Old English

From old English to modern English How and why has English changed over time? In this brief introduction to the subject, I will show how we can look at the history of a language internally – the pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and written appearance of the language; the motivations for change arising from the structure of the language itself. I will structure my discussion around the conventional division of the history of English into three main periods: Old, Middle and Modern English. The Old English (OE) period can be regarded as starting around AD 450, with the arrival of West Germanic settlers (Angles, Saxons and Jutes) in southern Britain. They brought with them dialects closely related to the continental language varieties which would produce modern German, Dutch and Frisian.

An example of Old English text can be seen in the

Start of Anglo-Saxon epic poem

Beowulf (manuscript c.1000 AD) Norse influence may also have contributed to an important grammatical change, which mainly occurred in English between the 11th and 14th centuries, and which marked the transition to Middle English (ME) (conventionally dated c.1100-1500). The borrowed words came to signify only the meat of these animals, mainly eaten by wealthier French speakers, whereas the words inherited from OE came to refer only to the living animals. An example of Middle English text can be seen in the

start of Chaucer’s

Canterbury Tales (manuscript early 15 century) th

Modern English (ModE) can be regarded externally as starting with the introduction of printing. Caxton’s selection of an East Midlands/London variety of English for the first printed books at the end of the 15th century contributed to the development of a standardised variety of the language, with fixed spelling and punctuation conventions and accepted vocabulary and grammatical forms. These changes were not reflected in ModE spelling, already largely fixed by standardisation, adding to the disparity between pronunciation and writing which differentiates English today from most other European languages. An example of early Modern English can be seen in the

Shakespearean Sonnet 145.

Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf Ðá wæs on burgum léof léodcyning

longe þráge

folcum gefraége aldor of earde-héah Healfdene

--fæder ellor hwearf oþ þæt him eft onwóc héold þenden lifde

gamol ond gúðréouw ðaém féower bearn in worold wócun

Béowulf Scyldinga

glæde Scyldingas· forðgerímed

weoroda raéswan:

Heorogár ond Hróðgár hýrde ic þæt Ýrse Heaðo-Scilfingas

ond Hálga til·

wæs Onelan cwén healsgebedda.

Þá wæs Hróðgáre

herespéd gyfen

wíges weorðmynd

þæt him his winemágas

georne hýrdon

oðð þæt séo geogoð gewéox

magodriht micel·

GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS

WORD AS USED IN THE TEXT léof

Leod cyning

ANALYSIS, NOTES

Explanations and Ethymology

VARIATION OF MODERN ENGLISH

Adj. str., masc. or fem., Nom. case Old English leof "dear, valued, beloved, pleasant;" also as a noun, "a beloved person, friend," from ProtoGermanic *leubo Noun, Nom. case, sing. Old English cyning "king, ruler," from ProtoGermanic *kuninggaz , Old Saxon and Old High

As an adverb, "dearly, willingly" from c.1250.

Beloved

In Old English, used for names of chiefs of Anglian and Saxon tribes or clans, then of the states they founded. Also extended to

King of the people

longe

þrage

gefraége

fæder

hwearf

héah

lifde

German kuning.

British and Danish chiefs they fought.

Adv., positive Old English lang "long," from Proto-Germanic langgaz .

The Germanic words are perhaps from PIE *dlonghos- from root *del- "long."

Noun, Acc. case, sing. late 13c., "long but indefinite period in human history," from Vulgar Latin*aetaticum .. Adj., str. declension, Nom. case, masc. or neut. from Anglo-French famous, Old French fameus ,from Latin famosus "much talked of, renowned". Noun, masc., r-stem, sing. Old English fæder "father, male ancestor," from ProtoGermanic *fader Verb, Past Indicative, 3rd person, (ge)hweorfan – inf., sing., str., Class III Wharf - late Old English hwearf "shore, bank where ships can tie up," earlier "dam, embankment," from ProtoGermanic *hwarfaz; Str. adj., Nom. case, masc. sing., Acc. case, neut., sing. Old English heh (Anglian), heah ( West Saxon) "of great height, lofty, tall, exalted, highclass," from ProtoGermanic *haukhaz Libban –inf., weak verb, Class III, Past Indicative, 1st person, sing., or 3rd person, sing.

