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Old English was the language spoken in England from roughly 500 to 1100 CE.

It is one of
the Germanic languages derived from a prehistoric Common Germanic originally spoken in
southern Scandinavia and the northernmost parts of Germany. Old English is also known
as Anglo-Saxon, which is derived from the names of two Germanic tribes that invaded
England during the fifth century. The most famous work of Old English literature is the epic
poem, "Beowulf."

Example of Old English

The Lord's Prayer (Our Father)


Fæder ure
ðu ðe eart on heofenum
si ðin nama gehalgod
to-becume ðin rice
geweorþe ðin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofenum.
Urne ge dæghwamlican hlaf syle us to-deag
and forgyf us ure gyltas
swa swa we forgifaþ urum gyltendum
ane ne gelæde ðu us on costnunge
ac alys us of yfle.

On Old English Vocabulary

"The extent to which the Anglo-Saxons overwhelmed the native Britons is illustrated in
their vocabulary... Old English (the name scholars give to the English of the Anglo-Saxons)
contains barely a dozen Celtic words... It is impossible...to write a modern English sentence
without using a feast of Anglo-Saxon words. Computer analysis of the language has shown
that the 100 most common words in English are all of Anglo-Saxon origin. The basic
building blocks of an English sentence—the, is, you and so on—are Anglo-Saxon. Some Old
English words like mann, hus and drincan hardly need translation."—From "The Story of
English" by Robert McCrum, William Cram, and Robert MacNeill

"It has been estimated that only about 3 percent of Old English vocabulary is taken from non-
native sources and it is clear that the strong preference in Old English was to use its native
resources in order to create new vocabulary. In this respect, therefore, and as elsewhere, Old
English is typically Germanic."—From "An Introduction to Old English" by Richard M.
Hogg and Rhona Alcorn

"Although contact with other languages has radically altered the nature of its vocabulary,
English today remains a Germanic language at its core. The words that describe family
relationships—father, mother, brother, son—are of Old English descent (compare Modern
German Vater, Mutter, Bruder, Sohn), as are the terms for body parts, such as foot, finger,
shoulder (German Fuß, Finger, Schulter), and numerals, one, two, three, four,
five (German eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf) as well as its grammatical words, such as and, for,
I (German und, für, Ich)."—From "How English Became English" by Simon Horobin
On Old English and Old Norse Grammar

"Languages which make extensive use of prepositions and auxiliary verbs and depend
upon word order to show other relationships are known as analytic languages. Modern
English is an analytic, Old English a synthetic language. In its grammar, Old English
resembles modern German. Theoretically, the noun and adjective are inflected for
four cases in the singular and four in the plural, although the forms are not always distinctive,
and in addition the adjective has separate forms for each of the three genders.
The inflection of the verb is less elaborate than that of the Latin verb, but there are distinctive
endings for the different persons, numbers, tenses, and moods."—From "A History of the
English Language" by A. C. Baugh

"Even before the arrival of the Normans [in 1066], Old English was changing. In the
Danelaw, the Old Norse of the Viking settlers was combining with the Old English of the
Anglo-Saxons in new and interesting ways. In the poem, 'The Battle of Maldon,' grammatical
confusion in the speech of one of the Viking characters has been interpreted by some
commentators as an attempt to represent an Old Norse speaker struggling with Old
English. The languages were closely related, and both relied very much on the endings of
words—what we call 'inflections'—to signal grammatical information. Often these
grammatical inflexions were the main thing that distinguished otherwise similar words in Old
English and Old Norse.

"For example, the word 'worm' or 'serpent' used as the object of a sentence would have
been orminn in Old Norse, and simply wyrm in Old English. The result was that as the two
communities strove to communicate with each other, the inflexions became blurred and
eventually disappeared. The grammatical information that they signaled had to be expressed
using different resources, and so the nature of the English language began to change. New
reliance was put on the order of words and on the meanings of little grammatical
words like to, with, in, over, and around."—From "Beginning Old English" by Carole Hough
and John Corbett

On Old English and the Alphabet

"The success of English was all the more surprising in that it was not really a written
language, not at first. The Anglo-Saxons used a runic alphabet, the kind of writing J.R.R.
Tolkien recreated for 'The Lord of the Rings,' and one more suitable for stone inscriptions
than shopping lists. It took the arrival of Christianity to spread literacy and to produce
the letters of an alphabet which, with a very few differences, is still in use today."—From
"The Story of English" by Philip Gooden

Differences Between Old English and Modern English

"There is no point...in playing down the differences between Old and Modern English, for
they are obvious at a glance. The rules for spelling Old English were different from the rules
for spelling Modern English, and that accounts for some of the difference. But there are more
substantial changes as well. The three vowels that appeared in the inflectional endings of Old
English words were reduced to one in Middle English, and then most inflectional endings
disappeared entirely. Most case distinctions were lost; so were most of the endings added to
verbs, even while the verb system became more complex, adding such features as a future
tense, a perfect and a pluperfect. While the number of endings was reduced, the order of
elements within clauses and sentences became more fixed, so that (for example) it came to
sound archaic and awkward to place an object before the verb, as Old English had frequently
done."—From "Introduction to Old English" by Peter S. Baker

Celtic Influence on English

"In linguistic terms, obvious Celtic influence on English was minimal, except for place-and
river-names... Latin influence was much more important, particularly for vocabulary...
However, recent work has revived the suggestion that Celtic may have had considerable
effect on low-status, spoken varieties of Old English, effects which only became evident in
the morphology and syntax of written English after the Old English period... Advocates of
this still-controversial approach variously provide some striking evidence of coincidence of
forms between Celtic languages and English, a historical framework for contact, parallels
from modern creole studies, and—sometimes—the suggestion that Celtic influence has been
systematically downplayed because of a lingering Victorian concept of condescending
English nationalism."—From "A History of the English Language" by David Denison and
Richard Hogg

English Language History Resources

 English Language
 Kenning
 Key Events in the History of the English Language
 Language Contact
 Middle English
 Modern English
 Mutation
 Spoken English
 Written English

Sources

 McCrum, Robert; Cram, William; MacNeill, Robert. "The Story of English." Viking.
1986
 Hogg, Richard M.; Alcorn, Rhona. "An Introduction to Old English," Second Edition.
Edinburgh University Press. 2012
 Horobin, Simon. "How English Became English." Oxford University Press. 2016
 Baugh, A. C. "A History of the English Language," Third Edition. Routledge. 1978
 Hough, Carole; Corbett, John. "Beginning Old English," Second Edition. Palgrave
Macmillan. 2013
 Gooden, Philip. "The Story of English." Quercus. 2009
 Baker, Peter S. "Introduction to Old English." Wiley-Blackwell. 2003
 Denison, David; Hogg, Richard. "Overview" in "A History of the English Language."
Cambridge University Press. 2008.

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Home » Linguistics » MAKALAH PHONOLOGY

MAKALAH PHONOLOGY
By Nurul Hidayani03:16No comments
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. Problem Background
English phonology is the sound system (phonology) of the English language, or the
study of that system. Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural
languages.[1] Like many languages, English has wide variation in pronunciation, both
historically and from dialect to dialect. In general, however, the regional dialects of English
share a largely similar (though not identical) phonological system.
Our phonological knowledge is not something we can necessarily access and talk about
in detail: we often have intuitions about language without knowing where they come from, or
exactly how to express them. But the knowledge is certainly there. However, English
speakers are not consciously aware of those rules, and are highly unlikely to tell a linguist
asking about those words that the absence of *fnil reflects the unacceptability of word-initial
consonant sequences, or clusters, with [fn-] in English: the more likely answer is that snil
‘sounds all right’ (and if you’re lucky, your informant will produce similar words like sniff or
snip to back up her argument), but that *fnil ‘just sounds wrong’. It is the job of the
phonologist to express generalisations of this sort in precise terms: after all, just because
knowledge is not conscious, this does not mean it is unreal, unimportant or not worth
understanding.[2]

B. Problem Formulation
1. What is the definition of phonology?
2. What are suprasegmental features?

CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION

A. PHONOLOGY
1. Definition of Phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics concerned with the study of speech sounds with
reference to their distribution and patterning. Adjective: phonological. A linguist who
specializes in phonology is known as a phonologist. Etymologically, Phonology from the
Greek, means "sound, voice".
The aim of phonology is to discover the principles that govern the way sounds are
organized in languages and to explain the variations that occur. We begin by analyzing an
individual language to determine which sound units are used and which patterns they form--
the language's sound system. We then compare the properties of different sound systems, and
work out hypotheses about the rules underlying the use of sounds in particular groups of
languages. Ultimately, phonologists want to make statements that apply to all languages.
Whereas phonetics is the study of all possible speech sounds, phonology studies the
way in which a language's speakers systematically use a selection of these sounds in order to
express meaning. There is a further way of drawing the distinction. No two speakers have
anatomically identical vocal tracts, and thus no one produces sounds in exactly the same way
as anyone else. Yet when using our language we are able to discount much of this variation,
and focus on only those sounds, or properties of sound, that are important for the
communication of meaning. We think of our fellow speakers as using the 'same' sounds, even
though acoustically they are not. Phonology is the study of how we find order within the
apparent chaos of speech sounds.[3] When we talk about the 'sound system' of English, we
are referring to the number of phonemes which are used in a language and to how they are
organized.[4]
Phonology is not only about phonemes and allophones. Phonology also concerns itself
with the principles governing the phoneme systems--that is, with what sounds languages 'like'
to have, which sets of sounds are most common (and why) and which are rare (and also why).
It turns out that there are prototype-based explanations for why the phoneme system of the
languages of the world have the sounds that they do, with physiological/acoustic/perceptual
explanations for the preference for some sounds over others.[5]
The phonological system of a language includes
an inventory of sounds and their features, and
rules which specify how sounds interact with each other.
Phonology is just one of several aspects of language. It is related to other aspects such
as phonetics, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics.

