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Chapter 1. The Anglo-Saxons and Their Language

Baker Chapter 1.1 who were they?

Anglo-Saxon is the term applied to the English-speaking inhabitants of Britain from around the middle
of the fifth century until the time of the Norman Conquest, when the Anglo-Saxon line of English kings
came to an end.

Most important source of early history of England: Historia Gentis Anglorum
Language/culture infuences:
1. Inhabitants in the north Celtic languages (Scots and Picts)
2. Mercenaries that betrayed the original Britons The Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes
together with the Picts

The Anglo-Saxon invasion is as much the invasion of an ethnicity as that of a population. A warrior
culture that also produced great literature.
Accepted Christianity in the late 6
th
and early 7
th
century
(by the late 7
th
century) Already produced 2 major Authors.
1. Aldhelm
a. De Virginitate (On Virginity) in both prose
and verse. Historia Ecclesiastica
2. Venerable (honourable) Bede
a. Historia Ecclesiastica
b. Saints lives; verse, prose on Christian
themes.
Everything was written in Latin, but they also created a lot of vernacular literature.
Beowulf
The dream of the Rood
The wanderer
The seafarer
The Battle of Maldon

Baker Chapter 1.2 where did their language come from?

Anglo-Saxons came from Germania.
Ill defined
East of the Rhine and North of Danube
Not a nation, but a territory of numerous tribes.
Language:
Indo European language
The Germanic branch is divided into three groups:
1. North Germanic: the Scandinavian languages, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic
and Faroese;
2. East Germanic: Gothic (now extinct but preserved in a fragmentary biblical translation
from the fourth century)
3. West Germanic: High German, (English, Dutch, Flemish and Frisian. Low German)
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Baker Chapter 1.3 what was Old English like?

Characteristics of Old English:
Repertory of sounds
Rules of accentuating
Intonation

What makes Old English an Indo-European language; a Germanic language, a West Germanic and a Low
German language?

Indo-European: share basic vocabulary.

Germanic languages:
Key differences between Germanic language and other IE
languages.
o P = F
o This is called Grimms Law
Unvoiced stops
*p+, *t+, *k+) became unvoiced spirants (*f+, *+, *x+)
Voiced stops
[b], [d], [g]) became unvoiced stops ([p], [t], [k])
Voiced aspirated stops
(*b+, *d+, *g+) became voiced stops (*b+ *d+, *g+)
after the operation of Grimms Law, stress shifted to the first syllable. Even prefixes were
stressed, except the prefixes of verbs and the one that came to Old English as e-
Along with these sound changes came a radical simplification of the inflectional system of the
Germanic languages
Baker Chapter 1.4 Old English dialects
Old English developed into 4 major dialects:
1. Northumbrian (North of the river Humber)
2. Mercian (The Midlands)
3. Kentish (Kent)
4. West saxon (Southwest)

Chapter 2. Pronunciation
Baker Chapter 2.1 Quick start

Old English pronunciation is mostly reconstructed through derivation.
Old English has 6 basic Vowel sounds:
a

i
o
u
Old English fder
Latin pater
Greek patr
Sanskrit pit
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y
and kind of a 7th one: ie
Old English has 2 diphthongs:
ea
eo

Vowel length in OE = duration -> how long it takes for a vowel to be pronounced.
This relevant in OE because it signifies a difference in meaning.

Types of letters:
Simple Vowels (see book)
Diphthongs (see book)
Consonants (see book)

Baker Chapter 2.5 Accentuation

All Old English words are accented on the first syllable
Unless it starts with e- then its accented on the second syllable.
Unless it is a verb with a prefix then its accented on the syllable after the prefix.

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Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans - by Calvert Watkins
Indo-European is the name given for geographic reasons to the large and well-defined linguistic family
that includes most of the languages of Europe, past and present, as well as those found in a vast area
extending across Iran and Afghanistan to the northern half of the Indian subcontinent

Through colonialism Sanskrit (India) was introduced to 18
th
century European intellectuals, allowing to
compare it to European languages.
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William Jones: came to the conclusion that Sanskrit is so familiar to Greek and Latin that it couldnt have
been accident, and that they have to have shared a common ancestor.

The comparist (of these languages) has 1 fact and 1 hypothesis:
1. Fact: certain languages present similarities so numerous and precise that they cant be a
coincidence.
2. Hypothesis: These languages thus have to be the result of a descent from a common ancestor.