The adverb is from Old English lange, longe, from the adjective. Meaning "time something has lived, particular length or stage of life" is from early 14c. Used especially for "old age" since early 14c. A native word for this was Old English namcuð, literally "name-known."

long

Age, time , period

Famed, famous

father

related to Old English hwearfian "to turn," perhaps in a sense implying "busy activity," from PIE root *kwerp- "to turn, revolve"

Turn, change, go

Spelling with gh represents a final guttural sound in the original word, lost since 14c.

High,deep, great

from ProtoGermanic*liben. From PIE root *leip- "to remain, continue"

Lived, live (Past Simple)

glæde

Adj., str. declension, Acc. case, pl. masc. Old English glæd "bright, shining, joyous," from ProtoGermanic *glada-

fḗower

Cardinal numeral (as noun), pl., Nom. Acc. Dat. case

raḗswan

Weak noun, masc., pl., Nom. case, sing. Dat. case

from PIE *ghel- "to shine," with derivatives referring to bright materials and gold. The modern sense is much weakened. from ProtoGermanic *fedwor-, from PIE *kwetwer- "four".

Glad, bright

four

Leader, ruler

Notes Etymology All words are native, except famous - from Anglo-French famous, Old French fameus. A

native word for this was Old English namcuð, literally "name-known; age - from Old French aage. Most of the words come from the roots of the common IE layer andhave parallels outside the Germanic groups,eg: OE léof - love

Old High German liubi German Liebe

OE longe – long

Old Frisian and Old Saxon lang

Old English heh (Anglian), heah (West Saxon) – high Old English lifian – live

Old Saxon hoh, Old Norse har

Old Frisian libba, German leben

Specifically Germanic words are: wesan, cyning, libban, feower. Specifically English formations is: hwearf Word structure and word-formation. Most words are simple – eigher originally or after the loss of stem suffixes – eg. Þæt, eft, worold, wócun, séo Derived words are: cyn-ing – from theroot kun plus the suffix –ing, lit. coming from a tribe, clan Heard-e – adv. from the adj. heard with the help of –e adverb-building suffix Compound word is: Winemágas – from winemǣg, weak masculine. dear kinsman, pl. made up from wine and mǣg

Comments

Words can move from one part of speech to another in Old English as they can in Modern English: often the same word can function as a conjunction or an adverb, for example, or as a pronoun or an adjective. The noun may be inflected (endings supplied or its form altered) to mark its number (singular or plural) or case (in Modern English, subjective/objective or possessive—but there are more cases in Old English). in worold wócun

weoroda raéswan:

raḗswan - Weak noun, masc., pl., Nom. case, sing. Dat. Case

In both Old and Modern English, the infinitive is the form that dictionaries use as the headword for verb entries. But in Old English it has its own endings that distinguish it from the present forms. It is in origin a noun built on the verbal root. Hweorfan - inf., sing., str., Class III Libban –inf., weak verb, Class III, -

fæder ellor hwearf

héold þenden lifde

In Old English and all the Germanic languages, the past participle retained its adjectival function In Indo-European languages generally, the adjective is inflected to agree with the grammatical characteristics (gender, case and number) of the noun it is modifying. In Old English the adjective has different endings depending on the gender, case and number of the noun it is modifying. Glæde - Adj., str. declension, Acc. case, pl. masc. -

glæde Scyldingas

PHONETIC ANALYSIS

WORD FROM THE TEXT burgum

bearn

1. Ealdor Aldor 2. Ealdor

ANALYSIS Pl. infl. of noun – um, burg, burh ME burrh, burch, burw (Cons. Shift, Grimm’s Law, gh >y (g) Barn, ME barn, bern (< prt. Of beran) (u-o-umlaut, a>ea by the inf. of a) ME aldor æ>ea>e)

NE WORDS Fortified place, town, borough, burg

Child Barn (Shakspeare) Prince, lord Elder Grow up, age, life

fronting> breaking>monopht. verb ð >d from OG (gram. Changes Verner’s Law)

earde

ME erd = arðu
Land, earth

>d>th

eft

folcum

fæder

ME eft, efte (æ>e - fronting Pl. infl. of noun – um, folc, ME folk, follc, volk, folke c>k pr-on change ME fæder, feder, fader, fader,