Here is an illustration that shows the place of phonology in an interacting hierarchy of


levels in linguistics:
2. Models of phonology
In classical phonemics, phonemes and their possible combinations are central.
In standard generative phonology, distinctive features are central. A stream of speech is
portrayed as linear sequence of discrete sound-segments. Each segment is composed of
simultaneously occurring features.
In non-linear models of phonology, a stream of speech is represented as
multidimensional, not simply as a linear sequence of sound segments. These non-linear
models grew out of generative phonology:
autosegmental phonology
metrical phonology
lexical phonology

B. SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES
Suprasegmental features are faetures of fundamental frequency, intensity and duration,
according to a common defenition. Although this restriction is tradisional, it is not without
problem. First, there is a problem with defenition, Leshite (1970) defines suprasegmental as
features of ‘pitch, stress and quantity. The other problem with a restricting is there are other
phenomena that might otherwise be covered by the definion intonation purpose here.[6]
Suprasegmental phonology is concerned with other aspects of phonology, such as tone,
stress and intonation. In some periods, suprasegmental phonology has been rather ignored
compared to segmental phonology. This is presumably because, in most fields of scientific
inquiry with the exception of physics, a linear world view has held sway, and also because
the orthography of languages such as English encourages one to see the sound system as
being a simple linear sequence of segments.[7] Suprasegmental or prosodic phonology
involves phenomena such as stress (intensity) and tone (pitch). An accentual pattern involves
the deployment of suprasegmentals within a word (for example, the stress differences
between the noun insert--with stress on the first syllable--and the verb insert--with stress on
the second syllable--), whereas an intonational pattern involves suprasegmentals within the
framework of a sentence (for example, all the words in Mary worries Martin are accentually
stressed on the first syllable, but the stress in Martin is intonationally most prominent).
Because the sentence characteristically constitutes the framework for intonation, and because
sentences are fundamentally syntactic constructs, intonation is one phonological phenomenon
whose domain goes beyond morphology.[8]
Suprasegmental, also called Prosodic Feature, in phonetics, a speech feature such as
stress, tone, or word juncture that accompanies or is added over consonants and vowels; these
features are not limited to single sounds but often extend over syllables, words, or phrases. In
Spanish the stress accent is often used to distinguish between otherwise identical words:
término means “term,” termíno means “I terminate,” and terminó means “he terminated.” In
Mandarin Chinese, tone is a distinctive suprasegmental: shih pronounced on a high, level
note means “to lose”; on a slight rising note means “ten”; on a falling note means “city,
market”; and on a falling–rising note means “history.” English “beer dripped” and “beard
ripped” are distinguished by word juncture. Suprasegmentals are so called in contrast to
consonants and vowels, which are treated as serially ordered segments of the spoken
utterance.[9]

CHAPTER III
SUMMARY
English phonology is the sound system (phonology) of the English language, or the
study of that system. Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural
languages. Suprasegmental, also called Prosodic Feature, in phonetics, is a speech feature
such as stress, tone, or word juncture that accompanies or is added over consonants and
vowels; these features are not limited to single sounds but often extend over syllables, words,
or phrases.

REFERENCES
April McMahon. An Intriduction to English Phonology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,
2002.
D. Robert Ladd. International Phonology Second Edition. United States of America: Cambridge
University Press. 2008.
David Crystal, How Language Works. Overlook Press. 2005.
David Crystal, The Cambridge Encylopedia of the English Language, 2nd edition. Cambridge
University Press.2003.
Geoffrey S. Nathan, Phonology: A Cognitive Grammar Introduction. John Benjamins. 2008.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_suprasegmental_phonology Tuesday, 11th March, 2013.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/574738/suprasegmental Tuesday, 11th March, 2013.
http://www.sabah.edu.my/smkbft2/phonology.html Tuesday, 11th March, 2013
http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsPhonology.htm Tuesday,
11th March, 2013.

[1] http://www-
01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsPhonology.htm Monday, 11th March,
2013.
[2] April McMahon, An Intriduction to English Phonology, (Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, 2002), p. 2
[3] David Crystal, How Language Works. Overlook Press, 2005.
[4] David Crystal, The Cambridge Encylopedia of the English Language, 2nd edition.
Cambridge University Press, 2003.
[5] Geoffrey S. Nathan, Phonology: A Cognitive Grammar Introduction. John
Benjamins, 2008.
[6] D. Robert Ladd, International Phonology Second Edition, ( United States of
America: Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 4-5
[7] http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_suprasegmental_phonology Tuesday,
th
11 March, 2013
[8] http://www.sabah.edu.my/smkbft2/phonology.html Monday, 11th March, 2013
[9] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/574738/suprasegmental Monday,
th
11 March, 2013
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GRAMMAR

1. Phonology

The inventory of classical Old English (i.e. Late West Saxon) surface phones, as usually
reconstructed, is as follows:

Posta
Bilabia Labiodenta Denta Alveola l Palata Glotta
Velar
l l l r veola l l
r
Stop pb td kg
Affricate tʃ
(dʒ)
Nasal M n (ŋ)
(x)(ɣ
Fricative f (v) θ (ð) s (z) ʃ (ç) h
)
Approximan
r j w
t
Lateral
l
approximant
The sounds marked in parentheses in the chart above are allophones:

 [dʒ] is an allophone of /j/ occurring after /n/ and when geminated


 [ŋ] is an allophone of /n/ occurring before /k/ and /g/
 [v, ð, z] are allophones of /f, θ, s/ respectively, occurring between vowels or voiced
consonants
 [ç, x] are allophones of /h/ occurring in coda position after front and back vowels
respectively
 [ɣ] is an allophone of /g/ occurring after a vowel, and, at an earlier stage of the language,
in the syllable onset.
Monophthongs Short Long
Front Back Front Back
Close I Y U i: y: u:
Mid E (ø) O e: (ø:) o:
Open Æ ɑ æ: ɑ:
The front mid rounded vowels /ø(ː)/ occur in some dialects of Old English, but not in the best
attested Late West Saxon dialect.

Diphthongs Short (monomoraic) Long (bimoraic)


First element is close Iy I:y
Both elements are mid Eo e:o
Both elements are open æɑ æ:ɑ
Phonology[edit]
Main article: Old English phonology
The inventory of classical Old English (Late West Saxon) surface phones, as usually
reconstructed, is as follows.

Consonants

Post-
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
alveolar

Nasal m (n̥) n (ŋ)

Stop pb td kɡ

Affricate tʃ (dʒ)

Fricative f (v) θ (ð) s (z) ʃ (ç) (x ɣ) h

Approximant (l̥ ) l j (ʍ) w

Trill (r̥) r

The sounds enclosed in parentheses in the chart above are not considered to be phonemes:

 [dʒ] is an allophone of /j/ occurring after /n/ and when geminated (doubled).
 [ŋ] is an allophone of /n/ occurring before /k/ and /ɡ/.
 [v, ð, z] are voiced allophones of /f, θ, s/ respectively, occurring
between vowels or voiced consonants.
 [ç, x] are allophones of /h/ occurring in coda position after front and back vowels
respectively.
 [ɣ] is an allophone of /ɡ/ occurring after a vowel, and, at an earlier stage of the language,
in the syllable onset.
 the voiceless sonorants [ʍ, l̥ , n̥, r̥] are analysed as realizing the sequences /hw, hl, hn, hr/.
The above system is largely similar to that of Modern English, except that [ç, x, ɣ, l̥ , n̥,
r̥] (and [ʍ] for most speakers) have generally been lost, while the voiced affricate and
fricatives (now also including /ʒ/) have become independent phonemes, as has /ŋ/.
Vowels – monophthongs

Front Back

unrounded rounded Unrounded Rounded

Close i iː y yː u uː

Mid e eː (ø øː) o oː

Open æ æː ɑ ɑː

The mid-front rounded vowels /ø(ː)/ had merged into unrounded /e(ː)/ before the Late West
Saxon period. During the 11th century such vowels arose again, as monophthongisations of
the diphthongs /e(ː)o/, but quickly merged again with /e(ː)/ in most dialects.[26]

Diphthongs

First Short Long


element (monomoraic) (bimoraic)

Close iy/ie iːy/iːe

Mid eo eːo

Open æɑ æːɑ

The exact pronunciation of the West Saxon close diphthongs, spelt ⟨ie⟩, is disputed; it may
have been /i(ː)y/ or /i(ː)e/. Other dialects may have had different systems of diphthongs; for
example, Anglian dialects retained /i(ː)u/, which had merged with /e(ː)o/ in West Saxon.
For more on dialectal differences, see Phonological history of Old English (dialects).
Sound changes[edit]
Main article: Phonological history of Old English
Some of the principal sound changes occurring in the pre-history and history of Old English
were the following:
 Fronting of [ɑ(ː)] to [æ(ː)] except when nasalised or followed by a nasal
consonant ("Anglo-Frisian brightening"), partly reversed in certain positions by later "a-
restoration" or retraction.
 Monophthongisation of the diphthong [ai], and modification of remaining diphthongs to
the height-harmonic type.
 Diphthongisation of long and short front vowels in certain positions ("breaking").
 Palatalisation of velars [k], [ɡ], [ɣ], [sk] to [tʃ], [dʒ], [j], [ʃ] in certain front-vowel
environments.
 The process known as i-mutation (which for example led to modern mice as the plural
of mouse).
 Loss of certain weak vowels in word-final and medial positions, and of medial [(i)j];
reduction of remaining unstressed vowels.
 Diphthongisation of certain vowels before certain consonants when preceding a back
vowel ("back mutation").
 Loss of /h/ between vowels or between a voiced consonant and a vowel, with lengthening
of the preceding vowel.
 Collapse of two consecutive vowels into a single vowel.
 "Palatal umlaut", which has given forms such as six (compare German sechs).
For more details of these processes, see the main article, linked above. For sound changes
before and after the Old English period, see Phonological history of English.

