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Philology 2: Introduction to Old English Language and Literature Summary on Grammar
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This is a summary of all the grammar of the course Philology 2 given at Leiden University
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PHILOLOGY 2; Introduction to Old English Language and LiteratureGRAMMAR
THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND THEIR LANGUAGE
Who were they?
Anglo-Saxon: the English-speaking inhabitants of Britain from around the middle of the 5 th century until the time of
the Norman Conquest. According to Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum the A-Ss arrived during the reign
of Marian ±449. Before that time Britain had been inhabited by Celtic language speakers. The Scots and Picts and
the groups united under Roman rule. In AD 410 the last of the Roman troops were withdrawn and the Britons had
to defend themselves. They asked Germanic mercenaries to come and fight the Picts and Scots. These mercenaries
were Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Soon they broke contract and made an alliance with the Picts and conquered the
territory now known as England. Note that Bede’s account cannot be accepted without reservation, but it does tell
us that the A-Ss considered themselves a warrior people. The British population has kept pretty stable for
thousands of years, the rulers were often replaced but the greatest proportion of the population remained. The A-
S kingdoms converted to Christianity in the late 6th and early 7th centuries. Most authors of this time wrote in
Latin but also created an extensive body of vernacular literature. Most vernacular manuscripts date from the late
9th, 10th and 11th c. but they already wrote in their own language starting from the early 7th century.
Where did their language come from?
The A-Ss came from Germania, a vast and ill-defined territory east of the Rhine and north of the Danube. It was
inhabited by numerous tribes which were closely related culturally and linguistically. Their language belongs to the
Indo-European family of languages. Most of the present day European languages come from this old language. The
Germanic branch of the Indo-European family is usually divided into 3 groups:
- North Germanic: Scandinavian
- East Germanic: Gothic
- West Germanic: High German, English, Dutch, etc.
- High German: Modern German
- Low German: English and others (was originally spoken
in the low country near the North Sea)
What was Old English like?
Every language has his own repertoire of sounds, its own rules for accentuating word and its own patters of
intonation, its own way of signaling how words function in utterances. So, what makes Old English an Indo-
European language, a Germanic language, a West Germanic and Low Germanic language? All Indo-European
languages share some basic vocabulary, Latin p will for instance almost always correspond to the EN f. All Indo-
European languages add endings to words and they all signal the function of a word in a sentence of clause by
inflecting it for case.
It is a Germanic Language because of the change earlier mentioned from p to f. This is part of the change called
Grimm’s Law and affected all of the stop consonants
- Unvoiced stops: p, t, k -> f, (unvoiced) th, x
- Voiced stops: b, d, g -> p, t, k
- Voiced aspirated stops: bh, dh, gh -> b, d, g
Also, with Germanic Languages the stress shifted to the 1st syllable, even with prefixes unless it was (OE) ge- (g
with dot). And OE puts the accent after the prefix of verbs. The Germanic Languages also had a simplification of the
inflectional system. They have only 4 cases and the verbs have just 2 tenses. The Germanic Languages were also
beginning to rely on a relatively fixed ordering of sentence elements to do some of the inflectional work.
In North and West Germanic, the consonant z became an r and in West Germanic it disappeared at the end of
unstressed syllables. Low Germanic also did not have the High German consonant shift. Low Germanic also did not
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,distinguish person in plural Vs. Old English changed the vowel that in other Germanic languages is represented as a
(to ash). Old English also had i-mutation (see chapter 2). In OE only 3 vowels could appear in inflectional endings: a,
e and o/u. Also, there were changes in the unaccented syllables to simplify the inflectional system.
The changes that turned OE into ME and ME into ModE were gradually. The rules for spelling in OE was less fixed
than in ModE. The 3 vowels that could appear in inflections in OE reduced to 1 in ME. Most case distinctions and
endings added to verbs were lost while the order of words got more fixed. The OE vocabulary was more Germanic
which changed with the Norman Conquest in 1066.
Old English dialects
There were 4 major dialects:
- Northumbrian: north
- Mercian: Midlands
- Kentish: Kent
- West Saxon: South-West
Most OE literature is in West Saxon, but we owe most of our spelling to Mercian since that was the language of
London.
PRONUNCIATION
Vowels
OE has seven simple vowels:
a -> pronounced [ɑ] father (American pronunciation)
æ -> pronounced [æ] cat
e -> pronounced [e] fate
i -> pronounced [i] feet
o -> pronounced [o] boat
u -> pronounced [u] tool
y -> pronounced [y] über
And probably an eight:
ie -> pronounced probably [ɪ] sit
Long vowels are marked with macrons -> ō (not in manuscripts). The vowel length or duration of vowels in OE is
significant, because it makes a difference in the meanings of words -> OE is means ‘is’ and OE īs means ‘ice’.
Diphthongs
OE has two digraphs (pairs of letters) that are interpreted as diphthongs:
eo -> represents [eo] or [eu], starts with [e] and glides to a [o] or [u] -> dēop ‘deep’.
ea -> represents [æɑ], starts with [æ] and glides to [ɑ] -> feallan ‘fall’.
Consonants
Most OE consonants are pronounced as in Modern
English. The differences are straightforward:
The letters þ (‘thorn’) and ð (‘eth’) are used
interchangeably to represent [θ] and [ð] -> ing
‘thing’, brōðor ‘brother’.
There are no silent consonants. OE cniht
‘knight’ actually begins with a [k].
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, The consonants spelled f, s and þ/ð are pronounced as voiced [v], [z] and [ð] when they fall between
vowels or other voiced sounds.
The consonants spelled f, s and þ/ð are pronounced as unvoiced [f], [s] and [θ] when they come at the
beginning or end of a word or adjacent to at least one unvoiced sound.
When written double, consonants must be pronounced double, or held longer.
The combination cg is pronounced [dʒ].
OE h is pronounced [h] at the beginning of syllables, but elsewhere it is pronounced approximately like
German ch.
The combination sc is usually pronounced [ʃ], but within a word before a back vowel or after a back vowel
at the end of a word, it is pronounced [sk].
Undotted c is pronounced [k] and dotted ċ is pronounced [tʃ]. It is never pronounced [s].
Undotted g is pronounced [g] when it comes at the beginning of a word or syllable. Between voiced
sounds undotted g is pronounced [ɣ]. This sound became [w] in ME. Dotted ġ is usually pronounced [j],
but when is follows an n it is pronounced [dʒ].
Dots are printed above a c and g when:
Before the front vowels i and ie and the diphthongs ea and eo.
Before y in late West Saxon, but only in words where it was spelled ie in early West Saxon.
At the end of a syllable, we print ġ following any front vowel (æ, e, i), unless a back vowel (a, o,
u) immediately follows. The same is true for ċ, but only after i.
In a few words where g is not descended from an older [g] or [ɣ], as is usually the case, but rather from [j].
I-mutation
I-mutation is a shift in the quality of a vowel so that it is pronounced with the tongue higher and farther forward
than usual. Back vowels become front vowels and low vowels become higher, except [i] because it can’t go higher.
i y u a -> æ
ea -> ie (i, y)
e o eo -> ie (i, y)
æ a
When a nasal n/m follows, a -> e as in mann - menn
Accentuation
All OE words are accented on the first syllable, except the words beginning with the prefix ġe- are
accented on the second syllable.
Verbs beginning with prefixes are accented on the next syllable after the prefix.
Nouns and adjectives with prefixes (except ġe-) are accented on the prefixes.
Words borrowed from Latin are accented on the first syllable.
CASE
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