janguage with them.and leaving aair amount of its vocabulary behind when they left orereassimilated, In the Anglo-Saxon period, thereere two major influences of this kind ~ one to doith this world, the other to do with the next.

e ff ec t of Latinhe focus on the next world arrived first, in the formf the Christian missionaries from Ireland and Romep.lO). Not only did they introduce literacy, theyrought with them a huge Latin vocabulary, Theglo-Saxons had of course already encountered Latins used by the Continental Roman armies and theomano-British, but only a fewVulgar Latin wordsad come into Old English as a result (p. 8). By con-ast, the missionary influence resulted in hundreds ofew words coming into the language; and motivatedny derived forms. The new vocabulary Wasmainly

o do with the Church and its services, theology, andarning, but there were also many biological, domes-

tic, and general words, most ofwhich have survived inModern English. At the same time, many Old Englishwords were given new, 'Christian' meanings undermissionary influence. Heaven, h e ll , God , Gospe l, Eas te r,H oly G host, sin , and several others were semanticallyrefashioned at the time.The loans came in overa long time scale,and differed

in character. Up to c.1000, many continued to arrivefrom spoken Latin, and these tended to relate more toeveryday, practical matters. After c. 1000, following therebirth oflearning associated with King Alfred (p.B)and the 10th-century Benedictine monasticrevival, thevocabulary came from classical written sources, and ismuch. more scholarly and technical. Sometimes, even,the Latin ending would be retained in the loan word,instead of being replaced by the relevant Old Englishending: an example is acoluthus 'acolyte', which firstappears in one of lElfric's works as acolitus. Many ofthese learned words (such as collectaneum and epactas)did not survive - though. several f./enestra and 'bihlio-theca are instances) were to be reincarnated sometimelater in a second stage of classical borrowing (p, 48).

T HE K IR KD AlE IN SC RIP TIO NThe bestsurviving example of an inscribed Anglo-Saxonsun-dial, now placed above the south porch of the church atKirkdale, North Yorkshire.The inscription reads as follows:Leftpanel+ORMGAMAL f SVNA BOHTE S(AN)C(TV)S IGREGORIVS M IN I STERDONNE HI !TWESLELTOBROfRight panelCAN 7 TOFALAN 71-1.EI HIT LET MACANNEWANFROM I GRUNDEXPE}S(AN)C(TV)SGREGORI fVSIN EADWARD DAGVM qI)NGI7(I)N TOSTIDAGVM EORL l'

Centre panel'f'I>IS IS DLEGES SOLMERCA + IA;1,TILCVM TIDE!+ THAWARf) ME WROHTE7 BRAND PRSorm, son otGemsl , boughtStGregory's church when i t wasal l ruined and tumbled down and hecaused it to be builtaf resh from the foundat ion (in honour of) .christ and StGregory in the days of King Edward and in the days of EarlTosti.This is the day's sunmarkingat every hour. And Hawari1made me, and Brand, priest (7)To.stig,brother of HaroldGodwineson, became earl ofNorthumbria in 1()55,and died in1066, so.the dial belongs

to thatdecade.The text showsan interesting mixof influences, with theLatinsaint's name alongside Old Norse personal names, andLatinminster alongside .Germanic tobrocan.. . . . . . . .

AND A FEW MORE LATIN LOANS ...abbot, accent, alb,alms,anchor, angEl!,antichrist, ark,cancer, candle, canon, canticle, cap, cedar, celandine, cell,chalice,chest,cloister,cucumber,cypress, deacon.dlrqe.etepnant, fever, fig, font, giant, ginger,history,idor,laurel,lentil,litany, lobster,lovage, marshmallow, martyr, master, mat, nocturn, noon, oyster, paper, periwinkle, place, plaster, pope, priest, prime,prophet, psalm,pumice, purple, radish, relit, rule, scorpton.scrofuta.shrtne, sock,synagogue, temple, tiger, title, tunic