Again, afterwards

People, nation, men

father

vader, fadir (æ fronting or palatalisation

ð > d> th

fḗower

glæde

ME four, fowr, fowwre Fe(h)wur –loss of medial (h), e>eo - breaking ME gled (a – palatal., ð>d

hwearf

Hwalboea- breaking, l>r

Four, fourth

Smooth, glad, shining, bright Concave, turn, change, lead

Notes The phonological changes among selected words are: consonant shifts according to Grimm’s and Verner’s Law, eg. aldor d, burg, burh- burrh, burch, burw gh >y (g), vowel shifts:breaking, palatalisation, u-o-umlaut, eg. Hwearf - hwalbo
a>ea- breaking, l>r æ>a

fḗower bearn - barn, bern

e>eo a>ea by the inf. of a

Comments Specific pronunciation differences or changes from “Old English and it’s Closest Relatives according to Robinson /c/ : as [tʃ] before or after original vowels /i/ and /e/ (before umlaut) as [k] elsewhere /g/ : as [g] when doubled /gg/ or when preceded by /n/ as in /ng/ as [j] before the front vowels /i/ and /e/, after /i/ and /e/ when syllable final as [ɣ] elsewhere /sc/ : Robinson states [ʃ] and makes no mention of [sk] as a pronunciation for this letter /f/ : as [v] between voiced sounds as [f] elsewhere /s/ : as [z] between voiced sounds as [s] elsewhere /h/ : as [h] initially and before vowels as [c] nally and between consonants /x/ : Robinson states this is pronounced as [xs], not [ks] as stated by the image above /u/ : /u/ occasionally appears instead of /w/ and thus has the pronunciation [w] 

Umlaut – Umlaut is vowel harmony. It is a common occurrence in Germanic languages and makes vowels in one part of a word conform in place of articulation to a vowel in a later syllable of the word.



monophthongization of/ɑi/: WG /stɑin/→ /stɑn/



Voicing – voicing is the distinguishing feature between sounds with otherwise similar features such as place and manner of articulation).



fronting of/ɑ/: WG/lɑtɑn/ → /læ:tɑn/



Breaking monophthong broken up into to vowel movement → diphthong In Old English

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

The Khyght’s Tale T he Canterbury Tales was one of the first books printed in England. Its story depicts the intricacies and social customs of the Anglo-Saxon middles ages and its language is fascinating, if not daring for its time. Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" is one of the greatest works of Literature in the English world. This dictionary of terms of Chaucer's main literary work "Canterbury Tales" is an excellent resource for all those interested in this amazing piece of work from the Middle Ages. It presents a exhaustive compilation of words used in the book and their equivalent in modernday English.

The Knight's Portrait

THE KNIGHT

A knyght ther was, and that a worthy man, That fro the tyme that he first bigan To riden out, he loved chivalrie, Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie. Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre, And therto hadde he riden, no man ferre, As wel in cristendom as in hethenesse, And evere honoured for his worthynesse. At alisaundre he was whan it was wonne. Ful ofte tyme he hadde the bord bigonne Aboven alle nacions in pruce; In lettow hadde he reysed and in ruce, No cristen man so ofte of his degree. In gernade at the seege eek hadde he be

A knight there was, and he a worthy man, Who, from the moment that he first began To ride about the world, loved chivalry, Truth, honour, freedom and all courtesy. Full worthy was he in his liege-lord's war, And therein had he ridden (none more far) As well in Christendom as heathenesse, And honoured everywhere for worthiness. At Alexandria, he, when it was won; Full oft the table's roster he'd begun Above all nations' knights in Prussia. In Latvia raided he, and Russia, No christened man so oft of his degree. In far Granada at the siege was he Of Algeciras, and in Belmarie.