Grammar[edit]
Main article: Old English grammar
Morphology[edit]
Nouns decline for five cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental;
three genders: masculine, feminine, neuter; and two numbers: singular, and plural; and are
strong or weak. The instrumental is vestigial and only used with the masculine and neuter
singular and often replaced by the dative. Only pronouns and strong adjectives retain
separate instrumental forms. There is also sparse early Northumbrian evidence of a sixth
case: the locative. Adjectives agree with nouns in case, gender, number, and strong, or weak
forms. Pronouns and sometimes participles agree in case, gender, and number. First-person
and second-person personal pronouns occasionally distinguish dual-number forms.
The definite article sē and its inflections serve as a definite article ("the"), a demonstrative
adjective ("that"), and demonstrative pronoun. Other demonstratives are þes ("this"),
and ġeon ("yon"). These words inflect for case, gender, number. Adjectives have both strong
and weak sets of endings, weak ones being used when a definite or possessive determiner is
also present.
Verbs conjugate for three persons: first, second, and third; two numbers: singular, plural;
two tenses: present, and past; three moods: indicative, subjunctive, and imperative;[27] and are
strong (exhibiting ablaut) or weak (exhibiting a dental suffix). Verbs have
two infinitive forms: bare, and bound; and two participles: present, and past. The subjunctive
has past and present forms. Finite verbs agree with subjects in person, and number.
The future tense, passive voice, and other aspects are formed with
compounds. Adpositions are mostly before but often after their object. If the object of an
adposition is marked in the dative case, an adposition may conceivably be located anywhere
in the sentence.
Remnants of the Old English case system in Modern English are in the forms of a few
pronouns (such as I/me/mine, she/her, who/whom/whose) and in the possessive ending -'s,
which derives from the masculine and neuter genitive ending -es. The modern English
plural ending -(e)s derives from the Old English -as, but the latter applied only to "strong"
masculine nouns in the nominative and accusative cases; different plural endings were used
in other instances. Old English nouns had grammatical gender, while modern English has
only natural gender. Pronoun usage could reflect either natural or grammatical gender when
those conflicted, as in the case of ƿīf, a neuter noun referring to a female person.
In Old English's verbal compound constructions are the beginnings of the compound tenses
of Modern English.[28] Old English verbs include strong verbs, which form the past tense by
altering the root vowel, and weak verbs, which use a suffix such as -de.[27] As in Modern
English, and peculiar to the Germanic languages, the verbs formed two great classes: weak
(regular), and strong (irregular). Like today, Old English had fewer strong verbs, and many of
these have over time decayed into weak forms. Then, as now, dental suffixes indicated the
past tense of the weak verbs, as in work and worked.[3]
Syntax[edit]
Old English syntax is similar to that of modern English. Some differences are consequences
of the greater level of nominal and verbal inflection, allowing freer word order.

 Default word order is verb-second in main clauses, and verb-final in subordinate clauses,
being more like modern German than modern English.
 No do-support in questions and negatives. Questions were usually formed
by inverting subject and finite verb, and negatives by placing ne before the finite verb,
regardless what verb.
 Multiple negatives can stack up in a sentence intensifying each other (negative concord).
 Sentences with subordinate clauses of the type "when X, Y" (e.g. "When I got home, I ate
dinner") don't use a wh-type conjunction, but rather a th-type correlative conjunction such
as þā, otherwise meaning "then" (e.g. þā X, þā Y in place of "when X, Y"). The wh-words
are used only as interrogatives and as indefinite pronouns.
 Similarly, wh- forms were not used as relative pronouns. Instead, the indeclinable
word þe is used, often preceded by (or replaced by) the appropriate form of the
article/demonstrative se.

Orthography[edit]
Main articles: Anglo-Saxon runes and Old English Latin alphabet
The runic alphabet used to write Old English before the introduction of the Latin alphabet
Old English was first written in runes, using the futhorc – a rune set derived from the
Germanic 24-character elder futhark, extended by five more runes used to represent Anglo-
Saxon vowel sounds, and sometimes by several more additional characters. From around the
8th century, the runic system came to be supplanted by a (minuscule) half-uncial script of
the Latin alphabet introduced by Irish Christian missionaries.[29] This was replaced by Insular
script, a cursive and pointed version of the half-uncial script. This was used until the end of
the 12th century when continental Carolingian minuscule (also known as Caroline) replaced
the insular.
The Latin alphabet of the time still lacked the letters ⟨j⟩ and ⟨w⟩, and there was no ⟨v⟩ as
distinct from ⟨u⟩; moreover native Old English spellings did not use ⟨k⟩, ⟨q⟩ or ⟨z⟩. The
remaining 20 Latin letters were supplemented by four more: ⟨æ⟩ (æsc, modern ash) and ⟨ð⟩
(ðæt, now called eth or edh), which were modified Latin letters, and thorn ⟨þ⟩ and wynn ⟨ƿ⟩,
which are borrowings from the futhorc. A few letter pairs were used as digraphs, representing
a single sound. Also used was the Tironian note ⟨⁊⟩ (a character similar to the digit 7) for
the conjunction and. A common scribal abbreviation was a thorn with a stroke ⟨ꝥ ⟩, which
was used for the pronoun þæt. Macrons over vowels were originally used not to mark long
vowels (as in modern editions), but to indicate stress, or as abbreviations for a
following m or n.[30][31]
Modern editions of Old English manuscripts generally introduce some additional
conventions. The modern forms of Latin letters are used, including ⟨g⟩ in place of the insular
G, ⟨s⟩ for long S, and others which may differ considerably from the insular script, notably
⟨e⟩, ⟨f⟩ and ⟨r⟩. Macrons are used to indicate long vowels, where usually no distinction was
made between long and short vowels in the originals. (In some older editions an acute
accent mark was used for consistency with Old Norse conventions.) Additionally, modern
editions often distinguish between velar and palatal ⟨c⟩ and ⟨g⟩ by placing dots above the
palatals: ⟨ċ⟩, ⟨ġ⟩. The letter wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ is usually replaced with ⟨w⟩, but æsc, eth and thorn are
normally retained (except when eth is replaced by thorn).
In contrast with Modern English orthography, that of Old English was reasonably regular,
with a mostly predictable correspondence between letters and phonemes. There were not
usually any silent letters—in the word cniht, for example, both the ⟨c⟩ and ⟨h⟩ were
pronounced, unlike the ⟨k⟩ and ⟨gh⟩ in the modern knight. The following table lists the Old
English letters and digraphs together with the phonemes they represent, using the same
notation as in the Phonology section above.

Character IPA transcription Description and notes

Spelling variations like ⟨land⟩ ~ ⟨lond⟩ ("land")


a /ɑ/, /ɑː/ suggest the short vowel may have had a
rounded allophone [ɒ] before [n] in some cases.

Used in modern editions to distinguish from


ā /ɑː/
short /ɑ/.
Formerly the digraph ⟨ae⟩ was used; ⟨æ⟩ became
more common during the 8th century, and was
standard after 800. In 9th-century Kentish
æ /æ/, /æː/
manuscripts, a form of ⟨æ⟩ that was missing the
upper hook of the ⟨a⟩ part was used; it is not clear
whether this represented /æ/ or /e/. See also ę.

Used in modern editions to distinguish from


ǣ /æː/
short /æ/.

/b/

b Used in this way in early texts (before 800). For


example, the word "sheaves" is spelled scēabas in
[v] (an allophone of /f/)
an early text, but later (and more commonly)
as scēafas.

/k/

The /tʃ/ pronunciation is sometimes written with


a diacritic by modern editors: most commonly ⟨ċ⟩,
sometimes ⟨č⟩ or ⟨ç⟩. Before a consonant letter the
c pronunciation is always /k/; word-finally after ⟨i⟩ it
is always /tʃ/. Otherwise, a knowledge of
/tʃ/ the history of the word is needed to predict the
pronunciation with certainty, although it is most
commonly /tʃ/ before front vowels (other than [y])
and /k/ elsewhere. (For details, see Phonological
history of Old English § Palatalization.) See also
the digraphs cg, sc.

West Germanic gemination of Proto-Germanic *g


resulted in the voiced palatal geminate /jj/.
Consequently, the voiced velar geminate /ɡɡ/ was
[ddʒ] (the phonetic rare in Old English, and its etymological origin in
realization the words in which it occurs (such as frocga 'frog')
Cg
of geminate /jj/); is unclear.[32] Alternative spellings of either
or /ɡɡ/ (infrequently)
geminate included ⟨gg⟩, ⟨gc⟩, ⟨cgg⟩, ⟨ccg⟩ and
⟨gcg⟩.[33][34] The two geminates were not
distinguished in Old English orthography; in
modern editions, the palatal geminate is sometimes
written ⟨ċġ⟩ to distinguish it from velar ⟨cg⟩.[35]

In a cluster with a preceding nasal, /j/ was realized


as [dʒ] and /g/ was realized as [g]. The spellings
[dʒ] (the phonetic
⟨ncg⟩, ⟨ngc⟩ and even ⟨ncgg⟩ were occasionally
realization of post-
used instead of the usual ⟨ng⟩.[36] The cluster
nasal /j/) or /ɡ/ (after ⟨n⟩)
ending in the palatal affricate is sometimes written
⟨nċġ⟩ by modern editors.

D /d/ In the earliest texts it also represented /θ/ (see þ).

Called ðæt in Old English; now called eth or edh.


