Part II The Old English Period

Check-up questions:

1. When did the Germanic invasion in the British Isles begin? What Germanic tribes came to live there?

2. What Germanic kingdoms existed on the British Isles?

3. How did the country acquire the name of England?

4. What important event took place at the end of the 8^th century AD?

5. What alphabet did Anglo-Saxons use for their writings? What written records have survived from that time?

6. What vowels existed in Old English? How were they represented in writing?

7. What consonants existed in Old English? How were they represented in writing?

8. What phonetic changes are illustrated by the following correspondences?

Gothic: ahtau  OE eahta (eight);

Gothic: skadus  OE sceadu (shade);

Gothic: salijan  OE sellan (sell);

Gothic: uns  OE ūs (us) .

9. What was the etymological composition of the OE vocabulary? What languages did the loan words come there from?

10. What word building patterns were common in OE?

11. What categories did the OE noun have?

12. What categories did the OE adjective have?

13. What were the classes of OE pronouns?

14. What categories did the OE verb have?

15. What were the most common syntactical patterns in OE?

16. Did there exist any analytical forms in OE?

Practical assignments

Task 1. Strong and weak nouns and demonstrative pronouns. Define Gender, Number and Case in the suggested word combinations.

hring, n., -a ring tunge, n., -n tongue dēor, n., -a deer ondswaru n., -o answe

1. sē tunge __ nom., sing_fem___

2. Þǣre ondsware __gen/dat., sg., fem. _

3. Þone hring __________________

4. Þā dēoru __________________

5. Þæs hringes __________________

6. Þā ondswara __________________

7. Þæt dēor __________________

8. Þǣm hringe __________________

9. Þāra ondswara __________________

10. sēo ondswaru __________________

11. Þāra tungena __________________

12. Þǣm tungan __________________

13. Þǣm dēorum __________________

14. Þæs dēores __________________

15. Þone tungan __________________

16. Þāra ondswara __________________

17. Þone tungan __________________

18. sē hring __________________

19. Þǣm hringum __________________

20. Þā ondsware __________________

Task 2. Pronouns. Find all the 16 pronouns in the text, define their class and, if possible, gender, number and case.

New Testament:

the Gospel of Mark Chapter 8

Parabel on Loafs and Breads

On sumre tīde wæs micel menigu mid Þām Hǣlende on ānum wēstene metelēas. Þā clipode se Hǣlende his leorningcnihtas him tō and cwæð:

Me ofhrīewð Þisse menigu, for ðām Þe hīe nū for ðrim dagum hēr mīn anbidodon, and nabbað hwæt hīe etað; and gif ic hīe forlǣte faestende hām gecierran, Þonne ātēoriað hīe be wege, for ðām Þe hīe sume sindon feorran cumene.

Glossary:

• anbidian, wk. 2. await, past pl. anbidodon;

• atēorian, st. 2. fail, become weary. pl. atēoriað;

• be, prep. (with dat.) by, along, about, with. Be;

• clipian, wk. 2. call;

• cuman, st. 4. come. past part. cumen past part. pl. cumene;

• cweþan, st. 5. say, call; past sg cwæð;

• forl ǣtan, st. 7. leave, allow, permit, release. subj. 1sg. forl ǣte;

• gecierran, wk. 1. turn, change, return, go;

• gif, conj. if. gif, gyf;

• (ge)etan, st. 5. eat, pl. etað;

• eth, masc. journey, undertaking;

• fæstan, wk. 1. fast, pres. part. Fæstende;

• feorran, adv. from afar.

• for, prep. (with dat., sometimes with acc.) for, because of, instead of, in spite of, with respect to;

• habban, wk. 3. have, hold. negated. pl. nabbað;

• hām, masc. home. adv. homewards, home;

• Hǣlend, masc. nd-stem. Savior;

• leorningcniht, n.,masc. a- disciple;

• menigu, n., fem., i-stem multitude;

• metelēas, adj. without food;

• micel, adj. large, big, great, vast;

• nabbað à habban;

• nū, adv. Now;

• ofhrēowan, st. 2. cause pity for someone;

• se þe, rel. pron. that, which, who;

• sindon à bēon – to be

• tīd, fem. time, hour;

• ðām à se;

• þonne, adv. then. conj. when, than;

• þe, rel. pron. that, which, who, where;

• wēste, adj. waste, uncultivated, barren, ruined.