Of algezir, and riden in belmarye. At lyeys was he and at satalye, Whan they were wonne; and in the grete see

At Ayas was he and at Satalye When they were won; and on the Middle Sea At many a noble meeting chanced to be. Of mortal battles he had fought fifteen, And he'd fought for our faith at Tramissene Three times in lists, and each time slain

Word from the text

Analysis and etymology

ME variation

tyme

Old English getimian "to happen, befall," from time (n.). Meaning "to appoint a time" (of an action, etc.) GVS tyme>time(timə)>time (taim) Old English triewð (West Saxon), treowð (Mercian) "faith, faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty; veracity, quality of being true; pledge, covenant," from triewe, treowe "faithful" Old English habban "to own, possess; be subject to, experience," from Proto-Germanic *haben. Not related to Latin habere, despite similarity in form and sense; the Latin cognate is capere "seize." Old English second person singular present hæfst, third person singular present hæfð > Middle English hast, hath, while Old English -bb- became v- in have. The past participle had developed from Old English gehæfd. fusion of Old English winnan "to labor,

time

trouthe

hadde

wonne

truth

had

won

foughten

toil, struggle for, work at, strive, fight," and gewinnan "to gain or succeed by struggling, conquer, obtain," both from ProtoGermanic *winn(w)an "to seek to gain" from PIE wen- (1) "desire, strive for" Old English feohtan "to fight" (class III strong verb; past tense feaht, past participle fohten), from Proto-Germanic *fehtan, from PIE *pek- (2) "to pluck out" (wool or hair), apparently with a notion of "pulling roughly"

fought

Notes All words are native except chivalrie, curteisie, algezir. Most of the words come from the roots of the common IE layer andhave parallels outside the Germanic groups,eg: foughten Old English feohtan, rom Proto-Germanic *fehtan, wonne

fusion of Old English winnan, from Proto-Germanic *winn(w)an

Word structure and word-formation. Most words are simple – eigher originally or after the loss of stem suffixes, eg. Tyme, trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie. Derived words are: worthynesse – worthy – ness-e, honour-ed, hethe-ness-e, In this passage are no compound words. As we can see, the spelling of all proper nouns such as cristendom, alisaundre, lettow, ruce were not capitalized. Phonological changes. The main change was the Great Vowel Shift, represented by the noun tyme, from tim
COMMENTS Chaucer's English falls between the trickier Germanic endings of Old AngloSaxon and the later Great Vowel Shift. There are many similarities to Modern English, especially when it comes to consonants. In other words, it should be easy for you to learn the basics.

Middle English spelling was in a period of transition. If you traveled around England in 1300 and asked five literate people to spell a word, they might have given you five different spellings. Geoffrey Chaucer made a rough attempt to standardize spelling, but even he spells the same word various ways in his works.

Most consonant sounds act like English. Since consonants in most words are nearly identical to their Modern English counterparts, let's focus on the differences. 

/th/ and /f/ are voiceless like in "thing" and "fish". They are only voiced (like "this" and "of") between two vowels:

ferne, fowles, forward, oft VS. fyfe, ofer, efer that, thoghte, thonder VS. bathen, sothe, fother 

/gh/ or /h/ represent the 'hard h' sound in German "a ch" or Scottish "loch" between /a/, /o/, /u/ and a consonant. They represent the 'soft h' of German "ich" or English "heehee!" between /e/ or /i/ and a consonant:

night, ih VS. ynogh, oght, draught 

/wh/ represents the sound of "h" + "w"

whanne, what, who VS. wende, wo, wissen 

/ng/ sound like "finger", not like the simple velar 'n' of "singing": fingeres



/s/ sounds like "seem", unless it's between two vowels, then it's like "please":

seyde, sothe VS. cosin 

/r/ is typically "trilled", like Spanish "r" (but not "rr").

rood, ferne 

/k/ is pronounced in word initial /kn/:

knight (or kniht)

Vowels are a bit trickier, but here are a few rules to get you pronouncing Middle English vowels in no time. Note that long vowels come before a single consonant or on their own at the end of a word. Short vowels, on the other hand, are found before two consonants or before a single consonant at the end of a word. Any vowel written double (aa, ee, oo, uu) is long. 

In older inscriptions, documents, works and texts (nearer to Old English), you may find vowels with a macron (a bar) written above (like nāme). The macron simply tells you that the vowel is long, and follows the pronunciation guides above for long vowels.