/θ/, including its
Ð Derived from the insular form of ⟨d⟩ with the
allophone [ð]
addition of a cross-bar. See also þ.

E /e/, /eː/

A modern editorial substitution for the modified


Ę
Kentish form of ⟨æ⟩ (see æ). Compare e caudata, ę.

Used in modern editions to distinguish from


Ē /eː/
short /e/.

Sometimes stands for /æ/, /æː/ or /ɑ/ after ⟨ċ⟩, ⟨ġ⟩


Ea /æɑ/, /æːɑ/
(see palatal diphthongization).

Used in modern editions to distinguish from


ēa /æːɑ/
short /æɑ/. Sometimes stands for /æː/ after ⟨ċ⟩, ⟨ġ⟩.

Sometimes stands for /o/ after ⟨ċ⟩, ⟨ġ⟩ (see palatal


eo /eo/, /eːo/
diphthongization).

Used in modern editions, to distinguish from


ēo /eːo/
short /eo/.

f /f/, including its


allophone [v] (but see b).

In Old English manuscripts, this letter usually took


its insular form ⟨ᵹ⟩ (see also: yogh).
The [j] and [dʒ] pronunciations are sometimes
written ⟨ġ⟩ in modern editions. Before a consonant
/ɡ/, including its letter the pronunciation is always [ɡ] (word-
allophone [ɣ]; or /j/, initially) or [ɣ] (after a vowel). Word-finally after
g including its ⟨i⟩ it is always [j]. Otherwise a knowledge of the
allophone [dʒ], which history of the word in question is needed to predict
occurs after ⟨n⟩. the pronunciation with certainty, although it is
most commonly /j/ before and after front
vowels (other than [y]) and /g/ elsewhere. (For
details, see Phonological history of Old English
§ Palatalization.)

In the combinations ⟨hl⟩, ⟨hr⟩, ⟨hn⟩, ⟨hw⟩, the


/h/, including its
h realization may have been a devoiced version of
allophones [ç, x]
the second consonant.

i /ɪ/, /iː/

Used in modern editions to distinguish from


ī /iː/
short /i/.

/iy/, /iːy/

ie
Only occurs sometimes in this sense and appears
/e/, /eː/
after ⟨ċ⟩, ⟨ġ⟩ (see palatal diphthongization).

Used in modern editions, to distinguish from


īe /iːy/
short /iy/. Sometimes stands for /eː/ after ⟨ċ⟩, ⟨ġ⟩ .

Occurs in dialects that had such diphthongs. Not


Io /iu/, /iːu/ present in Late West Saxon. The long variant may
be shown in modern editions as īo.

K /k/ Rarely used; this sound is normally represented by


⟨c⟩.

Probably velarised [ɫ] (as in Modern English)


L /l/
when in coda position.

M /m/

/n/, including its


N allophone [ŋ] (before /k/,
/g/).

O /o/, /oː/ See also a.

Used in modern editions, to distinguish from


Ō /oː/
short /o/.

/ø/, /øː/ (in dialects


Oe
having that sound).

Used in modern editions, to distinguish from


Ōe /øː/
short /ø/.

P /p/

A rare spelling of /kw/, which was usually written


Qu /kw/
as ⟨cƿ⟩ (⟨cw⟩ in modern editions).

The exact nature of Old English /r/ is not known; it


may have been an alveolar approximant [ɹ] as in
R /r/
most modern English, an alveolar flap [ɾ], or
an alveolar trill [r].

/s/, including its


S
allophone [z].
sc /ʃ/ or occasionally /sk/.

t /t/

Represented /θ/ in the


th
earliest texts (see þ).

Called thorn and derived from the rune of the same


name. In the earliest texts ⟨d⟩ or ⟨th⟩ was used for
this phoneme, but these were later replaced in this
function by eth ⟨ð⟩ and thorn ⟨þ⟩. Eth was first
attested (in definitely dated materials) in the 7th
/θ/, including its century, and thorn in the 8th. Eth was more
þ
allophone [ð] common than thorn before Alfred's time. From
then onward, thorn was used increasingly often at
the start of words, while eth was normal in the
middle and at the end of words, although usage
varied in both cases. Some modern editions use
only thorn. See also Pronunciation of English ⟨th⟩.

/u/, /uː/. Also


u sometimes /w/ (see ƿ,
below).

Sometimes used
uu
for /w/ (see ƿ, below).

Used for /uː/ in modern


ū editions, to distinguish
from short /u/.

w /w/ A modern substitution for ⟨ƿ⟩.

Called wynn and derived from the rune of the


same name. In earlier texts by continental scribes,
ƿ /w/ and also later in the north, /w/ was represented by
⟨u⟩ or ⟨uu⟩. In modern editions, wynn is replaced
by ⟨w⟩, to prevent confusion with ⟨p⟩.
/ks/ ([xs ~ çs] according
x
to some authors[which?]).

Y /y/, /yː/.

Used in modern editions to distinguish from


ȳ /yː/
short /y/.

A rare spelling for /ts/; e.g. betst ("best") is


Z /ts/
occasionally spelt bezt.

Doubled consonants are geminated; the geminate fricatives ⟨ðð⟩/⟨þþ⟩, ⟨ff⟩ and ⟨ss⟩ cannot be
voiced.
Old English Core Vocabulary

The list below presents some 500 Old English words which could be regarded as literary core
vocabulary. Some of the words are among the most frequent in Old English literature; some
are of particular importance on account of their literary or linguistic usage. The reference
‘poet.’ signals predominant usage of a word in poetry. The cognates in a number of related
languages are intended to make memorisation of the words easier. A word signalled as
‘hapax legomenon’ is found only once in the entire Old English corpus, and was possibly
coined for the passage in question.

This list of Old English Core Vocabulary is intended as a teaching aid: the idea is that
students learn this list of words by heart. It can be used in undergraduate or postgraduate Old
English teaching, either for compulsory or optional assessments, or just for background. Tests
can be made easier or harder, depending on whether the examined translation is from Old
English to Modern English, or vice versa, or both, and depending on how much time students
are allowed to memorise the vocabulary.

I try to keep the word list as stable as possible; the insertion of updates and corrections is
limited to one week during the summer, when students are unlikely to be using it formally.
There are no plans for moving this page to another address. If you have any corrections,
comments, or questions, please feel free to contact me by emailing cr30@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Christine Rauer, University of St Andrews

Last updated 09/09/19: additional abbreviations added to list of languages in Introduction


(with many thanks to Jonathan Blake); additional MnG cognate added to OE duguþ
Languages are abbreviated as follows: OE = Old English; MnE = Modern English; MnG =
Modern German; MnDu = Modern Dutch; MnDa = Modern Danish; MnScots = Modern
Scots; MnSw = Modern Swedish; L = Latin; MedL = Medieval Latin; MedGr = Medieval
Greek.