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Week 1 Exercises
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A) He was a scholar who famously hypothesised that Sanskrit, because of its similarities with Greek and
latin, has to have had a common ancestor. This ancestor is later Named Indo-European. A linguistic
family that covers most languages in Europe and some Eastern languages.

B) Fact: certain languages present similarities so numerous and precise that they cant be a coincidence.
Hypothesis: These languages thus have to be the result of a descent from a common ancestor.

C)


D)
1. West Germanic
2. Low German
3. Old Frisian

E)
1. Northumbrian (North of the river Humber)
2. Mercian (The Midlands)
3. Kentish (Kent)
4. West saxon (Southwest)

3.
In need a man shall know his friends

4.

A) Scots and Picts in the North, and a variety of groups in the south.

B) One of two major authors in the 7
th
century, author of Historia Ecclesiastica and many other works.

C) They came as mercenaries for the Britons, to fight off the Scots and Picts. Soon they found out that
the Britons were cowardly, and saw an opportunity to take advantage.

D) Through the names of their settlements

E) A British Monk who aggressively described the Anglo-Saxon conquest.

F) Far more emotional, and less factual. Most likely because he suffered at the hands of this war, unlike
Bede.

Chapter 6. Nouns
Baker Chapter 6.1 Quick start
All nouns are declined:
add s to make plural
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Indicative = for stating facts
add s to make possessive

There are a lot of exceptions:
ox -> not oxes -> oxen

Every Noun has a grammatical gender:
feminine: ben bench
neuter: wf woman
masculine: wfman woman

Nominative: Subject or predicate
Genitive: adjectives and the noun it modifies.
Dativus: indirect object
Accusative: Direct object
Chapter 7. Verbs
Baker Chapter 7.1 Quick start
Verbs can have up to 14 different forms, and can have as many as 5 different vowels in the root syllable.

Framman belongs to weak verbs. Verbs that make the past
tense by adding a dental consonant. (d or t) as a suffix.
Weak verbs roughly translate to regular verbs in M.E.

Helpan belongs to the strong verbs. This one changes the
root vowel when making a past tense. Strong verbs roughly
translate to irregular verbs in M.E.

Important points for Verbs in OE:

1. We only have 2 tenses (past and present.) OE also
uses techniques to refer to future time. It uses:
auxiliary verbs (including willan)
reference to time (tomorgen (tomorrow))
simple present (context)
to express futurity.
2. Cannot express the perfect and pluperfect like M.E.
It can use forms of the verb habban (to
have) with the past participle
i. Has discovered
It can use the adverb r (before) with the simple past
i. Had discovered
It can use the past tense alone, and the correct translation must be inferred from the
context.
3. See more in book
4.
5.
6.
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7.

Baker Chapter 7.10 Subjunctive
We dont use the subjunctive often in Modern English
If I were a carpenter,
and you were a lady,
would you marry me anyway?

Here the subjunctive were (the indicative would be was) suggests that the speaker is not in fact a
carpenter.
EX:
The king desired that the knight go on a quest.
The king commanded that the knight go on a quest.
I suggest that you be a little quieter.
I move that the bypass be routed east of town.
I wish that I were wiser.

These all indicate possibilities or wishes, not a present reality/future certainty.

In OE it is used far more often:
Also for conditions contrary to the fact:
o If I were a carpenter
Used in noun clauses following verbs of desiring and commanding
o I wish I were wiser
In noun clauses we now wouldnt use it
o He cwdon t h wre ws.
They said that he was wise.

The subjunctive: implies a point of view towards the action of the verb. In case of a desire that choice is
obvious. The choice between subjunctive and indicative may often be a matter of individual preference
or rhetorical emphasis.

The subjunctive does not necessarily indicate doubt or unreality:
ah or ah e though/even if takes subjunctive even if its known to be true.
o Ne sceal nn man sw ah, ah h synful se, eortrwian.
o [Nevertheless, no man must despair, though he be sinful.]

The Old English subjunctive is often used to make a first- or third-person imperative, and then the best
translation usually converts the subject of the verb into an object of let. In plural constructions, the -
n of the ending is generally dropped.

Chapter 11. Concord
Baker Chapter 11.1 Quick start
Concord is agreement in gender, case, number or person between different words that share a
reference.
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Ex: if a sentence contains Paul and later he, and they refer to the same person; they agree in
Number (both are singular) and gender (both are masculine).