Pronouns in Middle English look much the same as their Modern English counterparts, with a few exceptions: 











The first person singular ("I") is variously spelled i, ich, ih, and is found capitalized as I from 1250. The objective (accusative and dative case) form is the same as Modern English: me. The possessive form myn, min may occur without the -n, but takes a final -e when used with plural nouns. The second person singular is thou (older thu). The objective (accusative and dative case) form is thee. The possessive thyn is sometimes written without the -n, but takes a final -e when used with a plural noun. He, him, his appear virtually unchanged. She may also be spelt sche, but we find hire rather than her and hir instead of hers. The third person singular neuter (it, also found in the older form hit) relates to the possessive his (not its!): ...Aprille with his shoures soote ...April, with its showers sweet. The first person plural we, us, and oure are easy to understand. In older texts, expect to find ure instead ofoure. The second person plural ("all of you") is ye, but we find you as an object and possessive case your. The third person plural ("they") has they as a subject, but hem instead of them and hir for their.

Verbs are a bit more complicated in Middle English, but only somewhat so. In other words, the phrase she singeth is used for she sings, I singe for I sing, etc. Notice that the plural forms all end in -en. Infinitives also end in -en, like to singen rather than to sing.



When we talk about the past tense, we distinguish between strong verbs (like singen) and weak verbs (likebathen). This is because preterite indicative verbs (actions that happened in the past) change their root vowel and add fewer endings if they're strong, or add -d- or -t- and take more endings if they're weak:

Nouns in Middle English do not reflect the complex three-gender system of Old English. They change to reflect singular and plural number, typically by adding -s (dayes and nightes days and nights) or -n (namen, yënnames, eyes). Adjectives in Middle English work much the same way as they do in Modern English. These descriptive words come before the noun they modify: yong sone young son. There is a Germanic twist, though. As in German and Icelandic, Middle English differentiates between strong and weak adjectives. 





Strong adjectives stand on their own before a noun, like the yong in yong sone. They often do not have a final -e (schwa sound). Weak adjectives come between the article the, the demonstratives (this, that, these, those) or a possessive (his, Annes his, Anne's) and the modified noun. Such adjectives have a final -e (schwa): the yonge man and his sweete breeth the young man and his sweet breath. With plural nouns, it's far easier: adjectives generally take -e, weak or strong (yonge sones, the yonge childrenyoung sons, the young children).

Shakespeare Sonnet 145

The 1609 version

Those lips that Love's own hand did make,

Thoſe lips that Loues owne hand did make,

Breathed forth the sound that said 'I hate',

Breath'd forth the ſound that ſaid I hate,

To me that languished for her sake:

To me that languiſht for her ſake:

But when she saw my woeful state,

But when ſhe ſaw my wofull ſtate,

Straight in her heart did mercy come,

Straight in her heart did mercie come,

Chiding that tongue that ever sweet

Chiding that tongue that euer ſweet,

Was used in giving gentle doom;

Was vſde in giuing gentle dome:

And taught it thus anew to greet;

And tought it thus a new to greete:

'I hate' she altered with an end,

I hate ſhe alterd with an end,

That followed it as gentle day,

That follow'd it as gentle day,

Doth follow night, who like a fiend

Doth follow night who like a fiend

From heaven to hell is flown away.

From heauen to hell is flowne away.

'I hate', from hate away she threw,

I hate, from hate away ſhe threw,

And saved my life, saying 'not you'.

And ſau'd my life ſaying not you.

This is the only sonnet of the 154 which is not written in the usual iambic pentameter (verses of five feet consisting of a short followed by a long syllable) but of the more jerky iambic tetrameter, or octosyllabic verse, which is thought to be more appropriate for epigrammatic and

comic verse. It is a sonnet that is not highly regarded, being thought of as rather trivial, and most commentators would prefer to discard it. Shakespeare could have familiarized himself at this early stage with the sonnet tradition and its language and ideas. In 1582 he was only 18 years old, had just contracted what was probably a shotgun marriage with Anne Hathaway, was still living in Stratford, knew little of London and the literary set, and yet (we are asked to believe) was able to write a poem which anticipated the language of Sidney's Astrophel and Stella by at least nine years. If the puns are insisted upon, it is always possible that Shakespeare sent off this sonnet to his wife when he was writing the other ones, to assure her that all was well. The other sonnets were hardly such as to promote marital concord, and one wonders how she might have responded to their publication in 1609. The pun of line 14 'Anne saved my life' could equally apply to the dark lady, if her name was Anne.