Old English Core Vocabulary

abutan, adv., about, around


ac, conj., but, however
acennan, verb, bring forth, give birth to
acwellan, verb, to kill
adl, noun, f., sickness, disease
agen, adj., own
aglæca, noun, m., monster, combatant, the terrible one (poet.)
ahwær, adv., anywhere
alimpan, verb, befall, come to pass
alyfan, verb, to permit, allow
amyrran, verb, to wound (cp. MnE to mar)
an, numeral, a, an, one
and, conj., and
anda, noun, m., malice, hostility
andgit, noun, n., meaning, sense
andsaca, noun, m., enemy, adversary (cp. MnG Widersacher)
andswarian, verb, to answer
andweard, adj., present
andwlita, noun, m., face (cp. MnG Antlitz)
andwyrdan, verb, to answer (cp. MnG antworten)
anfeald, adj., simple, onefold (cp. MnG einfältig)
anfloga, noun, m., solitary flier (hapax legomenon, The Seafarer)
angel, noun, m., hook (cp. MnE angle)
anginn, noun, n., beginning
anhaga, noun, m., solitary one, one who dwells alone (poet.)
anlicnes, noun, f., image
anræd, adj., resolute
anwealda, noun, m., ruler, Lord (poet.)
ar, noun, n., copper (cp. MnE ore)
ar, noun, f, honour, mercy, favour, prosperity
ar, noun, f., oar
ariht, adv., properly
arisan, verb, to arise
arleas, adj., dishonourable
arlice, adv,. honourably, kindly
arod, adj., bold
arweorþe, adj., honourable
asecgan, verb, to say, tell
astyrian, verb, to remove, to move (cp. MnE to stir)
atelic, adj., horrible, dreadful
ateon, verb, to draw, unsheathe
atol, adj., terrible, hateful (poet.)
attor, noun, n., venom (cp. MnG Eiter)
aþ, noun, m., oath
awiht, noun, n., anything (cp. MnE aught)
axian, verb, to ask
æ, noun, f., law (cp. MnG Ehe)
æcer, noun, m., cultivated field (cp. MnE acre)
æfæst, adj., pious
æfen, noun, m., evening (cp. MnE even, eve)
æfre, adv., forever, always, ever
æfter, prep., after
æfterfylgan, verb, to follow, to come after
æghwa, pron., everyone, everything
æghwær, adv., everywhere
ægþer, pron., each, both, either
æht, noun, f., possessions, property
æl, noun, m., eel
ælc, pron., adj., each, every
ælfscyne, adj., beautiful as a fairy (3 occurrences, poet.)
ælmihtig, adj., almighty
æmettig, adj., empty
ænig, adj., any
ær, adv., before, previously (cp. MnE ere)
ærende, noun, n., message (cp. MnE errand)
ærest, adj., first
ærgewinn, noun, n., ancient hostility (hapax legomenon, The Dream of the Rood)
ærgod, adj., good from old times (5 occurrences, only in Beowulf)
ærnan, verb, to run
æsc, noun, m., ash tree, spear
æscplega, noun, m., spear-fight, battle (hapax legomenon, Judith)
æscrof, adj., brave in battle
æstel, noun, m., ?pointer used to keep one’s place as one reads (4 occurrences)
æt, prep., at
ætgædere, adv., together
ætsomne, adv., together
ætywan, verb, to appear, to show
æþele, adj., noble
æþeling, noun, m., prince, atheling
æþelo, noun, n. pl., origin, descent, noble lineage
baldlice, adv., boldly
bana, noun, m., slayer (cp. MnE bane, poet.)
banhus, noun, n., body (‘bone-house’, 6 occurrences, poet.)
banloca, noun, m., ‘bone-enclosure’, ?muscles, ?body (5 occurrences, poet.)
bar, noun, m., boar
bat, noun, m., boat
baþian, verb, to bathe
bæc, noun, n., back
bæcere, noun, m., baker
bæl, noun, n., fire, funeral pyre (poet.)
bærnan, verb, to burn
bæþ, noun, n., bath
be, prep., about, concerning
beacen, noun, n., beacon, sign
beadu, noun, m., battle (15 occurrences, poet.)
beadurinc, noun, m., warrior (3 occurrences, poet.)
beadurof, adj., bold in battle (8 occurrences, poet.)
beag, noun, m., circular ornament (around neck, wrist, finger etc.), ring (cp. MnE bagel)
beaggyfa, noun, m., ring-giver, lord (7 occurrences, poet.)
beaggyfu, noun, f., ring-giving, generosity (hapax legomenon, poet.)
beaghord, noun, n., ring-hoard, treasure (3 occurrences, all in Beowulf)
bealdor, noun, m., lord (10 occurrences, poet.)
bealu, noun, n., misery, harm, injury, enmity
bealuhygdig, adj., intending evil, hostile (hapax legomenon, Beowulf)
bealusiþ, noun, m., painful journey, bitter experience (2 occurrences, poet.)
beam, noun, m., tree, cross
bearm, noun, m., bosom, lap
bearn, noun, n., child, son (cp. MnE dialect bairn)
bearu, noun, m., grove
bebeodan, verb, to command
gebed, noun, n., prayer
bedælan, verb, to deprive
begen, adj. and pron., both
begeondan, prep., beyond
begietan, verb, to get, to acquire
beginnan, verb, to begin
begnornian, verb, to lament
beheafdian, verb, to behead, decapitate
behreowsian, verb, to repent
benc, noun, f., bench
benn, noun, f., wound (9 occurrences, poet.)
beon, verb, to be
beor, noun, n., beer
beorg, noun, m., hill, mound, mountain (cp. MnG Berg)
beorgan, verb, to save, protect
beorht, adj., bright
beorn, noun, m., man, warrior (poet.)
gebeorscipe, noun, m., beer party
beot, noun, n., vow, boast
beran, verb, to carry, bear
berstan, verb, to burst
beswican, verb, to deceive, ensnare
bet, adv., better
gebetan, verb, to improve, remedy
betweonan, prep., between (cp. MnE between)
betweox, prep., between
bidan, verb, to await, experience
biddan, verb, to ask, bid
gebiddan, verb, to pray
bifian, verb, to shake (cp. MnG beben)
bigong, noun, m., worship
bill, noun, n., sword (poet., cp. MnG Beil)
bisgu, noun, f., occupation (cp. MnE busy)
bitan, verb, to bite
blac, adj., pale (cp. MnE bleak)
blawan, verb, to blow
blæc, adj., black
blæd, noun, m., glory
bletsian, verb, to bless
blod, noun, n., blood
boc, noun, f., book
bodian, verb, to preach (cp. MnE to bode)
bolster, noun, n., pillow (cp. MnE bolster)
bricg, noun, f., bridge
brim, noun, n., sea (poet.)
broga, noun, m., terror, danger
broþor, noun, m., brother
brucan, verb, to use, enjoy, benefit from (cp. L fruor, MnG gebrauchen)
brun, adj., brown, black, purple, red (cp. MnE brown)
brytta, noun, m., distributor, one who hands out (poet.)
burh, noun, f., stronghold, enclosure (cp. MnE borough, MnG Burg)
butan, prep., without, except, but
byrgan, verb, to bury
bysig, adj., busy
bysmor, noun, m., disgrace, mockery
casere, noun, m., emperor (cp. MnE Caesar, MnG Kaiser)
ceald, adj., cold
geceapian, verb, to buy (cp. MnE cheap)
ceaster, noun, f., town (cp. L castrum, MnE -chester, eg. Manchester, Winchester)
cempa, noun, m., warrior
cicen, noun, n., chicken
cirice, noun, f., church (cp. MedGr kuriakon)
clipian, verb, to call
clyppan, verb, to embrace (cp. MnE paperclip)
gecnawan, verb, to recognise, perceive, understand
cniht, noun, m., boy, youth
cringan, verb, to fall, perish (poet., cp. MnE cringe)
cuman, verb, to come
cunnan, verb, to know
cunnian, verb, to find out
cwellan, verb, to kill
cwen, noun, f., woman, queen (cp. MnE gynaecology)
cwic, adj., alive (cp. MnE quick)
cyning, noun, m., king
cyse, noun, m., cheese (cp. L caseum)
cyþan, verb, to make known, inform, reveal
dæd, noun, f., deed
dæg, m., day
dæl, noun, m., part, portion (cp. MnE deal)
dema, noun, m., judge (cp. MnE to deem)
deofol, noun, m. or n., devil
deop, adj., deep
deor, noun, n., wild animal (cp. MnE deer, MnG Tier)
deorc, adj., dark
digol, adj., secret
dom, noun, m., judgement (cp. MnE doom)
don, verb, to do
dream, noun, m., joy, delight
dreogan, verb, to suffer (cp. MnScots adj. driech)
dreor, noun, m. or n., dripping blood (11 occurrences, poet., cp. MnE dreary)
drihten, noun, m., lord
dugan, verb, to be of use (MnG taugen, tüchtig)
duguþ, noun, f., troop of seasoned retainers, mature men (MnG taugen, tüchtig, Tugend)
durran, verb, to dare
duru, noun, f., door
gedwyld, noun, n., heresy, error
dyre, adj., dear (cp. MnG teuer)
dyrne, adj., secret
dysig, adj., foolish (cp. MnE dizzy)
ea, noun, f., river (cp. L aqua)
eac, adv., also
eadig, adj., blessed, happy (Ead-, cp. Christian names Edward, Edwin)
eald, adj., old
ealdor, noun, m., leader, prince (cp. MnE alderman)
ealdor, noun, n., life, age
eallwealda, noun, m., all-ruler, the Lord (poet.)
earfoþ, noun, n., work, hardship (MnE robot, MnG Arbeit)
earm, adj., poor (MnG arm)
ece, adj., eternal
ecg, noun, f., edge, sword
eft, adv., again
ege, noun, m., fear
ellen, noun, n., courage, strength
engel, noun, m., angel
ent, noun, m., giant (cp. Tolkien’s Ents)
eorl, noun, m., nobleman
faran, verb, to go, travel (cp. MnE farewell)
fæder, noun, m., father
fæger, adj., beautiful, pleasant (cp. MnE fair)
feax, noun, n., hair (cp. Tolkien’s Shadowfax)
fela, pron., many
feond, noun, m., enemy
feor, adj., far
feorh, noun, n., life
ferhþ, noun, m., spirit, mind (poet.)
fleogan, verb, to fly
folde, noun, f., earth, ground
folme, noun, f., hand (MnE palm)
fon, verb, to catch, seize
forhtian, verb, to fear
forlætan, verb, to abandon, let go, neglect
forma, adj., first
forst, noun, m., frost
frætwe, noun, f. pl., ornaments (poet.)
frea, noun, m., lord (poet., cp. MnG Frau)
fremde, adj., strange (cp. MnG fremd)
fremman, verb, to do, perpetrate (cp. MnG fromm)
friþ, noun, m., peace (cp. MnG Frieden)
frod, adj., old, wise (poet., cp. Tolkien’s Frodo)
frofor, noun, f., consolation
fruma, noun, m., beginning
fugol, noun, m., bird (cp. MnE fowl)
fultum, noun, m., help, support
fus, adj., eager
fyr, noun, n., fire
fyren, noun, f., crime, wickedness
galan, verb, to sing (cp. MnE nightingale, to yell)
gamol, adj., old, ancient (poet.) (cp. MnDa gammel, MnG vergammeln)
gan, verb, to go
gar, noun, m., spear (poet., cp. Hrothgar in Beowulf)
gast, noun, m., spirit, soul, angel, ghost
gear, noun, n., year
geard, noun, m., yard, enclosure (cp. Tolkien’s Isengard)
geomor, adj., sad (poet., cp. MnG Jammer)
geond, prep., through, throughout
geong, adj., young
georn, adj., eager (cp. MnE to yearn, MnG gerne)
giedd, noun, n., word, speech, riddle (poet., cp. MnE to gather)
giefu, noun, f., gift
giet, adv., yet, still
gif, conj., if
gioguþ, noun, f., youth, young people
gnornian, verb, to mourn
god, adj., good
god, noun, m., God
grædig, adj., greedy
griþ, noun, n., truce
guma, noun, m., man (poet., cp. MnE ?bridegroom, MnG Bräutigam)
guþ, noun, f., battle, war (poet.)