E AR LY LA TIN LO AN S( BE FORE 1 00 0)Ecclesiasticalabbadlssa >abudesse'abbess'altar> alter 'altar'apostotus >apostol 'apostle'tulpe cylpe 'fault'missa>meess 'Mass'nonnus> nonne'monk'offerre >offrian 'sacrifice'praedicare >predician'preach'scols scot "school'versus> fers 'verse' (usedinthe C fenester 'window'tilium > lilie 'lily'organum> orgel 'organ'picus >pic 'pike'planta >plant 'plant'rosa > rose 'rose'studerexstuddien 'takecare of'LATE LAT IN LO AN S(A FT ER 1 00 0)Ecclesiasticalepostst >apostata'apostate'chrlsme crlsma 'chrism'dericus cleric 'clerk'credo creda 'creed'crucem crue 'cross'daemon >.demon 'demon'dlscipulus disciput 'disciple'paradisus >paradis'paradise'prior >prior'prior'sabbatum > sabbat'sabbath'Generalbibfiotheca >bibliopece'library'chorus> chor 'choir, chorus'decfinare sieclinien'decline'delphinus> delfin 'dolphin'grammatica > grammatic'grammar'hymnus >ymen 'hymn'mechenicus mechanisc'mechanical'persicum >perslc'peach'philosoph us>philosoph'phi losopher'scutula> scutet 'scuttle, dish'


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3 OLD ENGLISH

effect of Norsesecond big linguistic invasion came as a result of

raids on Britain, which began in.AD 787J"LU1.lU-.U at intervals for some 200 years. Regular

began in the mid-9th century, and within athe Danes controlled most of eastern Eng-

They were prevented from further gains by theirin 878 at Ethandun(p. 26). By the Treaty of(886) the Danes agreed to settle onlyin thehird of the country - east of al ine running

from Chester to London - an area that wastoDanish.law, and which thus became known

Danelato. In 991, a further invasion brought aof victories for the Danish army (including theof Maldon, p.12), and resulted in the EnglishlEthelred, being forced into-exile, and the Danesthe throne. England then stayed under Danish25 years.linguistic result of this prolonged period of con-

. was threefold. A large number of settlements with. names appeared in England. There was aincrease in personal names of Scandinavian(p.26). And many general words entered the

$Jage, nearly 1,000 eventuallybecoming part ofEnglish. Only c. 150 ofthese words appear in

English manuscripts, the earliest in the treatyAlfred and Guthrum, and in the northern

of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle {D and.E,include l anding , s co re , beck, f el low , tak e,

and steersman, as well as many words whichnot survive in later English (mostlyterms to doDanish law and culture, which died away afrer.rhelJ Conquest). The vast majorityofloans do notto appear until the early 12th century (p.48).include many of our modern words which usesounds (an Old Norse feature), such as skirt, sky,

skin, as well asmost of the words listed below.The closeness of the contact between the Anglo-

and the Danish settlers is clearly shown by thens.iveborrowings. Some of the commonest wordsModern English came into the language at thatsuch as bot h, s ame, g et , and give. Even the per-pronoun system was affected (p. 21), with they,and their replacing

earlier forms. And -

iianinfluence, as is theof the 3rd person-S ending in the

,~~~ tense in other verbs44) .

S CA ND IN AVIA N P LA CE N AM ES inAlthorp, Astonthorpe, and Linthorpe;-thwaite ('dearing'), as inBraithwaite,Applethwaite, and Storthwaife; and -toft('homestead'), as inLowestoft,Eastoft, andSandtoft.The -byending.is almostentireJyconfined to the area of the Danelaw,sup-.porting a theory of Scandinavian origin,despite the existence ofthe word by'dwelling' in Old English.(After P.H. Sawyer, 1962.)

Scandinavian parish names in England,relatedto the boundary Jineof theDaneiaw,There are over 1,500such place names(p.141) inEnqland, especially in Yorkshireand Lincolnshire. Over600 end in -by, theScandinavian word for 'farm' or ' town' -D er by , G rim sb y, R ug by , N as eb y, etc. Manyoftheremainder end in -thorp ('village'), as

N

to 10 20kmI t . . : ' . I

20 4O m ~es

- B .o"n dary of A lfred ', t reaty withthe 0".",~ --- M od em < ou oty .b ou nd .J i.,

....Asignpost in North Yorkshireacts asaDanish memorial.

AND A FEW MORE NORSE LOANS ...again,anger,awkward, bag, band, bank, birth,brink, bull,cake, call,dip, crawl, crook, die, dirt.dregs, egg, flat, fog, freckle, gap, gasp,get.guess, happy, husband, ill.keel, kid, knife,law,leg, loan, low,muggy, neck, odd, outlaw. race,raise, ransack. reindeer, rid, root, rugged. scant,scare. scowl. scrap, seat, seem, silver,sister. skill,skirt, sly,smile, snub, sprint, steak, take, thrift.Thursday,tight. trust, want, weak,window

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cristal - day 1-old english

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