Shakespeare's Grammar Shakespeare played a very influential role in standardizing English grammar. He revived the use of suffixes in the grammar, which were hardly used in his time. Furthermore, his writing depicted the rules that would be followed later in the English language. Also, Shakespeare’s spellings have been changed, but his grammar has not been changed to date.

Usage Shifts 

One part of speech is often substituted for another; this is most frequent with nouns and verbs. Eg.

In the dark backward and abysm of time. That may repeat and history his loss.  Adjectives don't always mean what they seem to say; active and passive forms are sometimes interchangeable, as are those that signify cause or effect. Eg.

Wherever in your sightless (= invisible) substances. There's something in 't That is deceivable (= deceptive). Oppressed with two weak (= weakening) evils  Pronouns have irregular inflections; often the

nominative case (he, she, who) is used instead of the objective case (him, her, whom). Eg. And he (= him) my husband best of all affects.



Verbs don't always agree with their subjects; most frequently a singular verb is used with a plural subject. Eg. Three parts of him Is ours already.  Double-negatives are often used for emphasis of a point. Eg. You may deny that you were not the mean Of my Lord Hastings' late imprisonment [i.e., deny that you were the mean].  There is a high frequency of using "more" and "most" before words ending in -er or -est. eg. And his more braver daughter could control thee.

COMMENTS ON SONNETS Shakespeare's complex sentence structures and use of now obsolete words lead many people to think they are reading Old or Middle English. In fact, Shakespeare's works are written in Early Modern English. Once you see a text of Old or Middle English you'll really appreciate how easy Shakespeare is to understand (well, relatively speaking).

Any period in the history of the English language can be studied from the point of view of how it was pronounced at the time. Old English,Chaucer and so on. In relation to Shakespeare, we’re talking about the sound system, or phonology, that was in use in a period called ‘early modern English,’ and in the period specifically around about the year 1600. Now, it’s a period during which pronunciation was changing very, very rapidly, so there isn’t just one kind of OP, there’s an OP that evolves throughout the period. For example, early on in the period, people are pronouncing the word ‘musician,’ as ‘musisian,’ Later in the period, it had evolved into ‘musician.’ And, of course, later still, it became ‘musician.’ How do we know that that was original pronunciation? Poetry is also extremely helpful in this regard because you know where the intonation is automatically. The Great Vowel Shift gives clues. Before the GVS, English vowels used the Latin alphabet. So they were pronounced differently, especially the long vowels. However, of great importance is The Ormulun. Orm, who wrote the Ormulun, actually noted that he hated people who misprounounced English. So he spelling many words phonetically. This gives us many clues and is probably one of the most significant linguistic pieces in the history of the English language. So, in short, the answer lies in earlier poetry, Ormulun, knowledge of the Great Vowel Shift, and later poetry and phonetic dictionaries.

Conclusion

At the end of our analysis we can conclude, that during the whole period of language development all aspects of language have changed, and we cannot say exactly at which period starts this or that processand began the next. The periodisation of the development of language is conventional and artificial. Nethertheless, it is obvious that grammar, phonology and vocabulary have changed by the influence of regional dialects, historical events, and significant inventions. The OE period is called a period of full endings, i.e a large amount of inflections in morphological structure existed. Through the ME period the most endings were lost, i.e.the simplification of the words occurred. And during the period of Normalisation the fixing pronounciation and standardization of vocabulary took place. Beowulf was written in runic inscriptions, the symbols of which are now used in transcription of MoE words. Chaucer works during the Late ME period, his literary language was based on London dialect, known as classical ME. In the present day, English is used in many parts of the world, as a first, second or foreign language, having been carried from its country of origin by former colonial and imperial activity, the slave trade, and recently, economic, cultural and educational prestige. It continues to change at all linguistic levels, in both standard and non-standard varieties, in response to external influences (e.g. modern communications technologies; contact with other world languages) and pressures internal to the language system (e.g. the continuing impulse towards an efficient, symmetrical sound-system; the avoidance of grammatical ambiguity). We need not fear or resist such change, though many people do, since the processes operating now are comparable to those which have operated throughout the observable and reconstructable history of English, and indeed of all other languages.