gylp, noun, m., boast, pride (cp. MnE to yelp)
gyse, adv., yes
habban, verb, to have
hal, adj., safe, unhurt (cp. MnE whole)
halig, adj., holy
ham, noun, m., home
hat, adj., hot
hatan, verb, to command, order, call, name (cp. MnG heissen)
hælan, verb, to heal
Hælend, noun, m., Saviour (cp. MnG Heiland)
hæleþ, noun, m., hero (poet., cp. MnG Held)
hæþen, adj., heathen
heafod, noun, n., head
heah, adj., high
hearh, noun, m., heathen shrine (cp. place-name Harrow)
heaþorinc, m., warrior (poet.)
helm, noun, m., protection, cover, helmet
heofon, noun, m., heaven
heorot, noun, m., deer, stag (cp. MnE hart, Heorot in Beowulf)
here, noun, m., army (cp. MnG Heer)
hergian, verb, to ravage (cp. MnE to harry)
hild, noun, f., battle (cp. Christian name Hilda)
hlaf, noun, m., bread (cp. MnE loaf)
hlaford, noun, m., lord (cp. OE hlaf, bread, hlaford=hlafweard, the one in charge of the
bread)
hlæw, noun, m., mound, barrow (cp. place-names Lewes, Wilmslow, Ludlow)
hleo, noun, n., protection, shelter
holt, noun, n., wood, forest (cp. MnG Holz)
hord, noun, n., hoard
hu, adv., how
hund, noun, m., dog (cp. MnE hound)
hus, noun, n., house
hwa, pron., who
hwæt, pron., what
hwær, adv., where
hwæþer, conj., whether
hwelc, pron. and adj., which
hwil, noun, f., while
hycgan, verb, to think, plan
hyge, noun, m., mind, heart, courage (poet., cp. MnDu geheugen, Hygelac in Beowulf)
hyht, noun, m., joy, bliss, hope
hyrde, noun, m., guardian, keeper (cp. MnE shepherd)
hyse, noun, m., warrior (poet.)
ic, pron., I
ides, noun, f., lady (poet.)
ilca, adj. and pron., same (cp. MnE ilk)
isen, noun, n., iron (cp. MnG Eisen, Tolkien’s Isengard)
lac, noun, n., play, sacrifice, offering (cp. MnE to lark)
laf, noun, f., remnant, what is left (cp. MnE to leave)
lagu, noun, f., law
lar, noun, f., teaching (cp. MnE lore)
laþ, adj., hateful, hostile (cp. MnE loathsome)
læne, adj., temporary, transitory, granted, lent
leas, adj., devoid of (cp. MnE -less)
leax, noun, m., salmon (cp. MnSw gravad lax)
leode, noun, pl., people (cp. MnG Leute)
leof, adj., beloved, dear (cp. MnE love, MnG lieb)
leoht, noun, n., light
leoþ, noun, n., song, poem, poetry (cp. MnG Lied)
lic, noun, n., body (cp. MnG Leiche)
lichama, noun, m., body (cp. MnG Leichnam)
lif, noun, n., life
lind, noun, f., shield (of lindenwood)
lof, noun, n., praise (cp. MnG Lob)
lofgeorn, adj., eager for praise (cp. Beowulf 3182)
lufu, noun, f., love
lyft, noun, f., air, sky, breeze (cp. MnG Luftwaffe)
magan, verb, to be able, can, be competent (cp. MnE may)
man, n., crime
manig, adj., many
maþelian, verb, to speak (poet.)
maþm, m., treasure
mæg, noun, m., kinsman
mægen, n., strength, power, army (cp. MnE main)
mægþ, noun, f., maiden
mære, adj., famous, glorious, notorious (cp. MnG Märchen)
mearc, noun, f., boundary, region, border (cp. MnE Denmark)
mearh, m., horse (cp. MnE mare)
mece, noun, m., sword (poet.)
meodo, noun, m., mead (cp. Tolkien’s Meduseld)
meotod, noun, m., creator (poet., literally ‘the measurer’, cp. MnE meted out)
mere, noun, m., pool, lake
micel, adj., great, large, much
mid, prep., with, amid, among
middangeard, noun, m., world, middle earth (cp. Tolkien’s middle earth)
miht, noun, f., might
mod, noun, n., spirit, courage, mind (cp. MnE mood)
modig, adj., brave, bold, arrogant (cp. MnE moody)
modor, noun, f., mother
mona, noun, m., moon
morþor, noun, n., crime, violence, torment (cp. MnE murder, Tolkien’s Mordor)
motan, verb, to may, be allowed to (cp. MnE must)
mund, noun, f., hand, protection (cp. MnG Vormund)
gemynd, noun, n., mind, remembrance
mynster, noun, n., monastery, church (cp. MnE minster)]
nædre, noun, f., snake, serpent
næss, noun, m., headland, bluff (cp. Fife Ness)
neah, adj., near
neorxnawang, noun, m., Paradise (OE wang, noun, m., field)
niman, verb, to take (cp. MnE numb, MnG nehmen)
niþ, noun, m., hatred, malice, trouble (cp. MnG Neid)
genog, adj., enough
nu, adv., now
nytt, noun, f., use, utility (cp. MnG Nutzen, MnDu nuttig)
ofer, prep., over
ofermod, noun, n., pride, arrogance, overconfidence (cp. The Battle of Maldon 89)
offrian, verb, to offer
oft, adv., often
onfon, verb, to receive, accept, take up (cp. MnG empfangen)
ongean, adv., back, again
ongietan, verb, to understand, perceive
onginnan, verb, to begin
ord, noun, m., point, spear, vanguard
oþer, adj., other
oþ þæt, conj., until
oþþe, conj., or
pæþ, noun, m., path
penig, noun, m., penny
preost, noun, m., priest (cp. MedL presbyter)
rand, noun, m., shield, shield-boss (poet.)
ræd, noun, m., advice (cp. MnG Rat)
rædan, verb, to read, instruct, give counsel, rule
gereord, noun, n., speech, voice
rice, noun, n., kingdom (cp. MnE bishopric, MnG Reich)
rice, adj., powerful, great (cp. MnE rich)
rinc, noun, m., man, warrior (poet.)
rod, noun, f., rood, cross
rodor, noun, m., sky, heaven
run, noun, f., secret meditation (cp. MnG raunen)
sacu, noun, f., battle
samod, adv., together, too, at the same time
sar, adj., sore
sarig, adj., sorrowful (cp. MnE sorry)
sawol, noun, f., soul
sæ, noun, f. and m., sea
sceadu, noun, f., shadow
scealc, noun, m., man, warrior (cp. MnE marshal=officer of state)
sceat, noun, m., surface, region (cp. MnE sheet)
sceatt, noun, m., money, payment (cp. MnE scotfree)
sceþþan, verb, to injure (cp. MnE scathing)
sceawian, verb, to see, look at (cp. MnE to show, MnG schauen)
scieppan, verb, to create (cp. MnG schöpfen)
sculan, verb, to must, have to (cp. MnE shall, should)
se, seo, þæt, pron., the
secan, verb, to seek
secg, noun, m., man, warrior (poet.)
secgan, verb, to say
sefa, noun, m., heart (poet.)
sele, noun, m., hall, house (poet.)
sellan, verb, to give, sell
sendan, verb, to send, throw, hurl, cause to go
seon, verb, to see
gesib, adj., related (cp. MnE sibling)
sibb, noun, f., peace (cp. MnE gossip)
sige, noun, m., victory (cp. Christian name Siegfried, MnG Sieg)
simle, adv., always
sinc, noun, n., treasure
singal, adj., perpetual
siþ, noun, m., journey, fate, lot, venture
siþþan, adv., since, afterwards, later
slean, verb, to strike, beat (cp. MnE slay)
smeagan, verb, to think, examine
snottor, adj., wise (poet.)
sona, adv., immediately, soon
sorg, noun, f., sorrow, grief, trouble
soþ, adj., true (cp. MnE sooth)
sped, noun, f., success, quickness (cp. MnE good speed, Godspeed, MnG sputen)
spell, noun, n., story, message (cp. MnE gospel, OE god + spel=good message)
sprecan, verb, to speak (cp. MnG sprechen)
stan, noun, m., stone
stefn, noun, f., voice (cp. MnG Stimme)
stow, noun, f., place (cp. place-names Felixstowe, Walthamstow)
stræl, noun, m. or f., arrow (cp. MnG Strahl)
sum, adj. and pron., a, a certain, some
gesund, adj., unharmed, whole, uncorrupted (cp. MnE sound)
sunne, noun, f., sun
sunu, noun, m., son
swa, adv., so, thus
sweart, adj., dark, black (cp. MnE swarthy)
swefn, noun, n., dream
swelc, adj., such
sweord, noun, n., sword
sweostor, noun, f., sister
sweotol, adj., clear, manifest
swincan, verb, labour, toil, struggle
swiþe, adv., very, greatly
symbel, noun, n., feast
syn, noun, f., crime, sin
teon, verb, to draw, drag (cp. MnG ziehen)
tid, noun, f., time (cp. MnE tide)
til, adj., good
tir, noun, m., glory (cp. MnG Zier)
torht, adj., bright
treow, noun, n., tree
treow, noun, f., faith, trust, loyalty (cp. MnE truth)
tun, noun, m., town, village
tungol, noun, n., star
twegen, num., two (cp. MnE twain, Mark Twain)
tweo, noun, m., doubt, uncertainty
þa, adv. and conj., then, when
þær, adv. and conj., there, where
þeah, adv., though
þeaw, noun, m., custom, practice
þegn, noun, m., thane, nobleman, retainer, warrior
þeod, noun, f., people, nation (cp. MnG Deutsch, Dietrich)
geþeode, noun, n., language
þeoden, noun, m., prince, lord (cp. Tolkien’s king of Rohan)
þeow, noun, m., slave, servant (cp. Wealhtheow in Beowulf)
þolian, verb, to suffer
þonne, adv., then
þrowian, verb, to suffer
þrym, noun, m., glory
þurfan, verb, to need
þurh, prep., through
uhta, noun, m. or f., period just before dawn (cp. MnDu ochtend)
uncuþ, adj., unknown, strange (cp. MnE uncouth)
ut, adv., out
wæl, noun, n., slaughter, carnage (cp. MnE Valkyrie)
wæstm, noun, m., fruit
wealdan, verb, wield, control (cp. MnE to wield, MnG Walter, Gewalt)
wealdend, noun, m., ruler, Lord
weard, noun, m., guardian (cp. MnE ward)
weaxan, verb, to grow (cp. MnE to wax)
wen, noun, f., expectation, hope (cp. MnG Wahnsinn)
wendan, verb, to go, turn, translate, change (cp. MnE to wend one’s way, Butts Wynd)
weorþan, verb, to become, happen (cp. MnG werden)
wer, noun, m., man (cp. MnE werewolf, L vir)
werod, noun, n., troop, company
wic, noun, n., abode (cp. place-names Ipswich, Norwich, Greenwich)
wif, noun, n., woman, wife
wig, noun, n., war, battle
wiga, noun, m., warrior (poet.)
wiht, noun, f. and n., creature, being (cp. MnG Wicht)
willan, verb, to want
wine, noun, m., friend, lord (poet., cp. names Edwin, Godwin)
gewinn, noun, n., war, battle, strife
winnan, verb, to struggle, fight
gewinnan, verb, to conquer, win
wita, noun, m., wise man, counsellor (cp. OE witenagemot, Anglo-Saxon national assembly)
witan, verb, to know
wite, noun, n., punishment
wiþ, prep., against, from, with
wlanc, adj., proud
wolcen, noun, n. or m., cloud, sky (cp. MnG Wolke)
woruld, noun, f., world
wraþ, adj., hostile (cp. MnE wroth)
wræcca, noun, m., wanderer, exile
wrecan, verb, to avenge
writan, verb, to write (cp. MnG ritzen)
wudu, noun, m., wood, forest, tree
wuldor, noun, n., glory
wundor, noun, n., wonder, miracle
wunian, verb, to dwell (cp. MnG wohnen)
wynn, noun, f., joy (cp. MnE winsome)
wyrcan, verb, to make, form, produce
wyrd, noun, f., fate, event (cp. MnE weird)
wyrm, noun, m., worm, serpent
wyrt, noun, f., herb, plant, vegetable (cp. MnE wort)
yfel, adj., evil (cp. MnG übel)
ymb, prep., about, concerning
yrmþu, noun, f., hardship
yrre, noun, n., anger
yþ, noun, f., wave