Concords help decode sentences.
2 grammatical rules help us determine that reference of pronouns:
1. A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in gender and number
2. A pronoun must be associated with the most recent possible antecedent.

In OE; a noun and all its modifier (adjectives and pronouns used adjectivally) must agree in gender, case
and number.

Baker Chapter 11.2 Subject and verb
The Old English verb must agree with its subject in person and number.
This helps find hard to find subjects.

A verbs personal ending is actually a statement or restatement of the subject, conveying much of the
information that a personal pronoun can convey.
In situations where Modern English uses a pronoun subject, the Old English finite verb can sometimes
express the subject all by itself:

Compound subjects may be split in Old English:
1 part divided from the others by the verb or some other sentence element.
Ex: Hr cum lle on Bretenlond ond his re suna, Cymen ond Wlening ond issa
[Here lle and his three sons, Cymen and Wlencing and Cissa, came to Britain]
a. The subject is in Bold.

Baker Chapter 11.3 Pronoun and antecedent
A pronoun must agree with its restated noun (antecedent) in gender and number.

So sunne g betwux heofenan and eoran. On healfe e ho scn r bi d
[The sun goes between heaven and earth. On the side where it shines there is day]

ho agrees with the femininity of sunne.
When referring to people, it will take its natural gender (male/female)
Grammatical gender of wf = neuter
o Pronoun ho that refers to it, is feminine

If we anticipate a noun, it may appear as neuter singular; regardless of gender and number of noun.

t ws gd cyning!
[that was a good king!]

t = neuter singular
se = masculine singular (That was required)

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Baker Chapter 11.4 Noun and modifiers
A noun and all its modifiers must agree in gender, case and number.
This is important in OE. Every time a demonstrative pronoun is used as an article, it agrees with the
noun:
se msseprost: masculine nominative singular
s mdenes: neuter genitive singular
m mran bisceope: masculine dative singular

Baker Chapter 11.5 Bad grammar?
OE wasnt really taught, thus bad grammar is to be expected.
Violations of the rules of concord are relatively rare, and generally you will be able to see why they
happened


Chapter 8. Adjectives
8.2 Strong adjectives
In Old English definite articles are presented by a demonstrative pronoun.

Determining short or long stem.

Long Short
Long syllable with long vowel/diphthong OR ends
in at least 1 consonant.
Short syllable with short vowel/diphthong OR
ends not with a consonant.
Ex: ft Ex: se

8.3 Strong adjectives
See book, its very short.

8.4 Comparison of Adjectives

The comparative adjective is made by adding -r- between the root syllable and the inflectional ending,
which is always weak regardless of context.
The superlative is made by adding -ost, which may be followed by either a weak or a strong inflection.

heard hard, fierce Heard-r-a Heard-ost

Some adjectives have i-mutation in the comparative and superlative forms
-ost then becomes est

eald old Ield-r-a Ield-est

A few adjectives have anomalous comparative and superlative forms; these are still anomalous in
Modern English, though sometimes in different ways:
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gd good Bete-r-a Bet-st

8.5 Comparison of Adjectives

Adjectives can show us the case of the nouns they modify, despite them being ambiguous.
fder father, has no ending in any singular case.

er is se hd lmihties fder -> genitive singular -> fder = also genitive singular.

Chapter 10. Adverbs, conjunctions and prepositions
10.1 Quick start
Adverbs, Conjunctions and Prepositions are relatively easy because they are not inflected.

Adverbs
r before
ac also
sian afterwards
then

Conjunctions
ac But
for m e Because
o t Until
When

Prepositions
be by, near
mid With
of From
wi opposite, against
ymb(e) near, by

10.2 Adverbs

An adverb may be made from an adjective by adding e
An adjective may be made from a noun by adding li

Thats why you see adverbs ending in le

Examples:
wearm -> wearme
sr -> srli -> srle
gd -> wel

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Comparative: -or
Superlative: -ost

earwe - earwor - earwost

other adverbs do this differently by adding:
comparative: -rra OR ra
Superlative: -mest

nor norerra - normest

Some add i-mutation. But the superlative may/may not have i-mutation.
Some are anomalous.
(see book for examples if confusion)

10.3 Conjunctions

coordinating conjunctions

and/ond and
ac but
oe Or

Subordinating
See book
Correlative conjunctions
See book


10.4 Correlation