Modern English translation:

1 In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, 2 I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: 3 And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far.

Task 3. Noun forms. In the following sentences, find Dative nouns (a hint: they usually stay after prepositions).

(1) Þā fōr Moyses and gecyrde tō his mǣge, Þām wæs Iethro nama.

Dative noun: ________________

(2) Þa cwæðPharao tō Moyse and tō Aarone: Hwī myrrað gyt Þis folc fram heoraweorcum?

Dative noun: ________________

cwæð –cweþan;

cweþan, v., st. 5say,call;

gecierran, wk. 1.turn,change,return,go;

gecyrde àgecierran;

gyt àþū, gē;

heora àhīe;

hwī àhwú;

hwú, adv. (inst. of hwā) why;

faran, st. 6. travel, go. past;

folc, neut.people;

fōr àfaran;

fram, adv. from there; prep. (with dat.) from, by;

mǣg, masc. –a- stemkinsman;

mierran, wk. 1. mar, disturb, squander, hinder. pl. myrrað;

myrrað àmierran;

nama (n. m. n) name;

weorc, neut.n –a-work,workmanship.

Task 4. Noun forms. Find 8 direct accusative objects and indirect accusative after prepositions. Find a noun in the Genitive case.

Hēr Cynewolf ond Offa gefuhton ymb Benesingtūn, ond Offa nam Þone tūn. Hīe woldon ferian hira herehúðongēan Þā scipu. Hī noldon faran ofer Þone ford. Hī fordydon Þā Bryttas Þurh fúr and Þurh sweordes ecge.

Glossary:

• Bryttas, masc. Britons;

• ecg, n, fem. –jo edge;

• faran, v., st. 6. travel, go;

• (ge)feohtan, v., st. 3. fight; past pl. gefuhton, fuhton;

• ferian, v., wk. 2. carry;

• ford, masc., -a ford;

• ford ōn, anom. verb. ruin, destroy; past pl. fordydon;

• fúr, n., neut., -a fire;

• (ge)niman, v., st. 4. take, seize, capture. past 3sg.;

• nam, genam;

• hēr, adv. Here;

• herehúþ, n., fem., -i booty, plunder;

• hira à hīe;

• nam à (ge)niman;

• noldà willan;

• ofer, prep. (with dat. or acc.) over, upon, after;

• ond, conj. and prep. (with dat. or acc.) against, towards, opposite;

• ongēan, adv. back, again;

• scip, n., neut., -a ship;

• sweord, n., neut., -a sword;

• tūn, n., masc.,-a enclosure, dwelling, village, town;

• þurh, prep. (usually with acc., sometimes with dat. or gen.) through, by, by means of, because of;

• willan, anom. verb. wish, be willing, desire, will; forms of this verb often coalesce with the negative particle ne: ne wille à nylle, ne wolde à nolde;

• woldon à willan;

• ymb, prep. (usually with acc., sometimes with dat.) around, near, about, after.

Now decline the nouns from the text:

• herehúþ;

• tūn;

• ecg.

Task 5. Verb forms. Try your hand at conjugating some Old English verbs:

scēotan strong Class II shoot

singan strong Class II sing

tellan weak verb Class I

we shoot	scēotaÞ
they sing
she tells
you (pl.) shoot
they tell
you (sg.) shoot
I tell
we sing
he sang
I shot
we told
they told

Task 6. Verb forms. Find all the verbs in this extract from the parable on Abraham and Isaak, define their form.

e.g. wolde – preterito-present verb, preterite singular, 3d person.

1. God wolde þa fandian Abrahames gehiersumnesse, and clipode his naman,

2. and cwæð him þus to: 'Nim þinne ancennedan sunu Isaac, þe þu lufast, and far to þam lande Visionis hraðe, and geoffra hine þær uppan anre dune.'

3. Abraham þa aras on þære ilcan nihte, and ferde mid twam cnapum to þam fierlenan lande, and Isaac samod, on assum ridende.