10 Old English Words You Need to Be Using


BY THE MAG ,

BY MARK FORSYTH

MAY 24, 2015


IS TOC K

If you learn just ten old words this month, let them be these, from Mark Forsyth's The

Horologicon: A Day’s Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language.

1. Uhtceare

“There is a single Old English word meaning ‘lying awake before dawn and

worrying.’ Uhtceare is not a well-known word even by Old English standards, which

were pretty damn low. In fact, there is only one recorded instance of it actually being

used."

2. Expergefactor

"An expergefactor is anything that wakes you up. This may simply be your alarm

clock, in which case it is time to hit the snooze button. But it may be a dustman or a

milkman or a delivery van, in which case it is time to lean out of your window and

shriek: 'Damn you all, you expergefactors!' This ought to keep them quiet until one of

them has at least found a good dictionary."

3. and 4. Pantofle and Staddle

“Once your toes are snugly pantofled, you can stagger off to the bathroom, pausing

only to look at the little depression that you have left in your bed, the dip where you

have been lying all night. This is known as a staddle.”

5. Grubbling

"It’s time to check whether you’ve got your keys and your phone and your purse or

wallet. This is done by grubbling in your pockets. Grubbling is like groping, except

less organised. It is a verb that usually refers to pockets, but can also be used for

feeling around in desk drawers that are filled with nicknacks and whatnot."
6. Mugwump

“Mugwump is a derogatory word for somebody in charge who affects to be above

petty squabbles and factions. So when your boss tries to make peace at the meeting

table like an impartial angel, he is being a mugwump.”

7. Rawgabbit

"A rawgabbit, just in case you were wondering, is somebody who speaks in strictest

confidence about a subject of which they know nothing. A rawgabbit is the person

who pulls you aside and reveals in a careful whisper that the head of Compliance is

having an affair with the new recruit in IT, which you know to be utterly untrue

because the head of Compliance is having an affair with you, and the new recruit in

IT hasn’t started yet."

8. Vinomadefied

“Once you are properly vinomadefied all sorts of intriguing things start to happen.

Vinomadefied, by the way, does not mean ‘made mad by wine,’ but merely ‘dampened

by it.’”

9. Lanspresado

"A lanspresado is (according to a 1736 dictionary of thieves’ slang): 'He that comes

into Company with but Two-pence in his Pocket.' Lanspresados are everywhere. They

have usually forgotten their wallets or can’t find a cashpoint or some intensely

complicated thing has happened with their rent, which means that they’re skint till

Thursday."

10. Vomitorium
“A vomitorium is not a room in which ancient Romans would throw up halfway

through a banquet in order to make room for the next course. That’s a myth. A

vomitorium is simply a passage by which you can exit a building, usually a theatre.”

The sources of vocabulary If we examine almost any random sample of present-day English,
what we shall find is a mixture of linguistic sources. The following, for example, is from the
beginning of Graham Greene’s Stamboul Train (Heinemann, 1932): The purser took the last
landing-card in his hand and watched the passengers cross the grey wet quay, over a
wilderness of points and rails, round the corners of abandoned trucks. The italicised words
are of French origin, whilst took is from Scandinavian and trucks from Latin. Perhaps about
thirty per cent of present-day vocabulary is of French origin, and there are significantly large
proportions of our vocabulary from other languages. In particular, there are exceptionally
important words of Scandinavian origin, even although they are not nearly as numerous as
the French words. Thus core grammatical items such as they, are and she are all Scandinavian
as are the body-part nouns leg and neck and the kinship term sister. The picture presented
above, which ignores many of the words in the present-day language whose origin lies in
other languages, for example Dutch sketch, but often from even more distant languages, such
as shampoo from Hindi or wigwam from the North American language Ojibwa, is in stark
contrast to the situation in Old English. For there the overwhelming majority of words are of
native, Germanic, origin; none of the words I have mentioned above formed part of Old
English vocabulary, not even the Scandinavian grammatical items. Those terms replaced the
Old English words hı¯, synd and he¯o during the Middle English period. As I shall show
later, there are words of non-native origin in Old English, the vast majority of which are from
Latin. It has been estimated only about 3 per cent of Old English vocabulary is taken from
non-native sources and it is clear that the strong preference in Old English was to 02 pages
001-166 29/1/03 16:09 Page 102 use its native resources in order to create new vocabulary. In
this respect, therefore, and as elsewhere, Old English is typically Germanic. We can classify
Old English vocabulary into the following four types. Firstly, native core vocabulary;
secondly, affixation, the process by which a native affix is attached to an existing word to
create a new word, as in present-day English brightness from bright plus the suffix -ness;
thirdly, compounding, the process by which two independent words are joined together to
create a new third word, as in present-day railway, created from the two dependent words rail
and way; fourthly, borrowing, that is to say introducing non-native words into the language in
exactly the way we have already seen. Such words are often called loan words, although
neither the term ‘borrowing’ nor the term ‘loan word’ has exactly the correct meaning. The
second and third types, i.e. affixation and compounding, can be taken together as word-
formation. 8.2 Core vocabulary It might be thought entirely reasonable to assume that there is
nothing to be said about core vocabulary other than the simple fact that this set consists
virtually entirely of items shared with all or some of the other Germanic languages. However,
it is appropriate to consider in this context a number of types of word formation which are
essentially historical in nature and which were already in Old English, to a greater or lesser
extent, no longer productive processes. What I mean by this is that there appears to have been
a wealth of word-formation processes in earlier Germanic and even more so in Indo-
European. In the course of time most of these fell into disuse. However the words so formed
naturally remained in the language and therefore the process remains recognisable. It can be
quite difficult to decide whether or not some particular word-formation process remains
synchronically active, especially when we are dealing with an ancient language such as Old
English where, what is more, the textual evidence is patchy. Therefore some of the cases I
discuss below might easily be taken under the heading of affixation. Perhaps the most
obvious of these older formations concerns Ablaut. So far my discussion of Ablaut has been
restricted to verb types, but originally Ablaut was a more widespread phenomenon by which
nouns could be formed from strong verbs, so that we find bite ‘a bite’ formed from the verb
bı¯tan, using the ablaut variant normally associated with the past plural of verbs. Other
examples are based on the present tense, for example wita ‘wise man’ from witan ‘know’.
There are more complex examples than these, for in many cases the VOCABULARY 103 02
pages 001-166 29/1/03 16:09 Page 103 word-formation interacts with historical sound
changes. The most important concern Verner’s Law, which I discussed in Chapter 5 and i-
mutation (see the discussion in §4.5). But these changes can obscure the relation between the
original verb and its derived noun. A typical example of the former is cyre ‘choice’ from c .
e¯osan ‘choose’, and cyme ‘arrival’ from cuman ‘come’ is typical of the latter. It is even
possible to find examples where both changes have occurred, as in hryre ‘fall’ from hre¯osan
‘fall’. It is also possible to find more than one noun derived from a single verb. Thus
alongside cyme ‘arrival’ we also find cuma ‘guest’. Strong verbs are not the only verbs from
which nouns can be derived. Weak verbs too can be used to form new nouns. This happens
both with weak class 1 verbs, so that we find do¯m ‘judgement’ from de¯man ‘judge’, and
class 2 verbs, so that we find lufu ‘love’ from lufian ‘love’. As I said earlier, this derivation
type largely belongs to an early stage in Germanic, and begins to be lost as the relationship
between verb and noun becomes obscured. This is least true of weak class 2 verbs, where few
historical changes intervene in the way that Verner’s Law and i-mutation do. This remains,
therefore, an active word-formation process in Old English. It may, indeed, be the source of
the Ø-formative or conversion process of present-day English, whereby a word is formed
without any overt affixation, for example desire → desire , compare love ~ love
and the Old English forms above. It is not only nouns that can be formed by the above
processes, for adjectives too can be derived. Thus we find examples such as full ‘full’ from
class 1 fyllan and go¯d ‘good’ from class 2 go¯dian ‘make better’. Note that the class 1
examples show i-umlaut of the verb but not of the derived adjective. This is the same
phenomenon that occurs with the derivation of nouns from class 1. Amongst other things this
is good evidence that the derivational process was very early, certainly before the time of i-
mutation. The above account rather implies that there was not, in the earliest stages of Old
English, any derivation of new verbs from nouns or adjectives. This is indeed largely, but not
wholly, true. The only cases of new verbs which have a certain derivational status are
associated with class 2 weak verbs, where, for example, we find lufian ‘love’ from the older
noun lufu ‘love’. In Old English itself this becomes a very frequent type of derivation, so that
from wuldor ‘glory’ we find wuldrian ‘glorify’. This can extend quite easily to words
borrowed from Latin, so that we find new verbs such as plantian ‘plant’ from the borrowed
noun.
1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Old
English (ca. 450-1100)". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the
Science of Human History.
2. ^ By the 16th century the term Anglo-Saxon came to refer to all things of the early
English period, including language, culture, and people. While it remains the normal
term for the latter two aspects, the language began to be called Old English towards
the end of the 19th century, as a result of the increasingly strong anti-Germanic
nationalism in English society of the 1890s and early 1900s. However many authors
still also use the term Anglo-Saxon to refer to the language.
Crystal, David (2003). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-53033-4.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Baugh, Albert (1951). A History of the English Language.
London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 60–83, 110–130 (Scandinavian influence).
4. ^ Fennell, Barbara 1998. A history of English. A sociolinguistic approach. Oxford:
Blackwell.
5. ^ Pyles, Thomas and John Algeo 1993. Origins and development of the English
language. 4th edition. (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich).
6. ^ Barber, Charles, Joan C. Beal and Philip A. Shaw 2009. The English language. A
historical introduction. Second edition of Barber (1993). Cambridge: University
Press.
7. ^ Mugglestone, Lynda (ed.) 2006. The Oxford History of English. Oxford: University
Press.
8. ^ Hogg, Richard M. and David Denison (ed.) 2006. A history of the English language.
Cambridge: University Press.
9. ^ Baugh, Albert C. and Thomas Cable 1993 A history of the English language. 4th
edition. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall).
10. ^ Hogg (1992), p. 83.
11. ^ Stumpf, John (1970). An Outline of English Literature; Anglo-Saxon and Middle
English Literature. London: Forum House Publishing Company. p. 7. We do not
know what languages the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons spoke, nor even whether they
were sufficiently similar to make them mutually intelligible, but it is reasonable to
assume that by the end of the sixth century there must have been a language that
could be understood by all and this we call Primitive Old English.
12. ^ Shore, Thomas William (1906), Origin of the Anglo-Saxon Race – A Study of the
Settlement of England and the Tribal Origin of the Old English People (1st ed.),
London, pp. 3, 393
13. ^ Origin of the Anglo-Saxon race : a study of the settlement of England and the tribal
origin of the Old English people; Author: William Thomas Shore; Editors TW and
LE Shore; Publisher: Elliot Stock; published 1906 p. 3
14. ^ Campbell, Alistair (1959). Old English Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
p. 4. ISBN 0-19-811943-7.
15. ^ Hogg (1992), p. 117; but for a different interpretation of this, see Old English
diphthongs.
16. ^ Magennis (2011), pp. 56–60.
17. ^ The Somersetshire dialect: its pronunciation, 2 papers (1861) Thomas Spencer
Baynes, first published 1855 & 1856
18. ^ "Rotary-munich.de" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2009.
Retrieved 20 June 2011.
19. ^ Scott, Shay (30 January 2008). The history of English: a linguistic introduction.
Wardja Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-615-16817-3. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
20. ^ a b c d Jespersen, Otto (1919). Growth and Structure of the English Language.
Leipzig, Germany: B. G. Teubner. pp. 58–82.
21. ^ BBC World News (27 December 2014).

