A History of English
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A History of A History of English English Old Old English English
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A History of English. Old English. What is Old English?. Old English describes the language spoken in England from the 5 th Century to the 11 th Century AD. Old English has its roots in Anglo Saxon (from Germany) and Old Norse (from Scandinavia). Before English. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of A History of English
A History of EnglishA History of English
Old Old EnglishEnglish
What is Old English?
• Old English describes the language spoken in England from the 5th Century to the 11th Century AD.
• Old English has its roots in Anglo Saxon (from Germany) and Old Norse (from Scandinavia).
Before English• The original inhabitants of
Great Britain were called The Britons and spoke a variety of languages called The Celtic Languages.
• The word Britain comes from the Celtic word Pritani, meaning “painted people”.
• Cornish, Welsh and Manx are Celtic languages, and still survive today.
Before English• In 43 AD, the Romans
invaded Britain.• The Roman language
was latin.• Latin became the
prestige language, ie the language of education, religion, the royal court and the law.
• However, most Britons hated Roman rule and continued to speak their own Celtic languages.
Why is Old English influenced by German?
• 1500 years ago, after the Romans had left Britain, tribes from Germany came here to settle. Among these tribes were the Angles and the Saxons, known collectively as the Anglo-Saxons.
Why is Old English influenced by German?
• The Anglo-Saxons brought with them their language, an ancestor of modern German.
• Anglo-Saxon changed the language of the British Isles for ever.
What about Old Norse?• The Vikings began
settling in Britain from the 8th Century.
• The Vikings came from Scandinavia, and often landed in Northern Britain, rather than the Anglo-Saxons, who arrived in the South.
• The Vikings brought their language, known as Old Norse, with them.
Old English Place Names• The area of South-East
England is still known as East Anglia, after the Angles who settled there.
• The kingdom of the South Saxons is called Sussex, and the East Saxons Essex.
• Look at the map. Can you think of a reason why Welsh (a celtic language) has survived into the present day?
Old English Place Names
• Many Old English place names are Christian and refer to Anglo-Saxon saints:
St AlbansSt Neots
…but many refer to plants, animals and natural features:
Hebden:“bramble valley”(from heope, meaning “bramble”, and denu, meaning “valley”)
Mytholmroyd:“clearing in the forest on the land between two rivers”(from mydd, meaning “in the middle”, holm meaning “island” and rod, meaning “clearing”)
Place Name ChallengeUsing the translation sheet, can you work out what these local place names mean?
1.Scout Crags2.Dean Clough3.Caldene4.Heptonstall5.Blackshawhead
•Old English Place Name Translator
What does Old English look and sound like?
a gyt hie him asetton segen geldenne heah ofer heafod, leton holm beran,geafon on garsecg; him wæs geomor sefa,murnende mod. Men ne cunnonsecgan to soðe, selerædende,hæleð under heofenum, hwa þæm hlæste onfeng.
beowulf reading.ram
“The Funeral of Scyld Scefing”, from Beowulf, Anglo-Saxon poem.
a gyt hie him asetton segen geldenne heah ofer heafod, leton holm beran,geafon on garsecg; him wæs geomor sefa,murnende mod. Men ne cunnonsecgan to soðe, selerædende,hæleð under heofenum, hwa þæm hlæste onfeng.
High o'er his head they hoist the standard,a gold-wove banner; let billows take him,gave him to ocean. Grave were their spirits,mournful their mood. No man is ableto say in sooth, no son of the halls,no hero 'neath heaven, -- who harbored that freight!
Are there any Old English words which look or sound like their modern equivalent?
Old English Vocabulary
• leton• geafon• mod• men ne cunnon• soðe• heofenum
letgave/givenmoodmen can notsootheheaven
Most of our Modern English Vocabulary comes from Anglo Saxon.
The Old English Alphabet
eth
thorn
wynn
/th/
/th/
/w/
Old English Grammar
Old English is highly inflected. This means that words or their endings change depending on case, tense or gender.
• Ic stele I steal• Þū stilst you steal• hē/hit/hēo stilð he/she/it steals• wē/gē/hīe stelaþ we/you(pl)/they steal
• In Modern English, sentences usually follow the pattern of subject, verb, object.
“They brought the king to Joshua.”
Old English Word Order
Subject verb object
But in Old English, word order was more flexible:
Ðone cyning hī brōhton tō Iosue.
Ðā cwæð Drihten tō Caine: "Hwǣr is Abel ðīn brōðor?”
Old English Word Order
Then the Lord said to Cain, “where is Abel your brother?”
hē on hys swustor ġewīfode.
He married his sister
subject…verb
subject, verb
Summary: How is Old English different from Modern English?
1. Lexis (words). Although most words in Modern English are anglo-saxon in origin, Old English words are often difficult for the modern reader to understand.
2. Orthography (alphabet). Letters existed in Old English which have not survived into Modern English.
3. Grammar. Old English, like Modern German, was a highly inflected language which meant that words were often changed depending on case, tense or gender.
4. Syntax (word order). Word order differed in Old English a great deal more than modern English.