Glossary:

• an, num., a, one;

• ancenned, adj., only, only begotten;

• aras à arisan;

• arisan, v., str. 1 arise;

• ass, n., masc, donkey, ass;

• clipian, v., w., 2 call;

• clipode à from clipian;

• cnapa, n., masc., -n servant;

• cwaeð à cweðan;

• cweþan, st. 5. say, call;

• dun, n., fem. -o, mountain, hill;

• gehiersumnesse, n., fem., obedience;

• fandian, v., w., 1 with gen. to test;

• far àfaran;

• faran, v., st. 6. travel, go;

• feran, v., w., 1 to fare, get on, set out, proceed;

• ferde à feran;

• fierlen, adj. distant; far off;

• hræðe, adv. Quickly;

• ilca, prn. the same;

• lande, n., neut., -n land;

• lufian, v., w. 2 love;

• lufast àlufian;

• mid, prep. With;

• naman à name;

• name, n., masc., -n name;

• niht, n., cons., night;

• nihte à night;

• nim à niman;

• niman, v., str., 4 take;

• geoffraàgeoffrian;

• (ge)offrian, v., wk. 2. offer;

• ridan, v., str., 1 ride;

• samod, adv. too; at the same time;

• sunu, n, masc, -n son;

• þaer, adv. there;

• to, prep. to;

• þa, adv., then;

• þus, adv. thus, in this way;

• uppan, prep., with dative upon;

• Visionis, n., proper Moriah – from the Hebrew for "vision";

• willan, v., pret, want, desire;

• wolde à willan.

Modern English variant from the Douay-Rheims version of the Old Testament, a version translated from the Latin Vulgate

Abraham and Isaac

Genesis 22: 1–19

1. And after these things, God tempted Abraham, and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am.

2. He said to him, Take thy only begotten son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of vision [Vulgate: "vade in Terram visionis"]: and there thou shalt offer him for a holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will show thee.

3. So Abraham rising up in the night, saddled his ass: and took with him two young men, and Isaac his son: and when he had cut wood for the holocaust, he went his way to the place which God had commanded him.

Task 6. Text analysis. Read and translate the text in modern English. Analyse the grammar forms of words.

Follow the example:

Word as used in the text	Form, notes	Corresponding ModE word
Đa	adv.	when, then
ealdode	from ealden, v. to get older; weak verb, preterite singular	to grow older
and
he	…	…
ēagan	…
Translation: When Isaak grew older, …

1. Đa Isaak ealdode and he ēagan Þỹstrodon, Þæt hē ne mihte nān Þing gesēon, Þā clypode hē Ēsau, his yldran sunu:

ða, adv. when, then elden, v. to get older ēage, n – eye Þỹstrian, v to get dim, blind magan, v, prtpr) – to be able

Þing, n., neut., -a – thing (ge)seon, v., str., 5) – to see clipian, v. – to call eald, adj. – old; comp. degree – yldra sunu, n., masc. – son

2. and cwæð to him: “Þu gesihst Þæt ic ealdige, and ic nāt hwænne mine dagas āgāne bēoÞ”:

cweðan, v – to say (ge)seon,v., str. 5 – to see ealdian, v – to get older nāt = ne-witan, prtprs. v. – not to know

hwænne, adv.- when dæg, n. – day bēon, substantive verb – to be a-gān, v., irr. – to pass away, to die

3. Nim þin gesceot, þinne cocur and þinne bogan, and gang ūt; and, þonne þu ǣnig þing begite þæs-þe þū wēne:

   niman, v., str. – to take gesceot, n., neut. – a set of arrows cocur, n., masc – quiver boga, n., m. – bow wēnan, v., w., 1 – to think gangan, v., irr.– to go

   ūt, adv. – out þonne, adv. – when, then ænig, prn – any, some ðing, n., neut. – thing begiten, v., str. 5 – to get þe – emphatic particle

4. þæt mē lỹcige, bring mē, þæt ic ete and ic þē bletsige, ǣt-þǣm-þe ic swelte:

līcian, v., w., 1 – to like bringan, v., prtprs – to bring etan, v., str. 5 – to eat

blētsian, v., w., 2 – to bless ǣt- þǣm-þe, conj – before sweltan, v., str. 3 – to die

Have more exercises in Old English at OLD ENGLISH AEROBICS WORKOUT ROOM http://www.engl.virginia.edu/OE/OEA/index.html