Historical background

Before the coming of the Anglo-Saxons, the majority of the population of Britain spoke Celtic
languages. In Roman Britain, Latin had been in extensive use as the language of government and
the military and probably also in other functions, especially in urban areas and among the upper
echelons of society. However, it is uncertain how much Latin remained in use in the post-Roman
period.

During the course of the next several hundred years, gradually more and more of the territory in the
area, later to be known as England, came under Anglo-Saxon control. (On the history of the name,
see England n.)

Precisely what fate befell the majority of the (Romano-)British population in these areas is a matter
of much debate. Certainly very few words were borrowed into English from Celtic (it is uncertain
whether there may have been more influence in some areas of grammar and pronunciation), and
practically all of the Latin borrowings found in Old English could be explained as having been
borrowed either on the continent (i.e. beforehand) or during or after the conversion to Christianity
(i.e. later).

The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, which began in the late sixth century and was
largely complete by the late seventh century, was an event of huge cultural importance. One of its
many areas of impact was the introduction of writing extensive texts in the Roman alphabet on
parchment (as opposed to inscribing very short inscriptions on wood, bone, or stone in runic
characters). Nearly all of our surviving documentary evidence for Old English is mediated through
the Church, and the impress of the literary culture of Latin Christianity is deep on nearly everything
that survives written in Old English.

Conflict and interaction with raiders and settlers of Scandinavian origin is a central theme in Anglo-
Saxon history essentially from the time of the first recorded raids in the late eighth century onwards.
However, the linguistic impact of this contact is mainly evident only in the Middle English period.
Likewise, the cataclysmic political events of the Norman Conquest took some time to show their
full impact on the English language.

Grammatical Change
Old Norse also made a permanent impact on the grammar of the language. The most
important of these changes was the introduction of a new set of third-person plural
pronouns, they, them and their. These replaced the earlier Old English inflected
forms: hi or hie (in the nominative and accusative cases, ‘they/them’), hira or heora (in the
genitive case, ‘their, of them’) and him or heom (in the dative case, ‘to them, for them’).
Pronouns do not change very often in the history of a language, and to see one set of forms
replaced by another is truly noteworthy.
Another grammatical influence was the use of are as the third-person plural of the verb to be.
This form had already been used sporadically in northern texts during the late Old English
period – for example, in the Lindisfarne Gospels – but in Middle English it steadily moves
south, eventually replacing the competing plural forms sindon and be.
Among other Scandinavian grammatical features are the pronouns both and same, and the
prepositions til (’till’ or ‘to’) and fro (‘from’). The negative response word, nay, is also Norse
in origin (nei). And the –s ending for the third person singular present-tense form of the verb
(as in she runs) was almost certainly a Scandinavian feature. In Old English this ending was
usually –ð, as in hebbað (‘raises’) and gæð (‘goes’); but in late Northumbrian texts we find
an –s ending, and this too spread south to become the standard form.
Consonants[edit]

Post-
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
alveolar

Nasal m (n̥) n (ŋ)

Stop pb td kɡ

Affricate tʃ (dʒ)

Fricative f (v) θ (ð) s (z) ʃ (ç) (x ɣ) h

Approximant (l̥ ) l j (ʍ) w

Trill (r̥) r

Consider these German words. In each of them, you will find an instance of either [x] or [ç].

Becher, Buch, Biochemie, Bucht, Chemie, Dach, doch, durch, euch, Flüche, Frauchen, hoch, ich ,
Küche, Löcher, Lache, manche, Milch, rächen, rauchen, reich, riechen

The grammar of Old English is quite different from that of Modern English,
predominantly by being much more inflected. As an old Germanic language, Old
English has a morphological system that is similar to that of the hypothetical Proto-
Germanic reconstruction, retaining many of the inflections thought to have been
common in Proto-Indo-European and also including characteristically Germanic
constructions such as the umlaut.
Among living languages, Old English morphology most closely resembles that of
modern Icelandic, which is among the most conservative of the Germanic languages. To
a lesser extent, it resembles modern German.
Nouns, pronouns, adjectives and determiners were fully inflected with five grammatical
cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and instrumental), two grammatical
numbers (singular and plural) and three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, and
neuter). First- and second-person personal pronouns also had dual forms for referring to
groups of two people, in addition to the usual singular and plural forms.[1] The
instrumental case was somewhat rare and occurred only in the masculine and neuter
singular. It was often replaced by the dative. Adjectives, pronouns and (sometimes)
participles agreed with their antecedent nouns in case, number and gender.
Finite verbs agreed with their subject in person and number.
Nouns came in numerous declensions (with many parallels in Latin, Ancient
Greek and Sanskrit). Verbs came in nine main conjugations (seven strong and
two weak), all with numerous subtypes, as well as a few additional smaller conjugations
and a handful of irregular verbs. The main difference from other ancient Indo-European
languages, such as Latin, is that verbs could be conjugated in only two tenses (vs. the
six "tenses," really tense/aspect combinations, of Latin), and they have no synthetic
passive voice although it still existed in Gothic.
The grammatical gender of a given noun does not necessarily correspond to its natural
gender, even for nouns referring to people. For example, sēo sunne (the sun) was
feminine, se mōna (the moon) was masculine, and þæt wīf (the woman) was neuter.
(Compare modern German die Sonne, der Mond, das Weib.) Pronominal usage usually
reflected natural gender rather than grammatical gender when the two conflicted.

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